By JOHN P. WISEOne Great Season
It's kind of weird how Dick Vitale seldom speaks critically of players or coaches, rarely voices a strong opinion during his excessive ESPN air time for four months, then always comes on the tube every Selection Sunday and drops the hammer on the NCAA Selection Committee. You can count on it every March, like St. Patrick's Day.
MORE: Bracket Tips From Charlie Sheen
But even in that criticism his logic is rooted in weak rah-rah fandom. To Vitale, it's all about how sad the kids from two or three wrongfully left-out teams must feel. Aw, poor kids.
The Selection Committee's job isn't to appease 20-year-old boys; it's about choosing the best 37 at-large teams and arranging the full 68-team field in such a way that teams deserving of rewards get those rewards. I expect the Committee to pull a surprise or two every year, and sometimes those decisions are justified a few days later. I don't really care about the poor kids.
That said, the surprises this year are especially curious. Regardless of Virginia Tech's and Colorado's snubs and VCU's and UAB's inclusions, I don't see where Ohio State was rewarded by being the tournament's top overall seed.
If Pittsburgh is the weakest of the No. 1 seeds, shouldn't the S-curve dictate that the strongest of the No. 2 seeds — North Carolina, right? — be in the Southeast Region with the Panthers?
MORE: Complete NCAA Tournament Coverage
Instead, Pitt has the easiest Final Four path of the top seeds. Ohio State would have to beat a surging Kentucky team in the Sweet Sixteen and either Syracuse-North Carolina in the Elite Eight. That's a heavy lift, especially if it turns out to be Syracuse at Newark's Prudential Center. Expect to see many orange sweaters there.
If the seeds play out in Pitt's bracket, it would get struggling Wisconsin and then the BYU-Florida winner. Surprising indeed. The wrong team got the reward here.