I see where you are coming from, but it's a 16 team field. If we really wanted only the best of the best, they should just have made it an 8-team field. If UND, CC, UNH, BC, Michigan, and MSU all played in the same conference and everyone else played in other conferences, should those bottom teams not make it just b/c they are below .500 even though everyone knows they are all in the top 16 in the country? Of course not.
The whole tournament is built for parity, and if parity includes sub .500 teams, then so be it. The fact that the tournament is sudden death proves that.