Countdown to the Madness:The Selection Committee Gets It Right

The final weekend before the start of the world's greatest sporting event never disappoints. Georgia made an improbable run to win the SEC, doubling their number of SEC wins in a span of four days to steal a bid from the Daytons and Virginia Techs of the college basketball world. Pittsburgh surprised G'town in the Big East final on Saturday night. UCLA won an exciting PAC 10 final against a tall Stanford team (don't sleep on Brook Lopez at the next level). Wisconsin won the Big 10 in a game that no one had any interest in watching. And most importantly, UNC retook the record for most ACC tournament championships from the ultra annoying Duke Blue Devils, winning its 17th such title over the scrappy Tigers from Clemson. As for the tournament, the committee did a solid job in selecting which teams should and should not be in. The number one seeds were exactly what I have been advocating here for several weeks. There are four great teams (UNC, UCLA, Kansas, and Memphis) and there is everyone else (Texas should a 4a on this list). Normally there are those three or four teams who's being left out of the field leads to universal scorn and admonition of the process, but not this year. The only selection really quibbled over is Arizona in over Arizona State. Who cares you might ask? Not me. The seeding is always tricky, it is not clear why Tennessee is the #2 seed in the East with UNC, as the Tar Heels are the #1 overall seed and Tennessee had to be the highest rated #2. Even more puzzling, how is Butler a seven seed? They ended the year #10 and were consistently in the top 15 all year. Also, if the script plays out as it is supposed to, they would have to play Tennessee in the second round. This was an odd decision to say the least. The final pre-tournament Top 5 is:

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1. UNC

2. UCLA

3. Kansas

4. Memphis

5. Texas

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I have mixed reviews of the addition of Bob Knight to the ESPN crew. Few can provide as much insight into men's college basketball than Knight, but at times it is clear that his fellow analyst are attempting to goad him into saying something controversial. His idea to expand the field to 128 teams is ridiculous, which was only rivaled by his Pittsburgh to win-it-all pick. For expert analysis go here.

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My current projection-UNC over UCLA