How a bracket is built

[TheAsianSensation]

I'm working on a bit of a project, and I decided I would drag this onto this board as an educational piece.

Every year, people wonder how corrupt the NCAA is for putting two mid majors against each other in the first round, trying to get rid of them...or trying to set up Kentucky/Duke again....or why they hate team X so much. Well, I'm here to explain how they go from S-curve to bracket, and why there is virtually no chance of manipulation in the entire process.

What I'm going to do is take the committee's S-curve, which was released on Sunday, and build my own bracket based on their S-curve. I will take you through the entire bracketing process and show how we arrived at this year's bracket. Hopefully this finally puts to rest all conspiracy theories once and for all.

Note: I will be using the committee's S-curve. We can obviously disagree on some of the placements, but the idea of this essay is not to argue the rankings, but to argue how to bracket once the ratings are set in stone.

At the end of this thread, I will have a complete bracket built, and we will see if there are any differences between this bracket and the actual bracket. I doubt so.

My hypothesis: once the rankings are done, the bracket builds itself, i.e., there is no flexibility in rigging matchups. And since the rankings are done with no knowledge of how they'll translate into the bracket, there is no way for the committee to set up any desired matchup.

[TheAsianSensation]

This is the S-curve the committee released:

1-4) Kentucky, Syracuse, UNC, Michigan St
5-8 )Kansas, Dook, Ohio St, Missou
9-12) Baylor, Marquette, Fla St, G'town
13-16) Michigan, Wisky, Indiana, Louisville
17-20) Temple, Vandy, Wichita St, New Mexico
21-24) UNLV, Cincy, Murray St, San Diego St
25-28 )UND, St Mary's, Gonzaga, Florida
29-32) Creighton, Iowa St, Memphis, Kansas St
33-36) Bama, UConn, S. Miss, St Louis
37-40) Purdue, W. Virginia, Virginia, Xavier
41-44) Colo St, NC State, Texas, Colorado
45-48 )Cal, Harvard, USF, BYU
49-52) VCU, Iona, Long Beach St, Ohio
53-56) Davidson, NM State, Montana, S Dakota St
57-60) Belmont, Bonaventure, LoyolaMD, Lehigh
61-64) Detroit, Norfolk St, LIU, UNCA
65-68 )Lamar, Vermont, MVSU, WKU

[tornado]

In day 1 of the NCAA ...
West Virginia (losers 77-54 losers to Gonzaga) and UConn (77-64 losers to Iowa State) proved they simply did not belong in the NCAA...

This is a year-in and year-out occurrence...where the Selection Committee bows down tot he Big East and honors them with somewhere around 17 at large bids....only to have just about all of them bomb out...

UNLV also proved vastly overated...

Quit giving bids to the 10th best teams in your favorite east coast conferences, and give them to Drexel or even Bucknell!!!

[TheAsianSensation]

Step 1: The First Four

Before anything else, the committee must finalize the first four matchups in order to get the teams to Dayton.

At-large games:
BYU, Iona, Cal, and USF are the first four teams that need to go to Dayton. First things first, BYU's No Sunday rule means they need a Tuesday-Thursday-Saturday path. Next, among Iona, Cal, and USF, Iona has by far the easiest travel to Dayton. Therefore, they play on Tuesday in order to give Cal and USF the extra travel day.

Just like that, we've got BYU/Iona and Cal/USF pairings. Not because the committee wanted mid vs. mid to get rid of them....but because of religion and geography.

Later we're going to see the problems BYU is going to cause.

Autobid games:
WKU, MVSU, Lamar, Vermont are your 4 teams.

Travel considerations dominate here too. WKU is the easy choice to play on Tuesday. But the other spot? It's close, but MVSU is closest. Vermont is a bit farther away from Dayton than MVSU. So WKU/MVSU and Vermont/Lamar default to your matchups, with the closer teams playing on Tuesday.

