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Its tough for teams to just get past the first round of the tournament, like them we had to
fight our way through groups of small children just to make it into Disneyland’s California Adventure Park.
The first round games are always the toughest. Mid majors take advantage of this round where a first round victory can propel a team deep into the tournament. Need proof? It was in the first round last year where #11 Winthrop beat #6 Notre Dame and #11 VCU took down #6 Duke. In 2006, 6 underdogs took advantage of the first round when #12 Texas A&M beat #5 Syracuse, #14 Northwestern State upset #3 Iowa, #10 NC State beat #7 California, #13 Bradley beat #4 Kansas, #11 George Mason upset #6 Michigan State and #11 Wisconsin-Milwaukee beat #6 Oklahoma. In 2005, #12 Wisconsin-Milwaukee beat #5 Alabama, #11 UAB upset #6 LSU, #14 Bucknell beat #3 Kansas, #10 NC State upends #7 Charlotte and #13 Vermont beat #4 Syracuse.
So there is no doubt that the big players are most vulnerable in the first two rounds especially if they are playing sloppy and looking past their first round opposition. For the mid majors, getting to the second round is a major achievement in itself and that deadly combination have left stunned powers in their wake. With that said, of this year’s first round games, the ACC faces the least opposition to the second round. This is credited more so to the high seeds awarded to the 4 ACC participants like #1 North Carolina, #2 Duke, #5 Clemson and #7 Miami. But they face 1 team from the Big 6 (Villanova) and 3 mid major teams (Play-In, Belmont and St. Mary’s). Not exactly a tough slate of opponents. So chalk up 4 ACC teams in the second round. Of the Big 6 conferences, the Big Ten received the middle finger from the selection committee. - ACC season and tournament winner North Carolina received the top overall #1 seed,
- Big 12 season and tournament winner Kansas received a #1 seed,
- Big East season winner Georgetown received a #2 seed and surprise tournament winner Pittsburgh a #4 seed,
- Pac 10 season and tournament winner received a #1 seed,
- SEC season winner Tennessee received a #2 seed and surprise tournament winner Georgia a #14 seed,
- the Big Ten regular season and tournament winner, Wisconsin? A #3 seed despite having beaten a #2 seed Texas (at Texas) and Georgia (the SEC tournament winner)
I guess winning the Big Ten just isn’t that tough anymore despite Texas the #2 seed having lost to both Michigan State as well as Texas. Tennessee another #2 seed? They lost to that very Texas team. I whole heartedly believe that the regular season champions from the Big 6 conferences should automatically receive a #1 or #2 seed considering there are 8 of them to hand out. But here is a breakdown of the caliber of opponents teams from the Big 6 have to face to get past the first round.
| ACC | BIG 12 | BIG EAST | BIG TEN | PAC 10 | SEC | mid major | | ACC | – |
| 1 |
|
|
| 3 | | BIG 12 |
| – |
| 1 | 1 |
| 4 | | BIG EAST | 1 |
| – |
| 1 | 1 | 5 | | BIG TEN |
| 1 |
| – |
| 1 | 2 | | PAC 10 |
| 1 | 1 |
| – | 1 | 3 | | SEC |
|
| 1 | 1 | 1 | – | 3 | | mid major | 3 | 4 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 5 | Is it also safe to say the selection committee likes the Big East? The Big East picked up 8 seeds in the tournament (most out of any of the Big 6) and 7 of the 8 teams are seeded favorites with Villanova as the only exception.
| Bids | Seed Favorites | Seed Underdogs | | ACC | 4 | 4: Clemson, North Carolina, Duke, Miami |
| | BIG 12 | 6 | 3: Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas | 3: Kansas State, Texas A&M, Baylor | | BIG EAST | 8 | 7: Georgetown, Notre Dame, Louisville, Connecticut, West Virginia, Pittsburgh, Marquette | 1: Villanova | | BIG TEN | 4 | 4: Wisconsin, Indiana, Purdue, Michigan State |
| | PAC 10 | 6 | 4: USC, Washington State, UCLA, Stanford | 2: Arizona, Oregon | | SEC | 6 | 3: Vanderbilt, Tennessee, Mississippi State | 3: Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky | | mid majors | 30 | 7: UNLV, Gonzaga, Butler, BYU, Drake, Xavier, Memphis | 23: Portland State, Kent State, Siena, Cal State Fullerton, Davidson, UMBC, Coppin State/Mt. St. Mary’s, George Mason, St. Joseph, Boise State, South Alabama, American, Mississippi State, Western Kentucky, San Diego, Winthrop, Belmont, UT Arlington, Temple, Oral Roberts, Ivy League, St. Mary’s, Ohio Valley |
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