Bracket Watch: The battle to avoid No. 1 Kentucky is heating up
Last week I had the pleasure of participating on the NCAA's media mock selection committee. (I even got to serve as co-chairman!) We spent two long days simulating the exact process by which the real committee evaluates, selects, seeds and places the teams in the bracket. I can assure you this and all remaining Bracket Watch editions will be more informed because of it.
As for the actual teams, the most intriguing debate among our panel of 20 media members involved the fourth No. 1 seed. Kentucky, Virginia and Duke easily landed the first three. On the last spot, however, the room was torn between Gonzaga and Wisconsin.
You can tell from the bracket below which side I fell on. I believe the 'Zags, whose sole loss was on the road in overtime to top-10 foe Arizona, are worthy of the top line. But I got out-voted. The larger committee, either leery of Gonzaga's thinner resume or just plain bullish on Frank Kaminsky, selected Wisconsin.
Had Gonzaga gotten top billing, Wisconsin would not only have fallen to the two line, but, as with my mock bracket, the Badgers would have been stuck opposite Kentucky in the Midwest. The committee places each of the top four seeds in the closest available region. Arizona feels the brunt of the inverse scenario. Gonzaga stays in the West whether it's a No. 1 or 2 seed. But that would either bump the Wildcats to the South (if they're ahead of Kansas on the seed list), or they end up opposite Kentucky.
It's the fate every No. 2 seed wants to avoid this year, and the best way to do that is to move up to that top line.
Editor's note: The bracket sets up as East vs. South, Midwest vs. West. It's based on games played through Feb. 16. Projected automatic berths (*) go to the current first-place team in each conference (in cases of first-place ties, the higher-rated RPI team gets the nod).
Selection Sunday is March 15.
First four out: BYU, Stanford, Miami, UMass
| East Region (Syracuse) | ||
| Seed | Team | Location |
| 1 | Virginia* (ACC) | at Charlotte |
| 16 | St. Francis NY* (Northeast)/New Mexico State* (WAC) | |
| 8 | Ole Miss (SEC) | |
| 9 | Temple (AAC)
|
|
| 4 | North Carolina (ACC)
|
at Jacksonville |
| 13 | Sam Houston* (Southland)
|
|
| 5 | Arkansas (SEC)
|
|
| 12 | Valparaiso* (Horizon)
|
|
| 6 | Wichita State* (MVC)
|
at Omaha |
| 11 | NC State (ACC)
|
|
| 3 | Iowa State (Big 12)
|
|
| 14 | NC Central* (MEAC) | |
| 7 | Indiana (Big Ten)
|
at Pittsburgh |
| 10 | Dayton (A-10)
|
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| 2 | Villanova* (Big East) | |
| 15 | High Point* (Big South) |
