Bracketosophy: I Don't Want To Hear About Who Got Robbed
By Jason Lisk
I’m looking at the final teams and struggling to distinguish them, but it’s not because I think they are overly deserving. Some of that room will be whittled down by the tournament results this week in the smaller conferences, but it still is a lot of mediocrity near the cutoff. I’m not opposed in principle to expanding the field to 68 teams. My problem with it is a practical one–from a competitive standpoint, it was unnecessary.
The difference between football and basketball is that there is a legitimate argument that the third or fourth teams could have a realistic stake to a national championship. In basketball, though, none of the teams that will be debated in or out as those last three at-larges will have a legitimate chance to make the Final Four or win a championship. The lowest seed to advance to the Final Four in the last 25 years are two #11 seeds (George Mason, LSU).
Next week, in the final installment before the major conference tourneys begin, I hope to take a look at whether the committee fairly evaluates conference tournament results, based on how teams perform in the NCAA tournament. Heading into the final week, I think 7 teams have separated themselves and have pretty much locked up their spots on the #1 and #2 seed lines (Ohio State, Kansas, BYU, Duke, Pitt, Texas, Purdue) with only movement within that group to be determined. I’ve heard lots of people say that this is going to be a wild tournament. Always probably true, but I see the weakness and balance really starting at around the 4 seeds, and don’t really see much separation between the #4’s through the #9’s or #10’s. That’s where I see the potential for chaos. I don’t think there is a dominant #1 seed, but I do think all those teams are legitimate teams that are worthy of being seeded at #2 or higher.
BY SEED
#1 Seeds: Ohio State*, Kansas*, BYU*, Duke*
#2 Seeds: Pittsburgh*, Texas, Purdue, San Diego State
#3 Seeds: Georgetown, North Carolina, Notre Dame, Wisconsin
#4 Seeds: Kentucky, Florida*, Syracuse, Louisville
#5 Seeds: UCONN, St. John’s, Arizona, Utah State*
#6 Seeds: George Mason*, Vanderbilt, West Virginia, Villanova
#7 Seeds: Kansas State, Xavier*, UNLV, Washington
#8 Seeds: Temple, Missouri, Texas A&M, Old Dominion
#9 Seeds: Cincinnati, Illinois, Florida State, UCLA
#10 Seeds: Michigan State, Virginia Tech, UAB*, Belmont*
#11 Seeds: Tennessee, Marquette, Cleveland State*, Georgia
#12 Seeds: Southern Miss, Butler, Alabama+, Colorado State+, Michigan+, Gonzaga+
#13 Seeds: Princeton*, St. Mary’s*, Missouri State*, Charleston*
#14 Seeds: Oakland*, Coastal Carolina*, Iona*, Bucknell*
#15 Seeds: Vermont*, Akron*, Montana*, Long Beach State*
#16 Seeds: Long Island*, Morehead State*, Hampton*+, Florida Atlantic*+, McNeese State*+, Texas Southern*+
BY CONFERENCE (for all conferences with at least one team seeded 12 or higher):
Big East: Pittsburgh (2), Notre Dame (3), Georgetown (3), Syracuse (4), Louisville (4), Connecticut (5), St. John’s (5), Villanova (6), West Virginia (6), Cincinnati (9), Marquette (11)
Big Ten: Ohio State (1), Purdue (2), Wisconsin (3), Illinois (9), Michigan State (10), Michigan (12)
Big XII: Kansas (1), Texas (2), Kansas State (7), Missouri (8), Texas A&M (8)
Mountain West: BYU (1), San Diego State (2), UNLV (7), Colorado State (12)
Atlantic Coast: Duke (1), North Carolina (3), Florida State (9), Virginia Tech (10)
Pac-10: Arizona (5), Washington (7), UCLA (9)
Southeastern: Florida (4), Kentucky (4), Vanderbilt (6), Tennessee (11), Georgia (11), Alabama (12)
Western Athletic: Utah State (5)
Colonial Athletic: George Mason (6), Old Dominion (8)
Atlantic 10: Xavier (7), Temple (8)
West Coast: Gonzaga (12), St. Mary’s (13)
Conference USA: UAB (10), Southern Miss (12)
Horizon: Cleveland State (11), Butler (12)
NOTABLES ON THE OUTSIDE:
First five out: UTEP, Colorado, Memphis, Clemson, USC
ACC: Boston College, Maryland, Clemson; Pac-10: USC, Washington State; Big XII: Colorado, Nebraska, Oklahoma State, Baylor; Conference USA: UTEP, Memphis; Atlantic 10: Richmond, Duquesne; Colonial: Virginia Commonwealth; Big Ten: Penn State, Minnesota; SEC: Ole Miss; IVY: Harvard; Missouri Valley: Wichita State.
[photo via Getty]