Monday, March 15, 2010

Comments on Women's Bracket

Hello, women's college basketball fans!

Well, I missed on three teams in my women's Schmolik 64. I had Boston College, USC, and Illinois State while the NCAA had North Carolina, Arkansas Little Rock, and Wisconsin Green Bay. Obviously, UNC is a perennial power, but they were the 8/9 seed in the ACC and lost in the 1st round of the ACC to Maryland. Meanwhile, Boston College was the 7 seed and upset Florida State in the 1st round. I didn't realize when making my bracket that UNC had beaten Duke but then again so did BC (which I didn't know either). As for the RPI, USC was 36th and Illinois State was 50th while UALR was 56 and Wisc-Green Bay was 70 (Boston College was 48th)! I'll admit to missing on North Carolina although you can make a case for BC and UNC in the field. I found ESPN's experts and all of them said they were shocked at UWGB. Three said the biggest snub was USC and the other said Illinois State, two teams I had in my field. It's nice to see regular season champs make it in as an at large if they were upset in their conference tournament. But then, why not Illinois State? I think the MVC in women's must not be the same as the men's as Northern Iowa got a 16 seed.

As for the #1's, I had Duke over Nebraska. I can see Nebraska as a #1 over Duke, but over Tennessee (they put UConn and Tennessee in the same bracket)? I mean we have Tennessee and we have Nebraska. I didn't even know Nebraska had a women's basketball team until today. ESPN said before the show everyone wanted to see a Connecticut/Tennessee matchup in the final, now it can't happen. The RPI had Tennessee 3rd over Nebraska and both polls did as well. Nebraska lost in the semifinals of its tournament. And even if Nebraska was a #1, I thought put them with Duke, the clear cut #2. Nope, they got a #2 I had as a #3 while Duke and Tennessee have to meet in the regional final (and Big Ten Champ Ohio State gets to lose to UConn). These are the top six teams in the Kansas City regional: Nebraska, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, Kentucky, Michigan State, and Georgia Tech. Not one won their conference tournament. I thought Duke received special treatment. Then again, they are Duke. What has Nebraska ever done before? Have they ever won an NCAA game (oh wait, that's the Nebraska men's team)?

I had the same 12 top 3 seeds as the NCAA's (had Duke instead of Nebraska as a #1 and Xavier instead of Notre Dame as a #2). I matched Iowa State and Kentucky as #4's. My other 4 seeds were Texas and Georgetown, the NCAA had Oklahoma State and Baylor, who I had as a 6 seed. Texas was seeded ahead of both in the Big 12 tournament and swept Baylor while Baylor got a 4 seed. I can see Ok State ahead of Texas (they upset #2 seed ISU in the Big 12) but not Baylor ahead of Texas. I often have teams overseeded and underseeded but this could be one of my most interesting mistakes. I had Middle Tennessee, Sun Belt champ as a #6 seed and Mississippi State as a #11 and playing each other. Well the Selection Committee had MSU as a 7 seed and Middle Tennessee as a #10 and ... playing each other. Usually you have a team with a gift seed getting a really easy opponent and a team that got screwed really getting screwed. But here, it seems like they both are getting what they deserved. If you go by the RPI, Midd Tenn is 23 and Miss St was 45. Let's see if the Selection Committee was right or I was.

Well I had fun putting it together and let's see if I do it again next year.

Schmolik

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