Glancing At The Bracket

...while waiting on word from the College Basketball Invitational. I'm sure we won't be in, and for some reason I feel a little disappointed about this. Which means there's a part of me that apparently still wants to watch this team play basketball...and that makes no sense whatsoever.

The sweet sixteen, going by Pomeroy Rating:

(1) UNC vs. (4) Wazzu; (2) Tennessee vs. (3) Louisville
(1) Kansas vs. (5) Clemson; (2) Georgetown vs. (3) Wisconsin
(1) Memphis vs. (5) Michigan St.; (2) Texas vs. (3) Stanford
(1) UCLA vs. (4)UConn; (2) Duke vs. (3) Xavier

Hmmm. That's kind of boring.

I picked Kansas to win the title in each of the last two years, and sure enough, there they sit, lookin' all tantalizing at the top of the Pomeroy Ratings again. But your guys can't fool me anymore, Self! Enjoy San Antonio, Wisconsin.

The potential Butler/Tennessee second round matchup is interesting. The Vols' defense is heavily reliant on turnovers, as they're nothing special in the other defensive factors. Butler's offense is one of the most ball secure units in the country--eighth in turnover percentage. That said, the Bulldogs shoot a ton of threes, and UT's perimeter defense has been good. So maybe not that interesting after all.

Oregon intrigues me because it has a top-five offense. It's just too bad they can't stop anybody.

North Carolina may be the #1 overall seed, but UCLA got the weakest team in the entire tournament.

Who's going to burn me this season? I'm looking your way, Stanford. It's always a team I like for no real reason.

I have no idea what to make of Kansas State. Excellent overall numbers (15th in the Pomeroy Ratings), but they've lost five of seven down the stretch. None of those stick out as particularly bad losses, but it's evident they aren't playing like they were in January.