LINKS
-For today’s News, Notes, and Highlighted Games – CLICK HERE
-For Chad Sherwood’s Under the Radar Game of the Day – CLICK HERE
The following Bracket is JOHN STALICA’S bracket of what he personally thinks the bracket SHOULD look like if today were Selection Sunday. It is not an attempt to guess what the actual Selection Committee will do in March.
COMMENTS FROM JOHN (comments and criticisms from the rest of the staff are posted below)
– Providence was the big mover this weekend. While I was already a big fan of what they’ve accomplished this year, their win at Villanova (albeit at the Wells Fargo Center) may well be the single best win we’ve had this year away from home, maybe a little more so than Texas going into West Virginia and winning. There is no rest for the weary – we are certain to have a Top 10 matchup when Xavier visits Providence tomorrow night.
– With Oregon getting a sweep of the SoCal schools this weekend, I would have them as the auto-bid winner out of the Pac-12 as of this week. With their win at a Utah team that had a great weekend of their own, I think the Ducks are now more worthy of a seed that the metrics would suggest they deserve.
– It was also not a good week in terms of at-large consideration for teams like Monmouth, Valparaiso and Texas-Arlington. I still believe that Monmouth has one more strike that they can absorb in MAAC play before falling below the at-large threshold should they not win their conference tournament. Valpo is right on the cut line, but they cannot lose to anyone else in the Horizon and expect an at-large should they not survive Motor City Madness.
My First 4 teams out: GW, Florida State, Gonzaga, Stanford
COMMENTS FROM DAVID
-Generally there are several things that jump out at me that makes me think the person who posted the bracket must be eating shrooms, but I agree with just about everything John did.
-North Carolina’s paper doesn’t exactly scream #1 seed. They don’t have that monster road win that you normally see from a #1 seed, but they could certainly end up getting it before the year is over. I think their team is better than what their current paper indicates.
-Monmouth on the #9 line might seem high given that they have three rather bad losses, but all those losses were on the road, and they have some wins that are much better than anyone else around them. For instance, no one on the #7 line has the bad losses that Monmouth has, but none of them have as many good wins either, so a strong argument can be made that the #9 line is where they belong.
-I’m not as big on Saint Joseph’s. I just don’t think they have the wins that other the other teams inside the bubble have. They are an impressive 6-0 in true road games, and that includes a very good win at Temple who has just one other home loss, but they still haven’t beaten any teams that are actually inside the bubble yet.
-I haven’t been big on Oregon at all this year, but they went on the road and picked up several big wins, which completely changes the complexion of their profile. I don’t like them quite as much as John does, but they’re definitely much higher up on my seed list now.
-Arizona on the #6 line makes sense as far as their current paper, but like North Carolina, I think Arizona’s team is better than their paper. If I’m right, then they have the rest of the year to prove it.