By Mechelle Voepel
ESPNET SportsZone

Gosh, what a relief the bids are out. Now we don't have to read 39 e-mails a day about the projected 64.

These few days between selection Sunday and the first round are great. It's kind of like the beginning of a horror movie -- you can speculate about who's going to buy it, but at least for a little while everyone is still alive.

After wandering around the Internet and reading e-mail, these appear to be the most popular topics:

• Was Arkansas robbed? That sparked a debate on SEC scheduling. The selection committee swears it doesn't pay any attention to conferences. I'm sure the members try very hard not to.

But it's like when Jack McCoy says something outrageous on "Law and Order" and the judge tells the jury, "You are to disregard that remark."

Sure, but it's already in their heads. Just like no matter how hard they try, selection committee members can't completely forget which conference everybody's in.

My opinion? Yeah, it seems a shame Arkansas isn't in.

Mechelle Voepel of the Kansas City Star writes a regular women's basketball column for ESPNET SportsZone. Her e-mail address is mvoepel@kcstar.com.