Okay, more in-depth analysis later in the week, but I want to get my immediate reactions out for these pairings, while the irons are hot:<\/p>\n
\n- I usually don’t rip the committee–in fact, I usually defend them–but they absolutely screwed my team this year, so I’m gonna rip them.\u00a0 But, I’m probably going to save it for a full post.\u00a0 Cliff’s notes version:\u00a0 Everyone talks about “selection” and such and they have cleaned that up, but they continue to absolutely screw the little guy with seedings.\u00a0 Temple and Temple’s opponent included.\u00a0 More on that later this week.<\/li>\n
- Cornell also got screwed, as their matchup with Temple is more like a second-round matchup than a first, but, again, more on that later in the week.<\/li>\n
- I love the fact that the committee is penalizing teams for not playing anyone in non-conference and for not playing well in their conference tournaments (ya know, with the exception of our Owls).\u00a0 All of that is good for us, as spectators.<\/li>\n
- Each region’s best chance for a pretty big upset:\u00a0 MIDWEST: 13-Murray St. over 4-Vandy; WEST: 11-San Diego St. over 6-Tennessee; EAST: 11-Washington over 6-Marquette; SOUTH: 13-Siena over 4-Purdue<\/li>\n
- Best first-round matchups in each region:\u00a0 MIDWEST: Ok State-Ga Tech; WEST: Xavier-Minnesota; EAST: Temple-Cornell; SOUTH: California-Louisville<\/li>\n
- Best possible second-round matchups in each region: MIDWEST: Michigan St.-Maryland; WEST: Xavier-Pitt; EAST:\u00a0Kentucky-Texas; SOUTH: Baylor-Notre Dame\u00a0<\/li>\n
- Overseeded teams:\u00a0 Villanova (2), Florida (10), Vanderbily (4), New Mexico St. (12). Wake Forest (9)<\/li>\n
- Underseeded teams:\u00a0 Cornell (12), Temple (5), Gonzaga (8), Butler (5), N. Iowa (9), Murray St. (13)<\/li>\n
- Notice that the overseeded teams are big guys and the underseeded teams are little guys…ya, get used to hearing that from me in the next couple of days.<\/li>\n
- The Midwest Region is LOADED.\u00a0 They have the defined best 1-seed (Kansas).\u00a0 They have either the best or second-best 2-seed (Ohio St.).\u00a0 They have the best or second-best 3-seed (G’town).\u00a0 They have the best or second-best 4-seed (Maryland).\u00a0 Plus, Tom Izzo, Bruce Pearl, Tom Penders, and Lon Kruger in the rest of the field.\u00a0 Throw in the star power of Derrick Favors and James Anderson in the 7-10 game, and this region is totally loaded.<\/li>\n
- The South is pretty weak.\u00a0 They have, arguably, the worst 1-seed (Duke-even though they are technically the #3-overall).\u00a0 They have the worst 2-seed (Nova).\u00a0\u00a0 And, their 4-seed (Purdue)\u00a0is without its best player.<\/li>\n
- How amazing is it that there are only three programs in the country with a longer streak of consecutive tournaments than Gonzaga?\u00a0 That is such an incredible feat.<\/li>\n
- Early Final Four picks:\u00a0 Kansas, West Virginia, K-State, and Baylor<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
More on the whole field all week.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Okay, more in-depth analysis later in the week, but I want to get my immediate reactions out for these pairings, while the irons are hot: I usually don’t rip the committee–in fact, I usually defend them–but they absolutely screwed my … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[1015],"class_list":["post-507","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-college-hoops","tag-2010-ncaa-tournament"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/507","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=507"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/507\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=507"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=507"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=507"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}