MINNESOTA 2 SEED


In Baton Rouge... #1 LSU v. #4 Southern in the other match-up.
 

I get my wish: a potential match-up with LSU. The trash talking has already begun in the office. Only downside is it's a weekend I have to work, so I cannot attend....
 

LSU was the SEC regular and Conference Tournament winner and some people thought they should be the #1 overall seed but overall not a bad bracket for the Gophers. Illinois went down there early in the season and won 2 of 3 so it's definately possible. Baylor was a controversial selection and they have struggled late in the season. Ohio State was a 3 and Indiana a 4. Oklahoma state getting in over Rhode Island appears to be the selection that has caused the most complaining. Big 12 gets 8 out of 10 teams in.
 

Seems like Indiana got a favorable draw. Fairly short trip, no national seed, no power conference team as the No. 1 seed. I believe Vanderbilt lost to LSU is the SEC tournament final so the Commodores might be the favorite as the three seed. Not all that familiar with Middle Tenn. St. It seems like Ohio State and the Gophers face tougher regionals that the Hoosiers.
 



Nice to see the Big Ten get three teams in. As we all expected, the Big Ten Tourney was the only way we could have had three teams get bids, with the Gophers and Ohio State being almost certainly in and then having a throwdown between Indiana and Illinois needing to win the conference tourney to get a bid.

Anyway, as far as the draw goes, obviously getting LSU in the bracket is no picnic, but we definitely have a good shot against Baylor. Have to see how things play out from here on out, but it'll be interesting to watch.
 

Anyone know if the games will be on TV somewhere.
 

Shocked that Baylor is a 3 seed. A real question mark to make the tourney in my opinion. They were horrible down the stretch other than beating Texas in the Big 12 tournament. They lost 11 of 12 to finish the Big 12 season. LSU is always a tough draw at home.
 



There are a number of head-scratchers in this field and the selection committee is getting pretty well roasted around the country for it. For instance, the inclusion of Baylor and Oklahoma State has got everybody hot under the collar, as does the Irvine regional where one of the nation's top teams (UC-Irvine) finds itself hosting Virginia (ACC champs), San Diego State (and freakish pitcher Steven Strasberg) and then defending national champs Fresno State.

I guess in looking at things objectively (or at least somewhat), the biggest things that stood out as puzzling were the decisions regarding Oklahoma State, Baylor and Virginia. The Cavaliers certainly have a beef. Winning the ACC not only doesn't net them the honor of hosting a regional, but they also get shipped out west to faceoff against the best pitcher in the country in game one. Oh goody!!! And if they win that one, they get to likely face one of the tournament favorites in UC-Irvine. Have fun Virginia!!!!

And wow, I didn't realize the resumes of Oklahoma State and Baylor were as weak as they were. The only thing that got them in were their RPI ratings, which, do admittedly count for something. But their records and conference performances were pretty darn bad when considering them for a nationally based tournament.

It will be interesting to see how much overall flack the committee gets for some of these calls.
 

In soccer, they would call the UC-Irvine region "The Group from Hell".
 





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