[TheAsianSensation]

Step 2
The 1 line

Here is a step where I feel the committee has deviated from its own rules. According to them, they seed the 16 teams first and then select regionals. However, based on their comments, it appears they slot a team and assign them their 2 sites BEFORE slotting their next team. They are emphasizing geography more than the rules state they should.

With that in mind, let's address the 1 line.

The #1 overall seed is Kentucky. Playing their first two in Louisville is a no-brainer. But what about the next 2? Midwest (St Louis) or South (Atlanta)? St Louis is technically closer, but Kentucky has a bigger fanbase in Atlanta. Therefore, Atlanta should be the choice, as it was. People commented about North Carolina: Why not UNC in Atlanta and Kentucky in StL for the best overall fit? Because of this: If UK is the #1 seed, they shouldn't cowtow to anyone, period. They get their best fit regardless of what anyone else wants. Which is fair.

The #2 overall seed is Syracuse. Pittsburgh/Boston (East) seems painfully obvious, so I won't spend any time on it.

The #3 overall is UNC. Greensboro is obvious, and St Louis is much better than Phoenix.

The #4 overall is Michigan St. Their best sub-regional site is Columbus, and they're forced to Phoenix.

Why not Michigan St in St Louis and UNC in Phoenix? For the same reasons I mentioned above in the Kentucky paragraph.

Bracket to date:

SOUTH
@Louisville
1) Kentucky vs. 16)

WEST
@Columbus
1) Michigan St vs. 16)

MIDWEST
@Greensboro
1) North Carolina vs. 16)

EAST
@Pittsburgh
1) Syracuse vs. 16)

[TheAsianSensation]

The 2 line

Now comes the tricky part. You'd assume the 5th overall team slots with the 4th, 6th with 3rd, and so on. Nope. First off, due to conference affiliations, you have to deviate from it anyways. But even more so, apparently geography means that much to the committee.

The committee does a process where they add up all the overall seeds of the top 4 teams in a region. As long as those numbers are close to each other, they consider the region balanced. In other words, if the #1 and #5 teams end up in the same region, you'll likely see #12 and #16 with them.

With that in mind, the 2 line:

#5 Kansas: Omaha and St Louis are the obvious choices. Note that this puts #5 with #3 UNC in the midwest.

#6 Duke: Greensboro it is. Now, for the second weekend, it's either Atlanta, Boston, or Phoenix. Atlanta is the obvious choice. Now, Kentucky is there too! So Duke/Kentucky is set up because of geography, not any premeditated action.

#7 Ohio St. Louisville is their best sub-regional site. And they're locked into Boston (with Syracuse) because Michigan State is out west.

#8 Missouri. Omaha is their best fit, and they're forced out west to Phoenix (which is a solid option nonetheless).

So you see our first problem. #4 overall and #8 overall in the same region. Look for tough 3-4 seeds in the west in the future.


SOUTH
@Louisville
1) Kentucky vs. 16)

@Greensboro
2) Duke vs. 15)

WEST
@Columbus
1) Michigan St vs. 16)

@Omaha
2) Missouri vs. 15)

MIDWEST
@Greensboro
1) North Carolina vs. 16)

@Omaha
2) Kansas vs. 15)

EAST
@Pittsburgh
1) Syracuse vs. 16)

@Pittsburgh
2) Ohio St vs. 15)


Sites left: Portland, Portland, Albuquerque, Albuquerque, Nashville, Nashville, Louisville, Columbus

edit: reassigning Ohio State to Pittsburgh instead of Louisville. This is what the NCAA did, and after investigating the mileage, they're correct.

[TheAsianSensation]

The 3 line

Baylor is next up. They get Albuquerque first. Now, conference affiliations matter. Because of MU/KU, Baylor has to either go to the South or East regionals.

Marquette's best fit is Louisville. They need anywhere but the East.

Florida St takes Nashville. They need either the East or West regional.

And finally Georgetown, who takes Louisville and needs anywhere but the East.

