The next Division I men’s basketball committee chair doesn’t appear any more interested than his predecessors in revealing the behind-the-scenes secrets of the NCAA tournament selection process. Asked by Yahoo! Sports’ Jason King about the possibility of allowing reporters to observe the selection committee’s meetings leading up to the release of the bracket, Xavier athletic director Mike Bobinski said he wasn’t in favor of it. “The difficult thing about that is that things that are said in there could be taken out of context,” he said. “It’s like having a reporter sit in and watch basketball practice at Xavier . If they’re not someone who is in tune with what is going on and something happens, it could get represented in a way that does more harm than good. That’s part of the concern. The thing to remember is that every year we go through a process of self-analysis with the support of the staff and all the tools that they have available to them.” Whether it’s inviting reporters to a mock selection exercise each year or requiring the selection committee chair to answer questions after the release of the bracket, the NCAA has made some effort to make the process more accountable. In reality, though, there will always be allegations of impropriety unless the public has a means of learning exactly how key decisions were made. When current selection committee chair Gene Smith of Ohio State was asked about the controversial omission of Virginia Tech last March, his response was vague and lacked any specifics. “When we stacked Virginia Tech’s resume up against all the other teams, we just didn’t feel like that they were a team that should be in the at-large field,” Smith said. Pressed for a more concrete explanation, he added only that the Hokies “weren’t able to get enough votes to be in the at-large field.” Bobinski is a more forthright interview than Smith and is well-qualified to take over the role of selection committee chair for the 2012-13 season, but it would be great to see him push to make the selection process more transparent. An occasional mistake or two in the bracket is perfectly understandable. A lack of accountability isn’t.