This is post three on what is apparently Basketball Day here at Wisconsin Adventures. As it is also (not coincidentally) Selection Sunday, here are some of my scattered impressions about this year's tournament:
Most importantly, we have the Aggies. And it's weird, dudes. Just like last year, the Ags have a nine seed. Just like last year, it's the nine seed in the West Region. And just like last year, the eight seed against whom the Ags are matched up is BYU. I really like to know if, or how often, that's happened before. (Maybe I should email the Big XII blogger. Hmm.)
(OK, I just emailed Tim Griffin at ESPN.com. I'll check back every now and then to see if he replies.)
I don't think the Ags are going to win the BYU rematch. I just don't think they've been very good this year--I'm pretty surprised they got a nine seed, since it was unsure they'd even get in as recently as a couple weeks ago. That said, I'm still going to pick them to win in my brackets. Heck, it's not like BYU is going to get past UCONN, so it'll just cost me a point to pick with my heart.
OK, other than that, I don't have much to say. I haven't been following college basketball well this season, which was made abundantly clear to me when I had to guess my way through my Facebook brackets. (Seriously, I have no idea what to pick.) I bet Memphis will get pretty far, if only because they're the only high seed I dislike, and I'm usually thwarted in regards to teams I do not like. For instance, I would like for texas to get upset by Minnesota, so I bet they won't. We'll know I'm cursed if they beat Duke in the second round, though.
Metapost: Pre-prandial comments of the week
14 hours ago
3 comments:
When I see that chart on CBS that shows the number of non-power conference at-large bids dropping every year (4 this year), I get quite mad. It's just like football; we have a conspiracy against the small schools. I can't see letting 7 Big Ten teams into the tournament at all. And then the committee chair says they don't look at conferences. BS.
Well, possibly. I think it's probably what the guy (the one who was mad about it) was saying on the selection show--the problem runs deeper, because the big conference schools won't give smaller schools home-and-home, or even neutral site, deals. The quality small schools don't want to have to go to the big ones without them returning the visit, so they just don't play. That means the small conference schools don't have the quality resumes that make it obvious to put them in.
Either way, the problem is still power-conference greed.
"Hey, we're having a tournament to crown the best team in the whole country. Where did you finish in your conference? Seventh? You are the seventh bset team ... in your conference. Hey, what the heck, come on in, you qualify!!!"
P.S. If the Ag team that played the first half vs. Missouri shows up; they will beat BYU.
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