Initial Bracket Thoughts
Posted by: Bradley McDonald
The brackets are set so let the games begin! Pat Forde says it best here:
It's tough to make an argument for any of the bubble teams who were "snubbed", too. DePaul (19-10), Maryland (16-12), Saint Joseph's (19-11) and Notre Dame (17-11) were all left out of the tournament. Personally, I think Notre Dame is best team out of this bunch. Eleven losses isn't bad considering the Irish play in the amazingly tough Big East. If Notre Dame would play Northern Illinois or UCLA (the last teams that made it in the bracket), I think the Irish win easily.
My Tigers ended up with seeded 6th against a scrappy UAB team. This is about where I thought they would go; however, they probably would've been higher if they could've pulled off the upset against No. 4 Kentucky in the SEC tournament, which they came oh-so-close to doing. I don't think my heart can take any more games like that, so I hope they either win or lose big in the NCAA tourney.
Well, those are my initial thoughts. Check back tomorrow for more non-expert analysis!
The brackets are set so let the games begin! Pat Forde says it best here:
The big surprise in the bracket was Washington getting a number one seed after being ranked 14th in the last poll. Other teams that were potentially a number one seed all lost in the conference tournaments, though, so it's hard to argue against Washington.Welcome to the launching pad, kids. Tonight we hit the ignition switch on the greatest three weeks in sports. Even with the TV timeouts.
From now through an April Monday in St. Louis, normal American life is subverted by armchair hoops analysis and office-pool handicapping. Normal television programming is pre-empted by tattooed boys balling from Boise to Worcester. Normal discourse is hijacked by NCAA Tournament nomenclature: brackets, seedings, Cinderellas and whatever might come out of Bill Raftery's mouth.
It's tough to make an argument for any of the bubble teams who were "snubbed", too. DePaul (19-10), Maryland (16-12), Saint Joseph's (19-11) and Notre Dame (17-11) were all left out of the tournament. Personally, I think Notre Dame is best team out of this bunch. Eleven losses isn't bad considering the Irish play in the amazingly tough Big East. If Notre Dame would play Northern Illinois or UCLA (the last teams that made it in the bracket), I think the Irish win easily.
My Tigers ended up with seeded 6th against a scrappy UAB team. This is about where I thought they would go; however, they probably would've been higher if they could've pulled off the upset against No. 4 Kentucky in the SEC tournament, which they came oh-so-close to doing. I don't think my heart can take any more games like that, so I hope they either win or lose big in the NCAA tourney.
Well, those are my initial thoughts. Check back tomorrow for more non-expert analysis!
