MILEAGE REMAINS IN MARCH TO MADNESS
We’re less than one week from the first round of what could be the wackiest, most-upset driven NCAA tournament in recent memory. The madness starts Sunday, when 68 schools will hear their names called during the Selection Show. • Here’s what you should keep an eye on this weekend before the chaos officially tips off Tuesday with First Four games in Dayton, Ohio.
Will Pac-12 team steal a bid?
If you think your favorite conference has had a rough season, take a close look at the Pac-12. You will feel better, guaranteed. In truth, Arizona is the only lock, and if the Wildcats win it all in Las Vegas, they should earn the best seed of any West Coast team, which would likely be a No. 4.
But weird things have happened in this conference all season, and every team left in the conference tournament has a legitimate shot at winning the automatic bid. If a team besides Arizona wins, that could throw off at-large bids within the conference (are UCLA, Southern California and/or Arizona State safe?) or outside the conference.
Toto, we’re not in the Missouri Valley anymore
Wichita State’s move to the American Athletic Conference will be a good thing in the long run, even though it probably felt brutal at points this season. Wichita State dominated the MVC, which at one point was the best, and strongest, mid-major conference in the country.
That’s changed in recent years, so Wichita State moved on to greener pastures. But the transition has not been smooth.
The Shockers, ranked No. 14 in this week’s USA TODAY Coaches Poll, finished 14-4 in conference play. They lost at home in their final regular-season game to No. 8 Cincinnati, which cost Wichita State the No. 1 seed in the AAC tournament.
Not that long ago, this program was considered a Final Four contender.
Can All-American guard Landry Shamet and his teammates prove the Shockers still belong in that conversation? This weekend would be a good time to start.
Kansas and Duke race to No. 1
No, we’re not talking about the overall No. 1 seed — that has been pretty much locked up by Virginia, which won the Atlantic Coast Conference regular season, has the nation’s No. 1 RPI and totaled nine Quadrant 1 wins. (Side note: Quadrant wins are a new metric being used by the Selection Committee, and the short version is that they’re basically reworking one RPI number into another RPI number. The important thing to understand is that the more Quadrant 1 wins your team has, the better.)
Logic says the No. 1 seeds will be Virginia, Villanova and Xavier for sure. But what about the fourth No. 1 seed, which will be the top seed in the West? That likely will go to Kansas or Duke, depending on how each team does in its conference tournament. Which Jayhawks team will show up this weekend is anyone’s guess. Will it be the group that won its record 14th consecutive Big 12 regular-season championship? Or will it be the guys who got blown out at Oklahoma State?
Duke, led by freshman and future lottery pick Marvin Bagley III, also is in contention (Duke faced Notre Dame on Thursday in the ACC tournament). The Blue Devils have a savvy senior in AllAmerican guard Grayson Allen and loads of talent, but a lot of that talent is inexperienced, and it’s shown at times. Still, if Duke makes the ACC tournament final — or better yet, if the Blue Devils win the conference tournament — the selection committee will have a tough decision Sunday.