Hitting Back :: A New York Sports Blog

It’s finally the end of the regular season and with that comes one of our favorite times of year. Big Dance time for 65 teams including the play-in winner in the opening round elimination game between Coppin State and Mount St. Mary’s.

For the love of God, please let Mount St. Mary’s win. Twenty loss teams shouldn’t be in this tournament. Though I’ll say this. If the SWAC Conference Tourney winners prevail, then they’ve certainly earned the right to get destroyed by No.1 overall seed North Carolina.

Since this really is just a quick entry, here are the No.1 seeds:

East-North Carolina

South-Memphis

Midwest-Kansas

West-UCLA

As the boring CBS duo of Jim Nantz and Billy “Know It All” Packer concluded, “No surprises here.”

So, who else made the cut? Let’s just breakdown the last few bubble teams who snuck their way in and celebrated:

Villanova (20-12)- their Big East first round win over bubble competitor Syracuse was enough to get them in. They can thank Wisconsin for taking care of under .500 Illinois for the Big Ten title earlier today. The Wildcats draw a tough assignment in a 5/12 match-up as the Big East goes head-to-head with feisty ACC runner-up Clemson (5). Not exactly a gift for Jay Wright’s club.

Kansas State (20-11)- the committee had to find a way to get mine and JPG’s National Player of the Year (apologies to Tyler Hansbrough) Michael Beasley (26.5 PPG, 12.4 RPG) into the Big Dance. And to make them an 11 seed in the Midwest against USC (6) and another freshman sensation O.J. Mayo has to be one of the most anticipated first round match-ups. Are they kidding? That’s going to be awesome!

Georgia (17-16)- sure, they miraculously won the tough SEC tournament doing so in unbelievable fashion needing to win twice yesterday and once today over Arkansas due to a tornado Friday night which hit Atlanta. Still, before they went through their conference, they were under .500 and wouldn’t have even qualified for the NIT. So, it comes as no surprise that the committee made them a low 14 seed who will take on No.3 seeded Xavier out West. They’re hot going in but Xavier is a very good team who has something to prove after how last March ended against 2007 runner-up Ohio State in one of the most electrifying games. Of course Gus Johnson would be involved.

Baylor (21-10)- good thing for the nine win Big 12 team that a double overtime loss in their conference tournament to 12th seeded Colorado didn’t comeback to bite them. Instead, they’ll be marching into the tournament with a new life. What had to be looked at was a tough non-conference schedule which included wins at Notre Dame and Winthrop and also a three-point loss to one of the higher seeds in Washington State. That’s what got them in where they’ll now play one of the better Big 10 teams in Purdue (6) out West. The Boilermakers had a great year winning 15 games in their conference and 24-8 overall. They dropped because of an early exit to Illinois. This is a team which played repeat champ Florida nearly to the wire. That turned out to be the Gators’ toughest test last year. So there’s plenty to prove.

Temple (20-12)- yes, they won the Atlantic-10 tournament edging Phil Martelli and St. Joe’s by five points. It’s the Owls first tournament appearance in seven years. Too bad there’s no more John Chaney pacing the sidelines and always good for a quote or two off the court as well. I’ll never forget that classic tirade where he cursed out and challenged then UMass coach John Calipari to a fight. Great stuff. They won 11 games this year in the conference. Now they’ll play the No.5 seeded Michigan State Spartans in the first round in the South. Never an enviable task going against Tom Izzo at this time of year.

St. Mary’s (25-6)- Even though they fell to eventual West Coast Conference tourney champion San Diego in double overtime, the Gaels still made it as they were rewarded for finishing second in the conference with a 12-2 record. Out of conference, they had wins over potential glass slipper Drake and Oregon. That along with a win over Gonzaga had to help. They’ll meet ACC representative Miami Florida in one of those fun 7/10 match-ups. Figure it to be a good one down South.

Kentucky (18-12)- the Wildcats were able to just squeak in as an 11 seed. Were they the final team taken or was it the other Wildcats of ‘Nova? Who knows? What’s important is they’re there despite an OT upset loss to the surprising Bulldogs. They did finish strong winning six of eight and 11 of their last 14. Their non-conference sched included defeats against UNC and Indiana. Louisville also got the better of them in the Battle for Lexington. Interestingly enough, they also lost to UAB by three whose bubble burst despite 22 wins including 12 in Conference USA. Maybe losing to Tulsa in the quarters had something to do with it. Being blown out by Memphis didn’t help much at the end of the regular season. Kentucky does play in a superior conference and their strength of sched had to be better. So they’re in and they’ll get Big East representative Marquette in an exciting 6/11 match-up. Two words. Jerel McNeal. Two more. Dominick James. Meaning the Wildcats better guard extremely well on the perimeter and stop the transition game of Tom Crean’s Golden Eagles.

St. Joseph’s (21-12)- they’re back. That’s right Billy Packer. Martelli’s Hawks are back in the NCAA’s just making the cut as an 11 seed out of the A-10. They went 9-7 in conference play finishing fourth but a run to the final before falling to Temple allowed them to get in meaning the committee took a trio from that conference. Pretty surprising. Ironically enough, St. Joe’s lost to Syracuse by three early in the season at the Carrier Dome. They also lost to the Zags by five at home. What probably helped them were their two wins in three meetings taking the last couple over Xavier including in the semis. So they’re back in for the first time since current NBA’ers Jameer Nelson and Delonte West were starring in the backcourt proving Packer wrong. They’ll draw Oklahoma in another 6/11 match-up out on the East coast. The Sooners won 22 games this season including nine in the Big 12 but are coming off an ugly 28-point blowout loss to Texas. They lost to Texas three times and split with Baylor. They were blown out by Kansas in the only meeting. An out of conference 11-point win over Arkansas losses to Memphis and USC helped them get their six seed. Probably also got USC their six as well. Go figure.

South Alabama (26-6)- nice to see the regular season Sun Belt champs get rewarded for going 16-2 despite falling to Middle Tennessee St. They belong in as a 22-point win over San Diego says. A three-point loss to SEC representative Vandy had to help as well. They’ll draw last year’s surprising Butler Bulldogs in a 7/10 match-up. Think WFAN will send John Minko upstate to go cover that one?

Bracket Sleepers

East- (5) Notre Dame, (8) Indiana, (7) Butler/(10) South Alabama winner, (13) Winthrop

Midwest- (5) Clemson, (9) Kent State, (10) Davidson, (11) Kansas St. 

South- (5) Michigan State, (9) Oregon, (10) St. Mary’s, (11) Kentucky 

West- (5) Drake, (6) Purdue, (7) West Virginia), (13) San Diego

That’s all for now. We’ll have much more later on including hopefully some fun picks from myself along with HB colleagues JPG, Brian Sanborn and Rob “Kraze” Davis.

Stay tuned!