12 Mar12 - Jam-Packed

Volume XVI, No. 19 - 12 Mar12 - [] FINAL TOP 25 BALLOT

Jam-Packed

The "Elite Eight" didn't really dominate the BCS tournaments. Only Michigan State and Ohio State gave us an all-Elite Eight final in the BIG 10. The Spartans won another tight struggle between those two, 68-64, clinching the #1-seed in the West Regional in the process. Florida State might claim it belongs in that highest group after knocking off both Duke (62-59) and North Carolina (85-82) to take the ACC tournament crown in Atlanta (and going 4-1 on the season against those two). The Seminoles guarded the perimeter as well as the paint, making it tough for opponents to get easy baskets. FSU led North Carolina by 15 in the first half of the final, making their earlier @90-57 result look like no fluke. In fact, give the Tar Heels credit for their second response, fighting all the way back to give themselves a decent look at a game-winning jumper at the end (especially playing without cJohn Henson, out with a wrist injury). Baylor finally broke through the Elite Eight ceiling above it, beating Kansas 81-@72 in the BIG 12 semis, but it couldn't pull off a double of its own, falling hard, 75-@90, to Missouri in the final. The third time was the charm for Vanderbilt, which beat Kentucky 71-@64 in the SEC final (after giving the Wildcats two good games in the regular season with nothing to show for it). Syracuse fell in the BIG EAST semifinal to Cincinnati, 71-@68. Louisville took the final, 50-44, but all credit goes to the Bearcats for the attitude adjustment they went through this season after the ugly brawl with Xavier back in December. Regardless, the Elite Eight did, in fact, garner the top 8 seeds in the NCAA tournament.
     New Mexico beat host UNLV, 72-@67, in the semis and then co-champ San Diego State, 68-59, in the final to make no mistake about the rightful champion of the MOUNTAIN WEST. Neither team rated highly enough for a shot at the Portland Pod to be on the line, so St. Mary's 78-74(OT) win over Gonzaga in the WEST COAST final was all about conference bragging rights -- the Gaels shut the door on the 'Zags claim of any part of WCC supremacy for the season. No team played more impressivley in its conference tourney than Memphis, winning three blowout games, including [3b]Central Florida (@83-52) and [5b]Marshall (@83-57). (Granted, it hosted the C-USA tourney, but the Tigers have flipped a switch since the turnaround point of conference play.) Give both teams credit for great execution down the stretch of the COLONIAL final -- Drexel was down 16 in the second half and pulled to within one point, but solid free-throw shooting by gTroy Daniels secured VCU's 59-56 and the conference's automatic (and only) bid. Princeton beat Penn, @62-52, in the regular season finale to dash the Quakers' hopes of a playoff, handing the IVY title to Harvard outright.
     When Ohio University beat Akron (@64-@63) to win the MID-AMERICAN final, it probably doomed the hopes of both Middle Tennessee and Oral Roberts (both of whom counted wins over the Zips as their best calling card). The rubber match between Montana and Weber State in the BIG SKY final was high quality; down 36-31 at halftime, the Grizzlies pulled away in the second half, winning @85-66 (despite 29p10r7a from xDamian Lillard).

Some teams on the Bubble won their way into the NCAA tournament: Connecticut beat [8]West Virginia, 71-67(OT), in the BIG EAST 16s; Texas beat [3a]Kansas State, 71-65, in the BIG 12 quarters; N.C. State beat [4a]Virginia, 67-64, in the ACC quarters; and Xavier beat [2]St. Louis, 71-64, in the A-10 semis. Living up to their seeding was apparently good enough for [4]Colorado State(MWC) and [4c]South Florida(BIG E). Losing early but still getting in: California(PAC-12; 59-70 to [5b]Colorado), West Virginia(BIG E; to [9a]UConn), Southern Mississippi(C-USA; 62-73 to [5b]Marshall) and Iona(MAAC; 75-85 to [3b]Fairfield).

