NCAA Selection Show: Live blog
Posted by nvr1983 on March 16th, 2008The show is here on CBS. I have never tried a live blog before (rtmsf did once), but I might try it for some of the games this year so I’m going to try this as a test run to try to work the kinks out.
6:57 PM: Both CBS guys go with UCLA to win it all. Kellogg goes with 3 #5s and a #7 as his sleeper. Davis goes with a 6 (USC), 10, 11, and 12. I didn’t catch all the names because I was trying to process it and type this at the same time. Hard to imagine it’s the Duke guy who has the balls to go out on a limb.
6:55 PM: The CBS guys with their Final 4 picks: Clark Kellogg goes with all #1 seeds. Seth Davis goes with Tennessee, Kansas, Texas, and UCLA.
6:48 PM: Tom O’Connor (the head of the committee) is stating the “obvious” answer that they don’t award bids by conference. Packer doesn’t seem that satisfied. Not quite the Packer that we have come to know and hate, but I think it’s all we’re getting today from the old man. . .
6:47 PM: Jay Bilas just made an interesting point that the ACC tends to get more bids when they have a member on the selection committee. Packer is going on about the ACC only getting 4 bids as I type this. . .
6:45 PM: The ESPN crew is going over the snubs. They seem to be all over the Arizona Sun Devils who had a RPI of 88. I haven’t really taken a good look at their case but it seems like they were punished for a weak out-of-conference schedule.
6:43 PM: Are the producers giving Packer and Knight tranquilizer? Both of them seem much more subdued than usual. Just noticed the Marquette-Kentucky 1st round matchup. I wonder if Dwayne Wade and Pat Riley will show up for that game since neither one seems interested in being with the team that pays them. Nice point by Packer about the lack of inside guys in Duke’s path, which I am sure Coach K appreciates.
6:40 PM: Interesting chart from CBS about Power Conference vs. Mid-Major bids. It’s interesting to see how much more consolidated the bids are even though the Mid-Majors seem to be getting more respect in the polls. Back in a bit once Packer goes through the bracket.
6:37 PM: Just noticed Arizona got in as a 10 seed. That’s higher than I expected. Congrats to Baylor getting the last spot (in terms of order announced on the show). What a swing from the Dave Bliss era.
6:35 PM: The West region seems pretty favorable for UCLA with a potential Sweet 16 matchup against Jim Calhoun and the Huskies. Duke ends up in that region too as the #2 seed. It’s too bad Beilein’s offense left with him to Michigan or we might have set a record for 3 pointers if Duke and WVU met in the 2nd round.
6:29 PM: Finally, a commercial break on both CBS and ESPN. About the point Wahl just made, I went to the 2003 East Regional in Albany where Carmelo Anthony’s Syracuse team knocked off the higher seeded Oklahoma Sooners. I always thought it was pretty unfair for Sampson and the Sooners to have to play the Orangeman in that setting since the Sooners were they higher seed.
6:27 PM: Pitt jumps to a #4 seed so Lunardi wasn’t too far off with his #3 seed projection. The South region doesn’t looks pretty fair. We’re definitely hyped for the potential DJ Augustin-Derrick Rose matchup. I’m guessing the NBA scouts are looking forward to that game too. As Wahl correctly pointed out, Memphis will have to potentially win in Houston over Texas to get a Final 4 spot. So they would have earned it.
6:24 PM: I just noticed the Gonzaga-Davidson matchup. Very interesting with 2 of the premier “little people” programs in college basketball. We’ll be checking that one out on March Madness on Demand. If you haven’t signed up, I would suggest you do so now to try and get VIP status.
6:20 PM: The Wisconsin Omaha, NE pod might be the most interesting as I think Wisconsin deserved a #2 and we get to see the battle of super freshman Beasley versus Mayo/Jefferson. That’s my favorite sub-region so far.
6:18 PM: Ok, that confirms my earlier suspicion. The East seems to be much tougher than the Midwest even though I think Kansas was the last #1 seed.
6:16 PM: I know it’s early and I haven’t seen what the other regions look like, but the East seems like a stacked region. I think the 2, 4, 5, and 8 seeds are all better than their seed or as tough as I would expect out of that spot.
6:13 PM: The committee isn’t doing UNC any favors as they put Tennessee in the same region. I would have considered the Vols the best #2 seed, but as Seth Davis said they also get screwed with a potential second round game against South Alabama in Birmingham.
6:10 PM: Roy Williams can’t be happy to see his pod with Indiana as the #8 seed. That will be an extremely interesting 2nd round game if they can get past Arkansas in the first round.
6:07 PM: Ok. I just missed it (since there are shows on 2 channels), but it seems like Bobby Knight and the ESPN crew are getting on the little people saying it should be the 65 best teams in the country, which probably means leaving out the Coppin States of the world.
6:04 PM: Wow. Billy agrees with the committee. I guess we will just have to wait for them to get to the small schools before he gets cranky.
6:03 PM: I think the 4 #1 seeds are pretty straightforward. I don’t think you can argue with it. Hold on they are going to Billy Packer. . .
