It's Tournament Time, Breaking down the Regions and top games

Ok, now that everyone has seen the brackets, argued who should have been in and who is seeded to highly, bantered over East coast bias, etc., let’s finally get down to business and discuss who’s gonna win this thing. Here’s our game by game analysis starting with the Regional Breakdown:

South Regional - The Blue Devils enter the South Regional as the No. 1 seed for the tournament and Duke is the favorite to advance to the Final Four out of this bracket, which will conclude in Houston, Texas. Oddsmakers have made Duke a 1/1 favorite to win the South Regional. Other short odds to win are Villanova (3/1), Baylor (6/1), and Purdue (15/1). Duke is ranked No. 4 in the nation with a 29-5 record. The Blue Devils won both the ACC regular season and tournament titles. Duke holds five wins over ranked opponents this year. The Blue Devils have reached 14 Final Fours in program history, the last coming in 2004. Duke will face the winner of the Arkansas-Pine Bluff and Winthrop winner, which will take place on Tuesday. Villanova is the No. 2 seed in this regional. The Wildcats are 24-7 this year and they will face No. 15 Robert Morris in the opening game. Villanova has won reach four Final Fours, the last of which came last season. The Wildcats have lost five of their last seven games entering the tournament. Baylor is the No. 3 seed in the tournament with a 25-7 record. The Bears will face No. 14 Sam Houston State in their opener. Baylor has reached two Final Fours, the last came in 1950. Prior to losing to Kansas State in the Big 12 Tournament semifinals, the Bears had won five straight and eight of their last nine. Purdue will be the No. 4 seed in the South Regional. The Boilermakers will face No. 13 Siena in the tournament opener. Purdue has reached two Final Fours, the last of which came in 1980. Purdue has a 27-5 record this season, but the Boilermakers lost one of their top players, Robbie Hummel, with a knee injury in the last month. Purdue has since lost two of their last five games.

East Regional - The Wildcats enter the East Regional as the No. 1 seed for the tournament and thus are the favorites to advance to the Final Four out of this bracket, which will conclude in Syracuse, New York. Oddsmakers have made Kentucky a 5/4 favorite to win the East Regional. Other short odds to win are West Virginia (2/1), Wisconsin (10/1), and New Mexico (15/1). The Wildcats are 32-2 overall and are ranked No. 2 in the country. Kentucky won the SEC regular season and tournament titles this season. Kentucky holds seven wins over ranked opponents as well. Kentucky will face East Tennessee State in its opening game. Kentucky has reached 13 Final Four’s in school history with the last coming in 1998. West Virginia has reached one Final Four, which came in 1959. The Mountaineers are 27-6 overall and 13-5 in the Big East. WVU is the No. 2 seed in the East after winning the Big East Tournament Championship. WVU will face No. 15 Morgan State in its opening game. Wisconsin is the No. 4 seed in the East and will face No. 13 Wofford. The Badgers have reached two Final Fours in history, the last of which came in 2000. Wisconsin is 23-8 on the season and were 13-5 in the Big Ten. The Badgers lost their Big Ten Tournament quarterfinal to Illinois, 58-54. New Mexico is the No. 3 seed in the East and the Lobos will face No. 14 Montana to open the tournament. New Mexico is 29-4 overall and was 14-2 in the Mountain West under coach Steve Alford. The Lobos had a 15-game winning streak snapped by San Diego State in the Mountain West tournament semifinals on Friday.



Midwest Regional - Obviously the books have Kansas as a 4/5 favorite to win the this one, but other short odds to win are Ohio State (7/2), Georgetown (6/1), and Michigan State (10/1). Kansas has No. 1 ranking in the polls and their 32-2 overall record. The Jayhawks won the Big 12 Conference regular season and tournament titles and they have seven wins over ranked opponents this season. Kansas has reached 13 Final Fours, with the last coming in 2008 when it won the NCAA Championship. The Jayhawks will face 16th-seeded Lehigh in the opening game of the tournament. Ohio State is the No. 2 seed in this region with a 27-7 record and Big Ten tournament and regular season titles. The Buckeyes have reached 10 Final Fours with the last coming in 2007, where the Buckeyes lost to Florida in the national championship. The Buckeyes will face No. 15 UC- Santa Barbara in the opening round. The Georgetown Hoyas are the No. 3 seed in the Midwest. The Hoyas are 23-10 overall and reached the Big East Tournament finals. Georgetown has reached five Final Fours, with the last coming in 2007. The Hoyas will face No. 14 Ohio in the opening round of the tournament. Michigan State is the No. 5 seed in the region with a 24-8 record. The Spartans were bounced in the quarterfinals of the Big Ten Tournament by Minnesota. The Spartans have reached seven Final Fours, five of which have come under current coach Tom Izzo. MSU lost to North Carolina in last year’s national championship game. MSU will face No. 12 New Mexico State in its opening game.

