Snubbed

Opening thoughts: Greetings from the Englewood public library, where I have 20 minutes left on my computer time, so I'm going to get to as much hoops as I can. The things I don't get to, I'll cover most likely on Wednesday.

As you can guess, I'm upset that Northern Iowa and Iowa were given at-large bids over Miami. The Redhawks are now the highest-rated RPI team to never make the NCAA tournament as an at-large. They are also the first team to win a Top 10 rated conference and not get in. That's what you get for losing to Marshall I suppose. As much as I don't like Iowa getting in, I'll probably pick them to beat UC, because UC looked absolutely horrible Thursday night. Northern Iowa is a joke. Yes, they're a solid team, but how can you include a 4th place Missouri Valley team over the 1st place MAC team, who lost in the quarterfinals of their conference tourney???? It makes perfect sense when the Chairman of the Selection Committee used to be the AD at Northern Iowa and is now the AD at Iowa. The only reason that explains why 3 teams from the Valley got in was because on Bracket Buster Saturday, the Valley went 2-1 against the MAC in head-to-head.

Ok, some thoughts on some teams and some matchups:

• I can't believe Louisville only got a 4 seed after winning the C-USA regular season and tournament championship. They should have had at least a 2 seed. They will have to beat a good La-Lafayette team and either Georgia Tech or George Washington just to make the Sweet 16.
  
• The Albuquerque bracket in general is made up of teams who can score and don't play great defense. Whoever can play any kind of defense will win. I think either Louisville or Washington will come out of this region. I don't think Wake or Gonzaga are good enough defensively to go to the Final 4.
  
• I don't think Duke has the depth to make it to the Final 4, even if Sean Dockery comes back. Kentucky and Oklahoma have the depth to wear them out physically and beat them.
  
• I don't like how North Carolina is playing. It would'nt surprise me if they don't make it to the Final 4.
  
• Don't put too much stock in teams like Georgia Tech, Syracuse, and Florida just because they played well in their conference tournaments. GT can guard, but they're still inconsistent offensively. Syracuse finally played like they should have all year, hands up on defense and active on the glass. Can they sustain that type of effort??? Florida is young, but playing well. I think they'll find life outside of the SEC difficult.
  
• Illinois will win the National Championship. I think they'll regain their outside shooting touch and be able to run more now that Big 10 play is over.
  
• Possible Cinderella teams to look out for: Penn beating Boston College since the Eagles can't blow you away with outside shooting. Utah St. beating Arizona because the Aggies could frustrate UA with their hard-nosed defense and physical play.
  

Game times should be released in the next day or two. Don't make any picks until those are released. Here's why: More upsets occur in the 12pm and 10pm games because at 12pm, teams will come out flat, while as the day goes on, teams tighten up as they wait for their 10pm game.

Current Final 4: Illinois, Washington, Oklahoma, Villanova (subject to change)