5 BOROUGH SPORTS

This years bracket had a lot of potential for upsets, but the way things matched up were a little disappointing in my opinion. The seeding weren’t as bad as last year but some teams got shafted. Creighton got an 8 seed when they should have been around a 6. BYU and Iona were unfairly matched at the 14 seed line. I don’t understand how if you’re the last 4 in you could be a 14 seed. Lamar and Vermont should have been left out of the play-in match ups and should have got strictly 16 seeds. I thought Colorado got a generous seed at 11 considering they weren’t even in contention for an at large before winning the Pac 12. St. Bonaventure and Belmont perhaps deserved a 13 seed instead of 14.

Anyway onto my bracket…

– You’ll notice I chose my favorite coach in the world to win it all, John “Cheater” Calipari. I honestly don’t think he is a great coach and could easily lose, but this year Kentucky has less flaws than anyone else.

– Kentucky is my only 1 seed in the final four but the other three are 2 seeds, so nothing crazy.

– My elite 8 isn’t controversial either with only one team (Baylor) as a mild upset.

– I’m actually pissed that my bracket has so few upsets and I have been working hard to try and convince myself of some. This hasn’t worked that well, but majority of my upsets you’ll see in the Midwest region.

– Belmont and Cal in the sweet sixteen might be stretching it, but these are two very underrated teams.

– The upsets that I didn’t pick but came close are the following: Iona over Marquette and into the sweet 16, NM St over Indiana, Ohio over Michigan, Harvard over Vandy, LB State over New Mexico, and St. Bonaventure over FSU

– Of teams I think could really surprise Wichita State is at the top of the list. I have them in the sweet 16 losing to Kentucky, but this team, with better match ups, is capable of a very deep run. I think they are much better than Butler or VCU from the last two years, and of course are seeded quite well.

Tim Cluess and Iona are Dancin'

Last night we were revealed the brackets and unlike last year, the controversy wasn’t overwhelming. The only surprise and gripe most people had was with the inclusion of Iona over teams like Drexel or Seton Hall. Personally I have absolutely no problem with Iona being in, I was just a bit surprised. I was happy to see them in, and I instead would have replaced USF with Drexel, a team that played unbelievable the last 27 games of the season. They had their top shooter out the first part of the season when they started 2-4, and they should have considered that. There are 3 trends we have seen now over the last few years in how the committee picks teams:

1. RPI DOES MATTER: Seton Hall, Drexel, and many other bubble teams had much lower RPI’s than Iona and I think that helped them get in over them. RPI is a reflection of who you play and who you beat. Personally I am a much bigger fan of the KenPom rating system which takes into account the efficiency of how a team performs on both ends of the floor. Historically ranking systems are designed in order to give the most accurate representation of how good each team is, and a team ranked lower would lose on a neutral court. The RPI doesn’t do this nearly as accurately as KenPom rankings does. The committee should rethink if RPI is the best system. Still said, Iona deserved to get in and I was excited to see them make it because they were the better team.

2. Strength of Schedule is a big deal: Look no further than who you play as a big indicator of where or if you’ll be seeded. A team like Missouri missed out on a 1 seed likely because they didn’t do enough tough scheduling non-conference despite racking up a better record than UNC or Michigan State. Strength of schedule is the best way to manipulate RPI too. Teams every year that schedule tough (and lose) reap more benefits than those who schedule easy and roll to victories. Personally though, it’s best to find some middle ground. Losing a game a team you’re supposed to is fine, losing a game to a team that is a bad loss isn’t. With the struggle for teams at the bottom of the ACC, Big 12, Big East, SEC (and the entire Pac 12), bad losses were easier to come by for big conference schools.

3. Being a Mid Major on the bubble is actually better now: Last year it was VCU, this year Iona. Teams most people didn’t have in but they got in. The question is why go halfway with this new trend and include a very mediocre USF instead of Drexel. I am all for getting more mid majors in, but most years didn’t have the depth this year did. Many teams that weren’t even mentioned on the bubble should have been there and lost in their conference championships. To name a few teams that a really legit but in NIT include: Middle Tennessee State, Marshall, Weber State, Oral Roberts, LaSalle, St. Joseph’s, Denver, Akron, Wyoming, and Dayton.

