Sunday, March 13, 2011

Bracketology 101-First Lesson: Why this Bracket Sucks

Brick Tambland is expressing my feelings about this year's tournament bracket.


Where do I begin? Kentucky was rewarded with a top 15 rpi, a top 10 strength of schedule, a second place regular season conference finish and a SEC Championship with a 4 seed and a second round possible match-up with West Virginia. I thought the NCAA got out their jollies by banning Enes Kanter but I was wrong.


Syracuse and Purdue are 3 seeds and that's a joke. I can see BYU and UConn as three seeds. UConn won their tournament and BYU won their regular season title and lost in their conference final game. Syracuse or Purdue did not with their regular seasons, nor did they even appear in their conference finals.


And what about Flordia as a two seed? If memory serves correctly, Kentucky just beat Florida on a neutral court by 16 points, beat them at Rupp by 9 points and lost to them at Florida by just 2 points. If my math is correct that makes the Cats 2-3 against the Gators and 1-0 on a neutral floor. I guess the NCAA saw that Florida lost to powerhouses Jacksonville State and Central Florida and rewarded them for their efforts.


UK beat Louisville (away), Notre Dame (neutral floor), Vanderbilt, Florida (twice), Georgia, Tennessee (twice) and Washington (neutral floor). All of them are in the tournament and a four seed is as good as we get.


And let's not look past how the Dukies were rewarded for being the last place 1 seed. First off, they are playing in Charlotte, North Carolina in their back yard. Second, Duke has San Diego State as the two seed, UConn as their three and a fading Texas as their four. This again proves, as it does every year, that Duke gets a soft road regardless of their season.


The NCAA always states that they take into consideration how a team is playing at the end of the season and how a team plays on a neutral floor. Kentucky won 6 straight games, 3 of those games against ranked opponents, finished the year 6-1 on a neutral court and won convincingly in their 3 conference tournament games. This year's bracket is a complete and utter failure.


North Carolina fell out of the top 25 early in the year, won in a super soft ACC, finished 26-7, got thumped in their conference final game and earned a 2. I am not saying Kentucky should have gotten a 2 seed, but they definitely should have been a 3.


But I have faith in my team to win. If we make it to the Sweet 16, beat our probable opponent in Ohio State, then I think these guys can make it to a Final Four.


I am going to echo our head coach, John Calipari- "Bring it"

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