Now, the committee has a conundrum with Baylor. South or East?
Competitive balance says Baylor needs to go East. Geography says South is significantly better. However, a 3rd factor makes Baylor lean towards the South, as follows:

If Baylor goes to the East, then Florida St has to go to the West regional. Which is terrible for 2 reason: 1) Geography and 2) Competitive balance. Remember when I said earlier that Michigan St/Missouri needed the strongest 3rd seed possible for balance? Since Baylor can't go there, Marquette HAS to go there in the attempt to balance regions.

So just like that, Marquette has to go west, so Florida St has to go East, so Baylor has to go South. And that forces Georgetown into the midwest. Just like that, every puzzle piece fits.

SOUTH
@Louisville
1) Kentucky vs. 16)

@Albuquerque
3) Baylor vs. 14)

@Greensboro
2) Duke vs. 15)

WEST
@Columbus
1) Michigan St vs. 16)

@Louisville
3) Marquette vs. 14)

@Omaha
2) Missouri vs. 15)

MIDWEST
@Greensboro
1) North Carolina vs. 16)

@Columbus
3) Georgetown vs. 14)

@Omaha
2) Kansas vs. 15)

EAST
@Pittsburgh
1) Syracuse vs. 16)

@Nashville
3) Florida St vs. 14)

@Pittsburgh
2) Ohio St vs. 15)

Sites left: Portland, Portland, Albuquerque, Nashville

[TheAsianSensation]

The 4 line

The teams: Michigan, Wisky, Indiana, Louisville
The sites: Portland, Portland, Albuquerque, Nashville

Someone's going to get a bum rap here. Michigan will claim the non-western site. Albuquerque is next best and Wisky will take that. Indiana and Louisville at SOL.

Now, the trickier part - slotting them all in the bracket.

Initial restraints:
Louisville can't be in the east
Michigan as the 3rd Big 10 team can't be in the east or west. However, since Wisky and Indiana are 4 and 5, they can be grouped in the same regional with any other big 10 team as long as it isn't in the same half of the regional. Therefore, Indiana and Wisky can't be in the west either.

Well if Michigan, Wisky, and Indiana can't be in the west, I guess that leaves Louisville!

So how do we decide what to do with the three Big 10 teams? We add up the overall seeds as described above. Let's see which regions are the least balanced.

SOUTH 16
MIDWEST 20
EAST 20

Sounds like the South needs the worst available team. According to their S-curve, that's Indiana.

But wait! That's Kentucky's regional! You just set up Kentucky/Indiana!

Yep. I sure did. And notice the lack of bias or interest in storylines on my part. It just fell that way. Kentucky/Indiana just fell into our laps through no bias.

Michigan then goes to the midwest and Wisky to the east based on Michigan's restrictions above.

Now that we're done with the top 16, let's add up the seeds again

South 31
West 38
Midwest 33
East 34

Oh boy, the west. That's an issue. But what can we really do? You have 4 Big 10 teams and 4 Big East teams in the top 16. There's virtually no flexibility to be had here. You could switch Missouri/Kansas to get the west down to 36 and the midwest up to 35, but then that means Kansas plays in Phoenix and Missouri in St Louis despite Kansas being the higher seed. Is that fair? No!

So we're stuck with that imbalance.


SOUTH
@Louisville
1) Kentucky vs. 16)

@Portland
4) Indiana vs. 13)

@Albuquerque
3) Baylor vs. 14)

@Greensboro
2) Duke vs. 15)

WEST
@Columbus
1) Michigan St vs. 16)

@Portland
4) Louisville vs. 13)

@Louisville
3) Marquette vs. 14)

@Omaha
2) Missouri vs. 15)

MIDWEST
@Greensboro
1) North Carolina vs. 16)

@Nashville
4) Michigan vs. 13)

@Columbus
3) Georgetown vs. 14)

@Omaha
2) Kansas vs. 15)

EAST
@Pittsburgh
1) Syracuse vs. 16)

@Albuquerque
4) Wisconsin vs. 13)

@Nashville
3) Florida St vs. 14)

@Pittsburgh
2) Ohio St vs. 15)

[TheAsianSensation]

The 5 line

The teams: Temple, Vandy, Wichita St, New Mexico

Restrictions: New Mexico can't be in the east (Albuquerque sub-regional)
Vandy can't be in the south (Kentucky). Also, they preferably shouldn't be in the midwest (Nashville is the host for the 5 seed in this regional, and while Vandy specifically isn't the host site, them playing in Nashville is a bit of a dis-service.

