The bracket below was put together by David Dorman. His comments are below that, as well as some comments from the staff.
COMMENTS FROM DAVID DORMAN:
-Right off the bat let’s look at my last few teams in the field and first ones left out because I expect to take heat on those selections.
IN – Vanderbilt, BYU, U.C.- SD and VCU.
LEFT OUT – Texas, San Francisco, Arkansas and Wake Forest.
-My philosophy on including UC-SD and VCU over the power conference teams is team success in conference play. UC-SD (10-2) and VCU (10-2) are having great seasons outside the power conferences. Texas, Arkansas and Wake Forest get many opportunities to accumulate tier 1 wins and have come up short time after time. I want to see teams in the tournament that have had exceptional seasons, we don’t always need to include power conference schools that are .500 (or below) in their conference because they played a tough conference schedule. I truly believe these UTR teams would have done better than .500 in power conferences. These UTR teams have been winning all year long and many times take that winning mindset and momentum right into the NCAA Tournament and put a run together.
-I have nothing against Texas, Arkansas and Wake, I just believe their body of work at this point in time does not justify an at-large bid.
-I have 3 SEC schools on the 1 line and Duke. Florida jumped Tennessee this week with the Vols loss at Kentucky while Florida went on the road to Auburn and Mississippi State and came away with 2 victories.
-As far as bracketing goes it will be very interesting to see how/if the NCAA Selection Committee can get the SEC and BIG TEN teams away from each other in the bracket. It gets very tricky with those two conferences and the BIG 12 getting more than 90% of the at-large bids. I believe we will be seeing conference matchups as soon as the second round.
-Keep an eye out this weekend as the actual NCAA Tournament Committee has gathered together putting the top 16 teams in the country in a bracket. The committee will put together the top 4 seeds in each region. I do enjoy this exercise every February, I just wish they went a little farther into the bracket ( give us the top 6-7 seed lines) and then give us the top 4-5 teams just outside their bracket.
-These next 2-3 weeks in college hoops are critical for so many teams as they fight for seeding in their conference tournaments. Conference seeding is so important because many conferences have byes and double byes in their tournaments that keep players fresh. Also around the country other teams are fighting just to be included in their conference tournaments because many conferences this year are not inviting all members.
-BUCKLE UP, this is the best 6 week stretch on the sports calendar every year! Make sure to follow along daily at HOOPSHD.com
STAFF COMMENTS: (coming soon)