Long Beach State took care of business in the BIG WEST, winning solidly all the way through. Davidson trailed by 12 in the first half of the SOUTHERN final against [3aN]Western Carolina, turned things around and led by 12 with 5 minutes to go, but gave back the lead and wasn't done until a scrappy, @93-@91(2OT) ending. Mississippi Valley State just barely won the SWAC final, 71-@69 over [3]@Texas Southern.
     The HORIZON league was awful this year, so what better than having gap champ, Valparaiso lose by 20 at home in the final, @50-70 to [3a]Detroit. Oral Roberts lost in the SUMMIT semis (53-59 to [4a]Western Illinois; but [2]South Dakota State is a good substitute). Texas-Arlington was bounced by [4a]McNeese State (72-92) in the SOUTHLAND semis; [3]Lamar isn't a bad swap. Same for [2]New Mexico State instead of Nevada (out @73-78 to [5a]Louisiana Tech) in the WAC. [2]Lehigh (82-@77 over PATRIOT host Bucknell) and [2]Vermont (51-@43 over AMERICA EAST host Stony Brook) won on the home courts of the regular season champs -- plenty good enough to be their replacements. [2]Norfolk State was a strong tournament team in the preseason (moreso than Savannah State, out 46-59 to [8a]Hampton in the MEAC). Utah Valley still got an invitation to the CIT tourney, despite losing right away 78-88 to [3b]New Jersey Tech in the GREAT WEST -- [2]{North Dakota} won the automatic CIT bid.

Here's the list of Tito champions vs. the bid-stealing spoilers and Jack Dawsons who are attending The Dance under false pretenses:

TiTo	Spoiler	Jack Dawson
BIG 10: [1a]Michigan State MWC: [1b] New Mexico OVC: [1]+5 Murray State WCC: [1] St. Mary's C-USA: @[1]+2 Memphis A-SUN: [1]+3 Belmont BIG W: [1]+3 @Long Beach State SKY: @[1] Montana SOCON: [1]+4 @Davidson BIG S: @[1]+4 UNC-Asheville NEC: @[1] Long Island SWAC: [1]+4 MS Valley State	A-10: [3b]St. Bonaventure PAC-12: [5b]Colorado MAAC: [2]Loyola(MD)	COLON: "[1]Drexel" ([2]@VCU) HORIZ: "[1]+2 Valparaiso" ([3a]Detroit) SUN B: "[1]+2 Middle Tennessee" ([7]Western Kentucky) MAC: "[1] @Akron" ([2]@Ohio University) SUMMIT: "[1]+2 Oral Roberts" ([2]@SD State) SLAND: "[1]+3 @Texas-Arlington" ([2]@Lamar) WAC: "[1]+3 @Nevada" ([2]New Mexico State) PAT: "@[1] Bucknell" ([2]Lehigh) AMER E: "@[1] Stony Brook" ([2]Vermont) MEAC: "[1] Savannah St" ([2]Norfolk St) [GREAT W: "[1]+3 UT Valley" ([2]{North Dakota})]

Vanderbilt(SECu+6/Kentucky), Louisville(BIG E+3/Syracuse), Florida State(ACC/North Carolina), Missouri(BIG 12+2/Kansas) and Creighton(MVC+2/Wichita State) didn't steal any bids from the Bubble with their upset conference tourney wins. St. Bonaventure(A-10), Colorado(PAC-12) and Loyola-MD(MAAC) are all proper bid-stealing/Party-Crashing Spoilers -- they wouldn't have gotten in at-large and they weren't simply Jack Dawson replacements for the regular season champ. Temple got in at-large; PAC-12 champ Washington didn't (but leaguemate California did); and Iona turned out to be in the Anti-Spoiler category after all by claiming an at-large bid of its own. (For all the talk on TV about how Harvard wouldn't have been good enough for an at-large bid, I had them rated slighty ahead of Iona.) I have no problem with Iona being in, but I'd have taken Drexel, Middle Tennessee and Oral Roberts before the likes of Colorado State, Southern Mississippi (inexplicable) and South Florida. (Washington would only have been my fourth choice in, at best.) C-USA and the MAAC were the surprise multi-bid conferences (not counting the PAC-12's Party Crasher), so we only had 19 1BCs this year. 8 1BC teams went TiTo (including 6 gap champions) while 11 Jack Dawsons made it in (over 6 gap titlists who couldn't double). [That's on par with last year -- we'll see if anyone can break through and make a first-round splash.]

