Also, Omni might get to test his guard theories with a potential Sweet 16 matchup between UConn and Illinois. UNC is by far the scariest team in the bottom half, but could be very upsettable by MSU. Seton Hall could even make a run, if the team that won all those nasty road games shows up instead of the one that got creamed by Duke. Wichita State couldn’t ask for a better place to show the MVC is for real.
If UCLA was a soft 2, I don’t even know what Tennessee is.
2 MVC schools so far and only 2 more can go in the last set of seedings. Looks like Missouri State isn’t going to get in. Probably because of Air Force getting in. I call shenanigans
You must be drunk, this bracket is stacked.
Minneapolis bracket announced.
Surprises:
Cincy is out.
8 Big East teams.
Nevada up to a 5 seed.
Best game, probably UW-Milwaukee vs. Oklahoma
OSU playing basically at home in Dayton as a 2 seed. Florida playing in Jacksonville. Villanova in Philly.
Most difficult brackets, in order:
- Washington
- Atlanta
- Minneapolis
- Oakland
Cinci and (especially) Missouri State got SCREWED. Hardcore.
Now that I look at it, none of the brackets are all that stacked. DC has… the biggest names, certainly. North Carolina (best but inexperienced), Illinois (up and down), MSU (VERY up and down), Tennessee (also VERY up and down), Washington (very beatable).
I think Oakland is the strongest bracket, then the other three are pretty similar… Minneapolis has by far the best 2 seed in OSU, but 3-4-5 are all very beatable. That bracket could be the most likely to hold to form, unless Georgetown can pull something.
Going to eat and watch the summary shows, will be back later.
No way Oakland is the weakest - Memphis, Gonzaga, Kansas, Pitt, Indiana, Marquette, hell even Alabama and Bucknell can all play with ANYONE (though the Zags haven’t had to for a few months).
Cincinnati got hosed out of the tourney. I can’t wait to hear how Air Force got in and they didn’t.
No way. Memphis is the worst #1 seed. It depends if you think Gonzaga is a top squad or not, I think they are overrated. Indiana in the worst Big Ten team in the tourney. Marquette hasn’t done much outside of beatng UConn, and UCLA is a really iffy #2 seed.
Compare the top 6 seeds from Washington:
#1 seeds: Memphis vs. UConn - No question UConn is better
#2 seeds: Tennessee vs. UCLA - I’d call it a push, both iffy 2-seeds
#3 seeds: Gonzaga vs. North Carolina - I like UNc better since Gonzaga has played no one since December, but this one could be in you favor if you like Gonzaga.
#4 seeds: Illinois vs Kansas - Big Ten vs the Big 12, it’s no debate.
#5 seeds: Washington vs. Pittsburgh - Washington is favored in every poll.
#6 seeds: MSU vs Indiana - I’ll go on record saying MSU is much better than IU, and I’ve seen both teams often.
If you use the polls, every matchup except for UCLA-Tenessee and Gonzaga-UNC favors the Washington bracket. If you think Gonzaga got screwed, then I suppose you have a case. I’d rather play Gonzaga over UNC every single time.
Here’s a good NCAA Bracket on ESPN that lists the sites for each first and second round pods.
Winners from a regionalization standpoint:
Duke and UNC-Wilmington playing in Greensboro.
Texas and Arkansas playing in Dallas.
Ohio State and Michigan State playing in Dayton.
Florida and Southern Alabama playing in Jacksonville.
Nevada and Montana playing in Salt Lake City.
Villanova playing in Philly.
UCLA playing in San Diego.
Losers:
Illinois going all the way to San Diego.
Iowa getting set away from Minneapolis.
UNC looking at a potential Michigan State matchup in their backyard.
BC getting shipped out to SLC facing a matchup against Nevada.
UCLA vs. Tennessee: Conference champion vs. team that lost 4 of last 6, inc. first round of conf. tournament. However much I rag on the Pac-10, there is no WAY Tennessee is a 2 seed.
Gonzaga vs. UNC: I’d say a push - I’d rather play the UNC of early in the year or the Gonzaga of late. Each has one guy that can take over a game, and some questions on the pieces around him. Gonzaga actually has more experience.
Illinois vs. Kansas: Yeah, conferences, but again, conference champion (that just beat a 2) vs. lost 4 of last 8, including first round in conf. tournament
Washington vs. Pitt: Pitt is underseeded at a 5, IMO. They just knocked off 'Nova pretty convincingly, a better 1 seed than Memphis. Washington just lost to Oregon.
MSU vs. IU: I’m with you on this one, especially since Izzo seems to know what to do when tourney time comes.
Honestly, the thing I’m most scared of in this bracket is that five-foot-whatever Squeaky guy playing point for UAB. If they sneak past Kentucky and UConn is sleeping, that could be trouble.
For what (little) it’s worth, the ESPN guys are saying that DC is the easiest and Atlanta (!) is the most difficult.
One more loser. George Washington falling from the discussion about being a possible #1 seed all the way to an #8 seed. Not only that, but they are facing a matchup against the #! overall, Duke, in Greensboro! I totally agree that they weren’t worthy of anything better than a 5 seed, but making them an 8 in that bracket is especially harsh. I think they probably should be flip-flopped with Wichita State.
That’s assuming they can get by UNC-Wilmington who will definitely have homecourt advantage in Greensboro.
I’m really skeptical of that Pitt win because 'Nova was without Ray. To use your own argument, Pitt lost 4 of it’s last 8 compared to Washington who won 8 straight before the conference tourney.
