It's that time again, friends! Selection Sunday is now less than 100 hours out, and the action on the bubble already began Tuesday night. Let's get right to some quick hitting points:
My initial selection list is up
While the seeding still needs to be worked out, I have the at-large field up on the Bracket Projection page. The seeding and pairings should be worked out by Friday. If you want me to discuss your team, hit me on Twitter (@Bracketmarch) and I'll do my best to do a piece on them before Selection Sunday.
BYU hasn't done enough to deserve an at-large
Gonzaga defeated BYU last night to earn the WCC title for the third straight year. While the Cougars have played much better basketball of late and racked up a huge victory at Gonzaga a couple of weeks ago, that alone is not enough to get into the tournament. For starters, the selection committee took no longer considers end of season play as a selection criteria. Additionally, they had multiple opportunities to get an additional signature win out of conference, but never did (San Diego State, Utah, Purdue). This can change, however, if other teams on the bubble lose.
NC State is safe
The Wolfpack could take a nap at half-court against Pitt tonight and still get into the tournament. Unlike the Cougars, NC State has plenty of great wins to make its resume sufficient. Beating Boise State, Duke, Louisville, and North Carolina will do that for a team, even if it has several bad losses. Also, Beejay Anya scares me.
Miami is in a do or die scenario
Not only do the Hurricanes need to beat Virginia Tech tonight, I think they need one more win against Notre Dame on Thursday. While the win at Duke is stellar, their resume looks a lot like BYU. Yes, they beat NC State and also Illinois at home, but those wins are marginal and they have too many confounding losses to the likes of Eastern Kentucky, Florida State, Georgia Tech, and Wake Forest. The Hurricanes are enigmatic, and I think they need one more signature win away from home to prove they belong. Time to go nuts, Angel Rodriguez.
My initial selection list is up
While the seeding still needs to be worked out, I have the at-large field up on the Bracket Projection page. The seeding and pairings should be worked out by Friday. If you want me to discuss your team, hit me on Twitter (@Bracketmarch) and I'll do my best to do a piece on them before Selection Sunday.
BYU hasn't done enough to deserve an at-large
Gonzaga defeated BYU last night to earn the WCC title for the third straight year. While the Cougars have played much better basketball of late and racked up a huge victory at Gonzaga a couple of weeks ago, that alone is not enough to get into the tournament. For starters, the selection committee took no longer considers end of season play as a selection criteria. Additionally, they had multiple opportunities to get an additional signature win out of conference, but never did (San Diego State, Utah, Purdue). This can change, however, if other teams on the bubble lose.
NC State is safe
The Wolfpack could take a nap at half-court against Pitt tonight and still get into the tournament. Unlike the Cougars, NC State has plenty of great wins to make its resume sufficient. Beating Boise State, Duke, Louisville, and North Carolina will do that for a team, even if it has several bad losses. Also, Beejay Anya scares me.
Miami is in a do or die scenario
Not only do the Hurricanes need to beat Virginia Tech tonight, I think they need one more win against Notre Dame on Thursday. While the win at Duke is stellar, their resume looks a lot like BYU. Yes, they beat NC State and also Illinois at home, but those wins are marginal and they have too many confounding losses to the likes of Eastern Kentucky, Florida State, Georgia Tech, and Wake Forest. The Hurricanes are enigmatic, and I think they need one more signature win away from home to prove they belong. Time to go nuts, Angel Rodriguez.
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