Tomorrow we get to see the start of the “Sweet Sixteen.” Some (actually, most) of the matchups look like they could be interesting -- and terrific -- games.
But how we got here is also pretty interesting. First, it’s worth noting that there are no genuine “Cinderella” teams left (will come back to 12-seed Oregon in a moment). That is to say, there are no teams left from any of the weak one-bid conferences. Of course, most of those teams were seeded 14 thru 16, and only two received better than a 12. The two exceptions, Buffalo (6-seed) and Wofford (7-seed), are also out. As a matter of fact, only one team from a two-bid conference remains: Gonzaga.
The other fifteen teams are from conferences that received three or more bids. It is of some minor interest that the American Athletic and Big East conferences, each of which got four bids, have just one team out of their eight between them still in … Houston, a 3-seed. Villanova, last year’s national champion, is among the missing.
Another interesting point is what happened to the Big 12, touted all season long as the “real” power conference. And they did indeed lead in overall NET and RPI rankings and had the best winning percentage against other power conference opponents. They got six teams in, four of which received seeds of 6 or better. But only Texas Tech made it into the Sweet Sixteen. Hmmm.
That leaves us with thirteen teams. Twelve of those are from the Atlantic Coast, Big Ten, and Southeastern conferences. Those three conferences started with twenty-two in, which means that more than half of them reached the Sweet Sixteen. Pretty impressive.
That leaves one: Oregon, a (supposedly) 12-seed. FYI, half the remaining field are 1- or 2-seeds, and the “worst” is a 5-seed (Auburn). Is there anyone left who thinks Oregon only “deserved” a 12-seed? They roughed up UC-Irvine (73-54) as well as Wisconsin (72-54) to reach the Sweet Sixteen. Wisconsin was a legit contender, having won 23 games and being ranked #21 in the final AP and Coaches’ polls (had been as high as #15).
Oregon closed the regular season with four straight wins, followed by four wins in the conference tournament, and finished with a 20-point blow-out of Washington. But that meant nothing because (to the the committee) the Pac-12 was too weak for that to matter. As a matter of side interest, the three Pac-12 teams won four games in the Big Dance, the “more powerful” Big East, with four teams in … won just one game.
