The Best Time of the Year
Ok, so this weekend, while I was home, one of the greatest weekends for a college basketball fan happened. Division I conference tournaments were finishing up and the day every one looks forward to. That day would be Selection Sunday. The day where Division I teams learn if they get to participate in the “Big Dance,†and if they do, where they get to play and more importantly who they will play.
The top 4 seeds in the tournament are the University of North Carolina, University of Kansas, the University of Memphis, and the University of California- Los Angeles. UNC earned the overall top seed by winning the Atlantic Coast Conference regular season and conference tournament championships. Kansas won the Big 12 conference tournament, and finished second to the University of Texas, who is a 2 seed, in the regular season. Memphis won both Conference USA titles and lost only one game the whole year, to the University of Tennessee, another 2 seed. UCLA won both PAC-10 titles. My home team, the University of Arkansas, is a 9 seed after advancing to the SEC Championship game, but falling short for the second consecutive year. A game that will be very intriguing to watch is in the Midwest region, where number 6 USC will play number 11 Kansas State. Both teams have freshman who will be NBA stars. Kansas State has Michael Beasley, who is considered to be better than Kevin Durant, last years National Player of the Year, and who has been considered the front-runner for NBA Rookie of the Year throughout the year. USC has O.J. Mayo who has been highly touted ever since about his 8th grade year. Both teams have shown flashes of greatness, but neither team has been able to sustain it throughout the whole year.
If you are filling out a bracket, remember a few things, 1) Since 1979, never have all number 1 seeds advanced to the Final Four. The closest was in 1993, when 3 number 1’s and a number 2 advanced. 2) Check out injuries. In 2000, the University of Cincinnati was a number 2 seed, but got knocked out in the second round since its top player, Kenyon Martin, suffered a serious injury and wasn’t going to be able to return for the tournament. 3) Check out other circumstances, for example, is the team under an interim coach? How did the team play at the end of the year? How did they do against tournament teams? After Kelvin Sampson’s contract was bought out, the University of Indiana Hoosiers went 3-3, and at times showed the appearance of not wanting to play, for this reason, I have Arkansas beating them. 4) Where is the game going to be played? Most teams better at home, because they have fan support right there, while others do better away from home, because they don’t feel pressured to have a career night every night just to impress family and friends. But at times, it works just to randomly pick a team, because the only game where a team hasn’t upset a higher seed is the 1-16 game.
To me, the hardest games to pick are the 8-9, 7-10, and 6-11. For these, I look at my tip number 3, as well as the makeup of the teams. If one is full of underclassmen, and the other is full of upperclassmen, I’m more than likely going to pick the experienced team.
To me, this is the most fun time in the basketball season. Every team brings their best every game, because if they don’t, they will have their season end before they want it to. And you get to see the best of the best one the court at one time.
