Today is a national holiday for most college basketball fans. It’s Selection Sunday. We find out where teams are seeded, who made it and of course who got snubbed (queue Seth Greenberg rant).
This year there will be more debate I feel than in years past and most of the debate will be centered on who should be a #1 seed. For most of the season, everyone has assumed Indiana would be the #1 overall seed and that there was no chance they wouldn’t be at least a #1 seed. They were bounced out of the B1G Ten tournament by Wisconsin (who has beaten them 12 times in a row now). If you look at their last 6 games they only beat Michigan St. by 4, lost to Minnesota, lost to Ohio State, only beat Michigan by 1 and lost to Wisconsin. That’s 3 losses in their last 6 games. Do they still warrant a #1 seed?
What about Duke? Are they still deserving of a #1 seed after getting beat by Maryland in the ACC Quarterfinals? In their last 6 games they lost to Virginia by 5 in which Mason Plumlee again seemed to not show up, and they lost to Maryland when they went 4 for 50776755656454 from 3 pt land. They also struggled from 3 the last time they played in Greensboro and lost to Lehigh. But this is also the same team that went into the Dean Dome and clobbered the Tar Heels. Do they deserve a #1 seed?
And what about Louisville? It wasn’t until this weekend that they were in serious discussion for a #1 seed and that was contingent that they win the Big East Tournament, which they promptly did. How about Kansas? Like Louisville, they needed to win their conference tournament to be in discussion and just like Louisville, they went out and won it.
The seeding process is supposed about the overall body of work. But we know it often is a matter of what have you done for me lately. Let’s take a look at the top 8 teams according to Joe Lunardi’s most recent Bracketology:
Before we reveal the teams here’s why we ordered them the way we did.
- We felt that your SOS and NCSOS should be heavily considered. It’s easy to put up a great record when you’re playing several games against some of the worst teams in college basketball. If you are scheduling numerous games against those teams, just how good are you? And why are you not scheduling tougher. If you go out and put up an impressive record against a tougher schedule, it shows you are one of the top teams in the country.
- Which is why we showed the record against both the Top 25 and Top 50 rated teams according to KenPom.com.
- We also wanted to see what the best win was for each team so see exactly who they had beaten as well as their worst loss. A #1 seed should not be losing to a team that would not make the NCAA Tournament.
And now for the big reveal. Did you guess the teams correctly?
As of Selection Sunday the #1 seeds should be Duke, Louisville, Gonzaga, and Indiana. If you look back at our original comparison, you will see these are the same 4 teams we had then. There are a few games left to be played today that could affect rankings. For example, does a Miami win over UNC improve their resume and put them in contention for a #1 seed? Possibly, but in our opinion, they would only take Indiana’s spot based on Indiana’s non conference strength of schedule.
Do you agree/disagree? Is there another team we should have considered for a #1 seed? Let us know in the comments below.
