Sunday, March 11, 2007

Dancing Partners Announced…

Florida (Midwest), Carolina (East), Ohio State (South) & Kansas (West) Gain #1 Seeds

The Tournament Pairings are posted at NCAASports.com.


The Selection Committee definitely sent the message that to the top teams that the conference tournaments mean something as all four top seeds won their conference tournaments... get the hint UCLA?

Another message was that strength of schedule within your conferences makes a difference if you play an unbalanced schedule. Stanford (18-12) made the field based on their 10-8 PAC 10 record, While Syracuse (22-10) was left out even though they finished 10-6 in the Big East. According to ESPN the Selection Committee felt that Syracuse played a weak conference schedule, while Stanford played a double round-robin schedule in the PAC 10. I’m not sure about the logic though, according to my calculations Syracuse’s opposition in the Big East had a .505 conference record which was the 4th toughest conference schedule. They split against Villanova and beat Marquette who are both in the Tournament. In addition to having a winning record on the road and a .500 record on the road in the Big East, they finished 6-2 in their last eight games.

Apparently Arkansas was the last team in. According to ESPN, had NC State won the ACC Tournament, they would have taken Arkansas’ spot.

Despite Ken’s fears, the ACC got seven teams into the tournament, led by Carolina who is the overall #2 seed. Florida State & Clemson missed the dance. However, they will Join NC State in the NIT, giving the ACC ten teams in the post-season.

The Heels will open in Winston-Salem on Thursday against Eastern Kentucky. If they win, they will face the winner of the Marquette – Michigan State game. If the seeds hold, they will play the winner of the Southern Cal – Texas game in the sweet sixteen.

Maryland (Midwest) and Virginia (South) both drew #4 seeds. The Terps will open with Davidson in Buffalo on Thursday. The winner will face the winner of the Butler – Old Dominion game. The ‘Hoos will play Albany in Columbus on Friday. The winner will face the winner of the Tennessee – Long Beach game.

Virginia Tech is the #5 seed in the West. They will open with Illinois in Columbus on Friday. The winner gets the winner of the Southern Illinois – Holy Cross game.

Duke was seeded 6th in the West. They will open with Virginia Commonwealth in Buffalo on Thursday. The winner will play the winner of the Pittsburgh – Wright State game.

Boston College drew the # 7 seed in the East. They will face Bobby Knight’s Texas Tech squad in Winston-Salem on Thursday. If they survive the General, they get to face the winner of the Georgetown – Belmont game.

The last ACC team into the tournament was Georgia Tech who drew the 10th seed in the Midwest. They will open with UNLV in Chicago on Friday. If they can get past UNLV, they will play the winner of the Wisconsin – Texas A&M CC game.

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