Georgetown loses, Ernie laments

G'town didn't even make it to the Sweet 16. I almost don't want to watch the tournament anymore. Well, that's not true, but I was sad to see them lose and no less to a team led by someone who looks like a cross between a 14 year old and E.T. With three quarters of the field watching from home I would like to consider a couple things from the first weekend:

Vandy Impressive In Just How Badly They Stank
Butler got jobbed being given a #7 seed and played Tennessee--a once #1 team in the land--to a great overtime finish in the second round supporting they were legit. As much as they were underrated, and showed it, Vanderbilt was an overrated #4 and showed it. As my colleague Schmitt would say, Vandy shit the bed...oh man did they shit the bed. Blitzed by Siena in a game that was never close. Definitely the most lopsided upset so far.

Duke--as overrated a 2 seed since Iowa State in 2001; UCLA rewarded with a cake walk
Duke showed they aren't just weak when they can't shoot, they are actually a sub-par team. Scraping by Belmont then getting taken to the house by WVU. Paulus is really wishing he took the ND quarterback gig right about now. The #2 (Duke) and #3 (Xavier) from UCLA's region are weak as those seeds to begin. After Drake and UConn screwed the pooch and bowed out early they have to beat only W. Kentucky to face either Xavier or WVU to move to the Final Four. By far they have the easiest road among the 4 #1 seeds remaining.

A pair of 12-13 second round matchups...great!!
Through close games, except Vandy v. Siena, a pair of 12s (Villanova and WKU) and 13s (San Diego and Siena) advanced to play each other. 'Nova is a good school having a bit of a down year, but played well and moved past Siena easily--making you wonder even more just WTF with Vandy. I have no idea who W. Kentucky is but they knocked out Gumbercules' national champion pick (Drake) so I'll root for them against UCLA as they scraped by San Diego.

Washington St. wakes up at halftime against Winthrop
10 of the 12 top 3 seeds made it to the second weekend. If you said only one #4 seed would be in the Sweet 16 I would have bet money it would not have been Wash. St. Since they were tied with Winthrop at half they have outscored their opponent 93-52 over 3 halves. That 52 points allowed over three halves is super impressive. They may have a shot against UNC who has decided that instead of playing defense in their first two games they would just play at a pace that neither opponent could match. Good defense beats good offense...and vice versa.

The landscape of contenders didn't change too much except G'town and apparently Drake are gone. I think UCLA and UNC still are poised to dominate. Kansas has played well, but they're really good at finding ways to fuck things up. It's ironic how Memphis has fewer losses than any team in the land and yet few people talk about them as possible champs. That trend continues here, too.

Butler Rewarded for 29-3 Season, Top 10 Ranking with 7-seed

Congratulations! You get Tennessee in the Second Round!

Butler, despite playing in a weak Horizon League, put up a strong year in 2007-2008. They touted a recognizable star (A.J. Graves), a strong sense of team recognition after a strong 2007 season, and wins over bubble teams like Virginia Tech, Ohio State, and Southern Illinois. The only thing that they lacked was a signature win, as the only Tourney-bound team they played (Drake) beat them by 7 points. This however, was one of only 3 blemishes, putting them behind only UNC and Memphis in the loss column and giving them a Top Ten ranking in the final poll before the NCAA tournament.

Logically, the NCAA bracket makers decided to stick the team with a 7-seed in one of the hardest brackets in tournament history. For the #10 (#11 AP) ranked team in the country to make it to the Final Four, they'd have to potentially beat Tennessee, Louisville, and UNC in consecutive games. On the other hand, Vanderbilt, ranked #19, drew a 4 seed, and potential matchups with Siena and Clemson on the way to the Sweet Sixteen, despite the fact that their best win away from Memorial Gym was at Depaul (or Georgia, depending on how you look at them).

Really, any excuse I get to post Alex Gordon, I'll use.

While I'm not going to complain, as I'm sure I'll be crying hysterically after Ross Neltner goes 0-12 in regulation during a Siena upset, this seems like a huge oversight. Did Butler get screwed? If this was college football, we would have been praising them like we did Rich Rodriguez for setting up such an easy OOC schedule on the path to postseason play. However, since they didn't bother to put one team that looked like an NCAA lock on the schedule this season (Ohio State would be without Oden and Conley, no one thought Drake would be this good, and Florida State/Texas Tech/Michigan were all clearly going to be bad BCS teams), it looks like they have no one to blame but themselves. Now they've got something to prove, and all the cupcake teams in the beginning of their season have turned into monster games in the NCAA tournament.

Underrated? Probably. Screwed? Yes. But they're as responsible for this as the selection committee is, and they'll have to dig their way out to be anything more than a mid-major novelty this year.