Examining twos and threes
Duke, Cincy might be too high, Texas Tech too low
Sunday’s bracket reveal by the NCAA tournament selection committee had, as expected, a few surprises.
Although all 16 of the teams the committee selected as top four seeds were the same 16 teams in USA TODAY’s bracketology, the seeding lines — particularly around the No. 2 and No. 3 range — were somewhat head-scratching.
Monday’s projected bracket features Duke and Cincinnati at No. 2 seeds — to mirror the committee’s seeding — but everything about both of these teams screams No. 3 seeds. That’s because the Blue Devils had recently lost back-toback games to St. John’s and North Carolina, the first of which was a significant résumé stain. And as dominant as Cincinnati has been in the American Athletic Conference, where it hasn’t lost a game, the Bearcats’ overall profile features zero wins against teams that are locks to be tournament teams.
Texas Tech, meanwhile, is undoubtedly worthy of a No. 2 seed given how many quality wins it has racked up in the Big 12, this year’s best RPI conference. Their portfolio features a road win against Kansas (which rightfully landed a No. 2 seed itself ) and a blind résumé test for the Red Raiders might even put them in a No. 1 seed argument.
And keep in mind, conference records do not (or should not) influence the committee’s decision-making.
That’s worth noting because No. 4 seed Clemson leads No. 2 seed Duke and No. 3 seed North Carolina in the ACC title race, and No. 4 seed Ohio State leads No. 3 seed Michigan State in the Big Ten title race.
It’s the overall body of work being examined, even if the committee was a bit inconsistent in doing so Sunday.
❚ No. 1 seeds: Virginia, Villanova, Xavier, Purdue.
❚ Last four in: Houston, Providence,
North Carolina State, Saint Bonaventure First Four out: Syracuse, Boise State, Temple, UCLA.
Others considered for at-large bids
(in no particular order): Marquette, Nebraska, Utah, Maryland, Mississippi State, LSU, Oklahoma State, Baylor.
On life support: Georgia, Oregon, Central Florida, BYU, Colorado, Notre Dame, Boston College, Western Kentucky, SMU, South Carolina, Iowa State ***
Leaders or highest RPI from projected one-bid conferences — (23 to
tal): America East (Vermont), Atlantic Sun (Florida Gulf Coast), Big Sky (Montana), Big South (UNC-Asheville), Big West (UC-Santa Barbara), CAA (Charleston), Conference USA (Middle Tennessee State), Horizon League (Northern Kentucky), Ivy League (Penn), MAAC (Rider), MAC (Buffalo), MEAC (N.C. A&T), Missouri Valley (Loyola-Chicago), Mountain West (Nevada), Northeast (Wagner), Ohio Valley (Belmont), Patriot (Bucknell), Southern (East Tennessee State), Southland (Nicholls State), SWAC (Arkansas Pine Bluff ), Summit (South Dakota State), Sun Belt (Louisiana-Lafayette), WAC (New Mexico State). Note: All RPI and statistical data are from WarrenNolan.com.