Monday, March 12, 2007

Early Bracket Thoughts

I'll have a lot more stuff on the bracket in the next few days, but here are my initial impressions:

- I am shocked - SHOCKED - that Arkansas, Stanford, and Illinois are in the pool about Syracuse and Drexel. It just makes absolutely no sense to me. The Razorbacks were 7-9 in the very mediocre SEC West, and I believe they have something like 2 road wins on the year. Meanwhile, Drexel has 13 road wins (including Syracuse, Villanova, and Creighton), and Syracuse was 10-6 in the Big East (which is deeper and better than the SEC), and has wins over Georgetown (trendy champion pick), Villanova, and Marquette. An absolutely perplexing decision to put Arkansas in the field either any of those two. Or over Kansas St. or Missouri St.

- I like what Bob Huggins said... how important is the conference tourney draw? If Ole Miss loses to Florida in the SEC final instead of semifinal, are they in the Tourney instead of Arkansas? If you can't tell, the inclusion of Arkansas just baffles me.

- Upon first look, Florida looks like it has an absolute cakewalk to the Final Four. I really think Wisconsin is a weak 2 seed, and the top half of the bracket shouldn't pose too many problems. A hot shooting Notre Dame or Oregon team might be able to beat them in the Elite 8, but other than that I'm hard-pressed to see anyone else beating them before Atlanta.

- On a similar token, Georgetown doesn't look to have any trouble whatsoever getting to the Elite Eight.

- When I saw UCLA wasn't a 1 seed, I was praying they wouldn't be in Florida or Kansas' bracket... I didn't get exactly what I hoped for, but the Bruins could be playing with virtual homecourt advantage, as the first 2 games are in Sacramento and the next two would be in San Jose.

- I'll get into the best games of the Tourney in a post later in the next couple days, but there are two first round matchups that stick out to me as just being some fascinating games - Notre Dame/Wintrhop and Nevada/Creighton.

- Oral Roberts is a strong 14 and Washington St. is a weak 3 seed... very interesting matchup there.

- Have I mentioned that Arkansas and Stanford getting in over Syracuse and Drexel makes absolutely no sense to me?

- Offhand, teams that seem like they can win a Championship in my mind: Florida, North Carolina, Texas, Georgetown, Ohio St., Texas A&M, Kansas, and UCLA.

Much more coming up this week... for other stuff check out WBRS' case for Drexel, or the JCMJ Thoughts.

What stuck out to you?

7 comments:

SAMO said...

Thanks for the link bro.

Oral Roberts is a strong 14 and Washington St. is a weak 3 seed... very interesting matchup there.

I agree with you on that.

I think UNC has a tough road to the final four.

I am interested to see how Memphis plays against a team like A&M.

I am upset that UCLA gets to play in California all the way till the final four.

More thoughts later.

Ken said...

How about an Ohio State/Texas A&M Regional in San Antonio. What's the over under on that game? 56?

Personally, I'm insulted that Huggins' Kansas State Wilcats (how many damn 'Wildcats' are there in college sports, anyway?) did not make it in despite a 10-6 conference in an underrated Big XII. The Big XII was the only conference at the end of the season to have three teams in the top 15.

I like your picks on the teams that can win it all.

Anonymous said...

Have I mentioned that Arkansas and Stanford getting in over Syracuse and Drexel makes absolutely no sense to me?

Shades of the bowl matchups again? Who the heck is in charge of these things anyway?

Horse Whisperer said...

Kansas State got RIPPED OFF horribly bad. They beat Texas Tech bloody in the Big 12 Tournament, and had a better Big 12 record (10-6). They had 20 wins and only lost by a couple to Kansas in the Big 12 tourney. Stanford and Tech getting in before K-State is ridiculous. I think the only reason Tech got in is because of their coach.

Stefan Ming said...

I have no idea who to pick between Creighton and Nevada. I still don't like Texas even with Durant... just too young.

Stefan Ming said...

I have a problem with this, first of all Syracuse needs to go out and play some tough non-conference away games. Playing St. Francis, Northeastern, Cansius, Colgate, and St. Bon. isn't going to cut it. Those shouldn't even count as games! Granted they did play Wichita St and Ok St, but come on get a little tougher non conference schedule and play some away games for once and maybe you would be in the tournament!

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