Selection Sunday

[AE Braves Fan]

Change the seed because they are a better team than a 9-seed. Did you ever think maybe that's why they were made a 9-seed in the first place? Because it matched them with a non-bcs?

[Bravesfan]

Forgive me for continuing down this road, but:

Ok, UNLV/UNI. You don't want to see mid major vs. mid major. Ok. Send UNI somewhere else on the 9 line. Just swap with another 9 seed.

Oh wait, Wake can't swap. Maryland blocks that.

Oh wait, Louisville can't swap. They played UNLV.

Oh wait, FSU can't swap. Maryland blocks that.

Ok, let's switch out UNLV with another 8 seed.

Oh wait, Texas can't swap. Kansas blocks that.

Oh, Gonzaga fits! But UNLV can't occupy Gonzaga's spot because of BYU and the "top 3" bracketing rule.

Oh, California fits! But UNLV can't occupy Cal's spot because of Louisville's presence.


So, therefore, UNLV/UNI. That's locked in. The only other way you avoid it is if you change actual seeds. And you don't change seeds just to separate mid-majors.

Case closed.

I can do the same with every other such matchup if you want.

I agree 100% with your analysis, but what exactly is the "top 3" bracketing rule?

[Bravesfan]

Are there any teams from Illinois in the NCAA tourney? If not, how often does that happen?

I want to say this might be the second time in about four years this has happened. I could be wrong though. But before then, not very often.

[TheAsianSensation]

I agree 100% with your analysis, but what exactly is the "top 3" bracketing rule?

The top 3 teams of each conference must be in 3 separate regions (for separation).

[Tulsa Brave]

Change the seed because they are a better team than a 9-seed. Did you ever think maybe that's why they were made a 9-seed in the first place? Because it matched them with a non-bcs?

As a general rule, the mid-majors got screwed with seeding...UNI a 9, UTEP a 12, Utah State a 12, Old Dominion an 11, Temple a 5, and San Diego State an 11.

[TheAsianSensation]

THANK YOU Seth Greenberg. He's calling for consistency in the selection process. No matter what the process is, pick one and be consistent.

[TheAsianSensation]

Top RPIs left out

40 Rhode Island
44 Wichita St
46 UAB
48 Kent St
53 Memphis
54 Dayton
55 Mississippi St
58 William & Mary
59 Virginia Tech
60 Seton Hall


Have fun.

[Tulsa Brave]

Top RPIs left out

40 Rhode Island
44 Wichita St
46 UAB
48 Kent St
53 Memphis
54 Dayton
55 Mississippi St
58 William & Mary
59 Virginia Tech
60 Seton Hall


Have fun.

No one...and I mean no one...has a right to complain about being in or out this season.

It now appears to be a good thing Kentucky won today...had they lost, either Utah State or UTEP would have had a legitimate gripe. The way the brackets look, both those teams are legitimate threats to make the Sweet 16, and their 1st round games may be tougher than what their 2nd round games will be.

[Bravesfan]

The top 3 teams of each conference must be in 3 separate regions (for separation).

Ah, got it! Thanks! I'll keep that in mind when I try to pick next year's bracket. The seeding though, forget it! I'm not even trying that.

[Bravesfan]

No one...and I mean no one...has a right to complain about being in or out this season.

It now appears to be a good thing Kentucky won today...had they lost, either Utah State or UTEP would have had a legitimate gripe. The way the brackets look, both those teams are legitimate threats to make the Sweet 16, and their 1st round games may be tougher than what their 2nd round games will be.

I agree. They made the right picks. The seeding here and there was perplexing, but even that wasn't completely awful.

[BradleyBrave]

Still waiting on that bid for the Braves...

[Bravesfan]

As a general rule, the mid-majors got screwed with seeding...UNI a 9, UTEP a 12, Utah State a 12, Old Dominion an 11, Temple a 5, and San Diego State an 11.

I actually did not have a problem with most of these seeds. My major gripe was with UNI and Gonzaga.

UTEP and Utah St. both had relatively weak resumes, but deserved to at least be in the tournament by the way they dominated their respective conferences. SDSU would not have made the tourney without at least making it to the MWC championship game, so an 11 is a good seed. Temple is a low top 20 team, so a 5 is pretty decent, though they could have made a case for a 4. And ODU had a couple of great non-conference wins, so a 9 or 10 would have been better, but I think the strength of the conference affected ODU and UNI's seedings. I think a 9 seed for ODU and a 7 for UNI would have been fairer. However, an 11 is good for ODU since they won't have to meet a 1 seeded team in the second round, so they can be very dangerous. And a 7 for UNI would techincally only be one spot higher since and 8 and 9 are techinically the same seed. But a 7 seed would have been a huge difference for them. However, their overall resume was a bit weak and the Valley was down, so that's probably the reasoning behind this seed.

Gonzage though really miffs me! An 8 seed for a team that plays one of the toughest non-conference schedules in the country? I know they lost several of those games, but I thought they deserved at least a 6 or 7! But that's the seeding process. Not great, but maybe not as bad as I originally thought, though a few BCS teams were greatly overseeded as well.

And don't get me started on Florida! If I were Mississippi St. I would be royally upset! Obviously their conference tournament run did them no good. I'm not sure MSU deserved to be there either, but that goes ten times as much for Florida!

[daPAWW1]

UNI - The Double DoDa Kiss of Death Seed!

I'm sure UNI is elated to be in the field of 64 but getting matched up in the 8-9 game with UNLV with the prospect of Kansas next can't be good for the Valley! If Kansas is the committee's pick as the #1 overall seed then UNI must have shook out at #36 overall - that's how much they think of us! So was UNI punished for their poor SOS or the overall poor SOS for the league, or both? I'm not complaining but wouldn't we have actually been better off if UNI had received a 10 to 13 seed in one of the weaker brackets?

By the way what was our overall league SOS rating and how did it stack up against the non BCS leagues?

[lake Camelot]

Are there any teams from Illinois in the NCAA tourney? If not, how often does that happen?

Nope but there are plenty of Illinois players.
Top of my head-

Collins Kansas
Sheyer Duke
Shumpert GA Tech

I'm sure there are bunches more. Now the U of I seems to be keeping some home, but the top recruits have been fleeing the state.

[SFP]

I'm not big on the seedings and yes to me UNI got shafted but they play a style of ball that can win against KU. UNI is everything KU is not and there is no way KU will be able to pound the ball inside and run against them. We did it why not them! I'll be a UNI fan for this tourney, no doubt. KU has a bunch of thugs on their roster.