Heh, I hear you but you’re worried about that guy when Dee Brown might come calling? I’m insulted!
Billy Packer said the same thing. I think they are so blinded by their love of Duke that they can’t see clearly.
Not quite…Duke is about an hour from Greensboro, while Wilmington is 3-4 hours away. (You may be thinking of Greenville.)
Most of the people I knew in Greensboro were UNC fans, so there is a lot of anti-Duke sentiment around, but it won’t be the locals at the game.
Good point.
Earlier in this thread someone mentioned Memphis’ “much weaker schedule.” I just don’t see that. They’ve posted wins over Alabama, Gonzaga, UCLA, Tennessee, Cincinnati. A couple of other lesser wins (but wins nonetheless) against other teams that made the field of 64. A loss to Duke that really could have gone either way. Tough loss to Texas. I think their RPI is up there.
Anyway, I think **Memphis ** goes to the final 4.
First round upset? **Georgetown ** goes down.
Watch out for Boston College. I see them in the final 8.
Agree that Cincy and Missouri St. should have made it.
I’m sitting here looking at the bracket and I can’t decide if I like Southern Illinois enough to pick them over West Virginia.
Kentucky got lucky to be an 8 with the way they played against South Carolina. If they can get past UAB, they’ll have their hands full with UConn.
That’s one of the tough calls for me, too. There’s something I don’t trust about WVU. The magic doesn’t seem to be there this time. I think Kentucky and GW are going down in round one, and I can see 'Nova, Memphis and Tennessee losing the Sweet Sixteen (to BC, Kansas and Michigan State, respectively). Who knows what’ll change by the time I have to fill out my picks, though. 
I’m physically incapable of picking against the Wildcats in the first round. I’m hoping this isn’t the same UAB team that made us look bad a couple of years ago.
West Virginia has had a weird season. They looked good against a lot of Big East teams, but they had some strange losses too. I just keep looking at Southern Illinois and wondering if they can keep Pittsnogle in check. If they do beat West Virginia, they’ll make a bit of a run.
Tennessee won’t get out of the second round. They lost a bunch of winnable games at the end of the year, including South Carolina in the SEC Tournament, and their bench is too thin for them to have a lot of tournament success. Florida’s gonna go out early too, because Billy D’s Florida teams always lose games they should win in the tournament and John Pelphrey is both very familiar with his old boss’s system and auditioning for an SEC coaching job.
LSU is the only SEC team with any hope of getting out of the second round, I’d say, and even then it’s shaky. You can never predict what new way John Brady will find to give a game away.
Picking the right 5-12 upset is even harder this year, because I can see 2, maybe even 3 potential upsets. Texas A&M, Montana and possibly Utah State could get lucky and pull the upset. A&M is almost a lock, because Syracuse isn’t a 5 seed and will run out of luck after that Big East tournament.
We’re about 16 and a half hours from the opening tip and I’m getting a woody.
Here’s a interesting exerpt from ESPN’s Daily Quickie
I have to admit, it’s a reasonably compelling argument. It’s at least reasonable to consider it possible and enjoy imagining watching it on TV. The game is at 2:50 ET Friday on CBS and you can bet I’ll be focusing on this one at the bar.
As for the bracket debate, most guys have come around to seeing that the D.C. bracket is the toughest one. Lets look at the coaching match ups that UConn might be forced to play to make the Final Four.
Round 2:
Tubby Smith, career NCAA Tourney record 27-11 (.711), 6th best of active coaches.
Round 3:
Bruce Weber, career NCAA Tourney record 9-4 (.692), 8th best of active coaches
Round 4:
Roy Williams, career NCAA Tourney record 41-15 (.732), 5th best of active coaches.
Tom Izzo, career NCAA Tourney record 23-7 (.767). 2nd best of active coaches.
Bruce Pearl, career NCAA Tourney record 18-11 (.621), T-16th best of active coaches.
These are schools with serious credentials too. True that the 9-16 seeds are fairly soft, but I’d say that’s a detriment to UConn since early round upsets tend to favor the top seeds in a given bracket. The more i’ve studied this the more convinced I am that any argument that has any bracket besides the D.C. bracket as the toughest is pure lunacy.
And just to remind you, Jim Calhoun, career NCAA Tourney record 38-16 (.704), 7th best of active coaches. UConn, odds on favorite to win it all.
Thursday games I’m excited for:
(11)UW-Milwaukee vs. (5)Oklahoma, 12:25 ET - Upset special.
(15)Winthrop vs. (2)Tennessee, 2:50 ET - Possible HUGE upset over the hated Bruce Pearl.
(5)Nevada vs. (12)Montana, 3:10 ET - I love Fazekas, and 5-12 games are always must see TV.
(8)George Washington vs. (9)UNC - Wilmington, 7:10 ET - Pops could be back and he’s awesome. GW should be plenty pissed and going against a game UNC-W team practically playing at home. Going to be a tight one.
(4)Illinois vs. (13)Air Force, 7:25 ET - Um, do I really need to explain it?
(6)Indiana vs. (11)San Diego State, 9:40 ET - Mainly so I can root against IU and heckle my firneds who went there. I’m going to miss the Mike Davis era.
(5)Washington vs. (12)Utah State, 9:55 ET - Here’s the 5-12 upset special! Washington sucks on the road and USU plays tough D. If they weren’t playing the Illini in the second round they’d be my pet team.
What’s everyone doing? Planning on calling in sick?