Do you have your bracket filled out yet? We are running a contest here. The winner will have bragging rights on this blog! Anyways here are 10 quick thoughts on the NCAA tournament.
1) Who got snubbed?
Well there was… um… well… yeah. I got nothing. For the first time that I can remember I can’t think of single team that probably should have got in but didn’t. Kentucky? Losers of 3 of their last 4, and they don’t have 1 single significant OOC win. No I don’t count Maryland. Virginia? Just too many bad losses despite some great wins. If I were were on the committee, I would have had them in, but leaving them out is understandable. Alabama or Tennessee? Come on they played in the SEC. Committee gets an A here.
2) Please explain the criteria for a 1 seed.
Duke loses early in a conference tournament despite being the country’s #1 RPI team, they are a two seed? No other team in the country had wins over 3 power conference champions, Miami, Ohio State, and Louisville. How is Kansas’s resume better than Miami? Both have won their conference regular and tournament titles. Both beat a Big 10 power… Kansas beat Ohio State, and Miami beat Michigan St.
The Jayhawks lost a TCU team that won a total of 2 Big 10 games and went 11-21. Miami lost at home to Georgia Tech. The committee likes to say they don’t count the final 10 games, but it’s clear they did. Oh wait Indiana lost 3 of their last 6 games and had fewer top 100 wins than Duke, Kansas, or Miami. Not saying Indiana doesn’t deserve a 1 seed, I’m just saying I don’t understand what the criteria was.
3) Oregon a 12 seed?
The Pac 12 champions are a 12 seed? This wasn’t like a bubble team Ole Miss winning the SEC and getting a 12. The Ducks won 26 games, and NCAA tried to explain that it something to do with logistics of having west coast teams. Seriously? Poor Oklahoma St. the Ducks first round opponent. The Cowboys drew a 12 that should have been at worst a 6 or 7.
4) Revenge of the Mid Major!
Gonzaga 1 St. Louis 4 Memphis 6 New Mexico 3 Butler 6 UNLV 5 VCU 5
That’s 7 mid-major that received top 6 seeds or better. The mid majors got a lot of respect from the committee. Personally I think the mid majors got a little too much credit in this year’s bracket, but we will see. You can get that respect on the court and the mid-majors have their chance.
5) Watch out for this year’s two seeds.
I think there is very little separation in this years 1 and 2 seeds. This is the two seed line -> Duke, Miami, Georgetown, and Ohio State. Three of those teams were in play for a 1 seed as recently as few days ago and Ohio State won the brutal Big 10 tournament title. I’ll take this group and play this year’s ones and I’ll win at least 50% of the time.
I’ll take a closer look at the ACC team’s bracket later this week.
Ok there you go Happy Bracketing.
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