Bracketology According to Writers and TV Reporters

Here is an article by Andy Katz that summarized the tournament deliberations of 20 members of the United States Basketball Writers Association and 20 broadcast journalists who came up with their own field of 65.

For the Writers' bracket, here are things that caught my eye ...

• Creighton gets included as the Valley's #2 team rather than the #34 at-large team in both brackets.
• Oh my goodness! Someone else realizes that Indiana has beaten absolutely no one (sorry 'Cats fans, you're not there yet).
• Pitt as a 3?!?!?! Losing to Rutgers at home drops them one seed line automatically. Not to mention, they have been extremely ordinary since losing Mike Cook and Levance Fields. Perhaps, this bracket assumes his inclusion. Even that is a stretch.
• Two teams from the Southern Conference??? "Running the gauntlet", a term ascribed to Davidson's non-conference schedule, means not only playing all the good teams, but beating a few along the way.
• Oregon shouldn't be included in a bracket of 73 teams, and that was before the beatdown they received in Palo Alto.
• UNC Wilmington represented in both brackets is appalling. The CAA is a one-bid conference and the Seahawks faithful travel well to Richmond for the conference tournament. Though the improved play of Chad Tomko has galvanized the Dub's efforts, I highly question the absolute exclusion of the Virginia schools - George Mason, VCU and William & Mary (yes, them too - they're tied for 2nd in the league).

For the TV reporters ...

• Oregon as a #9?!? Lately, they've struggled to be the 9th-best team in the Pac-10. Prior to these discussions, Oregon's only win in their last five was at home against in-state rivals Oregon State ... who do not have a basketball team. Wins at Kansas State (not a great win then which looks great now) and Arizona (no Bayless) are muted by losses at Nebraska (not a bad loss then which horrible now) and Oakland (they are located in Michigan).
• Charlotte as a #11 seed is interesting. Perhaps, they are predicted to win the conference tournament.
• Do Purdue and Ohio State deserve #7 and #8 seeds respectively?
• How were the automatic bids decided for conferences with only one representative?