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Selection Sunday is a sports holiday and the bracket is bragging rights. It’s that time of year when those who watch basketball all season fill out a bracket with knowledge and stats. Then there’s my mom who thinks UNC and UNC-Greensboro are the same team who fill out the bracket and win! It’s pure madness!
Even with all of the data and stats over the years, there is still no such thing as a perfect bracket. In one of the bracket leagues I play in, the points from picking upsets matter. Every year my twin brother tells me I went too far with upsets, but it’s my favorite part of the bracket (as long as my teams, CCU and UT and not the ones on the losing side of the upset). But this year, UGH! My bracket feels so boring. I only have four upsets in the entire first round.
Everything I’ve ever read or watched live about upsets is that they generally happen in seeds 5-12. That’s where the Madness happens and Cinderella stories come to life. That’s the heartbeat of the tournament. There have been years where I take all 12 seeds over the 5th seed and all of the 9th seeds over the 8th seeds. This year’s bracket, I only took one from each match up. Before you judge me for doing my bracket with my friend Vodka, know that I have won at least one league (I play in 2 leagues a year) since 2013. In 2013 I won both leagues. I only do one bracket no matter the scoring system.
This year, I had to change my approach because of the seeds and selections. What I’ve learned from the selection committee is that I think they too are drinking adult beverages when they pick the field of 68 and decide seeding and matchups. The coaches poll and the AP poll rankings do not matter if you are not in one of the power five conferences (SEC, Pac-12, Big-10, ACC and Big-10) or the Big East. The power five have 63 total teams. There are a total of 32 Division 1 NCAA conferences and each one gets at least one automatic bid by winning their conference tournament. So basically, if you are not a power five conference (or in the Big East) there is good chance that having an impressive regular season means NOTHING to the selection committee if you do not win your conference tournament.
ACC-9, SEC-8, Big12- 7, Big East- 6, Big10- 4, PAC12- 3, AAC- 3, Atlantic10- 3, and the Mt. West-2. That accounts for 9 conferences with more than one team in the tournament and 23 conferences with only one team going dancing.
I made this after I submitted my bracket. If you eliminate the play in games and take the best two teams from each conference, then you would have your field of 64, right? Never going to happen. Too many teams that would be a 16 seed and would make games blow outs and no one would care. Also, ratings would sink. So why not cut out the little guys (automatic bids) and just let all the big boys (power conferences) play? That’s called the College Football Play Off. THIS is supposed to be March Madness where the mid-majors like the West Coast conference, Conference USA, the CAA all get a chance to play with the big boys. But this year, they got snubbed for power five teams.
Saint Mary’s 28-4 from the West Coast conference was ranked 20th in the country (Coaches poll) and lost to Gonzaga in the conference championship and was left out of the field of 68. Apparently being ranked 20th in the country does not mean your team is one the best 68 teams in the country. I bet Saint Mary’s and Middle Tennessee (Conference USA) could both beat Syracuse (ACC) and Oklahoma(Big12). Oklahoma was 8-10 in their conference and proved they could only win at home and they got in. Oklahoma got in over Oklahoma State who beat Oklahoma in the regular season AND in the conference tournament had the same conference record. I don’t get it. The committee must have been doing shots because that pick was an air-ball.
There isn’t one great team. Yes, the University of Virginia only has two losses and the other number one seeds have four (Villanova), five (Xavier) and seven loses (Kansas). Sorry, Mr. Ford, I’m not sold on your Cavaliers. I feel like I’ve watched UVA play enough games to know they won a lot of close games that should not have been close. To argue the low-scoring games are a result of solid defense is just a cover up for the ACC not being the conference they once were. Yes, they have the most bids in the tournament and are the defending National Champions, but I’m not wowed by anyone and they tend to always have more teams with higher chances of winning. Basically, when Virginia Tech gets into the tournament two years in a row, you know your conference is struggling. (Yes, Jared, that joke is still funny!)
The only fact we know for sure is that there is 1 in 9.2 quintillion chances of having a perfect NCAA bracket. Don’t bet your life savings on being the first person to complete the impossible. Instead, bet the selection committee’s ability to under seed and over-seed teams to create the madness.
Choose wisely!