Revenge takes the court as No. 1 overall seed
On these brackets, the top seed is revenge. Tennessee’s Rick Barnes might get it in the second round against the school that fired him, assuming Texas makes it that far. Nebraska wants a co-educational version of it against the athletic director who jilted the Cornhuskers for Texas A&M.
And the most popular player in college basketball, Iowa’s Caitlin Clark, can get it against the team and the player who deprived her of a trophy a year ago.
The second seed is heartbreak, and who would hurt most if it came to them? The mighty Purdue men, if they suffer an inexplicable meltdown against a double-digit NCAA tournament seed for the fourth consecutive year? The undefeated South Carolina women, if they slip up this close to perfection? Or the best Houston team since Phi Slama Jama, looking at their path to the Final Four and seeing a potential date with a plucky upstart named … North Carolina State?
The third seed is TV ratings, which are trending in two different directions. Last year on CBS, the men’s championship game drew 14.7 million viewers, its lowest audience on record. Last year on ABC, the women’s final drew 9.9 million viewers, its best number ever. This March, the men’s game moves to cable on TBS, while the women remain on network TV. Even though the men’s tournament will draw a significantly bigger audience overall, could we be about to see the narrowest viewership gap ever between the two title games?
That might have something to do with the fourth seed, which goes to the blue bloods.
People love to root against teams like Kentucky, North Carolina, Duke and Kansas, but the longer they stick around, the more people tune in. Of that group, the Tar Heels are the highest seed. But look for John Calipari's Wildcats to make a run out of the South region, assuming they can muster up just a little bit of defense.
Why expect anything from Kentucky? Because the fifth seed is all about pro potential, and the Wildcats have lots of it. If you're a Spurs fan wondering what general manager Brian Wright might be considering with two Top 10 picks in this summer's draft (San Antonio gets Toronto's if the Raptors' pick is No. 7 or worse), it wouldn't hurt to keep an eye on Calipari's freshman backcourt duo of Reed Sheppard and
Rob Dillingham, either of whom could fit in San Antonio.
Just don't place an actual wager on that happening, because the sixth seed is the specter of
gambling that threatens to hang over these March Madness proceedings. Earlier this month, Sports Illustrated reported that a watchdog company called U.S. Integrity had been
monitoring “suspicious betting activity” on Temple men's basketball games. The Owls fell one victory short of an NCAA tournament bid, but now — in a truly meta moment
— a gambling site has posted odds as to whether U.S. Integrity will flag a tournament game for unusual betting. We don't condone any of this, but considering the prevalence of gambling ads everywhere, it's thoroughly unsurprising.
You know what else would be unsurprising? If the seventh seed, the mid-majors, make another Final Four run. Last year, Florida Atlantic and San Diego State made it to Houston. This year, might we see Saint Mary's do it from the West Coast Conference? Or Dayton get there from the Atlantic 10? Both have the edge of starting in a North Carolina-led South region that doesn't look especially formidable.
The eighth and ninth seeds are destined for a quick exits, like all of your entries in the office pools. You had such high hopes this time, didn't you? By next Monday you'll forget they existed.
Seeded 10th through 15th, as usual, are the Cinderellas, and one of them is coming for Duke. If No. 13 Vermont doesn't get the Blue Devils in the first round, No. 12 James Madison will have a chance in the second. And as strong of an NCAA tournament track record as Scott Drew has amassed at Baylor, the Bears had better be ready for No. 14 Colgate.
That brings us to the 16th seed, which is the chance for a repeat. LSU isn't going to do it in the women's bracket. And even though the Connecticut men look like the best team in the country, with an excellent chance to become the first back-toback champion since Florida in 2006 and 2007? It's just too hard, and this tournament tends to be too weird to allow for that anymore.
Given the choice between Uconn and the field, take the field. Just don't, you know, bet on it.