So we actually have a fair bit of flexibility at this point.

The 4 sites these teams will funnel to are Portland, Portland, Nashville, and Albuquerque. Only one team can stay east. Temple, being the highest ranked of them, deserve that privilege. Temple to the midwest regional.

Now, since New Mexico has to go to Portland, there are two options: Send Vandy to Albuquerque and Wichita to Portland, or vice versa. And they'd like to follow the S-curve if possible.

I would send Vandy to Albuquerque and Wichita to Portland in this particular case. Both teams travel a long way. However, look at the alternative: Wichita travels a shorter distance and Vandy goes a loooong way to Portland. Seems to be the better fit; but if you have Vandy as a better team than Wichita on the S-Curve, isn't that unfair to Vandy?

So Vandy to Albuquerque and the east regional and Wichita and New Mexico to Portland. Now which to which bracket? Since there's no geographical considerations, you can then follow the S-Curve. The worst 4 gets the best 5. Wichita/Louisville and UNM/Indiana are the choices then. We'll make a mental note with these 2 spots, though. These can be flipped if we encounter further trouble in the bracket.

*note that this is the first time we've hit a point that this bracket differs from the NCAA's bracket.

SOUTH
@Louisville
1) Kentucky vs. 16)

@Portland
4) Indiana vs. 13)
5) New Mexico vs. 12)

@Albuquerque
3) Baylor vs. 14)

@Greensboro
2) Duke vs. 15)

WEST
@Columbus
1) Michigan St vs. 16)

@Portland
4) Louisville vs. 13)
5) Wichita St vs. 12)

@Louisville
3) Marquette vs. 14)

@Omaha
2) Missouri vs. 15)

MIDWEST
@Greensboro
1) North Carolina vs. 16)

@Nashville
4) Michigan vs. 13)
5) Temple vs. 12)

@Columbus
3) Georgetown vs. 14)

@Omaha
2) Kansas vs. 15)

EAST
@Pittsburgh
1) Syracuse vs. 16)

@Albuquerque
4) Wisconsin vs. 13)
5) Vanderbilt vs. 12)

@Nashville
3) Florida St vs. 14)

@Pittsburgh
2) Ohio St vs. 15)

[TheAsianSensation]

The 6 line

Teams: UNLV, Cincy, Murray St, San Diego St
Restrictions: Cincy needs to avoid the west or midwest because of conference conflicts. UNLV and SDSU should avoid New Mexico, but we have flexibility if needed.
Sites: Albuquerque (South), Louisville (west), Columbus (midwest), Nashville (east)

Well obviously one of the mountain west schools and Albuquerque is a natural fit. Murray St and Cincy fit so well with any of the other 3 spots.

UNLV is the highest 6 so let's send them to Albuquerque and the South. This means Cincy has to fit in the East because of other conflicts, so send them to Nashville.

Murray St is a better fit for Louisville than Columbus, so they go there for now, SDSU to Columbus. Also, there's a bit of concern about SDSU playing in Phoenix if they get that far, which bolsters this selection. But yet again, let's put an asterisk here, because we have plenty of maneuverability if we need it.

