The bracket for the NCAA Tournament is out, and 68 men’s college basketball teams have their minds set on Phoenix and the Final Four. So who won and who lost with the committee’s release?
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Production crews have been embedded with the teams beginning Selection Sunday.
They’ll potentially have to play Wisconsin, inexplicably slotted as a no. 8 seed, in the second round. Should chalk hold, Villanova could then face No. 2 seed Duke or No. 3 Baylor for the right to get back to the Final Four. Wilmington plays fast and is efficient on the offensive end, but can struggle to get stops against size. According to kenpom.com the Shockers are the eighth-best team in the country. The Badgers seem under-seeded and have been an excellent tournament team in recent years.
More importantly, Maryland earned a 6-seed and will take on 11-seed Xavier (21-13) in the West Region of the NCAA Tournament bracket.
This doesn’t mean Villanova can’t repeat.
Unlike last year, when regular-season champions or co-champions only won 11 of 31 conference tournaments, those champions were 20 of 32 this year, including the first Ivy League Tournament champion, Princeton. So underseeded teams need to be two seed lines away from where we thought they belonged. As a few losses continued to pile up, plenty anxious the Cats might’ve been floating to the wrong side of that tournament bubble.
But the day has finally come, even though we’ve known it was coming for a while now – wins at Wisconsin and then at home against MI seemed to seal the deal on two separate occasions. No. 9 seed games as close to a tossup – as you would expect – in the East Region it gives No. 8 Wisconsin a 79 percent chance of beating No. 9 Virginia Tech. The Wildcats received the number one overall seed in the tournament, further proving Jay Wright’s ability to successfully build off of last year’s success.
“But we’re happy with the progress we’ve made and we’re excited for this week”.
The selection committee has a tough job in not only picking and seeding the field, but also determining each game’s location.
Kansas is just 22.3% likely to make the Final Four, the lowest probability of any No. 1 seed.
The South Carolina Gamecocks are in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2004, but they are limping into the postseason. Or angst until Thursday, when the first round of the men’s NCAA tournament starts. At least one 12-seed almost always beats a 5. Don’t overlook Wichita State when filling out your bracket. “I like their chances”. Not all teams dancing this week are so lucky, though.
John Calipari – The head coach at the University of Kentucky since 2009, Calipari previously coached at two other universities.
While you might look at the bracket and see four No. 1 seeds, one of them is actually the overall No. 1 seed and, as a result, is in the slightly easier bracket region.
Gonzaga spent much of the year atop the polls, but the Bulldogs haven’t answered questions in some pickers’ minds about their strength of schedule.
■ New Mexico State’s Ian Baker, another short guy at 6-0 but he leads his team in scoring and assists. That’s Florida State or Duke. This is a trend. Not only that, they’re on a 107-game winning streak. Games in Buffalo are scheduled for Thursday and Saturday.
If you want to watch the selection show live tonight, you have a few options. They’re a flawed team but extremely talented. Nearly half got all 68. In a tournament setting with just a day to get ready for?
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Per the new normal, it will be a challenge – but not impossible – for the top seeded squads to advance in the 2017 NCAA Tournament.
