NCAA Bracket-Related Questions

Kevin Durant: Is his magical play creating an illusion with regard to Texas' resume?

(courtesy: www.texassports.com)

Today's edition of the NCAA Tournament Bracket-related questions addresses the most pressing questions with respect to yesterday's bracket projections. It also examines surprising underachievement from a trio of marquee coaches.

Q: Which of your current 12 seeds would you bet on most to beat a 5?

A: It's a flip of the coin between Appalachian St. and Winthrop, but the nod would have to go to Winthrop. Just look at their non-conference schedule. They are afraid of no one and will play anyone on any court. They took one #1 seed to the wire (North Carolina) and another to overtime (Wisconsin).

Q: You have Southern Illinois as a 3. Who have they beaten to deserve that?

A: I guess I'm guilty of the RPI bug. Coming into Monday's action, SIU had a share (Creighton) of the Missouri Valley (5th-rated conference according to the RPI) with a 10-3 record. Their RPI is a sizzling 9 and their strength-of-schedule is 31st. I understand that their best wins are within the Valley, but the MVC is better than the Big East this season and has much more parity than the Big East and Big Ten. Lately, the Salukis have smothered teams, holding their last two opponents under 50. This week, SIU has home bouts versus Bradley and Creighton, both of whom are currently in the RPI Top 50.

Q: Why do you spit so much venom in Duke's direction?

A: This is a multi-part answer. First, let's get my bias out of the way. I'm a North Carolina fan and have been one since I started following college basketball twenty years ago. Second, the media is Duke-driven. ESPN's top color commentator has a well-known nickname (Dukie V) and the rising star at ESPN (Jay "Duke Boy" Bilas) was a player and assistant under Coach K. Third, if you take the name out of this year's resume, as we speak, Duke may be grazing the 6 or 7 line. Right now, they're a team that cannot score points, and that makes you susceptible against all teams.

Q: Who are your 3 worst coaches among those who have won a national title?

A: My first spot goes to Jim Boeheim. I know, he lost his leader in G-Mac, but their current showing is ridiculous. The Carrier Dome advantage is a joke this season. I know that I don't know the whole story, but I know enough to tell this one.

My second spot goes to Coach K. If Dick Vitale wasn't such a Dukie, he would say "Coach K has been bad with a capital 'B', baby!" Instead, we have to hear about his split duties between coaching Team USA and Duke. Mike D'Antoni seems to be doing just fine. The point is, Duke gets top 50 recruits every year and any time that any of them produce, K is a mastermind in the eyes of everyone with a microphone near them. McRoberts would've been far more developed by now and a bona fide star anywhere else, save the NBA. They fear saying that he might be 4-5 in the conference with marquee players if the referees had paid attention to the game versus Clemson (there were other bad calls in addition to the clock problem).

My third spot goes to Lute Olsen. He's a god in Tucson and their fans are brainwashed. The fact of the matter is that a team with this type of talent should not be reeling at 6-5 in conference play and be beaten by 28 on its home floor by anyone. Olsen, who is starting to receive criticism, has failed to develop any semblance of a bench and this has placed a heavier burden on the starting five.

Q: You have Texas as the last team in the field. Why aren't they higher?

A: I think the cream will rise to the top eventually. Even if it doesn't, the selection committee will do all in its power to have Kevin Durant play for at least one round. Right now, as a basketball team, they're an optical illusion in the eyes of many bracketologists. Their best wins are versus Arkansas and at Texas Tech. Their win against LSU on a neutral court was once strong, but that victory has gone tumbling down in value almost as fast as the Tigers' prestige. Texas should gather more signature wins, but at present, they are the 6th-best team in what should be no more than a five-bid league.

NCAA Bracket-Related Questions and BracketBusters Banter

Today's edition of the questions touches upon the difficult decisions made in building Version 3 of the NCAA Tournament Projections. It also takes a jab at last night's ESPN BracketBusters' pairings.

NCAA Bracket-Related Questions
Q: USC as a 4 seed? Arizona as a 5?
A: My fellow bracket predictors disagree with me on this one, and that's fine. To this point, the Trojans have outplayed the teams below them. They won in Eugene against the Ducks and nearly claimed a victory versus UCLA. Their non-conference schedule was more difficult than most. As for the Wildcats, getting a 5 seed is a bigger demotion than it seems on paper. There is a precipitous decline in quality after the top 8 teams, of which the Wildcats were once a member. Currently, they have lost 4 of 5 and were blown out in their own building on Saturday. Before that, they were dominating RPI-top 100 teams with a steady offense, good rebounding, and some semblance of a defense.

Q: How does Alabama make the field despite being trounced on the road and winning via controversy?
A: I admit, this bid is a flyer. Alabama does currently not have the resume to be in the tournament. However, I think they will be able to turn it around rather soon. Ultimately, if they keep this up, they will be overtaken by mid-majors who gain crucial wins in mid-February and beyond.

Q: Did Chris Lofton's injury play a major role in your near exclusion of Tennessee?
A: Yes. They looked lost in Lexington on Sunday. Their role players became "roll players" because they rolled over in defeat. Expect them to rise when Lofton returns, because he is kind of a big deal.

Q: What ultimately pushed Syracuse over fellow Big East middlers West Virginia and Louisville?
A: Their win at Marquette. Away wins against quality opponents are priceless.

ESPN BracketBusters Banter
Q: What was your initial response after hearing the BracketBusters pairing?
A: Chris Clement is the only one who knows of my initial response, because he called me last night to inform me of the pairings. I can't air it in public circles, but I'll paraphrase to say that the Missouri Valley Conference is being handed more primo matchups than deserved.

Q: What's your more educated response?
A: Here's my top 7 home and road teams participating in this year's edition of the BracketBusters prior to the announcement:
Home: Butler, Nevada, Creighton, VCU, Missouri St., New Mexico St., Hofstra
Road: Southern Illinois, Northern Iowa, Winthrop, Appalachian St., Bradley, Drexel, Old Dominion

As it stands, the major outliers (based on my biased rankings) are Appalachian State playing at Wichita State and Holy Cross at Hofstra. While I feel miffed about the matchups for the top two CAA teams, my guess is that when the fine folks at ESPN did the pairings, they had VCU paired with Appalachian St.; however, they already played once this in Richmond. Before last night's pairings and their eventual shock loss to Delaware, Hofstra was on a 15-2 terror after starting the season 0-3.