SOUTH
@Louisville
1) Kentucky vs. 16)

@Portland
4) Indiana vs. 13)
5) New Mexico vs. 12)

@Albuquerque
3) Baylor vs. 14)
6) UNLV vs. 11)

@Greensboro
2) Duke vs. 15)

WEST
@Columbus
1) Michigan St vs. 16)

@Portland
4) Louisville vs. 13)
5) Wichita St vs. 12)

@Louisville
3) Marquette vs. 14)
6) Murray St vs. 11)

@Omaha
2) Missouri vs. 15)

MIDWEST
@Greensboro
1) North Carolina vs. 16)

@Nashville
4) Michigan vs. 13)
5) Temple vs. 12)

@Columbus
3) Georgetown vs. 14)
6) San Diego St vs. 11)

@Omaha
2) Kansas vs. 15)

EAST
@Pittsburgh
1) Syracuse vs. 16)

@Albuquerque
4) Wisconsin vs. 13)
5) Vanderbilt vs. 12)

@Nashville
3) Florida St vs. 14)
6) Cincinnati vs. 11)

@Pittsburgh
2) Ohio St vs. 15)

[TheAsianSensation]

The 7 line:

Teams: UND, St Mary's, Gonzaga, Florida

Restrictions: Florida can't be in the south or east (conference conflicts)
Notre Dame can't be in the west, midwest, or east because of sharing a half-regional with a fellow conference member if possible. Not mandatory but preferred.

So, um, looks like Notre Dame has a spot in the South!

Sites: Greensboro (south), Omaha (west), Omaha (midwest), Pittsburgh (east)

Well, Florida, since UND claimed G'boro, has to go to Omaha in either the west or midwest. We have no preference yet of which one.

St Mary's is ranked above Gonzaga. So St Mary's should go to Omaha and Gonzaga to Pittsburgh and get that travel consideration. Therefore Gonzaga ends up in the east regional (and sets up a much-talked about situation we'll get to when we place West Virginia).

Earlier on the 6 line, we kept SDSU from playing in Phoenix. This same logic means St Mary's to the midwest and Florida to the west to keep geographical disadvantages from occurring.

SOUTH
@Louisville
1) Kentucky vs. 16)

@Portland
4) Indiana vs. 13)
5) New Mexico vs. 12)

@Albuquerque
3) Baylor vs. 14)
6) UNLV vs. 11)

@Greensboro
2) Duke vs. 15)
7) Notre Dame vs. 10)

WEST
@Columbus
1) Michigan St vs. 16)

@Portland
4) Louisville vs. 13)
5) Wichita St vs. 12)

@Louisville
3) Marquette vs. 14)
6) Murray St vs. 11)

@Omaha
2) Missouri vs. 15)
7) Florida vs. 10)

MIDWEST
@Greensboro
1) North Carolina vs. 16)

@Nashville
4) Michigan vs. 13)
5) Temple vs. 12)

@Columbus
3) Georgetown vs. 14)
6) San Diego St vs. 11)

@Omaha
2) Kansas vs. 15)
7) St Mary's vs. 10)

EAST
@Pittsburgh
1) Syracuse vs. 16)

@Albuquerque
4) Wisconsin vs. 13)
5) Vanderbilt vs. 12)

@Nashville
3) Florida St vs. 14)
6) Cincinnati vs. 11)

@Pittsburgh
2) Ohio St vs. 15)
7) Gonzaga vs. 10)

[TheAsianSensation]

The 8 line:

Teams: Creighton, Iowa St, Memphis, Kansas St
Restrictions: Creighton can't be in the west (Wichita St). Surprisingly, that's it.
The sites: Louisville (south), Pittsburgh (east), Greensboro (midwest), Columbus (west)

The 9 line:

Teams: Bama, UConn, S. Miss, St Louis
Restrictions: Memphis/S Miss can't be a matchup, obviously. UConn can't be in the east. St Louis can't be in the midwest (double reason! St Louis hosts the midwest already, and Temple blocks it anyways). Alabama can't be in the south.
The sites: same as above

We have so many options. Each of the four sites are relatively near each other, so there's no real disadvantage or advantage towards any individual school here.

Creighton being the highest 8, gets the midwest and St Louis. Omaha to St Louis is just long enough a distance to make me feel more comfortable about this than the SDSU/Phoenix situation. This means G'boro for Creighton.

