The ScooterBlog

UC got hosed, bad, and that’s coming from a UK fan (soon to be in OSU country, which will be interesting in and of itself!)

8-8 in large conferences used to be enough to get you in at least 70% of the time, especially with some of those wins coming against good opponents and on the road, and if we’re considering that Cincinnati’s Big East tournament loss is now to a #5 seed, not a bubble team, then that has to weigh heavily in the strength of schedule and quality of opponents.

That said, take Air Force out and add Cincinnati, and take Utah State out and add Missouri State (if for nothing else, for the sanctity of the RPI numbers, which now mean nothing if a #20 team can’t go), and you have a much better bracket that still rewards mid-major teams well.

I really liked watching Cincinnati this year and will miss Andy Kennedy not being the coach because of an AD who seems to not be willing to speak and back up this coach of program publicly, and a president who doesn’t seem to want athletics to be big-time (at least in outside image). He’s very well spoken, has great emotion and appears to be a great leader as a coach. He’ll be coaching a nice program next year into the NCAA Tournament, but I really do not think it will be Cincinnati.

Oh yeah, what do you think of Xavier as a #14 seed? Yeah, I know they were a surprise winner and were left for dead a week before, but do you think that’s a number or two low?