First official March Madness early bracket revealed, 1 team gets strongest reaction
The best Cavaliers in basketball might play in Charlottesville and not Cleveland.
Or so it seems, as despite losing 61-60 at home to Virginia Tech Saturday, the University of Virginia’s version of the Cavs would, if Selection Sunday were today, be given a No. 1 seed after putting up the best record in the powerhouse Atlantic Coast Conference.
The NCAA Selection Committee has gotten into the bracketology business, putting out its official preview bracket, and Virginia joins 2016 champion Villanova, Xavier, and a resurgent Purdue squad as the top seeds.
The NCAA’s bracket only goes four deep in each region. Fans of, say, the University of Nevada still have to rely on guys like ESPN’s Joe Lunardi to tell them their beloved Wolf Pack project as a No. 8 seed.
The NCAA’s No. 2 seeds are Auburn, Kansas, Duke and Cincinnati.
For the No. 3 spots, we find Clemson, Texas Tech, Michigan State and North Carolina.
And finally, at the four-seed position, we get Tennessee, Ohio State, Arizona, and Trae Young and the boys from Oklahoma.
That Oklahoma selection touched off a firestorm on Twitter, considering the Sooners have lost six of their last eight and are only .500 in conference play.
Wow, Oklahoma as a 4? I must be missing something here
— Brian Snow (@BSnowND) February 11, 2018
Strongly disagree with Oklahoma on the No. 4 line. I'd have had Gonzaga, West Virginia or frankly a handful of other teams ahead of the Sooners.
— Jeff Eisenberg (@JeffEisenberg) February 11, 2018
Lunardi, for what it’s worth, had the 16-8 Sooners as the No. 5 seed in the latest version of his bracket for ESPN.
Gonzaga and West Virginia have strong cases indeed.
The Zags are 37th in the RPI and 142nd in strength of schedule according to CBS, with a blowout 86-59 win over Ohio State at a neutral site, road wins at St. Mary’s and Washington, and only one sub-100 RPI loss, 72-70 on the road against San Diego State.
The committee looked at strength of schedule and punished Gonzaga for playing in the woeful West Coast Conference.
West Virginia, meanwhile, stands 34th in RPI and 37th in SOS, with a win over top seed Virginia, plus — and this is far more critical considering who got ranked above them — two wins over the Sooners, beating them 75-73 in Norman and 89-76 in Morgantown.
West Virginia has no sub-100 RPI losses, added a neutral-site win over Missouri to its list of top-25 RPI vicories, and is 18-7 overall compared to the Sooners’ 16-8.
Oklahoma is 2-6 on the road, but the committee ultimately relied on RPI and SOS, where the Sooners are 21st and 14th respectively, credited them for playing a tough non-conference schedule (23 RPI, 81 SOS), and noted their 5-0 record against the RPI Top 25.
This gives us a key insight into what the committee’s looking for, and as happens seemingly every year, fans end up wondering if the committee watches the actual games, whether a team wins or loses them.
So Oklahoma’s a No. 4. There are sound reasons why they should be a No. 4.
But by the eye test, it’s a baffling move that reveals a lot about the difference between the selection committee and the average fan.
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