Joe Lunardi – Sweet 16 March Madness thoughts and the awful taste Kentucky left us with،
Sixteen sweet thoughts, observations and hot takes before another incredible weekend of basketball:
No. 1: The selection committee appears to have picked the top 10 teams in the men's NCAA tournament perfectly. That's how far down the committee's seed list you have to go to find a team (Kentucky) that didn't make it in the first weekend. In total, 13 of the 16 teams in the first four rows of the table are still alive. Kentucky and fellow SEC giant Auburn were early losers, both eliminated in the first round. The remaining seeds were 13-1 in the second round, which is truly outrageous.
No. 2: Anyone who thought the East region was the toughest of the four can head to the head of the class. Boston's regional fans will welcome the East's 1-2-3-5 seeds to TD Garden, headlined by defending champion UConn. The Midwest Regional in Detroit also features 1-2-3-5 seeds, while the West Region checks in with its 1-2-3-6 seeds. That's a lot of chalk. Only the South region bracket, where NC State resides, at 11 seeds, is eliminated remotely.
#3: Allow me a word – several, in fact – about the ACC. Fans of the conference consistently — and rightly — countered my description of its decline throughout the season by insisting that the league would be doing just fine when it mattered most. And, once again, a conference ranked fifth, fifth, seventh and fifth since the pandemic more than did well in the NCAA Tournament. An 8-1 record in the first weekend can only be welcomed. Moving forward, it remains to be seen if the conference will make the necessary schedule adjustments to counter the continued weakening that manifests itself in the form of Stanford, Cal and SMU. Additionally, the league's four Sweet 16 entries have no connection to Pittsburgh or Wake Forest's pre-tournament resumes. By this logic, Pitt and Wake should be overtaken by Virginia. Fortunately, it doesn't work that way.
Number 4: The Big East media shills have been even more obnoxious than their ACC counterparts, which is saying something. UConn, Marquette and Creighton — all ranked right where they are — have nothing to do with Seton Hall, St. John's or Providence missing the tournament. The reality is that, thanks to the unprecedented volume of bid stealers at the end of Champ Week, we had what amounted to an overall pool of 31 teams (instead of 36 or, more precisely, the 34 or 35 spots that we would have). with an average number of upsets in conference tournaments). The Big East would have gotten at least two, if not three, of the slots that are gone. There's no conspiracy here, just miscalculations and bad luck. Follow the lead of your stylish commissioner and get over it. Sometimes things don't work out. (Just ask Kent State.)
#5: I support Matt Painter's suggested IQ test for the college basketball media, but it has nothing to do with Zach Edey. This has to do with tournament selection. Do you want a certain team on the field? You must say – at the same time – who is missing! Otherwise, any criticism from the committee (or the Bracketology community) is null and void. Penalty: No internet for the month of March.
Number 6: Opening the transfer portal the day after Selection Sunday wasn't the stupidest thing I saw last week. Put me in the same camp as Tom Crean and Fran Fraschilla. Turning down an NIT offer because of said portal is even more stupid (not to mention very insulting). Take a look at the plethora of staff members in the highest ranks. Are you telling me that there aren't enough assistants to both monitor the portal and prepare for a game? These schools should be embarrassed And penalized in future playoffs.
No. 7: Speaking of “average” major tournaments, power conference teams that didn't hit .500 in their respective leagues went 3-5 in the NCAA Tournament and 12-13 in the NIT, the latter playing almost entirely at home. Meanwhile, the true mid-majors who received or would have received the most consideration if they needed it – Grand Canyon, James Madison, McNeese and Indiana State – posted an overall record of 4-3 in both tournaments (including two massive NCAA victories). I point this out not to pick on people like Greg Sankey – after all, one of his SEC teams had the gross injustice of being associated with one of the seven natural wonders of the world – but to remind everyone that we constantly overestimate a team class (“mid” majors) at the expense of their true mid-major counterparts.
No. 8: Not at all surprised by the success in the first round of: Colorado, James Madison.
No. 9: Even less surprised by the first round woes of: Florida Atlantic, Mississippi State, McNeese, South Carolina.
No. 10: Most surprised by: Clemson, Yale, Duquesne, Dayton, Oakland, Utah State.
No. 11: Dismayed by: Auburn, Saint Mary's, Charleston, New Mexico, Nebraska, Texas Tech.
0:57
Greenberg: Houston could be in trouble against Duke
Seth Greenberg explains why Houston could be ripe for an upset against Duke in the Sweet 16.
No. 12: A category of their own: NC State (good) and Kentucky (bad).
No. 13: No need to play a Sweet 16-only bracket. My original Final Four of UConn, Houston, Tennessee and Arizona is still alive. So, I'm sticking to my pre-tournament call of UConn vs. Houston for the title.
No. 14: Can you name the only team so far in the playoffs to win multiple true road games? That would be VCU. The Rams won the first and second rounds of the NIT at Villanova and South Florida, respectively. They will now travel to Utah on Wednesday in the quarterfinals with a trip to Hinkle Fieldhouse as the prize, and I like their chances. For what it's worth, the Utes wouldn't play Utah State when current VCU coach Ryan Odom was the leader of the Aggies.
No. 15: No real buzzer-beaters yet, but we've played four overtime games (including the Creighton-Oregon double-overtime classic). There wasn't a single overtime period during the entire first weekend last year.
No. 16: Finally, a full bracket for 2025 will be released shortly after the Final Four. It's a crazy mission, of course, which makes me the ideal man for the job.