The preferential placement extended down to the #2 seeds. Duke was seeded #6 and Missouri #8, but the NCAA Seeding Committee slid the Blue Devils down two spots so they could be in the South Region (Atlanta) -- they already get the ridiculously unfair Greensboro Pod the first two weeks; they had to drop from #6 to #7 to avoid being in the same Region as #3 North Carolina, but what's the point of seeding if "Regional Preference" can override it, anyway? Why does Florida State have to go to Boston but Duke doesn't? Why did North Carolina get put in St. Louis instead of Kentucky -- swapping those two would have made travel easier in the big picture rather than first-come/first-served. They should let a computer place teams in the Pods by the overall lowest travel rather than please the top teams first at the expense of all others.
     Some of the seeding is way off to me -- [5]Temple, [9]Southern Mississippi and [9]Alabama are too high; [8]Memphis, [9]St. Louis, [12]VCU, [12]Long Beach State, [12+]BYU, [12+]Iona, [13]Davidson, [14]Belmont, [14]South Dakota State and [15]Lehigh are all too low.
     Tough first round matchups: I wish [S8]Wichita State and [S9]VCU didn't have to play each other right away -- both of those teams could do some damage. [W5]New Mexico has its hands full with [W12]Long Beach State. [M2]Kansas isn't in any trouble, but it's unusual for a HORIZON team to be a #15-seed (so what to expect from 7th-place Detroit is anyone's guess; and Kansas did manage to lose at home to Davidson early in the season). [14]Belmont could give [5]Georgetown problems. [12]Harvard could give [5]Vanderbilt a worry as well.

-- Ron

Key games this week:

NCAA

Tuesday:

1stRd/128s FIRST FOUR @ Dayton OH

• [W14+]BYU v [W14+]Iona
  
• [S16+]MS Valley St v [S16+]We Kentucky
  

Wednesday:

1stRd/128s FIRST FOUR @ Dayton OH

• [M12+]California v [M12+]S Florida
  
• [M16+]Lamar v [M16+]vermont
  

Thursday, Saturday:

2ndRd/64s POD @ Louisville KY

• [S1]@Kentucky v [S16+]MSValleySt/[S16+]WeKentucky(KY)
  
• [S8]Iowa St v [S9]Connecticut
  
• [W3]Marquette v [W14+]BYU/[W14+]Iona
  
• [W6]@Murray St v [W11]Colorado St
  

2ndRd/64s POD @ Pittsburgh PA

• [E1]Syracuse v [E16]UNC-Asheville
  
• [E8]Kansas St v [E9]So Mississippi
  
• [E2]Ohio St v [E15]Loyola-MD
  
• [E7]Gonzaga v [E10]W Virginia
  

2ndRd/64s POD @ Albuquerque NM

• [S3]Baylor v [S14]SD State
  
• [S6]UNLV v [S11]Colorado
  
• [E4]Wisconsin v [E13]Montana
  
• [E5]Vanderbilt v [E12]Harvard
  

2ndRd/64s POD @ Portland OR

• [W4]Louisville v [W5]Davidson
  
• [W5]New Mexico v [W12]Long Beach St
  
• [S4]Indiana v [S13]New Mexico St
  
• [S5]Wichita St v [S12]VCU
  

Friday, Sunday:

