Are you using Pomeroy ratings for the 2002-2016 seasons from after each season’s tournament, or do you somehow have a saved copy of the Pomeroy ratings from before each season’s tournament started?
Given what you wrote for 2017, with South Carolina being #26, I think you are using the latest ratings. South Carolina was #31 before the tournament for example.
Teams that do well in the tournament get big bumps in their Pomeroy ratings during the tournament for beating quality competition. Thus the final four teams ratings for 2002-2016 would be better than when they started the tournament. Thus it wouldn’t be so straightforward to pick Pomeroy rated teams #1-4 since they likely had higher ratings before the tournament.
Anyway, just wanted clarification on when ratings for the historic seasons were scraped.