March Madness Hyperbole
If you're looking for biased, statistically unsound, off-the-cuff conjecture that always results in the conclusion that Kansas will win the NCAA Tournament, you've come to the right place.

 
































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  Wednesday, March 05, 2003


Here's our first day of March Madness Hyperbole--nevermind the fact that it is March 5th.  Look, there's still 15 days before the Big Dance begins.  So I deserve some slack. 

Are you looking for analysis backed by a wealth of statistical support?  Are you looking for the unvarnished truth about Bubble Teams?  Are you looking for a fair and balanced view of the likely outcome of the NCAA tournament?  Are you looking for good advice on how to fill out your bracket? 

My friends, you have come to the wrong place. 

On this page, I intend to repeat information you can find elsewhere, minimize my use of statistics, offer wild conjecture while doing little to no research beforehand, ignore huge sections of the NCAAs, and I'm biased towards the Kansas Jayhawks, as I grew up only 30 minutes from Lawrence.  Oh, and I live in Tunisia, so I unfortunately don't even get to watch that many games.

Let's get started.

Who will get the four one seeds in the NCAA bracket?

Very interesting this year.  Two of the top seeds, as most if not all pundits agree, are locked up for Arizona and Kentucky.  It looks like the other two top seeds will go to some combination of Florida, and the three Big 12 elite teams:  Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas.  There are some people who make noises about Marquette and Wake Forest and Pittsburgh, but that's crazy talk.  Those teams are in weak-ass conferences, play soft schedules, and can't compete with Kansas.

Florida certainly had the inside track to one spot, until they lost to the despicable Jim Harrick and Georgia yesterday.  Now they've got trouble, because they have to play Kentucky this weekend.  IF they win that game, I've gotta think they're a shoe-in for that one seed, barring a first-round stumble in the SEC tournament.  But they're going to lose.  For my money, that puts them behind the other three teams. 

But.....

Oprahoma plays Texas this weekend.  And Kansas plays Missouri in Columbia, which is a nightmarish place to play for non-Missourians--just last week MU beat Oprahoma by about 145 points in Columbia, and this after OU had put the beatdown on Kansas.  So those games are going to complicate things.  If Kansas loses, then the winner of the TX-OU game will have a leg up.  And bank on it--that's going to be Oklahoma.  The game is in Norman, and to top it off it's Senior Day, and there's no stinking chance that Hollis Price is going to have anything but a monster game.  Over.

But....

Oklahoma lost to Texas earlier this year.  And KU lost to OU.  But KU beat Texas!  Whew! 

My prediction:  the winner of the Big 12 tournament (assuming it's one of those three) gets the one seed for sure.  If FL loses to Kentucky, it's a tossup for the last one seed.


2:08:20 PM    Let's hear it. []


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