2ndRd/64s POD @ Greensboro NC

• [M1]@N Carolina v [M16+]Lamar/[M16+]Vermont
  
• [M8]Creighton v [M9]Alabama
  
• [S2]@Duke v [S15]Lehigh
  
• [S7]Notre Dame v [S10]Xavier (BG)
  

2ndRd/64s POD @ Columbus OH

• [W1]Michigan St v [W16]Long Island
  
• [W8]Memphis v [W9]St Louis
  
• [M3]Georgetown v [M14]Belmont
  
• [M6]San Diego St v [M11]NC State
  

2ndRd/64s POD @ Omaha NE

• [W2]Missouri v [W15]Norfolk St
  
• [W7]Florida v [W10]Virginia
  
• [M2]Kansas v [M15]Detroit
  
• [M7]St Mary's v [M10]Purdue
  

2ndRd/64s POD @ Nashville TN

• [E3]Florida St v [M14]St Bonaventure
  
• [E6]Cincinnati v [E11]Texas
  
• [M4]Michigan v [M13]Ohio U
  
• [M5]Temple v [M12+]California/[M12+]SFlorida
  

NIT

Tuesday:

1stRd/32s on-campus

• @ (1m)Washington v (8m)TX-Arlington
  
• @ (1e)Seton Hall v (8e)Stony Brook
  
• @ (1s)Tennessee v (8s)Savannah St
  
• (2m)Dayton @ (7m)Iowa
  
• @ (3m)Oregon v (6m)LSU
  
• @ (3w)Stanford v (6w)Cleveland St
  
• @ (4s)Mid Tennessee v (5s)Marshall
  
• @ (4e)Mississippi St v (5e)Massachusetts
  
• @ (4m)Northwestern v (5m)Akron
  

Wednesday:

1stRd/32s on-campus

• @ (1w)Arizona v (8w)Bucknell
  
• @ (2s)Miami-FL v (7s)Valparaiso
  
• @ (2e)St Joseph's v (7e)No Iowa
  
• @ (2w)Mississippi v (7w)Illinois St
  
• @ (3e)Drexel v (6e)C Florida
  
• @ (3s)La Salle v (6s)Minnesota
  
• @ (4w)Oral Roberts v (5w)Nevada
  

Thursday-Monday week:

16s on-campus

• @(1e)SetonHall/(8e)StonyBrook v (4e)MississippiSt/(5e)Massachusetts
  
• @(2e)StJosephs/(7e)NoIowa v (3e)Drexel/(6e)CFlorida
  
• @(1w)Arizona/(8w)Bucknell v (4w)OralRoberts/(5w)Nevada
  
• @(2w)Mississippi/(7w)IllinoisSt v (3w)Stanford/(6w)ClevelandSt
  
• @(1m)Washington/(8m)TX-Arlington v (4m)Northwestern/(5m)Akron
  
• @(2m)Dayton/(7m)Iowa v (3m)Oregon/(6m)LSU
  
• @(1s)Tennessee/(8s)SavannahSt v (4s)MidTennessee/(5s)Marshall
  
• @(2s)MiamiFL/(7s)Valparaiso v (3s)LaSalle/(6s)Minnesota
  

Tuesday-Wednesday week:

Qtrs on-campus

Tue 27 Mar, Thu 29 Mar

Semis,Final @ New York NY /MSG/

• (e/SetonHall) v (w/Arizona)
  
• (m/Washington) v (w/Tennessee)

CBI

Tuesday:

1stRd/16s on-campus

• (mA): @ TCU v Milwaukee
  
• (wB): @ San Francisco v Washington St
  
• (eB): @ Evansville v Princeton
  

Wednesday:

1stRd/16s on-campus

• (eA): @ Pittsburgh v Wofford
  
• (wA): @ Wyoming v ND State
  
• (mB): @ Oregon St v We Illinois
  
• (nA): @ Penn v Quinnipiac
  
• (nB): @ Butler v Delaware
  

Monday week:

Qtrs on-campus (by region)

