Auburn coach Cliff Ellis doesn't want to hear the numbers. Don't give him any strength of schedule nonsense, or any formula created to decipher the 34 teams worthy of at-large bids into the NCAA Tournament.

And don't dare use those three letters: RPI.

Just ask him who finished where in the SEC.

Then, use your common sense in selecting teams for the NCAAs.

	Kyle Davis and Auburn finished second in the SEC West. But with a 8-8 conference mark, the CSI says the Tigers aren't safely in the NCAA Tournament.

"Common sense says the committee should judge your team on your level playing field," Ellis said. "A level playing field is in the conference and we finished as one of the top two teams in the SEC West."

Yes, Auburn finished second in the SEC West. But in doing so, the Tigers also finished only 8-8. But, still second place. Right?

Well, yes. But as for the playing field being level? That's open to debate.

There are scheduling inequities within the SEC -- and other power conferences -- that must be taken into consideration when looking at which teams accomplished what in the SEC, Big Ten, Big East or even the Big 12. In the case of the SEC, and the Tigers, who they played in the East Division on the road and at home plays into any numbers game. And, while each SEC team does play everyone at least once, there still isn't a true overall champion because of the unbalanced schedule.

That's where the ESPN.com "Common Sense Index" comes into play in selecting teams for the NCAA Tournament. Forget the the RPI, SOS, R/N W-L, Last 10, or records against the top 50, 100 and teams over 200. When looking at a team like Auburn, or anyone else for that matter, what you see on the court is what matters. Not what some computer formula spits out on daily basis.

Auburn tied LSU with an 8-8 record in the SEC West, but got a first-round bye in this week's SEC tournament through a tie-breaker. If finishing among the top two teams in a major conference, or one of its divisions, is part of the Common Sense Index, will a tie-breaker determine which Tigers go dancing out of the SEC West?

We'll see on Selection Sunday.

But there are other Common Sense Index factors in selecting our NCAA teams, rather than simply where a team placed in a division of a major conference.

"My Common Sense Index would be, 'Did you watch the game?'" Memphis coach John Calipari said. "We were up two with No. 4 Cincinnati last March, the last game of the regular season and then we lose by two in overtime. We had 22 wins.

"But the committee said, 'You lost.' That was ridiculous. Did they see the strength of our team? Screw the numbers. Watch the game."

OK, Coach Cal. We'll factor in close calls into the Common Sense Index.

What else?

"What about the games you choose to schedule," Alabama assistant coach Darren Boatright. "You should be held accountable for those games. We were sent a message in 2000 for our non-conference schedule so we changed it. That would be my Common Sense Index. You should be judged on the non-conference schedule."

Sounds good. We'll add who a team chooses to play, not who they are obligated to play in conference, to the Common Sense Index.

Wait a minute, what about the mid-major teams in the mix? Southern Illinois, Wisconsin-Milwaukee and Weber State couldn't get a marquee team to put them on their schedules. Well, we can't control the major conference team's schedules, so the Common Sense Index -- like the RPI -- isn't perfect.

But, it's the best we've got. And we're not finished.

What else?

	“	Any time you win your conference, especially an 18-game schedule ... Common sense says that you should be in. That shows how a team has progressed throughout the season. ”
		— Bruce Weber, So. Illinois head coach

"What's the definition of a good year?" Gonzaga coach Mark Few said. "To me it's a league championship or whether you've competed for a league championship.

"Did this team feel it was successful in accomplishing its goals? Did they win on the road and have they been in every game? Did they get blown out by anybody? The numbers aren't just a part of it. You can't get too hung up on the numbers."

Few's team is one of the few mid-majors, along with Creighton this season, able to schedule enough marquee teams to strengthen its NCAA profile. He still isn't a fan of the muddled masses within the major conferences getting those last few bids over his counterparts every year. Few doesn't see any reason why a sub-.500 team within its conference, or a team that just barely breaks even in their league, should be invited to the tournament.

Few wants the bids to go to teams who finish at the top of their conference, got that? Common sense, right?

"Any time you win your conference, especially an 18-game schedule ... Common sense says that you should be in," Southern Illinois coach Bruce Weber said. "That shows how a team has progressed throughout the season."

Now, nobody is suggesting every conference champion be considered worthy of an at-large bid. If conferences want to reward their regular-season champions, give the automatic bid to those teams, instead of the tourney champion. That won't happen, of course, because of the revenue generated by conference tournaments, which must have something more to play for than bragging rights.

So, it only makes sense to consider what conference title a team wins. This year, the Missouri Valley is a top 12 conference. But that can change on a yearly basis, and nobody has ever called the WCC a top 15 conference. Gonzaga's at-large worthiness has come from what it has accomplished outside the WCC and in past NCAAs. Still, common sense says the Zags must be looked at closely each year, not just put into the at-large pool because of its past successes.

Hey, we really seem to be onto something here.

Anything else?

"Really look at the last 10 and who teams have to play and where," Minnesota coach Dan Monson said. "That's just common sense. We're winning and losing the same games Michigan State did, but ours are coming at the end while theirs were at the beginning of the Big Ten season. We're playing our best basketball but we're playing our toughest schedule.

So, timing comes into play. OK, we'll buy that.

"It's just common sense," Monson said. "If anybody watched us play against Indiana (last week), they would have seen that we were within one possession and playing really well right now."

Sounds like one of those "close losses" Calipari was talking about. The Gophers, who finished the year with four consecutive losses, had better hope the committee uses some CSI instead of just looking at their last 10 games or the ... no, we won't say it Coach Ellis.

Instead, we'll encourage the committee to look closely at those close losses and not focus so much on the outcome of those last 10 games; give extra consideration to those mid-major teams who finished atop the conferences that proved worthy of at-large teams; and examine who those major conference teams chose to play in the non-conference.

Anything else?

Oh yeah, watch the games. It's only common sense to see who you'll be making a nation watch during in the NCAAs.

Andy Katz is a senior writer at ESPN.com.