Selection Sunday winners and losers as college basketball preparations for the 2021 NCAA tournament, according to Joey Brackets:
WINNERS: 68 teams, approximately 1,000 college basketball players and millions of March Madness fans worldwide. My co-author David Smale calls Selection Sunday the “greatest non-sporting sporting event” in America. Make no mistake.
LOSSES: In the big picture, no. The world kept spinning because we didn’t have a basketball tournament. And, tragically, we can’t recover any of the ones we lost in the pandemic just because the Big Dance is back. But we all smile a little and hope this NCAA tournament helps in a small way to put COVID-19 in the rearview mirror.
WINNERS: The first four seeds – Gonzaga, Baylor, Illinois and Michigan – were selected and placed correctly. It’s weird that the line between the elite and very good falls exactly after four teams, but that’s the case this year and the selection committee got it right.
LOSSES: Alabama was good enough to be No. 1 in most years, but we ran out of regions. The Crimson Tide will have to settle for being No. 2 between Michigan and the possibility that the Wolverines are not in full force in later rounds.
WINNERS: The committee also nailed the top 16 teams, which can be a subtle element that often sets the entire flow of the tournament. Just as there was a convenient separation point between seeds number 1 and number 2, the same can be said for the top four lines compared to the rest of the field.
LOSSES: Did the committee lose the cable signal while Oklahoma State was playing? The Cowboys were much closer to being ranked 2 than the number 4 they received. West Virginia, which the Cowboys have beaten twice in the past two weeks, reached a No. 3 spot despite beating Oklahoma State by 14 places on the NET. This is a clear planting error.
WINNERS: The non-Power 5 bubble teams from Utah State, Wichita State and especially Drake were treated fairly by the committee. And both Colorado State and Saint Louis formed the roster of four replacement teams. As long as these conferences are to be commended, they should never be called major averages, they have the next level teams selected.
LOSSES: I thought Louisville would advance to Wichita State, but the Cardinals really have no argument. Pandemics or not, the Cardinals were of the classic “middle major” type that is usually included. Congratulations to the committee for acknowledging that our planet will be fine with only seven ACC teams on the field (and for not including Duke anywhere).
WINNERS: Hartford’s reluctant coach John Gallagher was convinced his Hawks would make their first appearance in the NCAA tournament in an opening game. I told him Hartford was going to play in Baylor or Illinois. It’s Baylor. And, John, don’t mess with the Bracketologist.
LOSSES: I thought my hometown, Drexel Dragons, hardened a bit when I fell below the line of 16. The Dragons get to Illinois instead of a marginally easier No. 2 seed. Still, it’s hard to get lost when you enter the tournament for the first time in a quarter of a century.
WINNERS: UConn, Clemson and especially Villanova. Each could have been oversized depending on the strength of the conference or recent performance. In the case of wildcats, although we correctly predict their No. 5 seed, it’s hard to see them playing without it, without senior star Collin Gillespie.
LOSSES: LSU, North Carolina, Missouri, Michigan State, UCLA and especially Wisconsin. All of these teams join Oklahoma State in the “remarkably top-down” club. Metrics are an important part of the equation, but they shouldn’t be the whole story.
WINNERS: All of us are thrilled to be hosting the world’s largest sporting event.
LOSSES: Everyone …
Happy hoops!