I'm of the opinion of some analysts that say who cares who the last few teams in are? If you missed the bubble you lost some games you shouldn't have. You really have nobody to blame but yourself. Had Iowa not dropped 6 of 7 to end last year they never would have been anywhere near the play-in games. So its their own fault they ended up there.
That being said, I also think that UCLA, Texas, Indiana, etc got in because of their name, their fan base size and the money they will bring in. Which team is going to get more tv ratings, UCLA or Richmond? Is that fair? no. Is the NCAA tournament a billion dollar business? Yes.
