Xavier and Dayton are still playing for conference tournament titles. Ohio State and Cincinnati await Selection Sunday and NCAA tournament assignments.
Geography matters when building the bracket, so some interesting matchups could be ahead.
It's impossible to guess how the tournament selection committee views a team like Ohio State, which has a great player in D'Angelo Russell but has exactly zero impressive wins away from its home floor all season. It's fair to guess, though, that the Buckeyes could be a No. 8, 9 or 10 seed. Same for Cincinnati. Same for Dayton. Maybe Xavier has played itself to the No. 7 line in the Big East tournament, but that, too, is a guess.
So, here are some interesting things to keep in mind...
**Russell is from Louisville. Ohio State can't play in Columbus next weekend. Kentucky will be the tournament's top overall seed and play in Louisville. Maybe Ohio State will be the No. 9 seed, a line below Kentucky. How about a Xavier vs. Ohio State, 8 vs. 9 game, with Kentucky awaiting?
**Cincinnati, Dayton and Xavier can all play in Columbus. Or Louisville. Or Pittsburgh.
**Last year, Ohio State and Dayton were paired in a 5 vs. 12 first-round game in Buffalo. The committee says these things happen only by chance. Let's just say a Xavier-Dayton or Dayton-Cincinnati first-round game in Columbus or Louisville wouldn't exactly be a surprise.
**While the committee ranks the tournament teams from Nos. 1 through 68 before building the actual bracket, it does not use an S-curve from there. It uses the order primarily to determine which teams -- starting with the high seeds -- get first dibs on their closest geographical playing site.
**There's more to it, too. The committee tries to avoid teams from the same conference playing one another before at least the Sweet 16. A few years ago when the old Big East was rolling and getting 11 teams in, that was more difficult. This year, that's no issue. This conference realignment has separated the Ohio teams that will be in the tournament, and while a Xavier-Cincinnati rematch from last month and an Ohio State-Dayton rematch from last year seem unlikely, other intrastate matchups are possible.
**Kentucky will be in Louisville, Villanova will be in Pittsburgh and Duke will be in Charlotte next weekend. Geography matters all the way through, so interesting decisions lie ahead with Wisconsin, Notre Dame, Iowa State and others that obviously would like to avoid Kentucky and the Midwest regional that comes to Cleveland Mar. 26.
Sunday will be interesting.
Enjoy the games.
