Brackets Revealed: Instant Analysis

Posted by rtmsf on March 15th, 2009

2009-bracket-yahoo

Some very quick food for thought after the big reveal…

  • At least in the #1-#4 seed positions, the Midwest (Louisville, Michigan St, Kansas, Wake Forest) appears to be the toughest region.  It gets weaker at the lower seeds, but among the top teams, this is a beast (3 BCS regular season champs + a second-place team).   That said, Louisville having to play Ohio St. in Dayton in the second round is an interesting game.
  • The weakest appears to be the South after #1 UNC.  Oklahoma is falling off, Syracuse is up-and-down, and Gonzaga is softer than toilet paper.  Arizona St. and Clemson are darkhorses in this region.
  • Cannot believe that #3 Villanova in the East will get to play essentially at home for the first two rounds.  That’s even more egregious than the annual UNC/Duke games in Greensboro/Raleigh/W-S/Charlotte.
  • How about a Cinderella #13 Portland St. playing in Boise vs. #4 Xavier (slumping) and then the #5 FSU/#12 Wisconsin winner?  Or a WAC team, #11 Utah St. playing #6 Marquette in the same location?
  • We have a feeling #11 VCU over #6 UCLA is going to be a very popular upset choice.  The Bruins don’t travel that far east very well in recent years.  Or #4 Wake, a team that has proven they only get up for “name” teams, losing to #13 Cleveland St. in the first round in Miami?
  • Most vulnerable teams in the first round by seed:
    • #1 – none
    • #2 – Oklahoma (Morgan St.)
    • #3 – Kansas (North Dakota St.)
    • #4 – Xavier (Portland St.)
    • #5 – all of them?  But probably Illinois (W. Kentucky)
    • #6 – UCLA (VCU)
    • #7 – Boston College (USC)
    • #8 – LSU (Butler)
  • Best Games by region (first round):
    • East – #8 Oklahoma St. vs. #9 Tennessee – very up-and-down high-scoring game.
    • South – #7 Clemson vs. #10 Michigan – will the Beilein style frustrate the Tigers?
    • Midwest – #7 BC vs. #10 USC – can the athletic Trojans keep it going?
    • West – #8 BYU vs. #9 Texas A&M – Let’s do this again
  • Best potential games by region (second round):
    • East – #3 Villanova vs. #6 UCLA – if the Bruins survive, this would be a fun guard-oriented game.
    • South – #3 Syracuse vs. #6 Arizona St. -two teams coming on at the right time.
    • Midwest – #1 Louisville vs. #8 Ohio St. – in Dayton.
    • West – #2 Memphis vs. #10 Maryland – the Terps have proven they can beat top-level teams.
  • QnD Final Four (subject to change):
    • Pittsburgh (East) vs. Syracuse (South)
    • Memphis (West) vs. Kansas (Midwest)

Much more later as we get ourselves steady for the rest of the week…

rtmsf (3998 Posts)


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One response to “Brackets Revealed: Instant Analysis”

  1. Tyler says:

    I’m glad to see someone pointing out the oddness that would be Louisville having to take on the Buckeyes in Dayton in the second round. Louisville’s only about 150 miles from Dayton (so I assume they’ll travel well), but I wonder how much of a disadvantage it would be crowd-wise to be in OSU country.

    That said, I still think Louisville would be an overwhelming favorite.

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