By David Dorman, Hoops HD Senior Staff Member
This bracket reflects what I would do if I was a committee of one if the season ended today. I am not trying to guess the real committee.
DAVID DORMAN’S BRACKET COMMENTS:
-Arizona fell a seed line with a home loss to Arizona State on Saturday. The only way I see Arizona getting up to the 1 line on Selection Sunday is wins over both UCLA and USC in LA over the upcoming weekend and win the PAC 12 Tournament in Vegas.
-I debated long and hard over the final #1 seed. It was very tight between Purdue and UCLA. In the end it came down to all the Tier 1 wins for Purdue and a much tougher conference schedule between the two schools. If UCLA wins the PAC 12 Tournament the Boilermakers might need to win the BIG 10 Tournament to hold off the Bruins for that last 1 seed.
-Michigan was my last team in the field and bumped out Wisconsin with the OT win yesterday in Ann Arbor.
-How important is a protected seed for UConn? Enormous. If UConn can make a run at the Big East Tournament Title in Madison Square Garden the Huskies can secure a top 4 seed and get placed in the East Regional located in Madison Square Garden. They can travel to the Final Four without leaving the state of NY. New York and more specifically MSG has become UConn’s home away from home over the years. UConn can play the first two rounds in Albany then head to Madison Square Garden for a shot to punch their ticket to the Final 4. The Husky faithful would love to gobble up all the tickets in Albany and the Garden and back their team all the way to Houston.
-Auburn better be careful and start winning a few games down the stretch. It will not be easy as they travel to Alabama on Wednesday and their final game is Tennessee at home on Saturday. If they lose both those games they might need to win a game in the SEC Tournament which sounds crazy considering they have been safely in my brackets all season.
-Kansas State was the beneficiary of the Arizona loss as K St. moved up a line and now sits on the 2 line.
-Some of the last teams left out of my bracket but still very much alive to make a late season push to the dance:
Clemson
Arizona State
Texas Tech
Penn State
North Carolina
Utah State
Wisconsin
-The month of March is the best month on the sports calendar every year. The win or lose format of our UTR conference tournaments is can’t miss competition. The excitement, intensity and energy in these gyms is incredible. These athletes put everything on the line as they try and make their childhood dreams of making the NCAA Tournament come true. Make sure you follow all the action with us at HoopsHD.com all March long.
-Enjoy Conference Tourney Time!
COMMENTS FROM THE PUPPET:
-This is more of a general comment than it is a specific comment on David’s bracket. If you’ve been doing this for a while, which I have (almost 20 years if you can believe it), you cannot help but make some selections and seedings due to categorical reasons. As a rule, I try to avoid this and remind myself that the real committee does something every year that they have never done before, but sometimes I still can’t help it.
If the standard is the 36 BEST, then Texas Tech belongs in. The only reason to not take them is for a categorical reason (conference record and too many Big 12 teams). Other than that, they are one of the 36 best non-champions. Don’t believe me?? Who would you rather play if it were a game you absolutely had to win?? Texas Tech or anyone else on David’s 10 or 11 line??
-I’m still not sold on Kansas. How can you give them a #1 seed? They just haven’t done enough!! (that was a joke).
-Indiana has been staying on most people’s #4 line. I was far more critical of Indiana at the start of the year than most people, and I think I may have been the last among the Hoops HD staff to buy into them. What’s strange is that I now seem to like them more than anyone else. Road wins at Xavier and at Purdue are incredible. Their resume seems to me like they belong on at least the #3 line, and perhaps even higher than that.
COMMENTS FROM CHAD:
– I don’t have any issues with the top 6 seed lines in Dorman’s bracket. It matches every team I would have within 1 line of where I would have them, and it is way to close to quibble over Purdue vs UCLA for the final 1 seed.
– I do not understand Maryland (not a single road win of note despite some great home wins) and Arkansas (only 2 road wins, one of which was by 2 at South Carolina) on the 7 line. I would have both teams behind the likes of Iowa (12 wins against the top two tiers), Texas A&M and even your ACC leader, Pittsburgh.
– I do not agree with the Puppet and do agree with Dorman on his last teams in. Texas Tech had a very narrow path to a bid, and it required a home win over TCU. They did not get it, and now have to find a way to win at Kansas this week. The Red Raiders have only 4 wins against any teams projected into the field as at-large caliber, and 3 of those 4 came at home. The one road win was at West Virginia, a team squarely on the Bubble. Using the Puppet’s own logic, this is not a tournament resume. But, given their conference, they will get the chances this week to prove their worth.
– I also have no idea why Dorman did not even consider College of Charleston for an at-large bid with Hofstra as his CAA auto bid team. The Cougars will be at 30 wins if they lose in the CAA finals, and no team in history with 29 or more wins has ever been left out!
COMMENTS FROM STALICA:
– A case can be made if you’re talking about Purdue or UCLA for the last #1 seed, but Texas should be considered for the #1 line as well. What is surprising to me is that Texas now has as many losses in conference play as Purdue does; the Big 12 is much more difficult to navigate than the B1G this season.
– I still don’t understand how Iowa State continues to remain in protected-seed territory. The Cyclones have fallen to .500 in the Group of Death known as the Big 12 and only have 4 wins away from Hilton Coliseum (two of which came during the PK Invitational in Portland). I would have chosen the Canes over Iowa State, even with a tough come-from-ahead loss at home against Florida State over the weekend.
– Had Virginia not beaten Baylor and Illinois in the Las Vegas Invitational, they would have a profile that would actually be worse than what North Carolina is bringing to the table right now. Let that sink in if the Hoos cannot get out of their current slump.
– It’s not out of the question to have Arkansas wearing white in Round 1, although I suspect they scream more 8-seed right now. Their wins away from home against San Diego State (in Maui) and at Kentucky are looming pretty large now; they seem to have stabilized their roster after a rash of injuries earlier in the year.
– As unbelieveable as this sounds, we could very well be looking at only 6 teams getting in the field from the Big 12 if teams like Oklahoma State, West Virginia and Texas Tech just stand pat and are unable to add more quality wins to their profiles. Clemson and Arizona State are finally playing with some urgency and could be potential bid thieves in their conference tournaments. But every bubble team is frightened of what Villanova poses in the Big East now that they’re completely healthy and finally clicking on all cylinders.
– Charleston is going to be a hot debate should they advance to the CAA Championship, lose to Hofstra and require an automatic bid. The only real wins of note were Virginia Tech, Kent State and a sweep of UNC-Wilmington. Getting swept (2 games) by Hofstra would be a near-fatal wound and a loss to any team not named Hofstra WILL be a fatal wound. I do think that winning the CAA would put the Cougars above the First Four, though.
