Streaking Louisville strengthened its canvassing for a top set out in the NCAA men's basketb exclusively tourney by winning the Big east tourney this week abate.(Photo: Debby Wong, USA TODAY Sports)
Call this the year of the mid-major.
For the last decade or so, college basketball has often been viewed along major conference/mid-major lines. tho the 2013 NCAA Tournament bracket released Sunday night would indicate the geological fault isn't that big at all.
Gonzaga, 30-2, earned a No. 1 reference for the first time in nurture history, spark advance a charge of mid-majors this year that got treated well by the excerpt charge by means ofout the bracket.
COMPLETE BRACKET: Printable NCAA bracket
SURPRISES: 7 biggest from Selection Sunday
"We're not in whatsoever way trying to send any message whatsoever. That's not our job, our business," survival committee chairman microphone Bobinski said Sunday night. "Our job is to identify who we believe atomic number 18 the 37 best (at large) teams. It's great for college basketball when the committee's evaluation is that in that location are good teams spread all around the country. It's a positive as far as we're concerned. But we were displace no message to teams that happened to be from those conferences."
The world is flat in college basketball now, and never has it been flatter than a season that aphorism the Mountain West and Atlantic 10 combine for 10 tournament bids while the instant and ACC had to settle for seven amidst them. Heck, even the tournament maintains of the Patriot group discussion and Ohio Valley Conferences got more(prenominal) respect as 11 seeds than the winners of the Pac 12 and SEC tournaments, who earned 12s.
MIDWEST REGIONAL: Analysis and capsules for Louisville's regional
WEST REGIONAL: Analysis and capsules for Gonzaga's regional
But up and down the bracket, the rule for many of the decisions – both in selections and seeding – was rooted in a consistent metric: How teams performed on the road. Bobinski said road record presented a huge role in selecting La Salle, St. Mary's and Middle Tennessee as the last three at-large teams in the field ahead of Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia and Iowa, each of whom had better wins barely worsened road records.
La Salle's Jan. 26 victory at VCU, for instance, was singled out as a "top-25 road win" that may have been a tiebreaker over a team like Tennessee, which didn't accomplish anything famous away from home.
Middle Tennessee might have been the most controversial selection with just one top-50 win and a loss in the Sun Belt Conference semifinals. But the committee rewarded the muddied Raiders for their shiny 28-5 record, good RPI (28), top-10 non-conference strength of schedule and 11 road wins.
"It's been proven over many days wining in college basketball is predominantly the province of the home team," Bobinski said. "It's just difficult and in truth shows a sign of strength if you're able to go on the road and beat good teams away from home. This tournament is at neutral sites, and if you haven't shown you can play away from your own milieu that's an indicator you're not one of the 37 best at-large teams."
The discussion over No. 1 seeds – and the order of them – was more muddled than usual. Parsing that issue was particularly important this year because the tilt between Indiana and Louisville for the No. 1 general seed would determine which school got placed in the geographically hail-fellow-well-met Midwest regional.
SOUTH REGIONAL: Analysis and capsules for Kansas' regional
EAST REGIONAL: Analysis and capsules for Indiana's regional
That debate was win by Louisville on the strength of its Big eastern hemisphere tournament championship Saturday night, while Indiana lost to Wisconsin in the semifinals of the Big Ten. That pushed the Hoosiers to the East Regional in Washington, D.C. as the No. 3 overall seed and gave Louisville a Final Four path through Lexington, Ky., and then Indianapolis – both within 115 miles of campus.
While the Cardinals got friendly geography, however, they didn't necessarily get an easy path to Atlanta. Colorado State, a rugged rebounding team, or underachieving but talented Missouri would count in the Round of 32. If Louisville got through that, it could face Saint Louis, the country's bombinate team after a devastating run through the Atlantic 10. Then a potential matchup with any No. 2 seed Duke, which was in play for a No. 1 seed, or No. 3 seed Michigan State might await in the elect(ip) Eight.
For Indiana, the path seems a bit easier on paper, though the region's other heavyweights – No. 2 seed Miami, No. 3 seed Marquette and No. 4 seed Syracuse – are all capable of making Final Four runs.
Gonzaga, which heads the West Regional, could end up facing Big Ten tournament champion Ohio State or Mountain West champion saucy Mexico for a berth in the Final Four. Bobinski said the No. 1 seed discussions, which also included Duke and Miami, were "a very close call."
Among the other bracket takeaways:
- Oregon, which won the Pac 12 tournament, got stuck with a 12 seed in the Midwest Regional, but Bobinski said the Ducks were in the field regardless of the championship spicy outcome. Oregon was the committee's No. 43 overall seed, but had to get bumped from an 11 to a 12 due to bracketing issues, Bobinski said. That was one of some(prenominal) head-scratching seeds for the Pac 12, which clearly wasn't respected much by the committee as atomic number 20 also got a No. 12 seed, Colorado earned a No. 10 seed. azimuth and UCLA both earned No. 6 seeds.
- Selection committees try to forfend rematches of regular season games, but Bobinski said pitting UNLV and California against one another was unavoidable due to bracketing issues that involved the " first base Four" teams. The committee wanted to avoid having a start-off Four team go from Dayton on Tuesday or Wednesday to a Western sub-regional on Thursday or Friday, and thus "we sincerely ran out of options."
- The committee, which always seems to produce juicy early-round matchups, put northerly Carolina as a No. 8 seed in the South Regional. Thus, if the Tar Heels advance past No. 9 seed Villanova, they would almost certainly play No. 1 seed Kansas, pitting North Carolina coach Roy Williams against his former school in Kansas City.
- The Mountain West Conference earned cinque bids for the first time in history, with regular season and tournament champion New Mexico leading the way as a No. 3 seed in the West.
- Bucknell, the Patriot League champion, might have been the most surprising seed of all. The Bison, which holy 27-5 but had a strength of schedule of 192, will play No. 6 seed Butler in the East Regional.
- The SEC, which struggled in non-conference games in November and December, was basically dismissed by the selection committee. The league earned only three bids, with Ole Miss – which won the league tournament on Sunday – getting a No. 12 seed in the West Regional to play Wisconsin. That left Kentucky, Tennessee and Alabama on the outside feel in. For Kentucky, it's only the second time in 21 years the Wildcats are headed to the NIT. It's the second time in the last five years.
Materials taken from USA Today
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