Selection Sunday winners and losers as college basketball coaches for the 2021 NCAA Tournament, according to Joey Brackets:
WINNERS: 68 teams, about 1,000 college basketball players and millions of March Madness fans around the world. My co-author David Smale calls Selection Sunday “the biggest non-sporting event in America.” Make no mistake.
LOSERS: In the big picture, none. People kept coming back because I didn’t have a basketball tournament. And, tragically, we can’t bring back any of those we lost in the pandemic just because the Great Dance is back. But we can all smile a little and hope that this NCAA tournament in a small way helps to put COVID-19 in the rearview mirror.
WINNERS: The four top seeds – Gonzaga, Baylor, Illinois and Michigan – were selected and placed correctly. It is rare that the line between elite and very good falls exactly after four teams, but this is the case this year and the selection committee understood.
LOSERS: Alabama was good enough to be a No. 1 seed for most of the year, but I ran out of regions. The Crimson Sea will have to settle for being number 2 in the Michigan floor and the possibility that the Wolverines will not be fully in the final rounds.
WINNERS: The committee also developed the first 16 teams, which can be a subtle element that often determines the entire flow of the tournament. As there was a convenient separation point between seeds no. 1 and no. 2, the same can be said for the first four lines compared to the rest of the field.
LOSERS: Did the committee lose its cable signal while Oklahoma State was playing? The Cowboys were much closer to being 2-seed than the number 4 they received. West Virginia, which the Cowboys have twice defeated in the past two weeks, took 3rd place, despite beating Oklahoma State with 14 places in the NET. This is a clear sowing error.
WINNERS: The non-Power 5 bubble teams in Utah, Wichita and especially Drake were treated correctly by the committee. Both Colorado and Saint Louis made the list of four replacement teams. Every time these conferences, which should never be called mid-majors, have selected the next level teams, they should be praised.
LOSERS: I thought Louisville would pass Wichita, but the cardinals have no argument. Pandemics or not, the cardinals were of the classic “middle major” type, which is usually included. Thanks 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 that the Hawks would make their first appearance in the NCAA tournament in an opening game. I told him Hartford would play Baylor or Illinois. It’s Baylor. And, John, don’t mess with the Bracketologist.
LOSERS: I thought my hometown of Drexel Dragons froze a little when it fell below line 16. Dragons get Illinois instead of seed no. 2 slightly marginal. Regardless, it’s hard to lose when you’re on tour for the first time in a quarter of a century.
WINNERS: UConn, Clemson and especially Villanova. Each could have been over-seeded based on the strength of the conference or recent performance. In the case of wild cats, even if we correctly predicted their seed no. 5, it’s hard to see them playing this without senior star Collin Gillespie.
LOSERS: LSU, North Carolina, Missouri, Michigan, UCLA and especially Wisconsin. All of those teams join Oklahoma in the “especially seeded” club. Metrics are a big part of the equation, but they shouldn’t be the whole story.
WINNERS: Each of us who are happy to have back the biggest sporting event in the world.
LOSERS: Everyone else …
Happy circles!