Let's put Memphis in Louisville/Atlanta for now. That's the next best geographical fit. Iowa St and Kansas St will have to travel a decent amount no matter what, so let's serve Memphis while we can. Iowa St to Columbus, K-State to Pittsburgh.

Now to the 9 line. Among the four early sites, Alabama and Greensboro is the best natural fit among all teams. Next, we need either St Louis or Southern Miss in Pittsburgh (UConn is blocked by Syracuse from going here). St Louis is the better geographical fit.

Finally, SMU/Memphis can't happen, so Iowa St/Southern Miss has to. Finally, Memphis/UConn locks in.

SOUTH
@Louisville
1) Kentucky vs. 16)
Memphis vs. 9) Connecticut

@Portland
4) Indiana vs. 13)
5) New Mexico vs. 12)

@Albuquerque
3) Baylor vs. 14)
6) UNLV vs. 11)

@Greensboro
2) Duke vs. 15)
7) Notre Dame vs. 10)

WEST
@Columbus
1) Michigan St vs. 16)
Iowa St vs. 9) Southern Miss

@Portland
4) Louisville vs. 13)
5) Wichita St vs. 12)

@Louisville
3) Marquette vs. 14)
6) Murray St vs. 11)

@Omaha
2) Missouri vs. 15)
7) Florida vs. 10)

MIDWEST
@Greensboro
1) North Carolina vs. 16)
Creighton vs. 9) Alabama

@Nashville
4) Michigan vs. 13)
5) Temple vs. 12)

@Columbus
3) Georgetown vs. 14)
6) San Diego St vs. 11)

@Omaha
2) Kansas vs. 15)
7) St Mary's vs. 10)

EAST
@Pittsburgh
1) Syracuse vs. 16)
Kansas St vs. 9) St Louis

@Albuquerque
4) Wisconsin vs. 13)
5) Vanderbilt vs. 12)

@Nashville
3) Florida St vs. 14)
6) Cincinnati vs. 11)

@Pittsburgh
2) Ohio St vs. 15)
7) Gonzaga vs. 10)

[TheAsianSensation]

The 10 line
Purdue, W. Virginia, Virginia, Xavier

Restrictions:
Purdue can't be in the east
West Virginia can't be in the east, west, midwest, or south
Virginia can't be in the south or east
Xavier can't be in the east or midwest

So, we may have a problem with West Virginia here. The seeds of the Big East teams causing conflict are 3, 3, 6, and 7. A 10 seed won't play a 3 or 6 until the sweet 16, while the 7 is obviously a problem. However, that 7 seed is Notre Dame. Recall above, UND's hand was forced into that specific bracket spot because of other Big East conflicts. We really can't move the 3 seeds either because of that process...so let's take a look at Cincy on the 6 line. We have one possible legal switch with Cincy - UNLV. They swap, then Gonzaga and Notre Dame swap on the 7 line. But that really messes up travel 3 of the schools - UNLV from Albuquerque to G'boro and UND from G'boro to Albuquerque

The NCAA has the other option to simply place the 10 seed with the 6 seed it conflicts with. So I predict they would take on the conflict to protect geography. So West Virginia to the east.

But wait a second! That means WVU/Gonzaga in Pittsburgh!

Gulp.

If we do the swap described above, Gonzaga/WVU would wind up in Greensboro. That's still pretty bad for Gonzaga. Ugh. The NCAA did not make this switch, I guess if Gonzaga is getting screwed, they may as well make it a 90% screwing instead of an 80% screwing. And frankly, I agree.

No swaps of anything, send West Virginia to the east.


Let's take a look at the 3 other spots where the 10 seeds can go then: Omaha x2, Greensboro. Virginia has to go to Omaha (Dook block). Let's send Purdue to Omaha instead of Xavier.

Purdue and Virginia are interchangable with Florida and St Mary's, so go to the S-curve to determine the matchups. St Mary's/Virginia is the indication.