West Regional - What they're doing way out here to begin after losing in the first round of the BET is another story but the Orange are the No. 1 seed in this regional which will conclude in Salt Lake City, Utah, far from where Syracuse is stationed. The numbers on Cuse’ are 7/4 to win the region. Other short odds to win are Kansas State (3/1), Pittsburgh (8/1), and Butler (10/1). The Orange are ranked No. 3 overall in the country with a 28-4 record. The Orange won the Big East regular season championship, but lost their last two games of the season, including the Big East Tournament quarterfinal game with Georgetown. Syracuse has seven wins over ranked opponents this season. Syracuse has reached four Final Fours in school history, the last of which came in 2003, when the Orange won the national title. The Orange will face Vermont in the tournament opener. Kansas State is the No. 2 seed in this region and will face North Texas in the opener. The Wildcats are 26-7 on the season and have been to four Final Fours in school history, the last of which was in 1964. Kansas State has lost three of its last five games, but two of the losses came against top-ranked Kansas. Pittsburgh is the No. 3 seed in this region and will face Oakland in its opener. The Panthers are 24-8 on the season and are coming off a 50-45 loss to Notre Dame. Prior to that loss, Pitt had won eight of its last nine. The Panthers have been to one Final Four in school history, which came in 1941. Butler is the No. 5 seed in this region and will face UTEP to open the tournament. Butler has never reached a Final Four, but has been to the Sweet Sixteen three times, the last of which was in 2007. The Bulldogs are 28-4 this season with one win over a ranked opponent, as they defeated Ohio State, 74-66. Butler has won its last 20 games of the season.

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Tournament Field Announced, let the debating begin

Firstly, you can view the entire board on the main site here. Here are the teams that are in and the seeds:
MIDWEST
1)Kansas vs 16)Lehigh// 8)UNLV vs 9)No. Iowa// 5)Mich St. vs 12 New Mexico St.// 4)Maryland vs 13)Houston// 2 Ohio St vs 15)UCSB// 7) Oklahoma St. vs 10) Georgia Tech// 3)George Town vs 14)Ohio// 6)Tennessee vs 11)SD State//
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WEST
1)Syracuse vs 16)Vermont// 8)Gonzaga vs 9)Fla. St// 5)Butler vs 12)UTEP// 4)Vandy vs 13)Murray St// 2)Kansas St. vs 15) North Texas// 7)BYU vs 10)Florida// 3)Pitt vs 14)Oakland// 6)Xavier vs 11)Minnesota
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EAST
1)Kentucky vs 16)E.Tenn State// 8)Texas vs 9)Wake Forest// 5)Temple vs 12)Cornell// 4)Wisconsin vs 13)Wofford// 2)West Virginia vs 15)Morgan St// 7)Clemson vs 10 Missouri// 3)New Mexico vs 14)Montana// 6) Marquette vs 11 Washington
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SOUTH
1)DUKE vs 16)Ark PB or Wintrop// 8)California vs 9)Louisville// 5)Texas A & M vs 12)Utah St// 4)Purdue vs. 13)Siena// 2)Villanova vs 15)Robert Morris// 13)Richmond vs 10)St. Mary's// 3)Baylor vs 14)Sam Houston St.// 6)Notre Dame vs. 11)Old Dominion
Like every year, now is about the time when the bridesmaids begin their letter writing campaign to the chairman complaining about ‘East coast bias’ or conference payola and why they were snubbed. Although there might be a couple of palatable arguments for them, here is the quantitative side for why the committee made the right decisions. Not in any particular order:

Memphis (23-9) Ok, this was the bleeding heart appointee as they were the victim of espionage as not only did their coach capriciously leave, but took the liberty of pillaging their recruits and stifling their future in the process. I’ll give you that but two facts you simply can not deny are that Conference USA was a terrible conference this year, on top that, they lost to EVERY ‘tournament team’ they played except Oakland (won their conf tourney), including Syracuse, Tennessee, Kansas, UTEP, Gonzaga, and Houston(twice).

