Duke's bracket looks easier than it did six hours ago

There were a number of aspects of this year's bracket that people were critical of.

The A-10 teams were seeded too low. West Virginia should have been a one seed. Kansas and Kentucky got stuck with loaded brackets.

But perhaps the biggest issue people had with the bracket was with Duke's region. Namely, it seemed as if the Blue Devils had been handed a Final Four trip. I'm not usually one to agree with the consensus, but its true. Villanova was probably the weakest two seed, and Baylor the weakest three seed.

They lived, well, down (?) to those expectations today. Jay Wright benched Scottie Reynolds and Corey Fisher today as a "teaching point", but instead teaching them a lesson, the move seemed to give Robert Morris confidence. The Colonials jumped out to an early lead against the Wildcats, and they started to believe they could play with Nova. The Colonials defended, they outworked the Wildcats on the glass, and they hit just enough jump shots to keep them in front.

If it wasn't for a couple calls going against them late, may have won this game. And it wasn't because they had someone go for 40. It wasn't because they hit 17-20 from three. It was because, at least today, Robert Morris was simply the better team.

Unfortunately, Villanova got all the breaks and made all the plays late, as they were able to hold on for a 73-70 win

Baylor had their own problems against Sam Houston State. Simply put, the Bears just didn't come to play. Think about this: Baylor beat the Bearkats by nine, but they were tied under the four minute mark as Sam Houston State, a team that makes a living shooting from three, was just 6-31 from beyond the arc.

And Baylor is supposed to be a team that can make the Final Four?

The Bears have talent. Their back court has a couple of all-league performers, and they have a long, athletic frontline anchored by a guy that will be a lottery pick. But Baylor is not good enough to just show up and win, unless, or course, they are playing a team from the Southland that isn't doing what they do best. If they give this effort against Old Dominion, they are going to make my South Region Final Four selection look pretty silly.

Do I need to mention that the Robbie Hummel-less Boilermakers are the four seed in this region?

If Duke can't make the Final Four this year ... I'll let you finish that sentence.