2/12 BRACKET

Things that happened in the bracket:

1) Complete imbalance in the bracket.  Adding up the overall seeds for each team on the first four lines for each region:
South 30
West 39
Midwest 32
East 35
The west is very easy and the south is very hard.  Usually with this imbalance, the NCAA would readjust which teams are in which regional, in order to create competitive balance.  However, this year, that would require something like sending Xavier or UNC or Maryland to the West regional.  I don't think the NCAA is going to do this.  Therefore, we have a situation where the worst 1 seed, the worst 2 seed, and the worst 3 seed are in the same regional.

2) Some big disadvantages in here.  Pittsburgh is the last 7 seed and as a result, has to play in the west regional against Gonzaga in Spokane, then Oregon.  If Pittsburgh was the first 8 seed, they'd play in Brooklyn against Michigan, then Villanova, in the east regional.  It's much better to be the first team on a line than the last team on the line above.

3) Procedural bump:  Temple from the 11 line to the 12 line, so that a play-in game winner can move to the 11 line.  The reason is simple.  The 12 line feeds to Providence, Denver, Denver, and Spokane.  Providence and Denver are both Thursday/Saturday sites.  Assuming the Tuesday winner in Dayton feeds to Providence, the Wednesday winner can't feed to Denver.  They also can't feed to Spokane because that's simply too far.  Therefore, the Wednesday winner has to feed to St Louis instead.

There is one fix to this:  if both at-large games in Dayton are played on Tuesday, then one can go to Providence and the other to Denver.  The two games in Dayton between automatic qualifiers can be played on Wednesday and feed to Friday/Sunday sites (OKC and Brooklyn as shown below).  That's not an impossible solution for the NCAA to take, if it comes to it.


SOUTH
@Oklahoma City
1) Oklahoma (20-3) vs. 16) South Carolina St (12-11)/Texas Southern (10-12)
8) Colorado (17-7) vs. 9) Seton Hall (17-7)
@Providence
4) Dayton (20-3) vs. 13) Chattanooga (20-4)
5) Kentucky (18-6) vs. 12) Temple (15-8)
@Raleigh
3) North Carolina (20-4) vs. 14) UAB (20-4)
6) Baylor (17-6) vs. 11) Cincinnati (18-7)
@Des Moines
2) Iowa (19-5) vs. 15) New Mexico St (15-8)
7) Utah (17-7) vs. 10) St Joseph's (20-4)

WEST
@Des Moines
1) Kansas (19-4) vs. 16) North Florida (15-9)
8) Wichita St (17-6) vs. 9) Butler (17-7)
@Denver
4) Purdue (20-5) vs. 13) South Dakota St (17-6)
5) Arizona (19-5) vs. 12) San Diego St (16-7)
@Oklahoma City
3) Miami (19-4) vs. 14) Hawaii (17-3)
6) Indiana (20-5) vs. 11) Washington (15-9)
@Spokane
2) Oregon (19-5) vs. 15) Montana (12-8)
7) Pittsburgh (16-6) vs. 10) Gonzaga (19-5)

MIDWEST
@Raleigh
1) Virginia (20-4) vs. 16) UNC-Asheville (15-9)
8) Providence (18-7) vs. 9) Florida (16-8)
@Spokane
4) USC (18-5) vs. 13) UNC-Wilmington (17-5)
5) Texas A&M (18-6) vs. 12) Akron (19-4)
@St Louis
3) Michigan St (20-5) vs. 14) Stony Brook (19-4)
6) Texas (16-8) vs. 11) Florida St (16-8)/UConn (17-7)
@St Louis
2) Xavier (21-3) vs. 15) Belmont (17-8)
7) Notre Dame (17-7) vs. 10) Valparaiso (19-4)

EAST
@Brooklyn
1) Villanova (20-3) vs. 16) Bucknell (12-11)/Fairleigh Dickinson (12-11)
8) Syracuse (17-8) vs. 9) Michigan (17-7)
@Denver
4) Duke (18-6) vs. 13) Arkansas-Little Rock (19-3)
5) Iowa St (17-7) vs. 12) Oregon St (14-8)/Wisconsin (15-9)
@Providence
3) West Virginia (19-5) vs. 14) Yale (14-5)
6) South Carolina (20-3) vs. 11) George Washington (18-6)
@Brooklyn
2) Maryland (21-3) vs. 15) Stephen F Austin (13-5)
7) California (16-8) vs. 10) Monmouth (20-5)