Selection Sunday is always followed by Manic Monday-- meaning teams, broadcasters and reporters are preparing to scramble around the nations to nine sites where games will be played starting Tuesday (I know, I don't like the Opening Round any more than you-- more on my compromise later). Fans scramble in their own manner by trying to coordinate off-days, frequent flyer miles and bracket sheets. As my staff is focusing on my regional BOLD, FOLD and GOLD picks... a few thoughts...
Georgetown gets a #3 seed in the Midwest bracket and heads to Providence for a first round game with Ohio. The Bobcats (21-14) won four straight games in the MAC tournament as that league's #9 team. Armond Bassett scored more than 25 points in each of Ohio's MAC tourney victories; the Indiana transfer's legit. If the Hoyas win they face the winner of Tennessee-San Diego State...with the bullies in their bracket being overall #1 Kansas and Big Ten champ Ohio State.
Alma Mater Update-- Syracuse gets the #1 seed in the West... rated fourth out of the #1's... and meets 2005 nemesis Vermont in the first round. When the Orange lost to the Catamounts in the first round that year you could have heard a pin drop at the alumni gamewatching location; followed by a moment of silence and cellphones turning on for everyone to commiserate with their old roommates. Even in a really crappy moment college hoops is kind of cool.
Maryland is also in the Midwest Bracket... but the Terps have a far different journey to St. Louis for the regional--instead their road goes through Spokane, Washington. Just like the Hoyas, Maryland meets a team that needed a four game tournament run to make the field-- Houston (with Betty White lookalike Tom Penders coaching). The Cougars are led by the nation's top scorer in guard Aubrey Coleman (25.6 ppg) and will be far from a pushover... Penders has led double-digit seeds into the sweet sixteen before (Rhode Island-1988 and Texas-1990 to name a pair). New Mexico St/Michigan St await the winner with top seed Kansas looming.
Planting seeds...and giving the Devils more than they're due. Let's just say Dukes #1 seed (ahead of Syracuse) and draw in the South (play-in winner, Cal/Lville, one-armed Purdue) will do little to quiet Blue Devil Haters. I thought the committee could have named Ohio State or West Virginia as the fourth #1 instead of Duke; although last year I thought the Blue Devils deserved a #1 instead of Connecticut.
Hokies hosed? Hardly. When Virginia Tech missed the field despite a 10-6 ACC mark, many cried foul that they were left out. I thought the Hokies merited consideration instead of Wake Forest... just like Mississippi State deserved a spot instead of Florida. The mantra this year though has been the bad non-conference slate for the Hokies (#339 of 347 schools)... and it never went away in a year when the strength of the ACC wasn't there to lift all of the conference boats.
Give the Opening Round a Square Deal-- so much for Arkansas-Pine Bluff celebrating their first ever trip to the tournament or Winthrop basking in another bid... those two teams tangle Tuesday night in the opening round (don't call me play-in) game. In Dayton. Dayton? Could you have a more non-destination destination? Especially from a small town campus not within driving distance... which most of the schools that have played in the opening round game have been. And then the winner gets to pick up stakes and move to Jacksonville? My solution: have the play-in game at the same site where the winner will be playing on Friday. This will cut down on travel... and let the participating schools feel like they're actually, well, participating in the tournament.
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1 comment:
This is an interesting article. Thanks for sharing.
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