West
While you are writing Syracuse into the second round without even a second thought, remember this: The last time the Orange played Vermont in the NCAA tournament, the Catamounts won. That was five years ago in Worcester, Mass. Then again, if Dean Smith were here, he would say Syracuse has a huge psychological advantage because of that game.
Click here for the rest of the West analysis: In Salt Lake, BYU could hold court vs. Orange
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East
Let's start with the matchup that disproves any selection committee's claims of even-handedness: Temple-Cornell. Both teams are under-seeded: Vanderbilt a fourth seed out of the SEC? Oh, please. And Cornell just a No. 12? Ridiculous. The Big Red played a tougher nonconference schedule than almost anyone in the country. Two of their four losses were at Syracuse and at Kansas. Whom exactly did California, a No. 8 seed, beat? The Bears couldn't even win their conference tournament in a miserable Pacific-10.
Click here for the rest of the East analysis: Despite some strange seeding in the East, it's Kentucky's region to lose
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South
For all the TV blather about Duke getting the third overall seed in the tournament over Syracuse, who cares? If you're a No. 1 seed, you're a No. 1 seed. That said, committee chairman Dan Guerrero added to the nonsense by saying, "Well, Syracuse is still playing close to home" in the first two rounds in Buffalo. Syracuse was going to Buffalo regardless and couldn't have played in the East Region final because those games will be in . . . Syracuse. So what's the difference between playing in Houston and playing in Salt Lake?
Click here for the rest of the South analysis: Duke's drought may end, but watch the Big 12 duo
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Midwest
A lot of people seem to think that Kansas has a cakewalk to Indianapolis through this region. Not so.
There are at least four teams that are capable of beating the Jayhawks: Ohio State, Georgetown, Maryland and, believe it or not, No. 10 seed Georgia Tech. If you were thinking Tennessee was the fourth team that can beat Kansas because it did beat Kansas earlier in the season, forget it: The Vols will be fortunate to get past San Diego State in the first round.
Click here for the rest of the Midwest analysis: Jayhawks may be No. 1, but they can't take it easy
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This week's AP Top 25 Ballot:
1 Kansas
2 Kentucky
3 Syracuse
4 Duke
5 West Virginia
6 Ohio State
7 Temple
8 Butler
9 Kansas State
10 Villanova
11 New Mexico
12 Purdue
13 BYU
14 Wisconsin
15 Pittsburgh
16 Gonzaga
17 Texas A&M
18 Tennessee
19 Michigan State
20 Baylor
21 Richmond
22 Georgetown
23 Maryland
24 Cornell
25 Georgia Tech
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3 comments:
Washington will beat Marquette, and likely New Mexico, too. They have improved a lot from the non-conference schedule and early league play. In non-conference they went 10-2, with the two losses at Texas Tech in OT and to Georgetown on a neutral court by 8. The UW improved a lot the last 8 weeks, with many young players stepping up (the only Senior is Quincy Pondexter, who is very special).
You are correct, the PAC-10 is down this year, but Cal and UW are good teams...better than top 10 in the Big East. It has become vogue to dismiss the PAC-10 this year. We will learn the answer Thursday.
Mr Feinstein certainly doesn't pull any punches. If Cal and Washington (and a number of other schools he colorfully dismisses) can't find some additional motivation in these remarks, they should be checked immediately to see if they still have a pulse.
I do hope that Kentucky fans are living in present. Given Cals history by next year this time the 2009 - 2010 season will be vacated ala his two previous schools. Don't say we didn't warn you Cats fans.
And the only thing I want to hear from Jim Boehiem is him explaining how he could possibly lose to UVM twice in 5 years. Probably won't happen but we orange hater can dream.
And how did Syracuse lose the final game of the season to Louisville and their first game of the big east tournament and still get a #1 seed? Mississippi St takes Kentucky to OT in the SEC championship game and doesn't get in. It leads me to believe that conference tournys are not that important and ...... SURPRISE all about money.
Seems odd that the NCAA can extend March Madness by a week in the middle of a semester and not effect the "Student Athletes" but wont give us a BCS playoff while the "SAs" are in between semesters.
I disagree with The Vols. I think they are dangerous.
This actually should be a good tournament as there is really no great team. It would be difficult to pick any team and say it's their tournament to lose.
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