It’s Selection Sunday and the participants in the 2016 NCAA tournament have officially been announced. After IU upset No. 1 United Kingdom 73-72 in December 2011, the two teams met later that season in NCAA tournament, with the Wildcats prevailing 102-90 in the Sweet 16 on their way to winning the national title. 1 North Carolina early in the season, topping Texas.
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Around the time the two left the gym, a Twitter hacker had leaked the entire bracket despite CBS being only one region into its glacial coverage.
MI went from its feel-good moment of a buzzer-beater to knock off top-seeded IN in the Big Ten to wondering if it’s IN the field after a solid thumping by Purdue IN the semifinals.
Meanwhile, will the tourney’s No. 1 seeds Kansas, North Carolina, Virginia and (stunner) OR make it to the Final Four in Houston in April? Also, there were 31 conference tournaments, and the top seed came out the champion in only 10 of those. It listed Syracuse as a No. 10 seed in the Midwest bracket facing Dayton (25-7) in the first round on Friday.
Regardless, the Spartans will be a popular Final Four pick and have legitimate shot to win it all. It could be a wild ride.
This year as much as any, teams don’t really have any excuses for not making the NCAA tournament. A 8-5 record against the Top 100 wasn’t enough for the Gamecocks, and a weak schedule is likely to blame.
Division I men’s basketball chairman Joe Castiglione, the athletic director at Oklahoma, called the leak surprising. “Monmouth was right there in that final discussion”.
Once again, Tony Bennett and Virginia couldn’t avoid Michigan State.
So the Bench Mob, Monmouth’s colorfully choreographed contribution to college basketball pop culture, will not be a part of March Madness. Those teams failed to win their conference tournaments, leaving it up to the selection committee to decide their fates. The conference tournaments are some of the best basketball of the season, with the desperation of every school on display. “It’s proven with seven No. 1 teams getting beat, people fluctuating in the top five, in and out”.
– Why the committee got it right – You can’t lose at home to Pepperdine.
“I know Georgetown and UCLA are historic names, but they’re not great teams”, CBS analyst Doug Gottlieb said.
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According to “Bracket Matrix”, 52 of 59 bracketologists projected the Bonnies to make the tournament while none of the 59 thought Tulsa would be entered into the field as they were. It was VCU in 2011, La Salle in 2013 and Tennessee in 2014, could this year’s team be No. 11 MI? “That was one of the weirdest ones in the last 15, 16 years”.
