funniest article on march madness
To its credit, the NCAA tournament selection committee got the four No. 1 seeds right.
Then they started drinking. Or smoking. Or 'shrooming. Seriously, can we get a bracketoxicology report on the committee members?
Or maybe they just didn't have access to televisions over the weekend. I'm sure there's some explanation for the spate of dubious seedings and cruel snubs delivered by the committee.
Tennessee a No. 2? Boston College a No. 4? What?
Watching Boston College play North Carolina and Duke on Saturday and Sunday in the ACC tournament, I felt like I was watching a legit Final Four contender. Forwards Craig Smith and Jared Dudley were dominant and senior point guard Louis Hinnant seemed to come of age in the three tourney games with 23 assists and only three turnovers. (Hinnant also led B.C. with 20 points on 7-of-10 shooting in the final.)
The Eagles - who lost by two to Duke in the championship game of their first-ever ACC tournament - are relentless at both ends and looked every bit as tough mentally playing UNC and Duke in Greensboro as they are physically.
Watching Tennessee play in the SEC tournament on Saturday and Sunday ... oh, no, that's right, Tennessee didn't play on Saturday or Sunday because the Volunteers bowed to 15-loss South Carolina in the tournament quarterfinals on Friday.
Boston College finished 26-7 and seems to be peaking at exactly the right time, routing Maryland before edging the Tar Heels and losing to Duke only after a hail of NBA 3-pointers from J.J. Redick.
Tennessee finished 21-7 and lost four of its last six games, including the flameout in the SEC tournament, and seems to be swooning at exactly the wrong time.
Yet somehow the selection committee saw fit to award Tennessee a No. 2 seed and Boston College a No. 4 seed. I'm looking at a coaches' poll that has B.C. ranked seventh in the nation and the Vols ranked 19th. This is insane. The RPI should R.I.P. if this is the nonsense it produces.
One team that can't be thrilled with Boston College's seed is old Big East foe Villanova, which could meet the Eagles in the Sweet 16. Nice reward for being a top seed.
As for Tennessee, don't be surprised if Torrell Martin, James Shuler and Craig Bradshaw lead 15-seed Winthrop to a first-round victory. Every few years a 15 beats a 2 and we're overdue. It's been five years since Hampton shocked Iowa State in 2001. Here's hoping Winthrop strikes a blow for all the 3 and 4 seeds that had a better claim on Tennessee's lofty slot.
'Zag nuts
Has any team ever suffered such disparagement in the midst of an 18-game winning streak as poor Gonzaga? Once seen as a possible contender for a No. 1 seed, the 27-3 Zags "slumped" through so many narrow victories everyone jumped on the overrated bandwagon and they fell to a No. 3 seed. So it would seem Tennessee was excused four losses in six games while Gonzaga was punished for not winning their recent games comfortably enough. Has anyone thought that winning so many tight games might actually make Gonzaga a more dangerous tournament team? That maybe, just maybe this team has what Bill Raftery calls "onions." And if teams get penalized for having key players injured at tourney time, the 'Zags should have been rewarded for finally having their full roster ready to roll with Josh Heytvelt and Erroll Knight back in the rotation.
Bearcatastrophe
Indiana goes 18-11 against the 19th-toughest schedule in the country and gets a No. 6 seed. Cincinnati goes 18-12 against the 7th-toughest schedule in the country and gets a slap in the face and a ticket to the NIT. Huh? I guess the committee prefers a lame-duck coach to an interim coach.
I can not tell a lie
The Colonials climbed as high as No. 6 in the country and finished the season with a bracket-best 26-2 record but got slapped with a No. 8 seed. Ouch.
Maybe the committee knew more about Pops Mensah-Bonsu's knee than his orthopedist. With that seed, it doesn't much matter now if Pops returns or not, since even if they skate past UNC-Wilmington in the first round, the road ends for GW against Duke in round two.
Err Force
No pick made the committee look worse than Air Force. The Falcons (24-6) played Wyoming (13-17, 5-11 MWC) three times, sandwiching two losses around a one-point win. That is not the mark of one of the top 34 at-large teams left to choose from after the automatic bids were handed out. While Michigan (18-10) was suffering nine of its 10 losses in the Big Ten, Air Force was piling up impressive victories over Arkansas Pine Bluff and a school called IPFW.
The costliest call
Florida State may not have played anybody out of conference, but there's no way they would have been left out of the dance had they beaten Duke twice. But the bizarre double technical that cost the 'Noles center Alexander Johnson in the teams' meeting at Cameron will haunt FSU all the way into the NIT. Still, it's hard to believe there was no room in the field for a team that went 9-7 in the ACC regular season, beat Duke once and took the Blue Devils to OT in a one-point loss.
Missouri State of mind: Confused
I give up. Is RPI all-important, or does it not matter at all? The committee thought the Missouri Valley Conference was deep enough to merit four teams - Northern Iowa, Southern Illinois, Wichita State and Bradley - but left out the program with the best ratings percentage index of the bunch, Missouri State (No. 20). The Bears finished 12-6 in the conference, tied for second, before losing to Northern Iowa in the conference tournament. So if you're Tennessee, your conference tournament doesn't matter, but if you're Missouri State, well, good night and good luck in the Little Dance.
