Holding Everything Up

The Final Four has passed and there's still no word where the NCAA East Regional for 2013 will be held, or when they will even announce it. ESPN's Andy Katz reported last week that Madison Square Garden is trying to find room on it's schedule for the NCAA's, but in doing so, it's holding up the NBA and NHL from making their schedules for the Knicks and Rangers(those are in the preliminary stages). If the scheduling concerns can't be cleared up soon, the NCAA maybe forced to hastily move the East Regional to the Carrier Dome in Syracuse. That should be done by the June meetings of both the Division I Men's Basketball Committee and the Championships/Sports Management Council. But if June passes and no word has come out, you can pretty much assume it will be at the Garden.

Crowding out the NCAA's?

Chris Myers(No, not that one) of 1500 ESPN in the Twin Cities is reporting that the arrival of both the Big Ten Hockey Conference and the National Collegiate Hockey Conference, not to mention the permanence of the WCHA, may make it unlikely, if not prevent outright the NCAA hoops tournament from ever considering the Twin Cities for 2nd/3rd round games ever again(Unless the Metrodome or whatever replaces it is available). Read it here:
http://www.1500espn.com/sportswire/Myers_Changes_afoot_but_college_hockey_tourneys_likely_to_stay_031512

If this is indeed the case, the NCAA's promise of early round action may go unheeded, but simply because the arenas in question have chosen to go the safe route of guaranteed attendance, rather than having unfamiliar audiences.

Bracket Watch's tourney predictions

Now that the field is settled, it's time to reveal my picks for how the tournament will go.

Notable 2nd Round Upsets: (S14) South Dakota State over (S3) Baylor, (W12) Long Beach State over (W5) New Mexico, (E12) Harvard over (E5) Vanderbilt
Sweet 16 Teams:
South: Kentucky, Wichita State, UNLV, Duke
West: Michigan State, Louisville, Murray State, Missouri
East: Syracuse, Harvard, Cincinnati, West Virginia
Midwest: North Carolina, Michigan, San Diego State, Kansas

National Semifinals:
Kansas over Syracuse
Kentucky over Missouri
National Championship:
Kentucky 88
Kansas 73

The rest of the bracket will not be divulged, so one cannot gain a competitive advantage against me.

The Knee Jerk to the field

Well now that the dust has settled, a take on what the committee did well, and did not.

Top Seeds
Kentucky and Syracuse were the obvious top choices for the top line, joined this weekend by North Carolina and Michigan State. The placement of Kentucky in the South was a minor surprise. Sure, St. Louis is closer to Lexington than Atlanta is, but the Wildcats are a natural fit for the South region. This placement forced North Carolina(3rd on the seed list) to go to St. Louis, rather than the Spartans. On the second line, Kansas stayed in the Midwest region, and Missouri, 8th overall and the lowest of the 2 seeds, was put in with the weakest #1 Michigan State(and the Tigers had 30 wins overall).

The Bubble
The lack of bid poachers(until last weekend) meant that more mediocre resumes made it in. Like South Florida, who played rather badly vs. the Big East establishment. The most questionable inclusion was that of Iona, who made it in despite losing in the Metro Atlantic semifinals. By far the most controversial exclusion was that of Washington. The Huskies won the Pacific-12 regular season title outright, but consecutive losses(the last to Oregon State by 2 in the Pacific-12 tournament) combined with bad OOC numbers and a poorer overall showing by the rest of the conference, left the Huskies with an apparent unwanted first. As in being the first BCS 6 outright regular season champion to not get an at-large. Also missing out was Drexel who was hurt by the Colonial's unbalanced slate, as well as the Dragons' own unimpressive ooc fixture list. For the record, Oral Roberts was the NCAA's own last team left out, meaning that the good folks down in Olean, NY will be at the receiving end of some very angry F U notes from Tulsa. Miami(FL), Nevada, Mississippi State and Seton Hall were also left behind.

Questionable placements
Apart from the having the awkward situation of having North Carolina in the Midwest(which allows the ACC to complete the "Completing the Top seed rounds"), the biggest beef could be Ohio State's placement in Pittsburgh. With the real possibility of facing a well-supported West Virginia in the 3rd round. Seed wise, I'm sure Creighton and Murray State are well underseeded. Overseeds, Xavier as a 10 looks primed for an easy defeat at the hands of Notre Dame.

My personal performance
After missing three last year, I missed out on only Iona, having Drexel in instead. In seeding, 52 of 67 were within +/-1 seed, with 30 exactas. I was also able to correctly guess 5 games(Mississippi Valley State vs. Western Kentucky; MVSU/WKU vs. Kentucky; Indiana vs. New Mexico State; New Mexico vs. Long Beach State(albeit with incorrect seeds); and Duke vs. Lehigh).