One of my favorite annual traditions is to fill out the brackets. I always do a predictions bracket, but I also do a bracket of exactly what I’d like to see happen. In general you should know a few things:

1. I’m rooting for Creighton first and foremost as Clemson and St. John’s are not in the tourney this year

2. There are a series of teams I dislike in general even though they will unfortunately be winning many games. This includes Duke, UNC, UConn, and any team coached or previously coached by John Calipari. 

3. I love seeing upsets, so in this fun bracket I will have absurd ones and a lot of them.

So here it is! Click Below…

Fun Bracket 2012

#1: Kentucky, Syracuse, Kansas, UNC

#2: Duke, Michigan State, Ohio State, Missouri

#3: Marquette, Michigan, Indiana, Georgetown

#4: Baylor, Wisconsin, Murray State, Temple

#5: Wichita State, Florida State, UNLV, Florida

#6: Louisville, Creighton, Vanderbilt, St. Mary’s

#7: Notre Dame, New Mexico, Gonzaga, Iowa State

#8: San Diego State, Kansas State, Purdue, Virginia

#9: Alabama, St. Louis, Memphis, Southern Miss

#10: Cincinnati, West Virginia, UConn, Harvard

#11: California, Colorado State, BYU, Washington

#12: Xavier, Northwestern, Seton Hall, Miami FL, Mississippi St, Texas

#13: VCU, Long Beach State, Nevada, Belmont

#14: Montana, Akron, Davidson, South Dakota State

#15: Loyola-Maryland, Valpo, Bucknell, UT-Arlington

#16: Savannah State, Stony Brook, Miss Valley State, UNC Asheville, Long Island, North Texas

Last Four In: Seton Hall, Miami FL, Mississippi State, Northwestern

Last Six Out: South Florida, NC State, Iona, Drexel, Oregon, Tennessee

NIT:

#1: South Florida, NC State, Iona, Drexel

#2: Oregon, Tennessee, St. Joseph’s, Arizona

#3: Dayton, Oral Roberts, Middle Tennessee State, Ole Miss

#4: UCF, Marshall, New Mexico State, Illinois

#5: Colorado, LSU, Arkansas, Weber State

#6: UMass, Northern Iowa, Ohio, George Mason

#7: Cleveland State, Buffalo, Minnesota, Pittsburgh

#8: LaSalle, Denver, Illinois State, Pennsylvania

CBI and CIT Prime Candidates:

Iowa, Oklahoma, TCU, Maryland, Virginia Tech, Clemson, Richmond, St. Bonaventure, Duquesne, Indiana State, Missouri State, Evansville, Drake, Tulsa, UAB, Stanford, UCLA, Oregon State, Loyola Marymount, San Francisco, Utah State, Idaho, Butler, Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Detroit, Yale, Princeton, Old Dominion, Georgia State, Delaware, Oakland, Kent State, Fairfield, Manhattan, Mercer, SC-Upstate, Tennessee State, Tennessee Tech, Lehigh, American, Charleston, Coastal Carolina, Wagner, Robert Morris, UCSB

I Won't Pick Against This Guy Ever Again

Wow! My bracket sucks. Never had a first round where I had NO upsets correct. Plus I should’ve went with Moorehead State since it’s Phil Simms’ alma mater and they have the next Dennis Rodman. Princeton almost proved my seniors > freshman theory. Oakland didn’t show any Rochester, Michigan pride. Plus Utah St. and Belmont got crushed. So it now my bracket is butchered and it’s not even the Second Round yet. On the bright side, I’ve only lost one elite eight team so far (Louisville) plus Notre Dame and BYU still have a chance to get hot in the tourney.

Here are some of the buzzer beaters from this March Madness (including some Conference Tournament games).