Then they started drinking. Or smoking. Or 'shrooming. Seriously, can we get a bracketoxicology report on the committee members?
Or maybe they just didn't have access to televisions over the weekend. I'm sure there's some explanation for the spate of dubious seedings and cruel snubs delivered by the committee.
Tennessee a No. 2? Boston College a No. 4? What?
Watching Boston College play North Carolina and Duke on Saturday and Sunday in the ACC tournament, I felt like I was watching a legit Final Four contender. Forwards Craig Smith and Jared Dudley were dominant and senior point guard Louis Hinnant seemed to come of age in the three tourney games with 23 assists and only three turnovers. (Hinnant also led B.C. with 20 points on 7-of-10 shooting in the final.)
The Eagles - who lost by two to Duke in the championship game of their first-ever ACC tournament - are relentless at both ends and looked every bit as tough mentally playing UNC and Duke in Greensboro as they are physically.
Watching Tennessee play in the SEC tournament on Saturday and Sunday ... oh, no, that's right, Tennessee didn't play on Saturday or Sunday because the Volunteers bowed to 15-loss South Carolina in the tournament quarterfinals on Friday.
Boston College finished 26-7 and seems to be peaking at exactly the right time, routing Maryland before edging the Tar Heels and losing to Duke only after a hail of NBA 3-pointers from J.J. Redick.
Tennessee finished 21-7 and lost four of its last six games, including the flameout in the SEC tournament, and seems to be swooning at exactly the wrong time.
Yet somehow the selection committee saw fit to award Tennessee a No. 2 seed and Boston College a No. 4 seed. I'm looking at a coaches' poll that has B.C. ranked seventh in the nation and the Vols ranked 19th. This is insane. The RPI should R.I.P. if this is the nonsense it produces.
One team that can't be thrilled with Boston College's seed is old Big East foe Villanova, which could meet the Eagles in the Sweet 16. Nice reward for being a top seed.
As for Tennessee, don't be surprised if Torrell Martin, James Shuler and Craig Bradshaw lead 15-seed Winthrop to a first-round victory. Every few years a 15 beats a 2 and we're overdue. It's been five years since Hampton shocked Iowa State in 2001. Here's hoping Winthrop strikes a blow for all the 3 and 4 seeds that had a better claim on Tennessee's lofty slot.
'Zag nuts
Has any team ever suffered such disparagement in the midst of an 18-game winning streak as poor Gonzaga? Once seen as a possible contender for a No. 1 seed, the 27-3 Zags "slumped" through so many narrow victories everyone jumped on the overrated bandwagon and they fell to a No. 3 seed. So it would seem Tennessee was excused four losses in six games while Gonzaga was punished for not winning their recent games comfortably enough. Has anyone thought that winning so many tight games might actually make Gonzaga a more dangerous tournament team? That maybe, just maybe this team has what Bill Raftery calls "onions." And if teams get penalized for having key players injured at tourney time, the 'Zags should have been rewarded for finally having their full roster ready to roll with Josh Heytvelt and Erroll Knight back in the rotation.
Bearcatastrophe
Indiana goes 18-11 against the 19th-toughest schedule in the country and gets a No. 6 seed. Cincinnati goes 18-12 against the 7th-toughest schedule in the country and gets a slap in the face and a ticket to the NIT. Huh? I guess the committee prefers a lame-duck coach to an interim coach.
I can not tell a lie
The Colonials climbed as high as No. 6 in the country and finished the season with a bracket-best 26-2 record but got slapped with a No. 8 seed. Ouch.
Maybe the committee knew more about Pops Mensah-Bonsu's knee than his orthopedist. With that seed, it doesn't much matter now if Pops returns or not, since even if they skate past UNC-Wilmington in the first round, the road ends for GW against Duke in round two.
Err Force
No pick made the committee look worse than Air Force. The Falcons (24-6) played Wyoming (13-17, 5-11 MWC) three times, sandwiching two losses around a one-point win. That is not the mark of one of the top 34 at-large teams left to choose from after the automatic bids were handed out. While Michigan (18-10) was suffering nine of its 10 losses in the Big Ten, Air Force was piling up impressive victories over Arkansas Pine Bluff and a school called IPFW.
The costliest call
Florida State may not have played anybody out of conference, but there's no way they would have been left out of the dance had they beaten Duke twice. But the bizarre double technical that cost the 'Noles center Alexander Johnson in the teams' meeting at Cameron will haunt FSU all the way into the NIT. Still, it's hard to believe there was no room in the field for a team that went 9-7 in the ACC regular season, beat Duke once and took the Blue Devils to OT in a one-point loss.
Missouri State of mind: Confused
I give up. Is RPI all-important, or does it not matter at all? The committee thought the Missouri Valley Conference was deep enough to merit four teams - Northern Iowa, Southern Illinois, Wichita State and Bradley - but left out the program with the best ratings percentage index of the bunch, Missouri State (No. 20). The Bears finished 12-6 in the conference, tied for second, before losing to Northern Iowa in the conference tournament. So if you're Tennessee, your conference tournament doesn't matter, but if you're Missouri State, well, good night and good luck in the Little Dance.