Arizona St. – 22-10 – Once again, the Pac-10 was affull this year with NO TEAMS in the top 25!! When was the last time that has happened? This has nothing to do with ECB (east coast bias) which will always be prevalent, but getting fat on a weak conference, having a low RPI non-conference schedule, and then bowing out prior to the championship final as the #2 seed is a recipe for death.

Rhode Island (23-9) – The highest RPI of any non-participant (40), but they’re 23 wins did not comprise of ONE tournament team, and the at large team they supposedly were snubbed for (Richmond) did beat them in the head-to-head matchup back in February. 3 losses to Temple in one season was a pretty good gauge of how far they could go.

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With only a couple of tickets still left teams begin the waiting game.

Kansas wins B-12, Duke and UK make finals, but Cuse’ gets knocked off early. In years past it made sense, however painful, to lose early in your conference tournament, stay healthy or get healthy, then roll into the big dance refreshed and ready to try and go on a six game winning streak. Although the committee couldn’t TELL schools that they couldn’t adopt that philosophy, but what they began to do is really giving the top seeds a big advantage by playing close to home, and at favorable times. In all actuality that is something that should have been done before, as the only opponents to the dance (coincidentally also supporters of the BCS) believe that a year-end tournament to decide the National Champion takes away from the regular season, however that advantage is the perfect seasoning to a perfectly baked cake. SO DON’T MESS with it! Ok, stole another opportunity to lobby against expansion. Now we have a couple of teams that have stolen seats from the Majors when the music stopped, particularly Richmond who would have been left at the door had they not won their conference tournament, but for the most part this year has been one where the mid-majors won’t shake up the board too much, at least in regards to selection. Now on the court will be a different story as I am going on record right now as stating that you will see at least 3 “non-ones” in the final four this year. We’ll see in three weeks. What do you think about the conference tournaments? Let us know here and in any of the quick links.

PAC-10 and ACC have to go back to the drawing board

As the Pac-10 and ACC kick off their conference tournaments they both will take a minute to wonder how they got to this point. The ACC is considered to be having a down year after starting the year with two teams ranked in the top 8, but they would not see as many in the top 10 for the rest of the regular season. Perennial conference favorite North Carolina who started the year in the top 5 ( and with one first place vote) will not be participating in this year’s NCAA Tournament unless they pull off a ‘miracle on hardwood’ and win the ACC Conference Tournament, but stranger things have happened. Particularly to NC whom the last time were in this position (make or break it) made it all the way to the Final Four. Now if the ACC is having a bad year than the Pac-10 should be put out of their misery. This isn’t just bad, but possibly the worst the conference has looked since a wizard lived up the street. As it stands right now the Pac would be lucky to get two teams in the dance come next week, and if there is a major upset in the conference tournament perhaps one. Once again, much like the ACC the perennial powerhouse UCLA is scratching a mark on their prison cell each day, counting down the time until their mediocre season is over, and let’s face it their hasn’t been much to cheer for in Westwood for quite some time. Now, in their defense they did send their entire starting lineup to the show (all of which are in the rotation or starting) including names like Westbrook, Love, Farmar, Collison, MbahaMoute, and Afalo. But even so, that doesn’t explain some of the losses and their inability to close out bad teams, well, perhaps they are a bad team this year themselves. While Cal is a respectable 21-9 they lost both litmus test to Syracuse (22 points) and Ohio State, and the P-10 doesn’t have a team in the top 25 and no serious threat to go deep in the tourney. Is this a part of the new “circle of life” in college basketball, and is parity going to be the norm? Let us know here and in any of the quick links: And for the record, here are the schools who have punched their tickets to dance already. If you notice, not a lot of upsets from the mid-majors so far so the tournament is going to get the best that every conference has to offer.
Cornell, Winthrop, ETSU, Murray St., Northern Iowa, Butler, Robert Morris, Old Dominion, Siena, Wofford, Saint Mary’s, North Texas, Oakland, Montana