Sunday, March 11, 2007

Road to the Final Four


So let me get this straight: The Buckeyes win their conference outright in the regular season, they win the conference tournament, they are No. 1 in both polls, No. 1 in the sacred RPI rankings, they're the 3rd hottest team in the nation with 17 wins in a row, undefeated at home (with arguably the worst homecourt advantage in the country), best major conference record in the country, a win over the No 1 team in the country, went toe to toe with Carolina w/o their dominant center; and they get the No. 3 overall one-seed in the country? Even George O'Leary couldn't have conjured up a better resume.

Despite the lack of respect, early returns are that the South sets up pretty well for a Buckeye run into the final four. Tennessee is all that stands in the way between OSU and an elite-8 appearance. Here are some random thoughts:

Hey Florida, guess you can't use the whole "nobody respects us" mantra anymore. You're No. 1, everyone respects you. (well, expect for whoever was responsible for the BCS championship gameplan).

Looks like George Mason's run last year didn't have the effect on this year's selections as was expected. Six at-large teams? Teams like 18-12 Standford are getting in?

Syracuse gets left out, despite not showing up on anyone's bubble all week long. Looks like Eric Devendorf will be handing out his cheap shots in the NIT instead. Hey Jimmy B, maybe it's time to schedule some out of conference games outside of the state of New York.

104 teams had 20 wins this year, 30 more than last season. How is that even possible?

Louisville gets "protected" as a six-seed and gets to play in Lexington? Texas A&M could get to the final four playing in San Antonio?

Poor UNC. They get what could be a brutal second round match-up with either Michigan St or Marquette (two well coached teams with go-to-guys). Advance and get to play USC or Texas?? Win and you get Georgetown (this year's winner of the annual "nobody wants to play them" award?).

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Love the Buckeyes' draw.

Anonymous said...

Ohio State lost head-to-head to both teams seeded ahead of them. Case Closed.

Anonymous said...

Oh really? Head-to-head is the determining factor? I guess Vanderbilt should have been awarded the #1 overall seed - dumb argument.

Anonymous said...

What does Joe Lunardi know? He had Syracuse in the tournament.

Anonymous said...

My OSU friend just sent me your first paragraph. My response:

"Yeah, I was a little surprised by that. The case against:

1 ) OSU beat one non-conference ranked team
2 ) was 3-3 vs ranked teams ( w/ 2 wins vs. Wis ) and all three wins coming at home or neutral site.
3 ) got beaten by two of the other #1's (and Kansas beat FL at FL )
4 ) the Big Ten was probably the overall weakest "Big 6" conference this year
5 ) didn't have a single significant road win.
6 ) Except today, never truly looked dominant vs. anyone.

Body of work i guess. You should be happy though, they got by FAR the weakest #2 seed and region overall. They should waltz into the elite 8. Although I don't get them in the South and FL in the Midwest."

Anonymous said...

Florida being the number one overall seed is atrocious with a capital "A"!!!

Anonymous said...

They should judge the seeds based on the coolest mascots!!! How much fun would that be?

Ben said...

hey guys like the site.

This kind of reminds me of 1999 when OSU was in the South and got a favorable draw with weak Auburn as a 1 and St. Johns as the 2. Yes, I know the NCAA says that we were never at the FF that year, but I like the matchups. IMO, Florida has the easiest path to Atlanta.

SportsBoyTony said...

Hey Ben, CursedCleveland wants you and your Conservative ideology to disappear like our country's surplus when "W' took over! Just kidding, we love having a variety of viewpoints. That's why we link both Sherdog.com, a MMA sight with decidedly liberal leanings, and BringBackReghi.com - which is determined to scale down entitlements and to provide tax cuts for the wealthy.

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