Sunday, March 16, 2014

Actual NCAA/NIT brackets and quick reaction

Here's the actual NCAA and NIT brackets (not predictions, although I wish).  You've seen the NCAA ones by now, maybe not the NIT one. 

My quick thoughts are below as well...I'm planning a post to recap how I did, but I'll wait for Bracket Matrix to release their numbers first, I think.

NIT

1) Minnesota vs. 8) High Point
4) St Mary's vs. 5) Utah
3) Southern Miss vs. 6) Toledo
2) Missouri vs. 7) Davidson
Home game to the WCC team instead of the Pac-12 team.  Wow...Toledo barely in the field, according to seed.  Top 40 RPI means nothing anymore, heh

1) Florida St vs. 8) FGCU
4) Georgetown vs. 5) West Virginia
3) Louisiana Tech vs. 6) Iona
2) Georgia vs. 7) Vermont
They have Georgia too high, overvalued their conference finish...G'town goes from last 4 out of the NCAAs to a 4 seed here.  Flip those two seeds please

1) St John's vs. 8) Robert Morris
4) Green Bay vs. 5) Belmont
3) Clemson vs. 6) Georgia St
2) Illinois vs. 7) Boston
Green Bay - also last 4 out of the NCAAs, 4 seed here.  It's like they're trying to be contrarian for the hell of it

1) SMU vs. 8) UC Irvine
4) San Francisco vs. 5) LSU
3) Arkansas vs. 6) Indiana St
2) California vs. 7) Utah Valley
I had 3 of these teams (ISU, SF, LSU) missing the NIT...not sure what the committee is playing at here.  This leads to a cakewalk regional for SMU

NCAA

SOUTH
@Orlando
1) Florida vs. 16) Albany/Mount St Mary's
8) Colorado vs. 9) Pittsburgh
Fair.
@San Diego
4) UCLA vs. 13) Tulsa
5) VCU vs. 12) Stephen F Austin
UCLA sneaks into the top 16 and gets the geographic benefit of San Diego...Stephen F Austin should not be a 12 seed.  Who have they beaten?  A classic case of committee not fact-checking the automatic qualifiers.  VCU might be a touch overseeded but it's not egrogrious
@Buffalo
3) Syracuse vs. 14) Western Michigan
6) Ohio St vs. 11) Dayton
Syracuse as a 2 or 3?  Based on pure resume, you can't deny them a 2 seed.  Obviously recent form matters, more than I thought...Western Michigan had 8 top 100 wins.  That's not a 14 seed.  Flip SFA and WMU, please
@St Louis
2) Kansas vs. 15) Eastern Kentucky
7) New Mexico vs. 10) Stanford
No issue with Kansas as a 2 seed, thought the injury might knock them down to a 3

EAST
@Raleigh
1) Virginia vs. 16) Coastal Carolina
8) Memphis vs. 9) George Washington
Based on pure resume, Virginia should NOT be a 1 seed, period.  Look at the resume of them vs. Iowa St and tell me with a straight face Virginia is better.  The only rationale is to argue about the ACC championship double...but the committee says that doesn't matter.  What?
@Spokane
4) Michigan St vs. 13) Delaware
5) Cincinatti vs. 12) Harvard
Cincy's seed is just the first example of the committee hating the AAC...they put 3 AAC teams in this regional.  How about some balance, please?
@San Antonio
3) Iowa St vs. 14) North Carolina Central
6) North Carolina vs. 11) Providence
ISU, UNC, and Provi all feel slightly underseeded
@Buffalo
2) Villanova vs. 15) Milwaukee
7) UConn vs. 10) St Joseph's
No qualms here.

WEST
@San Diego
1) Arizona vs. 16) Weber St
8) Gonzaga vs. 9) Oklahoma St
Fair.
@Spokane
4) San Diego St vs. 13) New Mexico St
5) Oklahoma vs. 12) North Dakota St
Hey, two straight reasonable sub-regionals!
@San Antonio
3) Creighton vs. 14) Louisiana-Lafayette
6) Baylor vs. 11) Nebraska
Good for you, NCAA.  Keeping things tight geographically.  It's too bad you throw away every other consideration to try and achieve it
@Milwaukee
2) Wisconsin vs. 15) American
7) Oregon vs. 10) BYU
The committee was drunk when they seeded BYU.  Meanwhile, Wisky had a sterling profile and wasn't considered for the 1 line (their words, not mine), while several others were?  Looks like conference titles do matter, even though they say it doesn't.  Good grief, make up your mind, committee

MIDWEST
@St Louis
1) Wichita St vs. 16) Cal Poly/Texas Southern
8) Kentucky vs. 9) Kansas St
The committee just gave the middle finger to Wichita.  I'll break this out in a separate post...
@Orlando
4) Louisville vs. 13) Manhattan
5) St Louis vs. 12) North Carolina St/Xavier
NC State is a ridiculous selection.  6-11 vs. top 100.  3 wins over tourney teams.  Not a top 100 non-con SoS.  As for Louisville, at some point, the eye test has to count...don't selectively apply it
@Raleigh
3) Duke vs. 14) Mercer
6) UMass vs. 11) Iowa/Tennessee
Good to see the committee didn't overseed Duke, and gave credit to UMass for 13 top 100 wins
@Milwaukee
2) Michigan vs. 15) Wofford
7) Texas vs. 10) Arizona St
Fair.

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