For an industry with more than 300 schools and 4,000 players, Division I college basketball is almost incestuous. Everyone's related to everyone else, which explains the NCAA Tournament bracket's familiar flavor every year.
Coaches believe the selection committee sets up certain matchups for their juicy storyline. Every year the committee denies it, and we're inclined to believe it.
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Dave Leitao, a longtime Jim Calhoun assistant, might be coaching DePaul against UConn. (AP) |
The committee has enough difficulty scheduling Brigham Young on a Saturday.
This bracket, for example, includes these tried-and-true bracket clichés:
Mentor vs. Pupil: In the Phoenix region, Connecticut coach Jim Calhoun and 22-year assistant Dave Leitao of DePaul are bearing down on a second-round meeting. In the Atlanta region, Cincinnati's Bob Huggins could see Mick Cronin in the second round. Cronin left the Bearcats for rival Louisville before getting the coaching job at Murray State.
If the committee really wanted to be cute, it would have put eighth-seeded Texas Tech and top-seeded Duke in the same region, creating the possibility of a second-round game between Mike Krzyzewski and his mentor/antagonist, Bob Knight.
Mystery Seeding: Wisconsin beat Illinois in the Big Ten title game, won the season series 2-1, had the same number of victories overall and in conference play -- including the Big Ten Tournament -- and was ranked 11 spots better in the RPI. But Illinois got a No. 5 seed, and Wisconsin a No. 6. Makes you think the committee made out that part of the bracket before Sunday's Big Ten championship game. ...
BYU looked pleased just to get invited after losing in the Mountain West semifinals, but its No. 12 seeding is wrong. The Cougars' RPI of 31 suggests a No. 8 seed, especially since BYU defeated three higher seeds: No. 2 Oklahoma State and two No. 11s, Utah and Air Force.
Home Cookin': Wisconsin was under-seeded but over-placed. The No. 6 seed should never get a home-court advantage against the No. 3, but Wisconsin will have it in the East Rutherford region if the Badgers and Pittsburgh win their first-round games in Milwaukee. ...
Same thing goes for a No. 11 seed playing a No. 6, yet in the Atlanta region Air Force gets North Carolina in the first round in Denver.
If the committee really wanted to be cruel, it would have made North Carolina a No. 5 seed in the St. Louis region, putting the Tar Heels on a crash-course with No. 4 Kansas in the second round. Imagine Roy Williams, who stung Jayhawk Nation last summer by leaving for UNC, facing Kansas in Kansas City.
Legends of Coaching: In the second round in the East Rutherford region, it could be Krzyzewski against Arizona's Lute Olson.
Transfer vs. Former Team: And if it's not Krzyzewski-Olson, it'll be Krzyzewski-Andre Sweet. The only active ex-Duke player in the country, Sweet and Seton Hall must get past Arizona to see Duke.
The committee just missed a Central Florida reunion with Joey and Stevie Graham. The twins transferred to Oklahoma State, the second seed in East Rutherford. As that region's No. 14 seed, UCF couldn't face the Cowboys until the Sweet 16. As the 15 seed, UCF would have seen Oklahoma State in the first round.
Small-School Snub: Two years ago it was 25-5 Butler. Last season, 22-7 College of Charleston. This season it's 25-3 Utah State.
The No. 25 Aggies are the only ranked team not to make the field, and at No. 43 they had the highest RPI of anyone left outside (not counting No. 38 LSU, which built its RPI before center Jaime Lloreda got hurt).
Still, if it wasn't Utah State getting the small-school snub it would have been Air Force or UTEP, the at-large teams with the lowest seeds.
History Lesson: The past two national champions, Syracuse and Maryland, could play in the second round in the Phoenix region. The teams from the 2001 national title game, Arizona and Duke, have a potential second-round date.
The committee also sent hated rivals Xavier-Cincinnati and Duke-North Carolina to opposite sides of the same region -- both in Atlanta. Imagine either game with a Final Four berth at stake.
The Committee Couldn't Possibly Know ...: That VCU coach Jeff Capel, whose team plays Wake Forest in the first round in the East Rutherford region, appeared on the cover of the Wake Forest media guide in 1987 when his father was a Deacons' assistant. ...
That Dayton coach Brian Gregory, whose team plays DePaul in a Phoenix first-rounder, grew up 15 minutes from Rosemont Horizon, rooting for DePaul and attending the Ray Meyer basketball camp. ...
Or that Texas Tech's Knight, in Buffalo for the first two rounds, coached his last game for Indiana in that same building.
