Shockers earn top billing in NCAA tournament

A 7 for New Mexico of the Mountain West.

Oh, and don forget that 8 for Kentucky, which had the ball and a chance to beat Florida, the NCAA tournament top overall seed, in the waning seconds of the SEC title game.

Only Virginia, which wrapped up the ACC tournament Sunday to back up its regular season title, seemed to get a significant bump from the conference tournaments that polish off resumes of teams before the start of America favorite office pool March Madness.

Ron Wellman, chair of the NCAA selection committee, said the Cavaliers, considered a 2 or 3 on most mock ups, to impress us throughout the year. to explain the mediocre seed for a team like Louisville, the defending national champion that has won 12 of 13 and rolled through the AAC tournament, Wellstone explained the committee looks at the entire resume, not just March.

look at the total body of work, everything they did from November to March, he said. time we scrubbed that seed, Louisville ended at the same place every time when compared to the people above them. cheap jerseys people above them in the Midwest region, which shapes up as the toughest, include top seeded and undefeated Wichita State, No. 2 Michigan and No. 3 Duke. Yes, that three of last year Final Four teams. The national semifinals are April 5 in Arlington, Texas.

On the line in the West was Arizona, which stayed there despite falling in the Pac 12 title game to UCLA. The Bruins are a same as Michigan State and Louisville their fellow power conference champions.

pass everyone test, Wellman said. playing as well right now as anyone in the country. If you look at the last three or four weeks, they probably would been seeded differently. When you look at the entire season, then it a little bit different. course, the numbers are just that numbers. In an era of one and done, superstar coaches and unending parity, the real drama starts after the brackets are out. That why Warren Buffett had no problem paying the insurance premium against a $1 billion payoff for anyone who fills out a perfect bracket.

more good teams and less great teams, said coach Bill Self of second seeded Kansas. difference between a 2 seed and a 7 or 8 seed is as narrow as it ever been. last four bubble teams in this year draw were 12th seeded North Carolina State and Xavier, who play in the First Four on Tuesday, and 11th seeded Iowa and Tennessee, who play Wednesday.

Left out of the tournament was SMU of the AAC a team almost all the experts had securely in the bracket.

But not the folks in the conference room, who couldn overcome the Mustangs strength of schedule: 129.

I saw Louisville, I kind of figured that they didn have a lot of respect for our conference, said coach Larry Brown. we only can blame ourselves, that the way I look at it. committee handed out only seven at large bids to mid majors after they took 11 in each of the last two seasons.

The Big 12 led all conferences with seven teams, though winning the conference didn move Iowa State past the line.

Other conference titles that didn change much:

St. Joe was the champion of the six bid Atlantic 10 and got a 10 seed while the team the Hawks beat, VCU, was seeded fifth.

Providence went from the bubble to Big East champion and was seeded 11th.

Meanwhile, Kansas lost in the semifinals of the Big 12 but remained a 2 seed because of its ranking in the RPI No. 3. The Jayhawks have to get through the first weekend without center Joel Embiid, out with a back injury, but could face a third round game against Mountain West champs New Mexico.

the top of my head, I can remember exactly what the conversation was about New Mexico, Wellman said. can tell you the conversations about New Mexico were very positive. the West, Arizona second game could come against eighth seeded Gonzaga, which lost its second game as a No. 1 seed last year, or No. 9 Oklahoma State, which has one of the nation best players in Marcus Smart. http://www.cheapnfljerseysonlineg.top The nation top scorer, Doug McDermott (26.9 points per game), is on the other side of that bracket with No. 3 Creighton.

On Virginia side of the East bracket is one team nobody wants to play come tournament time No. 4 Michigan State, which hadn won back to back games since late January, but strung three together to win the nation second toughest conference.

don get many teams that are talented, have inside and outside, show toughness, are together, have great chemistry, coach Tom Izzo said. said three times in my career that I thought we were good enough to get to a Final Four. I thought this team was next in line.

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