Well tomorrow, I'll be making out my predictions on how the actual games will turn out. So til then, tootaloo.

Bracket Watch '12 - FINAL projection and seed list

With the final games of the early afternoon now complete, here is my FINAL projection of the season, as well as my seed list which will go first.

Seed List
1-Kentucky
2-Syracuse
3-North Carolina
4-Michigan State
5-MISSOURI
6-Ohio State
7-Kansas
8-Duke
9-Baylor
10-Marquette
11-Wisconsin
12-FLORIDA STATE
13-Michigan
14-Indiana
15-MURRAY STATE
16-VANDERBILT
17-LOUISVILLE
18-Georgetown
19-UNLV
20-Wichita State
21-SAINT MARY'S
22-Cincinnati
23-Temple
24-CREIGHTON
25-Gonzaga
26-NEW MEXICO
27-MEMPHIS
28-Notre Dame
29-San Diego State
30-Florida
31-Iowa State
32-Kansas State
33-Virginia
34-Alabama
35-Purdue
36-HARVARD
37-Connecticut
38-LONG BEACH STATE
39-Saint Louis
40-California
41-West Virginia
42-Southern Mississippi
43-Brigham Young
44-Colorado State
45-VCU
46-Xavier
47-Texas
48-North Carolina State
49-South Florida
50-Drexel(Last at-large)
51-SOUTH DAKOTA STATE
52-COLORADO
53-NEW MEXICO STATE
54-SAINT BONAVENTURE
55-DAVIDSON
56-LOYOLA(MD)
57-MONTANA
58-BELMONT
59-OHIO
60-DETROIT
61-LEHIGH
62-UNC ASHEVILLE
63-LAMAR
64-LONG ISLAND
65-NORFOLK STATE
66-VERMONT
67-MISSISSIPPI VALLEY STATE
68-WESTERN KENTUCKY

Just missing:
69-Seton Hall
70-Washington
71-Mississippi State
72-Iona
73-Northwestern
74-Mississippi
75-Oral Roberts
76-Nevada
77-Arizona

THE BRACKET

Final Four pairings
Midwest(1) vs. West(4)
East(2) vs. South(3)
First Four pairings
Tuesday: MISSISSIPPI VALLEY STATE vs. WESTERN KENTUCKY; Texas vs. South Florida
Wednesday: NORFOLK STATE vs. VERMONT; North Carolina State vs. Drexel

MIDWEST Regional

Louisville
1-Kentucky vs. 16-MISSISSIPPI VALLEY STATE/WESTERN KENTUCKY
8-San Diego State vs. 9-HARVARD
Albuquerque
4-Michigan vs. 13-SAINT BONAVENTURE
5-LOUISVILLE vs. 12-SOUTH DAKOTA STATE
Omaha
2-Kansas vs. 15-UNC ASHEVILLE
7-Gonzaga vs. 10-Connecticut
Nashville
3-FLORIDA STATE vs. 14-DAVIDSON
6-Temple vs. 11-VCU

WEST Regional

Columbus
1-Michigan State vs. 16-LAMAR
8-Virginia vs. 9-Kansas State
Nashville
4-VANDERBILT vs. 13-North Carolina State/Drexel
5-Georgetown vs. 12-Xavier
Omaha
2-MISSOURI vs. 15-DETROIT
7-NEW MEXICO vs. 10-LONG BEACH STATE
Columbus
3-Marquette vs. 14-BELMONT
6-CREIGHTON vs. 11-Southern Mississippi

EAST Regional

Pittsburgh
1-Syracuse vs. 16-LONG ISLAND
8-Iowa State vs. 9-Alabama
Portland
4-Indiana vs. 13-NEW MEXICO STATE
5-Wichita State vs. 12-Colorado State
Greensboro
2-Duke vs. 15-LEHIGH
7-MEMPHIS vs. 10-California
Louisville
3-Wisconsin vs. 14-LOYOLA(MD)
6-Cincinnati vs. 11-Brigham Young

SOUTH Regional

Greensboro
1-North Carolina vs. 16-NORFOLK STATE/VERMONT
8-Florida vs. 9-Kansas State
Portland
4-MURRAY STATE vs. 13-COLORADO
5-Unlv vs. 12-Texas/South Florida
Pittsburgh
2-Ohio State vs. 15-OHIO
7-Notre Dame vs. 10-Saint Louis
Albuquerque
3-Baylor vs. 14-MONTANA
6-SAINT MARY'S vs. 11-West Virginia