• (e): Pittsburgh/Wofford v Evansville/Princeton
  
• (w): Wyoming/NDState v SanFrancisco/WashingtonSt
  
• (m): TCU/Milwaukee v OregonSt/WeIllinois
  
• (n): Penn/Quinnipiac v Butler/Delaware
  

Wednesday week:

Semis on-campus (re-seeded)

Mon 26 Mar, Wed 28 Mar, (if necessary: Fri 30 Mar):

Finals on-campus (Best of 3)

CIT

Tuesday:

1stRd/32s on-campus

• @ Indiana St v Robert Morris
  
• @ Toledo v McNeese St
  
• (7P): @ Georgia St v Tennessee Tech
  
• @ Mercer v Tennessee St
  
• @ Old Dominion v Co Carolina
  
• @ Weber St v UT Valley (UT)
  

Wednesday:

1stRd/32s on-campus

• @ Drake v {N Dakota}
  
• @ Louisiana v Rice
  
• @ Fairfield v Yale (Connecticut 6)
  
• @ Oakland v Bowling Green
  
• @ American v Buffalo
  
• @ Loyola Marymount v Cal St-Fullerton (CA)
  
• @ Albany v Manhattan (NY)
  
• @ Idaho v UC-Santa Barbara
  
• @ Utah St v Cal St-Bakersfield
  

Thursday:

1stRd/32s on-campus

• @ SC Upstate v Kent St

Friday-Sunday:

2ndRd/16s on-campus

Tuesday-Wednesday week:

Qtrs on-campus [re-seeded]

Friday-Saturday week:

Semis on-campus [re-seeded]

Wed 28 Mar

Final on-campus

---

FINAL TOP 25 - 12 Mar12: PRECONTEST - [] Column

1. Kentucky (32-2) SECu+6 [2v2:HALL.FAME] (CHAMPIONS) (vBIG E)
2. Syracuse (31-2) BIG E+3 [2v2vNIT.T-O] (vSEC)
3. Michigan State (27-7) triBIG 10 [BIG 10t] (vACC)
4. Ohio State (27-7) triBIG 10 [rr5vGS-A] (vACC)
5. Missouri (30-4) [vBIG 12t] [2v2vCBE] (JIMMY V)
6. North Carolina (29-5) ACC (CARRIER) (vBIG 10)
7. Kansas (27-6) BIG 12+2
8. Duke (27-6) [3:MAUI] (CHAMPIONS) (CQAP)
9. Florida State (24-9) [ACCt]
10. Vanderbilt (24-10) [@SECt] [2v2:LEGENDS]
11. Baylor (27-7) [2v2:LVC-X] (vSHOWCASE)
12. Michigan (24-9) triBIG 10
13. Wisconsin (24-9) [2v2:CHICAGO]
14. Indiana (25-8) [rr4vHOOSIER] (@ACC)
15. Louisville (26-9) [BIG Et] [rr4vGS-B] (HALL.FAME) (MINARDI)
16. Florida (23-10)
17. Marquette (25-7) [3:PARADISE] (JIMMY V)
18. Wichita State (27-5) MVC+2 (vMWC) (@BB)
19. New Mexico (27-6) coMWC [@MWCt] (vMVC)
20. Murray State (30-1) OVC+4 [@OVCt] [3@GREAT.AK] (vBB)
21. Creighton (28-5) [MVCt] [rr4GS-E/D.HOWARD] (@MWC) (vBB)
22. St. Mary's (27-5) WCC [WCCt]
23. Gonzaga (25-6)
24. Memphis (26-8) C-USA+2 [vC-USAt]
25. VCU (28-6) [vCOLONt] (BLACK+BLUE) (vBB)

Honorable Mention:

UNLV (26-8) [2v2vLVI-T],
Notre Dame (22-11),
Georgetown (23-8) (@SEC),
Harvard (26-4) IVY [3:ATLANTIS],
Drexel (27-6) COLON (@BB),
San Diego State (26-7) coMWC,
Cincinnati (24-10).