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Parrish: 
Bracket | East | South | Midwest | West
NEW YORK -- I was sitting at CBS studios, packing my stuff and getting ready to grab a cab back to the hotel late Sunday when the phone rang. So I pulled it out of my pocket, glanced at the caller ID, saw the name and quickly answered because when the Godfather of Summer Basketball calls, you have to answer, even if he's calling in the spring.
"Did you see what we have?" asked Sonny Vaccaro. "We have the ultimate AAU game."
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| Enjoy what likely will be Michael Beasley's only NCAA tournament. (US Presswire) |
But is it really much worse than trying to guard Mayo or Beasley one-on-one?
I doubt it.
And if I had only waited to book myself for a first-round site I could've gone to Omaha instead of Birmingham, where Butler-South Alabama is about the most exciting thing on tap outside of a late-night trip to Bell Bottoms, where Jell-O fighting is always a possibility. But there I go getting sidetracked again when I'm supposed to be writing about Beasley and Mayo and their Thursday showdown.
It really is a match made in AAU heaven.
Two stars on a big stage trading buckets, presumably.
That's the good way of looking at it. Here's the bad: One of their college careers will be complete in three days, because if you think either of these mercenaries will ever be a sophomore, I have two tickets to Illinois State's first-round NCAA tournament game (site to be determined) I'd like to sell you.
Anyway, here's a strange look at the entire bracket (or at least some of it) ...
When the RPI doesn't matter: We always talk about the importance of the RPI, but it seems to work only one way for the non-BCS schools. If you have a bad one, you're screwed. But if you have a good one ... you might still be screwed. For proof, consider that the three teams with the highest RPIs that were omitted this season were No. 32 Dayton, No. 33 Illinois State and No. 42 UMass. Last year, it was No. 30 Air Force, No. 36 Missouri State and No. 38 Bradley. Year before that, it was No. 21 Missouri State, No. 30 Hofstra and No. 39 Creighton. Year before that, it was No. 39 Miami-Ohio, No. 45 Wichita State and No. 46 Buffalo. And I'm OK with it all, honest. But it is difficult to understand why the committee seems to believe it must have Arizona based on its RPI of 37 when I'm pretty certain if Northern Arizona had an RPI of 37 it would have no shot to earn an at-large bid.
Three random things I noticed about the bracket
1. The committee would rather the non-BCS schools knock each other off: It's possible we'll see a school from something other than a power league make a run, but the options will be dwindled quickly because the committee set the bracket up to ensure plenty of non-BCS-on-non-BCS crime will happen. Butler and South Alabama have to play in the first round -- as do Gonzaga and Davidson and Drake and Western Kentucky. Those are six of the 12 non-BCS schools receiving votes in the latest AP poll, and do you really think it's a coincidence that they are set up to eliminate each other?
2. The Lopez twins are going to be lonely: Brook and Robin Lopez are a pair of 7-foot posts. They play for Stanford. And Stanford opens against Cornell, which is the Big Red but simply not that big. In the second round the Cardinal will get either Marquette (a guard-oriented team) or Kentucky (a guard-oriented team that lost its best post player, Patrick Patterson, to an injury). And if Stanford advances to the Sweet 16 it'll probably meet the Texas Longhorns, whose best big man is either Connor Atchley (who is really just a tall shooter) or Damion James (who is really only 6-foot-7).
3. The NCAA caved to political correctness: By any measuring device, the opening-round game should be between Coppin State and Mississippi Valley State. Instead, it's between Coppin State and Mount St. Mary's, and you know why that is as well as I know why that is.
Ranking the regions from toughest to easiest
1. East: North Carolina is the overall No. 1 seed. Yet somehow it landed in the same region as Tennessee, which has the No. 1 RPI and No. 1 strength of schedule in the nation. Care to explain that, selection committee? Meantime, the school that could've easily won the Big East (Louisville) is seeded third and the team with the Big East Player of the Year (Notre Dame) is seeded fifth.
2. Midwest: The Big 12 champ (Kansas) is the No. 1 seed while the Big East regular-season champ (Georgetown) and Big Ten champ (Wisconsin) are the second and third seeds. The No. 4 seed (Vanderbilt) ended Tennessee's short stint atop the AP poll last month, the No. 5 seed (Clemson) nearly beat North Carolina on Sunday and the No. 6 seed (Southern California) has at least three pros on its roster (Mayo, Davon Jefferson and Taj Gibson) to go with its former pro coach (Tim Floyd).
3. South: Texas has beaten two No. 1 seeds (Kansas and UCLA), and it might get a shot at a third (and in its home state, no less). The Longhorns are the No. 2 seed while Memphis is the No. 1 seed. That's a strong duo. And joining them is a pair of Final Four coaches (Marquette's Tom Crean and Michigan State's Tom Izzo), meaning there are four Final Four coaches (John Calipari, Rick Barnes, Creen and Izzo) in the South -- plus those big ol' Lopez twins who had Stanford challenging UCLA for the Pac-10 title on the final weekend of the regular season.
4. West: UCLA probably has the friendliest path of any No. 1 seed to the Final Four, though fans of fourth-seeded UConn might disagree. The No. 2 seed is a Duke team that has been struggling and the No. 3 seed is a Xavier team that has lost two of its past four games. This is clearly the weakest region.
Where the committee messed up
Seeded too high: Vanderbilt is a No. 4 seed, this despite losing six SEC games while recording only four victories against top-50 teams.Seeded too low: Indiana is a No. 8 seed, this despite recording 25 victories (including five against the top 50) while finishing with a 22 RPI.
Redundancy sucks: Why a possible Texas vs. Saint Mary's game in the second round? We saw that movie back in January, and Gaels' fans didn't like the way it ended (the Longhorns smoked SMC, 81-62).
Six teams that can win it all
1. UCLA
2. Kansas
3. North Carolina
4. Memphis
5. Texas
6. Tennessee
Four teams that can't win it all (even though you think they can)
1. Georgetown
2. Duke
3. Wisconsin
4. Louisville
Two double-digit seeds that might just make the Sweet 16
1. Arizona
2. Baylor
Final thought
Georgia's magical run will continue with a first-round game against Xavier, but my guess is that the Bulldogs will take a loss there and go home. Still, in many ways Dennis Felton has already won considering his athletic director proved Sunday that he is a fair-weather administrator.
"Of course he'll be back," Georgia AD Damon Evans answered when asked whether Felton would return next season.
Of course? That quote makes it sound like somebody asked an absurd question, like Evans has been with Felton all along. But the reality of the situation is that industry sources were convinced as recently as three days ago Evans was prepared to remove Felton and make a serious run at VCU's Anthony Grant. If this wasn't true, then why didn't Evans ever support Felton so strongly in the past?
Before, Evans was set on "reviewing" Felton's status at the end of the season.
Now he's certain he's got the right man for the job.
And why?
Because Felton won four consecutive games against unranked opponents?
Is that's what changed Evans' mind?
If so, it just shows how wacky the coaching profession has become.
One day you're getting pushed out the door for a younger and hotter candidate.
Next day you're kicking down the door to the NCAA tournament, convincing your AD you're not that bad after all.
