Sunday, March 6, 2011

Let's RPI the NCAA Tournament

Here is what the NCAA Tournament would look like if we just used the top 68 teams of the RPI (as of Saturday March 5th):

MIDWEST REGIONAL (San Antonio)
1-Kansas vs 16-Virginia Tech/17-Miami (Tulsa)
8-Cincinnati vs 9-Tennessee (Tulsa)
4-Syracuse vs 13-Marshall (Denver)
5-Arizona vs 12-St Mary's (Denver)
2-Notre Dame vs 15-VCU (Chicago)
7-Vanderbilt vs 10-Memphis (Chicago)
3-Purdue vs 14-Clemson (Chicago)
6-George Mason vs 11-Illinois (Chicago)

EAST REGIONAL (Newark)
1-Ohio State vs 16-Gonzaga/17-Oakland (Cleveland)
8-Villanova vs 9-Missouri (Cleveland)
4-West Virginia vs 13-So Miss (Washington)
5-Kansas State vs 12-Florida State (Washington)
2-North Carolina vs 15-UTEP (Charlotte)
7-UNLV vs 10-Boston College (Charlotte)
3-Georgetown vs 14-Belmont (Tampa)
6-UConn vs 11-Butler (Tampa)

WEST REGIONAL (Anaheim)
1-BYU vs 16-Minnesota/17-Marquette (Denver)
8-Texas A&M vs 9-UCLA (Denver)
4-Texas vs 13-Princeton (Tuscon)
5-Utah State vs 12-Michigan State (Tuscon)
2-Pitt vs 15-Penn State (Cleveland)
7-Old Dominion vs 10-Missouri State (Cleveland)
3-Florida vs 14-Richmond (Tampa)
6-St. John's vs 11-Colorado St (Tampa)

SOUTH REGIONAL (New Orleans)
1-San Diego St vs 16-Wichita State/17-Cal (Tuscon)
8-Temple vs 9-Harvard (Tuscon)
4-Wisconsin vs 13-Michigan (Tulsa)
5-Louisville vs 12-Washington (Tulsa)
2-Duke vs 15-Oklahoma St (Charlotte)
7-UAB vs 10-Georgia (Charlotte)
3-Kentucky vs 14-Central Florida (Washington)
6-Xavier vs 11-Cleveland State (Washington)

The Midwest Regional winner faces off against the South Regional winner ... and the East Regional champ and West Regional champ face off.

Now, I'm not a huge fan of the RPI, but the Selection Committee seems to love it. The question is, would we have a better tournament like this instead of having a Selection Committee do it ... and using all those automatic bids?

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