How a bracket is built

[TheAsianSensation]

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..

No problem. As I said, the audience here is not my target audience as I'm writing this.

The overall point I'm trying to prove is the inflexibility in the brackets and I'll recap it when I'm done.

[TheAsianSensation]

BYU is on the 12 line, so first things first: Let's find them a 12 seed that gives them a pair of Thursday/Saturday games. (12 and 13 seeds have the same gamedates)

BYU needs to be in the East or West regionals.

But the NCAA also has scheduling rules for the first four. The NCAA said they wouldn't send a first four winner out west in a Tuesday/Thursday format. Two of the Thursday sites are Albuquerque and Portland...can't send them there. Which means BYU HAS to be sent to one of the other two sites (Pittsburgh and Louisville).

Pittsburgh hosts.... 1 v 16, 8 v 9, 2 v 15 and 7 v 10. Oops.
Louisville hosts.... 1 vs 16, 8 v 9, 3 v 14, 6 v 11. Oooooops.

So the committee either has to send BYU to the 11 or 14 line, or send them from Tuesday in Dayton to Thursday in Portland (or Albuquerque, but Portland is preferred since BYU is close to Albuquerque).

Clearly the right move is BYU to be an 11 seed in Louisville (they actually chose 14, which is a mistake). The good news is that Colorado St can be a simple swap down to a 12 seed.

BUT

Colorado St at large as a 12, and a play-in winner as an 11? Oh no oh no oh no. The NCAA panicked here, saw that, and made BYU/Iona the 14 instead because of public perception of the seeds. There's no automatic qualifiers anywhere nearby for the NCAA to swap, either. Since the first four have to be the lowest 4 seeded teams, BYU/Iona is shuffled to the 14 line. Completely unfair.

Now with that, let's talk about the 12 line in full.

Cal/USF, Harvard, VCU, Long Beach St are the next teams in line according to the S-Curve.

First things first, with all the Big East schools, we actually have a spot in the midwest bracket where neither Cal or USF has a conflict.

The other 3 teams here are going to Albuquerque or Portland. Harvard being highest gets Albuquerque, the preferred of the 2 sites for the east coast team. Long Beach St played Louisville, so let's keep them away from them, we can do that by putting them in the south. VCU by default goes to the west.

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

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

@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) VCU

@Louisville
3) Marquette vs. 14) BYU/Iona
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) California/South Florida

@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) Harvard

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

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

[TheAsianSensation]

13-16 seed line fill-ins are academic. Quick thoughts:

13 line: Ohio, Davidson, NM State, Montana - Montana is too close to Portland, not close enough to Albuquerque so they funnel there. NM State to Portland, obviously. Ohio gets Nashville since they're seeded higher than Davidson - Davidson goes to Portland.

But remember! Davidson played Wichita St, and New Mexico played New Mexico St this year. That takes some options away.

14 line: S Dakota St, Belmont, Bonaventure, BYU/Iona - we discussed BYU above. SDSU fits in Albuquerque well. Belmont in Nashville is a bit TOO unfair to Florida St, so Bonaventure has to go there.

15 line: LoyolaMD, Lehigh, Detroit, Norfolk St. Loyola MD gets Pittsburgh site as the highest of these seeds, and Lehigh as second highest gets Greensboro. Other 2 get Omaha. Detroit is ranked higher so they get Missou, not Kansas. Simple!

16 line: LIU, UNCA, Lamar, Vermont, MVSU, WKU - The Tuesday winner should go to Kentucky. Syracuse however is also at a Thursday site, so the Wednesday winner need a Fri/Sun site. Enter UNC! LIU and UNCA are geographical washes so give the worse team (UNCA) to the better 1 seed ('Cuse).

SOUTH
@Louisville
1) Kentucky vs. 16) Western Kentucky/Mississippi Valley St
Memphis vs. 9) Connecticut

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

@Nashville
4) Michigan vs. 13) Ohio
5) Temple vs. 12) California/South Florida

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

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

EAST
@Pittsburgh
1) Syracuse vs. 16) North Carolina-Asheville
Kansas St vs. 9) St Louis

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

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

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

[TheAsianSensation]

And the final change:

Memphis in Louisville continues to look fishy. Let's revisit this. I'm making that change. But in order to make it, I have to move them to the next closest site: Columbus. So swap Iowa St and Memphis.

Then I need to swap S. Miss to accommodate this change. St Louis is in the best position to swap with S. Miss without conflict.

I misjudged the Memphis playing in Louisville thing, so I corrected that mistake.

So this is my final bracket:

SOUTH
@Louisville
1) Kentucky vs. 16) Western Kentucky/Mississippi Valley St
Iowa St vs. 9) Connecticut

@Portland
4) Indiana vs. 13) Davidson
5) New Mexico vs. 12) Long Beach St

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

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

WEST
@Columbus
1) Michigan St vs. 16) Long Island
Memphis vs. 9) St Louis

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

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

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

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

@Nashville
4) Michigan vs. 13) Ohio
5) Temple vs. 12) California/South Florida

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

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

EAST
@Pittsburgh
1) Syracuse vs. 16) North Carolina-Asheville
Kansas St vs. 9) Southern Miss

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

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

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

[TheAsianSensation]

Ok tornado, it's safe to come out and play now.

Using the bracketing rules and their S-Curve, I just created a bracket that is identical to the actual bracket with one exception:

@Portland
4) Indiana vs. 13) Davidson
5) New Mexico vs. 12) Long Beach St

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

Wichita still plays VCU but in a different region. Swap Wichita St and New Mexico, and swap Davidson and NMSU because of the first swap, and we have identical brackets.

What does this mean? THE SELECTION COMMITTEE DOES NOT RIG MATCHUPS FOR TELEVISIONS, TO GET RID OF MID-MAJORS OR FOR ANY OTHER SELF-SERVING REASON. I just offered conclusive mathematical proof that Kentucky/Indiana, Kentucky/Duke, Wichita/VCU , and every other matchup in this bracket is the logcal result of a bracketing process and it is impossible for the NCAA to avoid said matchups.

[Tulsa Brave]

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!!!

By this logic, it can also be siad that Wichita State and Creighton were definitely not under seeded, and at least in Wichita's case, they were badly overseeded, correct?

Remember Iowa State was an 8 seed due to under performance early in the season...they had played at a much higher level at the end of the season (T-3rd with a 3 seed Baylor in a conference that plays a true round-robin schedule). The same is true of Memphis, whose late season play was far above that of a typical 8 seed.

[Buesch N Chips]

I just offered conclusive mathematical proof that Kentucky/Indiana, Kentucky/Duke, Wichita/VCU , and every other matchup in this bracket is the logcal result of a bracketing process and it is impossible for the NCAA to avoid said matchups.

Nice work. But, I would be more impressed if you did it before knowing what the outcome actually was.

Also, is there any subjectivity at all in the S-curve rankings?

[TheAsianSensation]

Nice work. But, I would be more impressed if you did it before knowing what the outcome actually was.

Also, is there any subjectivity at all in the S-curve rankings?

Well since the NCAA doesn't release that darned S-curve before the bracket, no way to do it. But I did do it without thinking about the actual bracket.

I don't think there's any subjectivity in the S-curve. The way they vote for the curve is very mechanical in nature.

[SFP]

TAS good job...The only part that is subjective is the seeding guidelines. Once that is done everything else is taken out of the committee's hand.