Cockrum: UNC-KU in KC suggests selection process is suspect

BleedGopher

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per Cockrum:

Wondering how a No. 1 seed could walk into a hostile environment against a 4-seed just 45 minutes from home in the Sweet 16? So is everyone else.

The NCAA Selection Committee claims that its members don’t look at matchups during the selection process each year, but rather the locations involved in placing teams in their respective regions.

Despite the widespread understanding that the aforementioned claim is an absolute lie — one that not even the most pedestrian fan would buy into — the committee continues to pitch the same narrative every March regardless of the multiple obvious examples that there’s nothing random or accidental about their pairings in the tournament.

Take this year’s bracket for example, where there are at least five instances of intentional pairings or potential games to be played in later rounds.

For starters, Minnesota and head coach Richard Pitino will face off with Louisville, where his father was employed for 16 years and helped lead the Cardinals to the 2013 NCAA Championship. Or the way that Marquette’s Markus Howard and Murray State’s Ja Morant, two of the nation’s top scorers and most exciting players, will go head-to-head in their first round matchup, sending one of them home just a few hours into tournament play on Thursday.

Then there’s the committee’s obvious attempt at setting up a second round matchup between Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski and UCF head coach and former Blue Devil Johnny Dawkins. And consider the possibility of Kentucky meeting up with North Carolina in the Midwest regional final for a rematch of the game that the Tar Heels won two years ago en route to the 2017 national title.

Last but not least, the committee made sure to put fourth-seeded Kansas in the same region as North Carolina in the “Roy Williams used to coach at Kansas but spurned the Jayhawks to return to North Carolina” classic. Never mind the fact that he’s now been the head coach at North Carolina more than half of his career, or that many of the players currently at either school were in diapers when he made his move from Lawrence to Chapel Hill.

https://keepingitheel.com/2019/03/1...-in-kc-suggests-selection-process-is-suspect/

Go Gophers!!
 

Most of what the NCAA does, is, ahem, "suspect". And that's being kind. They're fully on-board playing politics if it gets them more money and exposure.

But I don't really understand the point of complaining about this year's bracket. I don't see any glaring screw-jobs overall, with the possible exception of Michigan-Michigan State. And even then, you have to look a few rounds down the line before the seedings and matchups might become a problem/talking point.

At this point, just roll out the ball and play the games. If your team is good enough, they'll advance. If not, you go home.

Pretty simple.
 

NEWS FLASH!!!!

Huge ACC bias.
 

Kansas is going to get beat by Auburn so it won't matter anyways.
 



Too much is made of this stuff. With 32 matchups every 1st round, there's bound to be some people think are rigged. Not a big deal at all Gophers are playing Louisville.
 

Most of what the NCAA does, is, ahem, "suspect". And that's being kind. They're fully on-board playing politics if it gets them more money and exposure.

But I don't really understand the point of complaining about this year's bracket. I don't see any glaring screw-jobs overall, with the possible exception of Michigan-Michigan State. And even then, you have to look a few rounds down the line before the seedings and matchups might become a problem/talking point.

At this point, just roll out the ball and play the games. If your team is good enough, they'll advance. If not, you go home.

Pretty simple.

I agree. This year has been the least controversial in recent memory for me. No teams got screwed by being left out. There are a few teams where I think they got a bit under/over seeded, but if you look hard enough you could say that every single year. I don't see anything that is totally egregious.

No issue with the Minnesota-Louisville matchup. They are about right as a 7 and we are about right as a 10. Why not create a matchup that includes a storyline to create some intrigue if those teams were going to be seeded that way anyways? I have no problem with that, and it doesn't really matter to me if it was done on purpose or not.
 




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