The first thing that I noticed when the brackets came out is that the Midwest region is brutal. The top overall seed, the Louisville Cardinals, seemingly stole the No. 1 seed from the Indiana Hoosiers. A week or two ago, not many people had Louisville as a No. 1 seed let alone the top overall seed. Indiana had the top seed in the Indianapolis region all but wrapped up. That was until Louisville went on a hot streak and blew through the Big East conference tournament and Indiana was upset in the semifinals in the Big Ten Tournament by Wisconsin.
In addition to the top overall seed and arguably the hottest team in the country in Louisville, perhaps the best of the No. 2 seeds in the Duke Blue Devils. Before the upset loss to Maryland in the ACC Tournament, Duke had won every game it had played with Mason Plumlee in the lineup. Plumlee is back and I expect the Blue Devils to put the loss to Maryland behind them. The Michigan State Spartans are the No. 3 seed and they may be the best No. 3 seed as well. Michigan State finished a game behind Indiana in the Big Ten standings. Michigan State has the toughness and low post presence to go far in the tournament. And don't ever count out Tom Izzo's bunch come tournament time. St. Louis, the No. 4 seed, is a great team, who swept Butler in three games and beat Virginia Commonwealth twice, including the Atlantic 10 Tournament Championship game. The Billikens are coming in having won 15 their last 16 games.
Oregon has a gripe about their seeding. It is a No. 12, having swept UCLA and having a road win over UNLV and another win over Arizona. Oregon won the Pac 12 Tournament as well. This seeding made no sense to me, especially with teams like San Diego State, Oklahoma and Colorado receiving higher seeds than the Ducks.
I have yet another matchup between Louisville and Michigan State in the regional final with Louisville winning. It would be the second consecutive season and the third in the last five. The teams have split those two tournament meetings.
To me, the weakest region is the East. Indiana may have lucked out by not being placed in the Midwest region. The Hoosiers are placed in the region with perhaps the weakest of the No. 2 and No. 3 seeds in Miami and Marquette. If Marquette gets past Butler and Miami into the Elite 8, it could set up a matchup between Indiana and coach Tom Crean against his former team, Marquette. I think Indiana should breeze into the Final Four.
As much as Michigan State and Louisville have met, Wisconsin and Kansas State could meet once again in the tournament. It would be the third time it has met since the 2008 tournament and second in three years. Both prior times the teams have met in the tournament, it has been in the round of 32. And it would meet once again in that round should the teams meet this year.
After the top two in the South region, the teams fall down considerably. Kansas and Georgetown are a worthy top two, but Florida struggles mightily away from home. The Gators also struggles in close games and there are bound to be some in the tournament. Florida has lost four of its past six road and neutral site games. I do not see Florida getting past the Sweet 16. This region has a Kansas/Georgetown Elite 8 matchup written all over it.
This tournament is sure to provide thrills, just like every other tournament. Now, it is time to just sit back and relax and enjoy the greatest two sporting days of the year.
No comments:
Post a Comment