Semi-Coherent Thoughts And Ramblings From The 2024 NCAA Tournament Bracket Reveal - Hint, The Committee Makes No Goddamn Sense
Alright, so I do this every year and try to give out some of my rapid reactions to what we just saw. There's a lot going on so I try to gather my thoughts all while running on like 3 hours sleep.
Let's get right into the first thing that needs to be talked about. I don't think the committee understands what the hell numbers mean. Perhaps they don't understand what seed means? I'll go team by team on it later, but they basically seeded this Tournament on like Thursday and then sat back and enjoyed watching games in comfortable seats.
East Region
-Congrats to UConn on the No. 1 overall seed. He's a brutal bracket for you! Iowa State was talked about as a 1 seed after beating Houston yesterday. You can't have the top No. 2 seed in this bracket, so that means Iowa State wasn't even talked about. It makes no sense! Auburn wins the SEC Tournament and they are your 4 seed. Have fun there. Illinois? Why bother playing the Big 10 title game, you're already here as a 3!
- Now we're talking down the road, they did catch a break in the 2nd round. FAU as an 8 seed is fucking insane. I love the Owls, but there's a legit conversation about them being in the NCAA Tournament. They weren't just in but safely in? If they made it they should have been a First Four team basically.
- Drake is a damn good team. Get ready to hear a lot about Tucker DeVries. He can win them multiple games (potentially, of course).
- This is a war of a bracket. SDSU, we saw what they did last year. They can defend with anyone. I mentioned the conference champions that were grossly seeded.
South Region
- Houston, 1 seed. No shit. Biggest story of this bracket is injuries. Tyler Kolek has missed games, most recently in the Big East Tournament. Houston has guys out with injury. Florida lost its starting big man today with a horrific leg injury. Texas Tech had Warren Washington miss the last 6 games. You get the point here.
- Kentucky. That's all, for now. Very fair 3 seed, that's all I know. Good job committee, see I can be positive to them.
- I swear if Kentucky plays NC State in the 2nd round after I helped will America's favorite Big Fella to an ACC title, I'm gonna be thinking a lot about life.
- Pretty disgusting from the committee to make it a PMT Bowl. They claim they don't put matchups together for storylines, this disagrees with that.
- Keisei Tominaga having a chance to beat A&M and Houston back to back is why he can be star. If they win it's because he's going to have 42 points.
- Go Catamounts.
Midwest Region
- Let's be honest, we're all looking at who is beating Purdue here. Pretty rude to not give us Saint Peter's as the 16 for that storyline.
- I can't believe the committee put Virginia in, even the First Four. It's so egregious to put them in over any Big East team that was left out. The committee has to hate America or fun. No one and I mean no one wants to watch Virginia. Again, I don't think they worked this week.
- Gonzaga/McNeese is going to be fucking awesome. Legit might be my favorite game of the 1st round. Teams that can fly around, people cheering for Gonzaga to lose + everyone picking McNeese as the double digit team to win. I can't wait for that one.
- We need to know about Dickinson and McCullar's health before anything happens in this region. Samford could beat Kansas without them or Kansas could make a Final Four and I won't bat an eye. Still weird not seeing Bill Self on the 1/2 line.
- Oregon as a double digit seed. Here we go again. I say I won't fall into the trap, I will fall into the trap.
West Region
- Alabama/Charleston? Feel for Rico who willl be down at least 1 of his 14 teams (and adding).
- We're all going to talk about it. Caleb Love vs RJ Davis is the Elite Eight matchup the committee is dying for. You get the built in storyline with two teams that can score 100. That's their dream right there.
- New Mexico as an 11 is laughable. The committee somehow hated the Mountain West, but that's fine. Give me New Mexico vs Baylor. Give me New Mexico in the 2nd weekend. They are legit one of the most fun teams in the country.
- Mississippi State vs Michigan State is the grossest non-Virginia game in the 1st round. P.U.
- Grand Canyon will be a popular 12/5 pick. People will talk about how 12 seeds win, etc. Hopefully they learned the lesson about dunking on teams and won't do it again. Actually, fuck that. Do it and let teams play dodgeball. It makes for good content.
Final Thoughts
- The committee needs to be completely overhauled. Get rid of the 12 ADs that make it up every year. We need people who understand the game and bracketing. Look at the last 4 in/first four out:
St. John's not even there? What the fuck are we doing here guys? The Big East ended up as the 2nd best conference on KenPom. You have teams who don't belong there and St. John's isn't even mentioned? It's a complete joke and we won't ever get real answers about it.- The committee should be full time people. 3-4 ADs and then legit bracketing people. Add in people who understand the game and know what's going on with teams. One of the dumbest/weirdest bracketing things I've seen in a long time.
- Favorite game in the first round? Gonzaga vs McNeese.
- In terms of most fun to watch: East, West, South, Midwest
- For all the problems, there's still something that gets the juices going seeing a bracket. See everyone again in an hour or so and the rest of the week.