The NCAA Tournament Just Revealed The Top-16 Teams For The Bracket - Let's Argue About It!
- Why this is important? It tends to hold serve. This is the 5th year they've done this and 9 of the 12 No. 1 seeds were just that in March. The other 3? They fell to 2 seeds. Obviously last year we didn't have an NCAA Tournament, but the 1 seeds at the reveal were Baylor, Kansas, San Diego State and Gonzaga. 3 of the 4 were going to be 1 seeds for sure.
- There were no real surprises this year. Mitch Barnhart said FSU and USC were the next two teams out and Wisconsin in the conversation as well. The biggest shock seems to be Oklahoma getting that 12 spot instead of a 4 seed. Really that's just splitting hairs though when you start arguing who would be over them, etc.
-Biggest question is why isn't this truly snaked with all games in Indiana. Obviously you can't do a 'true' snake with the S-curve because you can't have the same conference teams in the region for the top 3 of each conference. So in that sense Baylor gets a bit fucked getting the top 2 seed despite being the 2nd overall seed in the tournament. Again, this is just a snapshot of what it would be today, but it's clear the Big 10 is pretty damn close to locking up 2 No. 1 seeds out of that trio.
-Clearly the NET isn't end all, be all. Teams in the top-16 of the NET not mentioned here: Colgate, Loyola Chicago, Colorado and then USC, who is one of the first two teams out.
- Gonzaga vs Baylor is now massive. Barnhart said it was 'razor thin' between the two and Baylor will have more chances for Quad 1 wins. It's massive because they would avoid the top-2 seed if there are two Big 10 teams on the top line. It's hard to imagine that not happening so you're talking about one of those Big 10 teams ending up as the 2 in Gonzaga/Baylor's bracket.
-In terms of changes and positive tests here is the news:
It's pretty important to see them say that there won't be an elimination for a positive test. That has been something discussed with delays and all that. Again, it's clear they are planning on bubbling this up as much as they can.
- If this holds true give me Gonzaga, Baylor, Texas Tech and Houston. Then go ahead and move the Final Four to Texas.
- Region 1 has so much scoring it's hilarious. Regions 3 and 4 feel wide open, especially since we don't know how Michigan will look after this pause they are on. Baylor getting Illinois and Texas feels like the most loaded region.
- It's still fucking wild that Kentucky, Duke, UNC and Michigan State just aren't even close to being mentioned here and won't be. Such a bizarre year man. Doing this right before the Kentucky game was a direct kick in my nuts.
- It feels so fucking good to see a bracket again. I've lived for college hoops my entire life, wasn't really a choice in my family. I cry when I think of March 12 last year and getting the Tournament canceled. We're back baby. Get me to One Shining Moment.