First Off....My Thoughts On The Selection Committee's Job

                       

Let me just go out and say that the selection committee has a very difficult job.  I tried to figure out a seeding process for the dance and don't think I did too well.  But, I did get 63 of the 65 teams correctly [they had in Air Force and Utah State....I had in Michigan and Cincinnati]. 

However, I don't get paid to do so....nor do I have the myriad of tools these people supposedly do to make these decisions.  So, in that light, here are my gripes and such about the tournament that the committee laid out.

WHY AIR FORCE??  I said that I didn't have Air Force or Utah State.  I was sooooo close in picking Utah State, but I remembered how jobbed they got a couple years ago and figured it would happen again.  But Air Force???  Their RPI was 50th [Missouri State, Hofstra, Creighton, Cincinnati, Michigan and Maryland all had better rankings], had the 170th toughest schedule and didn't beat a team outside the Top 100. 

I could possibly understand it if their conference was hot....but the Mountain West was indeed down this year.  Heck, the 7th place team, Wyoming, took the best team, San Diego State, into overtime for the MWC title.  I totally disagree with this.  I mean, Air Force lost in the first round of the MWC tournament....just as Cincinnati and Michigan lost in their first games of their tournaments.  But, apparantly, the MWC was soooo strong that they could get a 2nd team in.  THIS IS GARBAGE!!!!

TENNESSEE IS NOT A #2:  How??  They didn't win the SEC regular season title [LSU did] and they didn't win the SEC tournament [Florida did].  Yet Florida got a #3, LSU got a #2....and Tennessee gets a #2?????  Well, their RPI is a lot better than LSU or Florida....however.....

OKAY, SO WHAT DOES THE RPI MEAN, REALLY??  The thing that I don't like is the inconsistency of the committee.  Obviously, Tennessee got their #2 seed off their high RPI.  But, if that is so, then how does Missouri State get left out??  Despite their top 20 RPI ranking....they won't be there.  And that's, by far, the highest ranked team to not make the dance in RPI history. 

So, what does the RPI really mean?  Look, I'm not a huge fan of the RPI being the sole controller of the crunching.  Case in point....if all of the Missouri Valley teams were so equal [which they were], conventional wisdom is that the highest rated RPI team would actually be the WORST of the bunch.  Why??  Well, the other teams are better...and Mizz State played those teams....so their numbers would look better.  Ya know, getting beat by Connecticut looks a lot better than being beat by Connecticut State.  So, in a weird round robin sorta way, things aren't always what they seem. 

YET, IT APPEARS THAT RPI MADE THE TOP SEEDINGS:   Look at the seedings.  The top four teams??  They all got #1 seeds.  The RPI rated 5 thru 8???  They all got the #2 seeds??  How about the #3 seeds?  Only Pittsburgh got bumped from the 9-12 rankings....and Florida moved up.  Unreal. 

                

WHY IS THE PAC 10 VIEWED SO HIGH??  Look at the Pac-10.  UCLA got a #2 seed.....Washington got a #5 seed....California got a #7 seed and Arizona got a #8 seed.  Only the Huskies seeding I can't argue with.  Everything else is a reach.  The Pac 10 was rated BEHIND the Missouri Valley Conference in the power numbers [the Pac-10 is 7th in the power rankings].  It is horrible that Cal gets a #7 seed.  What is that??  They haven't been one of the 25-28 best teams this year. 

WHY IS THE ACC NOT VIEWED SO HIGH???  The ACC, on the other hand, ranks 3rd in the power rankings....yet got just a #1 seed, a #3 seed, a #4 seed and a #10 seed....which isn't bad.  But only the #1 seed....Duke...gets to play in a proper pod.  North Carolina....despite being a #3 seed...gets sent to Dayton and Boston College [a #4 seed] goes all the way to Salt Lake City.  Also, add inthe fact that Florida State didn't get in...but I can actually understand it.

THAT NON-CONFERENCE SCHEDULE REMARK IS CRAP:  The committee talking head has gone around all the shows saying about how great a team schedules outside their conference means a ton.  Sure, you can use that to omit Florida State....but how about Cincinnati???  They had the 23rd toughest non-conference schedule.   Missouri State had the 21st toughest non-conference schedule.  St. Joseph's had the SECOND TOUGHEST non-conference schedule.  Why aren't they in?  I mean, Cincy and Mizz State were bubble teams??

