Bracket Breakdown

Let's start off with the number one seeds. The committee got three of them correct. Louisville is the best team, Gonzaga and Indiana also very deserving of their spots. I do quibble with Kansas over Duke though. They both had 5 losses. They both played murderous non-conference schedules but Duke's was a little tougher. They both played in good but weaker than normal conferences, but again Duke's was better. They both have a lot of good wins and a couple bad losses. But Duke lost to Virginia, Kansas lost to TCU. Other than "playing better lately" or "winning the conference tournament" I can't see any area where you compare these teams and say Kansas was more deserving.

I think the committee gave the Pac-12 the lack of respect it deserves in regard to seeding but it still got 5 teams in.

If any conference got underseeded it was the Mountain West. You do realize it was the second-toughest conference this season? Everyone of its teams should have been a line higher, including New Mexico, which even as a 3 seed is a serious Final Four threat. It drives me nuts that the committee would put the only non-power conference top 3 seeds in the same region, to avoid two of them getting to the Final Four. I hate conspiracy theories but there is so much evidence that the committee does that shit that it almost has to be true.

For instance, pairing Boise State versus LaSalle in a play-in game. And Middle Tennessee State versus St. Mary's in the other.

And why wasn't Cal in a play-in game? If they are one of the last teams in and got a 12, why do two 11s have to play against each other. Why not give MTS a game against Cal instead of SMC?

And why not give Akron the chance to knock off Oklahoma State or Wisconsin? Why put them against VCU?

I'm not one of these mid-major apologists. I like the big schools with the tradition and the fans and the best players. But don't stack the deck against the small schools.

At least they let Middle Tennessee get in. I was sure they were going to be left out despite a fantastic record and a good RPI. I understand they didn't beat anyone except Ole Miss, but 3 of their 5 losses were to excellent teams (Belmont, Florida and Akron). If MTS didn't get in, you're basically telling the really small schools that they have to play a tough non-conference schedule, win a couple of those games and/or be perfect in their conference. Too tall an order especially when compared to 12-loss teams from the bigger conferences.

Let's stick with Belmont for a second. They're going to beat Arizona in the first round. And they might not be the only 11 over 6. Minnesota has an excellent chance to beat UCLA.

But I'm not going to bury the Pac-12. I'm going to give Oregon the coveted 5/12 upset slot. This is basically a vote against Oklahoma State because I like VCU, UNLV and Wisconsin to all advance.

Now to find the 2 seed that will lose in the second round. I will say that I have an incredible record at this. I'd say I get it right 50% of the time. Unfortunately, I almost never get the right team doing it. I am confident about Ohio State and Georgetown so it's down to Miami and Duke. I loved Miami at the beginning of the year, hated them late and really am not sold on them. But I really don't like Duke and think the Creighton matchup is bad for them. So I will go with Duke missing the Sweet 16 as a 2 seed for the second straight year.

The committee did do a good job of matching big conferences and mid-majors in the 8/9 and 7/10 games though. 5 games like that among those and I will guarantee the mid-majors win at least three of those.

In order to see my Final Four picks and champion you need to join my Tournament Challenge group on espn.com. The group name is of course, The Poop.

Two more notes: the stupidest thing in the world is people who complain about things like Syracuse going to California despite being part of the West region. A few years ago the committee changed their rules. The region names only refer to the site of the regional semis and finals. For the first weekend teams from any region can go anywhere with the preference to give the higher seeds close proximity to home. Like it or not those are the rules. Stop complaining about it. Stop making snarky remarks. Deal with it.

The second stupidest thing is the branding attempt to call the the four play-in games the first round. They are play-in games. Call them such. The games that begin on Thursday will always be the first round to me, on this blog, until they expand the tournament to 96 teams like Jim Boeheim wants.