SOUTH
@Louisville
1) Kentucky vs. 16)
Memphis vs. 9) Connecticut

@Portland
4) Indiana vs. 13)
5) New Mexico vs. 12)

@Albuquerque
3) Baylor vs. 14)
6) UNLV vs. 11)

@Greensboro
2) Duke vs. 15)
7) Notre Dame vs. 10) Xavier

WEST
@Columbus
1) Michigan St vs. 16)
Iowa St vs. 9) Southern Miss

@Portland
4) Louisville vs. 13)
5) Wichita St vs. 12)

@Louisville
3) Marquette vs. 14)
6) Murray St vs. 11)

@Omaha
2) Missouri vs. 15)
7) Florida vs. 10) Purdue

MIDWEST
@Greensboro
1) North Carolina vs. 16)
Creighton vs. 9) Alabama

@Nashville
4) Michigan vs. 13)
5) Temple vs. 12)

@Columbus
3) Georgetown vs. 14)
6) San Diego St vs. 11)

@Omaha
2) Kansas vs. 15)
7) St Mary's vs. 10) Virginia

EAST
@Pittsburgh
1) Syracuse vs. 16)
Kansas St vs. 9) St Louis

@Albuquerque
4) Wisconsin vs. 13)
5) Vanderbilt vs. 12)

@Nashville
3) Florida St vs. 14)
6) Cincinnati vs. 11)

@Pittsburgh
2) Ohio St vs. 15)
7) Gonzaga vs. 10) West Virginia

[tornado]

TAS - now, you have to realize this thread is already sooooo long and so complex...and puzzling - that you're gonna need to put some kind of summary as to what this is all about..I have no clue..

[TheAsianSensation]

The 11 line

Colo St, NC State, Texas, Colorado

Right off the bat, NC State has to go to the west regional because ACC teams block them from the other 3. With that spot taken, and MWC teams blocking other sites, Colorado St has no choice but to go east. However, Texas is blocked from going into the south and midwest by Big 12 teams.

Uh oh.

We finally have a situation where we physically cannot fit this group of 4 teams into the bracket.

Since some of the conflicts are caused by 10 seeds, let's look at them first. We said Purdue/Virginia were interchangeable, so let's change them.

If we do that, we can stick NC State in the midwest. This lets Texas find a home in the east. Then Colorado St has to go in the west (UNLV is in the south). Colorado goes to the south. It's a tight fit, but everyone finds a home.

SOUTH
@Louisville
1) Kentucky vs. 16)
Memphis vs. 9) Connecticut

@Portland
4) Indiana vs. 13)
5) New Mexico vs. 12)

@Albuquerque
3) Baylor vs. 14)
6) UNLV vs. 11) Colorado

@Greensboro
2) Duke vs. 15)
7) Notre Dame vs. 10) Xavier

WEST
@Columbus
1) Michigan St vs. 16)
Iowa St vs. 9) Southern Miss

@Portland
4) Louisville vs. 13)
5) Wichita St vs. 12)

@Louisville
3) Marquette vs. 14)
6) Murray St vs. 11) Colorado St

@Omaha
2) Missouri vs. 15)
7) Florida vs. 10) Virginia

MIDWEST
@Greensboro
1) North Carolina vs. 16)
Creighton vs. 9) Alabama

@Nashville
4) Michigan vs. 13)
5) Temple vs. 12)

@Columbus
3) Georgetown vs. 14)
6) San Diego St vs. 11) North Carolina St

@Omaha
2) Kansas vs. 15)
7) St Mary's vs. 10) Purdue

EAST
@Pittsburgh
1) Syracuse vs. 16)
Kansas St vs. 9) St Louis

@Albuquerque
4) Wisconsin vs. 13)
5) Vanderbilt vs. 12)

@Nashville
3) Florida St vs. 14)
6) Cincinnati vs. 11) Texas

@Pittsburgh
2) Ohio St vs. 15)
7) Gonzaga vs. 10) West Virginia