NCAA tournament committee gets the top seeds right
For all the grumbling about snubs and surprising NCAA tournament selections this year, give the committee credit where credit is due: It nailed the top seed lines.
Not only were all four No. 1 seeds all deserving, but the No. 2 seeds were assigned to appropriate regions as well. Undefeated Kentucky, the obvious choice for the No. 1 overall seed, drew Kansas as the No. 2 seed in its region. The Jayhawks, according to the selection committee's seed list, were the weakest of the No. 2 seeds.
That pairing, of course, only matters if both teams reach the Midwest region final. For Kansas to set a date with Kentucky — the Jayhawks enter the NCAA tournament with uncertainty surrounding the availability of suspended freshman Cliff Alexander, and they're a little banged up in general health-wise — it will have to potentially beat No. 7 Wichita State in the Round of 32 and No. 3 Notre Dame in the Sweet 16.
"I had actually prepared our guys that we'd probably be the 2 in Kentucky's region," Kansas coach Bill Self told USA TODAY Sports on Sunday night. "But the whole thing is, I just talked to them and said, it's not about how anything can happen in the tournament. It's about winning a two-game tournament (the first weekend). So, forget about who's with who, the second weekend. ...
"I'll be honest: I wasn't excited when I saw (the draw) because of the difficulty of it, but you go back and look at the other brackets and you can make a case they're all hard. And a lot of times it doesn't play out the way you think it will play out. It's weird how it works."
Still, Self knows firsthand how dangerous this Kentucky team is — and how different it is from the other, less supernatural No. 1 seeds. Kentucky thrashed Kansas 72-40 in November. Self said he watched the tape of that game, and would try "some different things" if the Jayhawks got to play the Wildcats again.
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"I haven't really studied Kentucky since we've played them," Self said. "But I have watched a little bit. They're better offensively. They know where their shots are coming from. Obviously, they're still so good defensively. ... They're a tremendous shot-blocking team. They've gotten a little better or a lot better in all the essential components.
"They'd be tough for anybody. But like I said, our focus is not worrying about anything other than who is in Omaha and who is in our pod."
Self said he'd never seen a team so heavily favored to win the title as Kentucky is this year. Notre Dame, the No. 3 seed in the Midwest region, seems to be initially embracing the challenge of a possible showdown with the Wildcats. Jerian Grant, the Irish's All-American point guard, said Sunday night one of the team's goals of the tournament is getting a chance "to go against Kentucky."
Though Notre Dame's Mike Brey has not had a great deal of success in the NCAA tournament as a head coach (he's 6-11 in 11 appearances), the Irish should be in excellent position to make a deep run this March. This veteran-laden group is fresh off an ACC tournament championship, and appears quite confident heading into its next postseason tournament — with good reason, considering their offensive aptitude.
Beyond Kansas and Notre Dame, little stands in the way of Kentucky's path to the Final Four. It is nowhere near as challenging as that of Wichita State's last season. The Shockers also entered undefeated, but were placed in the so-called region of death and ultimately lost in the round of 32 (to Kentucky, of course).
The Wildcats' pursuit of perfection should not hit a snag before Indianapolis, where it could meet some of the other top-seeded squads.
Other No. 1 seeds include: Villanova, in the East; Duke, in the South; and Wisconsin, in the West.
Though others merited discussion for that final No. 1 seed — most notably Virginia and Arizona — the chairman of the Division I men's basketball committee, Scott Barnes, said the Badgers had it locked up regardless of the outcome of Sunday's Big Ten tournament final. (They won, in overtime.)
What's worth noting, however, is that Duke earned a No. 1 seed without winning either its league's regular-season title or its conference tournament. But its résumé was impressive regardless, featuring 11 wins against teams in the RPI's top 50. It also had wins against Virginia, which slid to a No. 2 seed, and Wisconsin.
"We really are looking at a number of things," Barnes said on a media teleconference Sunday night. "The head-to-head (against Virginia) was an important aspect of that. The very elite quality wins other than that that Duke had played a part in (securing a No. 1 seed over the Cavaliers) as well."
That meant Virginia became the No. 2 seed in the East, and if it wins its opening game against Belmont, it could face Michigan State in a rematch of last year's Sweet 16 matchup.
Another possible and enticing rematch could happen in the West region — if No. 1 Wisconsin and No. 2 Arizona meet in their regional final. It would be the second consecutive year that those two teams meet with a Final Four trip on the line.
Gonzaga is the No. 2 seed in Duke's region. The Bulldogs will try to reach the Final Four for the first time in program history. They've not made it past the Sweet 16 since 1999.
But no matter the fun potential pairings down the road or the possibility of dramatic upsets that always lurks under the surface of this bracket, what's most impressive about these top seed lines is that the selection committee got them right, and spread them out evenly. Across the top four seed lines across the regions, combining the true seed rankings: East: 33, Midwest: 35, South: 35, West: 33.
"You've got eight teams," Kentucky coach John Calipari said Sunday night. "From that eight, in my opinion, someone's going to win the thing out of those eight."
That's particularly important in in a season in which the top eight teams had elevated themselves significantly above the rest of the field by February. So, even if the bottom of the bracket is a little murky, the top is perfectly fair — and that's what those elite teams deserve.