Air Force had the 267th rated non-conference strength of schedule.  So, what the heck?????  Air Force gets in with a poor RPI and a poor SOS.....over Cincy and Missouri State who both have better numbers.  That, again, is garbage!

And what about UConn???  Not to say UConn didn't deserve to get into the tournament...but do they deserve a #1 seed??  Well, according to that comment...no.  They had the 244th ranked non-conference schedule.  WOW!!  I guess they aren't going out to get the cream of the crop, eh??  Sure, the Big East is tough....but it only lifted them to the 27th toughest schedule.  Florida had the 261st toughest non-conference schedule....yet climbed to a #3 seed. 

So don't feed me that crap about scheduling tough.  Cincinnati had the 7th toughest schedule and got jobbed.  Maryland had the 11th toughest sked.  And they are at home while Air Force and their 173rd rated schedule dances on. 

DON'T PUT "BRUINS" TOGETHER:  Look, I am all for the cutsey stuff.  I figured that Duke and Gonzaga would be on the same half of the bracket...or Illinois and North Carolina [the two 2005 finalists] would be in the same region.   But don't put two teams who have the same nickname on the same court!!  In San Diego, the UCLA Bruins will play the Belmont Bruins.  C'mon guys!!!  Why not put NC State and Nevada together to get both Wolfpacks in a game??  Or the Eagles of Winthrop and Marquette??  We could get a Sweet 16 with the UConn and Washington Huskies. 

                             

HOW ABOUT THAT WASHINGTON BRACKET??  Many people feel this is the toughest region.  Well, let's see, you have UConn in there...one of the only two teams that have #1 all year long [Duke, the other].  You have three of last year's Final Four in there [North Carolina, Illinois and Michigan State]. 

But...it may actually be the worst bracket.  In one of the weirdest moves....you have only THREE TEAMS that won their conference tournaments!!!  And they are Albany, Murray State and Winthrop.  In fact, only UAB and Utah State even reached the conference championship game!!!!  And the #1 seed, #2 seed, #4 seed and #5 seed won a combined ZERO games in their conference tournys.  Adding the #3 seed [UNC] gets you a grand total of 1 win.  Amazing. 

OAKLAND UPSET BRACKET:  Remember that last year, the "west" bracket [last year it was Albuquerque] had some of the wildest games and upsets in all the dance. #2 Wake Forest, #3 Gonzaga and #5 Georgia Tech lost in the 2nd round.  #1 Washington lost in the Sweet 16.  West Virginia, the #7 seed, lasted until the Elite 8. 

Could be the same thing this year.  While I am not saying the Memphis will lose to Oral Roberts, but they will have to try to stop Caleb Green....one of the best scorers in the nation.  Aside from this game, and the UCLA-Belmont game, the rest of the games are game where upsets very well may occur. 

But why?  Well, my reasoning is that the "west" doesn't have a dominant team.  Oh, well, Stanford was a few years back and didn't make it far.  But I do tend to think that, normally, this bracket gets the weakest #1 seed and is fed with a bunch of streaky filler.  Look at this year.  Gonzaga has underperformed in the past few years.  Kansas was upset in the 1st round last year.  Pitt, Indiana and Marquette are hard working teams that don't necessarily wow you.  And those teams they get??  Bucknell was the one that knocked Kansas off last year.  Kent State has won 20 games each of the last 8 years.  Bradley may be the hottest mid-major team. 

THIS WILL BE A WILD TOURNAMENT  Of the #1 and #2 seeds.....only Duke, Memphis and UCLA won their conference tournaments [and only Ohio State and Texas even made their conference finals].  Of those top eight teams in the tournament.....only UCLA hasn't lost in the past 10 days.  UConn, Villanova, Texas, Tennessee and Ohio State all lost in their tournaments.....Duke lost to Florida State and North Carolina and Memphis lost to UAB.  We have strong mid-major schools like Gonzaga, Nevada, George Washington and Wichita State.  We have California, Indiana and Syracuse as relatively high seeds despite their bubble status just over a week ago. 

Get it on!!!