NCAA Bracket Reaction

The NCAA Tournament field is set and the brackets are out. It’s been a wonderful college basketball season and we are in store for an epic tourney. For as much balance as we’ve seen this year, no one can really predict what will happen over the next few weeks. But of course we’ll try!

Today we are bringing you our bracket reaction. We’ll provide you with our initial reactions to the bracket and the job of the selection committee. We’ll also tell you which bubble teams got screwed, which teams were over-seeded and under-seeded, which regions appear to be the strongest and weakest, and what our reactions are to the top seeds. Over the next couple days, we’ll go more in depth on specific team and individual matchups we can’t wait to see, hints on how to pick your bracket, and on Wednesday we’ll share our tourney picks. Enjoy!

Initial Reaction

Andrew: I thought the committee did a good in some areas and terrible in others. As we’ll get into later, I thought they did well with the 1-seeds, but I have issues with a lot of other areas in terms of seeding. They seemed to favor major conference teams this year, which I hated. And they weren’t consistent when seeding teams based on how they finished.

In terms of bubble teams, I have some issues. I didn’t think BYU should have made the tourney at all. They played an aggressive schedule but didn’t really beat anyone. Them getting in, and getting a 10-seed, was a joke. I also thought that NC State getting in was questionable (even though I actually like them to pull an upset now). I also am not a big Xavier or Stanford fan.

SMU was a lock in my opinion, so they got snubbed big time. This is a team that played in a solid conference and tied with Memphis and UCONN in the standings at 12-6. In fact, they swept UCONN, and also beat Memphis and Cincinnati. They were pretty good away from home, and were a ranked team just a couple weeks ago. I liked mid-majors Green Bay and Louisiana Tech too. It’s sad that these conferences don’t use their regular season champ. I was also hoping Minnesota made it (even though I knew they wouldn’t) because I think the Big Ten is such a good conference.

Greg: My initial reaction is that there was very little drama this year. Only a handful of teams were even worthy of bubble consideration. The surprises were the fact that instead of matching a "high major" against a "mid major" in the First Four games, the committee decided to go with some small automatic qualifiers in two of them, and then match several high major programs against one another in the other two (I consider Xavier a high major due to their success). This will make for a tough matchup for both UMASS and SLU (two A-10 teams). 

Over-seeded Teams

Andrew: Kansas as a 2, simply because Embiid is injured. Colorado as an 8 as well, in large part because Dinwiddie is out. Baylor probably got over-seeded big time. They were a bubble team a couple weeks ago. I know they closed well, but a 6 seed for a team that was just .500 in conference? And due to average play in the A-10, UMASS as a 6 was questionable also. Of course there are also the bubble teams I mentioned: BYU, Stanford, NC State, and Xavier.

Greg: Oklahoma (5) - Oklahoma had a good season, but I do not think they have the experience nor the resume for this seed. They did play in the best conference in the country, so maybe the committee decided to reward them for that- who knows?

UMASS (6) - UMASS was a 6 seed in their own conference tournament and if the rankings went deeper, would have been ranked no. 35 in the country today. A 6 seed places them a full 7 spots higher in the rankings at minimum than they are. I'm not sure what the committee was thinking here. They did even it out a bit by having the Minutemen play the winner of Tennessee/Iowa.

Under-seeded Teams

Andrew: Louisville is the obvious answer, but they really didn’t have any good wins until the last month. Iowa big time. They are a better than at least 10 teams above them. I can’t believe they were picked as a First Four team. If injuries were taken into account then Michigan State as well. And while I understand this a little, it’s mind-boggling that Kentucky and Oklahoma State are both in 8/9 games.

Greg: Louisville (4) - A 4 seed? That's a joke right? The committee gave the new "American" conference very little love and it showed. Louisville is arguably the best team in the country right now, and placing them at a 4 seed is pretty silly.

New Mexico (7) - Their losses this season have all been by one basket, and one of those losses (SDSU) was avenged when they won the Mountain West Conference tournament. SDSU was given a 4 seed, so I'm not sure what the committee was thinking here again by giving New Mexico a 7 seed. 

Toughest Region

Andrew: It’s gotta be the Midwest. Wichita State is 34-0, Michigan won the Big Ten by 3 games, Duke is one of the most talented teams in the country with Jabari Parker, and Louisville is the hottest team coming off an annihilation in their conference tourney. Kentucky/Kansas State is a crazy 8/9 game, and St. Louis was ranked in the Top Ten weeks ago. I also think Iowa and Tennessee are dangerous, even as First Four teams. This is a loaded region.

Greg: Midwest region. Not even a close second. Missouri Valley Champion (Undefeated), ACC runner-up, American Conference tourney champion, Big Ten regular season champion… all in the top 4 seeds. Kentucky (pre-season number 1) is an 8 seed, but could go all the way to the Final Four with the talent they have. The elite 8 should be very, very entertaining.

Weakest Region

Andrew: I think it’s the East. Virginia is the weakest #1 by far. I don’t like Villanova because I can’t get those blowout losses to Creighton out of my mind. Iowa State has struggled a little away from home, Cincy can’t play offense, and UNC can’t play defense. Michigan State to me has an easy path to the Final Four as a 4-seed.

Greg: South region. Florida is a horse, but Kansas is missing one of its top players, Syracuse has played .500 basketball over its last 10 games, and UCLA, while hot, is not really even a top 15 team in my mind. The top seeds should easily move through the first few rounds with the exception of VCU (also missing its sixth man, A-10 6th man of the year Melvin Johnson, due to injury). 

Analysis of 1-Seeds

Andrew and Greg: I think they were pretty accurate. I thought Florida was deserving of #1 overall. Wichita State could have been the 2^nd #1 and Arizona the third, but I can’t complain they were flip-flopped. And even though Virginia is way below the top 3, I believe that it was the right call. If Michigan had won the Big Ten Tourney I would have put them there. But with their loss, Virginia was my fourth choice as well. Now, the issue I have is that Wichita State went undefeated and got put in a massively tough region. I wish that weren’t the case.

By: The Sports Guys