When the NCAA selection committee hunkered down last weekend to make sense of March Madness, choosing 68 teams for the men's basketball tournament, its members considered a wealth of information.
RPI rankings and strength of schedule figured into their debate. So did injuries, road records and head-to-head results.
They insist that one thing did not matter: the scandal enveloping the sport with coaches, agents and others accused of funneling cash to recruits and players.
"But there are a lot of great things that are happening," he said, adding: "I would prefer to focus on those."
If it seemed like Rasmussen was skirting the subject, he probably wasn't the only one.