Quick Thoughts on Selection Sunday
3/15/2009 | Posted by
Scott Lunn
The brackets have only been out for an hour and a half now, but I've had a chance to look them over pretty well and have some quick thoughts to share. Make sure you check back in the coming days as both Devin and I present our full selections for the entire tournament.
Let's start with the #1 seeds. Looking back quickly at my last AP Top Ten article, my picks for top seeds proved prophetic as Louisville, Pitt, UNC, and UConn grabbed the top spots. This proves the power of the Big East this season as it's the first time that I can remember 3 teams from the same conference have managed to all grab #1 seeds. Additionally, I pegged Memphis, Michigan St., and Oklahoma as 2 seeds, only missing out on Duke, whose strong performance in winning the ACC tournament grabbed them the 2 slot in the East regional. There really isn't much in the way of surprises in terms of the top seeds, but this biggest debate seemed to come in whether Memphis or UConn would get the last 1 seed. Memphis playing in Conference USA obviously bit them here, dropping them to the 2 spot in the West, but putting them in the same bracket as UConn tells me that the selection committee couldn't make up it's mind and decided to let them play it out.
The most intriguing first round matchups in my opinion include Oklahoma St. playing Tennessee, Texas vs. Minnesota, Butler vs. LSU, and Michigan taking on Clemson. I would consider all these games as toss ups and should make for some entertaining basketball early on. As far as upsets go, I see quite a few possibilities early on, but I think most of the top seeds will progress deep into the tournament. Amongst my first round notable upsets are Arizona over Utah and Western Kentucky over Illinois in the dreaded 12/5 matchup. At least one if not two upsets come from the 12/5 games every year, and I don't see that changing now. I also picked 3 out of 4 of the 11 seeds to move on in the first round, with Utah St. defeating Marquette, Temple over Arizona St., and Virginia Commonwealth knocking off UCLA.
I'll save the later round stuff for another time, but suffice it to say I'm finding it hard to pick against the 1 and 2 seeds for the most part. Once again, be sure to check back and see how Devin and I break down the whole tournament in the coming days. It's March Madness and it's my favorite sporting event of the year, so I'll be bringing you loads of coverage throughout!
Let's start with the #1 seeds. Looking back quickly at my last AP Top Ten article, my picks for top seeds proved prophetic as Louisville, Pitt, UNC, and UConn grabbed the top spots. This proves the power of the Big East this season as it's the first time that I can remember 3 teams from the same conference have managed to all grab #1 seeds. Additionally, I pegged Memphis, Michigan St., and Oklahoma as 2 seeds, only missing out on Duke, whose strong performance in winning the ACC tournament grabbed them the 2 slot in the East regional. There really isn't much in the way of surprises in terms of the top seeds, but this biggest debate seemed to come in whether Memphis or UConn would get the last 1 seed. Memphis playing in Conference USA obviously bit them here, dropping them to the 2 spot in the West, but putting them in the same bracket as UConn tells me that the selection committee couldn't make up it's mind and decided to let them play it out.
The most intriguing first round matchups in my opinion include Oklahoma St. playing Tennessee, Texas vs. Minnesota, Butler vs. LSU, and Michigan taking on Clemson. I would consider all these games as toss ups and should make for some entertaining basketball early on. As far as upsets go, I see quite a few possibilities early on, but I think most of the top seeds will progress deep into the tournament. Amongst my first round notable upsets are Arizona over Utah and Western Kentucky over Illinois in the dreaded 12/5 matchup. At least one if not two upsets come from the 12/5 games every year, and I don't see that changing now. I also picked 3 out of 4 of the 11 seeds to move on in the first round, with Utah St. defeating Marquette, Temple over Arizona St., and Virginia Commonwealth knocking off UCLA.
I'll save the later round stuff for another time, but suffice it to say I'm finding it hard to pick against the 1 and 2 seeds for the most part. Once again, be sure to check back and see how Devin and I break down the whole tournament in the coming days. It's March Madness and it's my favorite sporting event of the year, so I'll be bringing you loads of coverage throughout!
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