I always like to look back at the NCAA's released S-Curve, and see how they built the bracket. What I mean is how they chose which regionals each team was assigned to, and how big a role geography played. I like to see if the committee did manipulate the bracket, or if there's logical explanations for their controversial moves.
We'll analyze this one seed line at a time:
The 1 line: Kentucky (Louisville, Midwest region), Villanova (Pittsburgh, East region), Duke (Charlotte, South region), Wisconsin (Omaha, West region)
Omaha is slightly closer to Wisconsin than Columbus. However, I thought there'd be a chance Wisky would get sent to Columbus, because they could then use Omaha to host a 2nd Big 12 school, and they had Columbus, Louisville, and Pittsburgh all in a tight area they could use. In my opinion, this is bad forward thinking by the committee to use up a spot in Omaha on Wisky.
The 2 line:
Virginia (Charlotte, East region) - the #5 overall seed goes in with #2 Nova. Tough.
Arizona (Portland, West region) - goes in with #4 Wisky, makes sense
Gonzaga (Seattle, South region) - goes in with #3 Duke
Kansas (Omaha, Midwest region) - interesting decision here. Gonzaga was going to have to travel to either Cleveland or Houston. Houston is preferred for them, but you can make the argument that they have to travel a lot either way. Kansas prefers Houston over Cleveland as well. You could make the argument that instead of mildly dis-serving two teams, you could massively dis-service one team (Gonzaga) in order to help the other team more (Kansas). I'm glad the committee didn't do this. What likely happened was that Kansas was clearly #8, way behind the top 7, and decided it would be unfair to make the 7th team in a 7-team breakaway at the top of the S-Curve play the #1 overall team. Balance actually took hold here.
The 3 line:
#9 overall, Iowa St (Louisville, South region) - here's where the Wisconsin/Omaha thing I mentioned earlier comes into play - ISU has to travel more. With the midwest locked out for ISU, the South is the natural designation.
#10 overall, Baylor (Jacksonville, West region) - Baylor is closer to the West than the East (the only 2 options for them).
#11 overall, Oklahoma (Columbus, East region) - first off, because they're the 4th Big 12 teams, they're forced to be in the East region. As for Columbus...there's no good option left for OU. They have to travel no matter what.
#12 overall, Notre Dame (Pittsburgh, Midwest region) - UND is trapped in the Midwest because this line includes 3 Big 12 teams. Since it does, UND automatically was destined for this region. It's just bad luck and nothing more. What's curious is a slot in Columbus is still open. Why is ND going to Pittsburgh instead?
At this point, we should add the seeds for each regional, to see if there's bias:
Midwest 21, East 18, South 19, West 20. Ok, we're good for now.
The 4 line:
#13 overall, North Carolina (Jacksonville, West region) - UNC is the 4th ACC team, and with 3 other ACC teams in 3 different regionals, the West is the last one available. UNC is forced here no matter what.
#14 overall, Maryland (Columbus, Midwest region) - finally, a team where we have flexibility to work with. Right now, either the East or Midwest fits as geographical fits. Let's put a pin in Maryland and come back to it.
#15 overall, Louisville (Seattle, East region) - the 5th ACC team, so they have to share a regional with a ACC team. Ideally, you want them on the opposite side of the region of the ACC team. This means either the East or Midwest regions. So, basically, them and Maryland are interchangable right now. Let's put a pin in Louisville and come back to it.
#16 overall, Georgetown (Portland, South region) - obviously, these last 2 teams have to go northwest in the first 2 rounds. As for region...Georgetown can either go West or South (locked out of the West by UNC and the East by Villanova). As the worst 4 seed, Georgetown should be shipped the farthest, and with the preferences of UL and Maryland, G'town should head to the South.
Now we return to Louisville and Maryland, who are interchangable. Two things at this point help us decide who goes where:
1) Louisville/Kentucky would be a tourney rematch and should be avoided if it can be easily helped, and
2) Based on overall seeds, the Midwest region should preferably add the better seed/team
Both these things point to Maryland in the Midwest and Louisville in the East.
The top 16 teams are set. Now, let's revisit the Wisconsin/Omaha thing. Let's make the switch and send Wisconsin to Columbus. What would happen?
1) Iowa St would go to Omaha instead of Louisville, a much better fit for them.
2) Notre Dame, instead of going to Pittsburgh, gets a slightly better trip to Louisville
3) Maryland would be in Pittsburgh instead of Columbus.
2 and 3 are minor changes. But 1 is a somewhat significant change, and Iowa St loses a bit because the committee is short-sighted.
I'm not going to recap every other team, but I am going to point out fun facts:
1) SMU at 21 overall was the top 6 seed. Therefore, they have top choice of region, and they get placed in the South, where Houston hosts. If SMU were 20 overall, they would've been in the East region, having a Seattle/Syracuse path. Holy moley.
2) Xavier is the last 6 seed, and has a Jacksonville/Los Angeles path. If they were one spot lower, as the top 7 seed, they'd get to play in Cleveland in the second weekend if they got there.
3) Wichita St is exactly one spot in front of Iowa in the S-Curve. Wichita St gets to go to Omaha and Iowa goes to Seattle. Ha.
4) VCU was the last 7 seed, therefore they get stuck with a horrible awful Portland/Los Angeles path. If they were the highest 8, they'd have Pittsburgh/Syracuse as their path. Amazing.
5) 7 seeds funnel to sites in Portland and Seattle (and 2 others). The 8 line includes Oregon and San Diego St. Alas, Oregon has to go to Omaha and San Diego St has to go to Charlotte. Meanwhile, Iowa and VCU get sent to the northeast. I know true seed line matters, but doesn't a swap of these 4 teams seem insanely obvious?
6) On the 10 line, Davidson is the second team. There's actually a spot in Charlotte wide open for them...and they got shipped to Seattle instead. I'm guessing the committee just simply thought it'd be too big a homecourt advantage. Which is highly curious, because in the past, they've gone the other way when power conference teams were involved. NCAA, why is Davidson not in the Charlotte sub-regional?
7) Dayton playing in Dayton is just one of those things that happen. But how about going to Columbus after that? Here's the thing: BYU has to play on Tuesday in the First Four, for Sunday-related reasons. The BYU/Ole Miss game feeds into a Jacksonville site. Why not let BYU play Dayton? Dayton doesn't have to travel like Ole Miss so you save a day of travel for Ole Miss by doing this. Then, Dayton doesn't have extreme home court advantage in the rounds of 64 and 32. After all, since you didn't put Davidson in Charlotte, you don't want to put Dayton in Columbus, right? Therefore, you should've paired Dayton and BYU in the First Four. The NCAA just contradicted itself between the placement of Davidson and Dayton in the bracket.
8) Wyoming was the top 12 seed. They had an option of a Seattle/Syracuse or a Portland/Houston path...and chose Seattle/Syracuse. Huh? It looks like the reason is this: Stephen F Austin lurked behind them on the 12 line, and they saved the Houston site for SFA. Hmmmm.
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