Here it goes... March Madness... the NCAA Tournament... this is one of the funnest months of the year because of the entertainment we are all about to enjoy thanks to a bunch of teenagers and 20-year-olds who are good at basketball. I'm going to do my best to continuously update this blog as the month unfolds. We might even do some "live chat" kind of stuff when KU and K-State play.
Of course, we've got to start with Selection Sunday. It's always a lightning rod for discussion and this year is no different. Here are some of my thoughts on the field of 65.
KU got an easy draw. They probably deserve it. Regular season co-champs and winning the tournament in the 2nd best league in America is pretty good. KU's playing about as well as you can ask right now. That defense is as smothering as it was back in December. The offense is clicking right now thanks to the outside shooting, but the scary thing about this Jayhawk team is that they won't go dry if the shots stop falling. They're so good down low (Arthur's mid-range game, Jackson's ability to roll screens and Kaun's knack for getting to the foul line) that if the guards have an off day they're not doomed. I've got them getting to the Final Four in my bracket.
K-State got jobbed, flat-out. Sometimes the Selection Committee does things that just don't add up. If OU's a 6 and K-State beat OU, won more conference games and finished higher than OU in the league standings that means something... IT MEANS K-STATE IS BETTER THAN OU! K-State's got the same argument over Texas A&M, but the Aggies somehow got a 10 seed while KSU is an 11. The Wildcats are a classic example of bad losses coming back to haunt you. The Committee clearly didn't care about their 10 wins in the 2nd toughest RPI-rated league in America; all they cared about were K-State's bad losses to teams like Nebraska, Baylor and Missouri. But here's what the NCAA did (they're very cleaver like this): they paired KSU in the biggest prime-time match-up of the first round and put them 4 hours from home. That way, the NCAA can say, "Hey, don't complain. We've gave you a bad seed, but you get to be in the game of the week and play half a day's drive from campus." God, I hate the NCAA... And I didn't even GO to K-State! The first round game with USC is hard to pick. I keep hearing people say, "Beasley's the best player in America, so if he takes over than K-State will win." Not really. The horse officially left the barn on that argument the day Beasley scored a Big 12 record 44 points (combining for 76 with Bill Walker) and KSU still lost to Baylor (aka: the last team to make the Tournament). I hope (emphasis on HOPE) that this becomes a one-on-one battle between Beasley and OJ Mayo and both just go crazy trying to one-up the other. That would be wildly entertaining; the sad thing is, that probably means K-State wouldn't win.
I like the Big 12 getting six in. I know it hurt conferences like the Valley, but Baylor deserved it. So did A&M. OU deserves to be a 6 (I wasn't trying to imply earlier that I didn't think OU is a 6... I just don't think that KSU is an 11.. the comparison with OU was my defense for that argument). Texas got what they deserve after losing the Big 12 Tournament final and I'm sure they're fine with that (they would rather be a 2 in the South than a 1 in the Midwest because being in the South feeds them into Houston for the Sweet 16/Elite 8... I'm pretty sure they'll prefer that to Detroit). I like all of the Big 12 teams to win their first round games (Baylor over Purdue in the West is your Upset Special... if those Baylor guards go off, they win). A&M should probably push BYU around pretty easily with Joseph Jones and Bryan Davis. OU wins if Blake Griffin is healthy.
Other random thoughts: The NCAA officially decided to settle its grudge with Indiana through the selection process. A 25 win 8 seed???? That's just absurd. If Indiana somehow escapes major sanctions out of the whole Kelvin Sampson thing, then I'll be convinced there was some under-the-table deal between the NCAA and IU (I can totally see Indiana calling its old friend Myles Brand and saying, "Hey, this team isn't going anywhere since we don't have a coach. Why don't you just throw us in the 8/9 game at the NCAA Tournament so we'll be out by the weekend and we'll take probation for the Sampson stuff and call it good". And the real sad thing is, I can see the NCAA going with that plan). Arizona getting in was a travesty. I don't care how tough their schedule was, they lost to ASU twice! They got swept by the Oregon schools! This streak (24 straight tournaments) is officially a sham. The tough thing is this: they're playing West Virginia in the first round... so who do you root for? The team that absolutely didn't deserve to get in and bilked someone else out of a spot, or Ol' One Year Bob (aka: Tipsy McStaggers)? It's your call, America. I'm pretty sure which team most folks around here will be pulling for, though.
Hit me with your comments... even if it's not on these topics, let me know what you think all week long. Don't forget to join the Overtime Live Bracket Time challenge. Thursday and Friday can't get here fast enough!
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