Selection Sunday wrap-up: The lucky, the hosed and more

3. The selection committee doesn't own a map. If nothing else, that's pretty clear. Just look at the South Regional, which is a total mess. First, No. 3 seed Texas A&M is on track for a second-round game with No. 6 seed Louisville in Lexington. That's not fair because a lower seed shouldn't have such an obvious geographical advantage over a higher seed. But let's pretend the Aggies get by the Cardinals (assuming Louisville gets by Stanford, of course) and advance to the Sweet 16. That's when the roles could reverse because then No. 2 Memphis would be on track for a game against No. 3 Texas A&M in San Antonio, meaning a lower seed would again have a home-court advantage over a higher seed, which is why Rand McNally should serve as chairman next year. There's no other solution.

Early coaching storylines

1. The first-round game between Memphis and North Texas is interesting because UNT coach Johnny Jones is the man who preceded John Calipari on the Tigers' bench. Jones took over at Memphis on an interim basis when Tic Price resigned because of an inappropriate relationship with a student. Jones had the team playing well down the stretch and actually gained support to keep the job on a permanent basis. But athletic director R.C. Johnson instead hired Calipari, and now his program wins 30 games a season. In other words, Johnson made a brilliant decision. But it's still nice to see Jones doing well.

2. A possible second-round game between Illinois and Southern Illinois is interesting on many levels. One of them is that the current Illinois coach (Weber) is the former Southern Illinois coach, and the current Southern Illinois coach (Chris Lowery) is a former assistant of the current Illinois coach. You follow that?

3. Similarly, Marquette plays Michigan State in the first round. That pits Marquette's Tom Crean against old boss Tom Izzo.

Random observations and predictions

Best first-round game: Georgia Tech is better than its 20-11 record indicates. UNLV is as good as its 28-6 record indicates. Can't wait for this one.

Another good first-round game: Forget that Arkansas shouldn't be in the field because that doesn't matter anymore. The Hogs are in and playing Southern California, which means a bunch of good athletes will be on the floor and that the committee at least produced a fun game while making a mistake.

One more good first-round game: The committee ensured one of the great Caucasian players will be eliminated early when it paired Nevada and Creighton because either Nick Fazekas (really good white dude) or Nate Funk (really good white dude) will be gone after 40 minutes. I'm pretty sure that qualifies as reverse racism. Or something.

The first No. 1 seed to lose will be ... North Carolina. The Tar Heels are talented, but don't forget Roy Williams hated (or at least strongly disliked) his team just a week ago. They could run into trouble as early as the second round with Marquette or Michigan State, and either Southern California or Texas could eliminate them, too.

The first No. 2 seed to lose will be ... Wisconsin. The Badgers are good, and Alando Tucker is great. But this team misses Brian Butch more than some would like to believe, and that's why it wouldn't be a surprise to see either Georgia Tech or UNLV bounce Wisconsin in the second round.

The first No. 3 seed to lose will be ... Pittsburgh. The Panthers have struggled against good teams, proof being their 6-6 record against the top 50. Unfortunately for them, pretty much all there is in the NCAA Tournament is top 50 teams. So that doesn't bode well, and even if Pitt gets to the Sweet 16 it'll likely meet UCLA, and there's no way Jamie Dixon is beating Ben Howland because that would be like Daniel LaRusso beating Mr. Miyagi, and we all know that isn't possible.

The first No. 4 seed to lose will be ... Virginia. The Cavaliers lost to Appalachian State and Utah, and then blew the outright ACC title by losing to Wake Forest. So this is a team perfectly capable of losing to inferior opponents, meaning there's no guarantee Virginia will get past Albany. And even if it does, it won't get past Tennessee in the second round.

A double-digit seed that will advance to the Sweet 16 is ... Old Dominion. The Monarchs are a No. 12, but they could certainly get by Butler in the first round. Next up would likely be Maryland, and if Maryland can lose to Miami (twice) and Old Dominion can beat Georgetown (once), then why can't Old Dominion beat Maryland (once)?

The No. 1 seed that is a lock to make the Final Four is ... Florida. Did you see the Gators over the past weekend? They were focused, energized and back to pounding people. Will Florida repeat as national champs? It'll be hard, for sure. But if you're not picking the Gators to advance to Atlanta, then you're not picking wisely at all. And if there's anything you should do over the next few days it's to try to pick wisely at all.