Knee-jerk bracket reactions

Obviously, we will be inundating you with bracket breakdowns over the next 24 hours, but while we sort out who we like and who we don't like, here are just a couple of thoughts on the bracket.



Duke got a gift

And you wonder why people believe there is a Duke bias. There wasn't a soul that had Duke as the third No. 1 seed. In fact, 90% of the analysts talking about the bracket had West Virginia over Duke as the fourth No. 1 seed. So not only did Duke get a break simply receiving a No. 1 seed, they also got the easiest draw. There was talk about both Cal and Louisville as possibly being left out of the tournament, and they are the 8/9 seeds in Duke's bracket. Purdue, the four seed, is playing horribly since Robbie Hummel blew his acl. Sixth seeded Notre Dame was headed to the NIT less than a month ago. Villanova has lost five of seven and struggles defensively. Compare that with Kansas, the over all No. 1 seed, who has to go through Ohio State, Georgetown, and Maryand.


I feel bad for Seth Greenberg

But he really has no gripe. At all. Jay Bilas said it tonight -- this is the weakest tournament bubble in the history of the 64 team field. Any team that was left out can only blame themselves for failing to win the games they needed to. For Virginia Tech, I understand the argument. They beat Wake Forest and Georgia Tech. They had better conference records than those two schools. But when you look at the entire resume, Virginia Tech just didn't do enough in the non-conference. Illinois and Mississippi State simply lost to some teams that they should have beaten.


The A-10 got no respect

Getting the right teams in is only half the battle for the committee. Getting the seeds right is, at times, even more important. And while I don't think the A-10 deserved more than three bids, Temple and Richmond both got jobbed when it comes to seeding. Temple won the A-10, won the Big 5 championship, beat Villanova, lost to Georgetown by one on the road, but they got stuck as a five seed facing this year's darling Cornell. Richmond is a seven seed, which seems too low as well.

The committee botched a couple of other seeds as well (Gonzaga and Cal were both eights?), but their biggest mistake came when placing the Big East teams. The committee has a rule that, unless their are nine teams from one league in the tournament, they cannot face each other until the Elite 8. Not true this year as Marquette and West Virginia, as well as Notre Dame and Villanova, both could face off in the Sweet 16.

Some upsets I like

• BYU over K-State in the second round.
• Siena over Purdue.
• Old Dominion over Notre Dame.
• UTEP over Butler
  

Best first round matchups

• Tennessee vs. San Diego State
• Clemson vs. Missouri
• Temple vs. Cornell
• Marquette vs. Washington
• Oklahoma State vs. Georgia Tech
  

Way too early Final Four picks

I am reserving the right to go back and reevaluate, but after a quick glance at the bracket, I like West Virginia beating Duke and Kansas beating Syracuse.