Wednesday, March 4, 2009

How much does seeding really matter in the NCAA tournament

March Madness is right around the corner. Division one programs are jockeying for the best seeds that they can get. Every year we hear our favorite analyst breakdown the chances of the top teams of getting the coveted number one seed. Bubble teams are doing everything to prop up their "resumes", especially the ones who has weak RPI's.



This time of year always produces some of the most frivolous conversations known to man. Most of it can be quite entertaining but does it really matter? For most sports fans and analyst it does. We have to have some to scratch our itch for this time of year. We can always depend on guys like Joe Lunardi to give valuable insight on what moves the selection committee will make.



When seeding for the tournament rears its ugly head in the discussion, my interest starts to fade. The respect factor is a huge. Players use it for motivation and coaches capitalize on this universal emotion by selling this garbage to us in their press conferences. Does that mean we fall in love with Cinderella solely on the word of our snake oil salesmen posing as coaches? Yes and no.



Our favorite coaches ignites a passionate debate among sports fans and media people. The seeding portion of the tournament has become a beauty pageant with the contestants wearing bagging shorts instead of swim suits. There's going to be a team that gets seeded at number 12 and will complain that they got a raw deal. Never mind that their RPI his higher than some people's blood pressure.



What really matters is the play that will transpire on the court. Of course Connecticut, Oklahoma, Pittsburgh, Memphis, Louisville and North Carolina will compete for number one seeds. The history of this tournament speaks to the very fabric of why college basketball captures the attention of the majority of Americans for the few weeks they are on television.


Sure higher seeds have won the title at a higher rate but who can forget the 1983 North Carolina State championship team beating the mighty Houston Cougars that featured Hakeem Olajuwon and Clyde Drexler. Would you care to know what seed N.C. State was that year? They were a sixth seed. Houston was a sure thing at the number one seed. Who could stop Drexler and Olajuwon right?. Lorenzo Charles and Coach Never Give up Valvano sure did.

In 1985, the eighth seed Villanova Wildcats defeated two number one seeds to win the National championship. LSU which was seeded 11th in 1986 made the final four. Twenty years later George Mason also made an appearance in the final four seeded at number eleven. Davidson was only a last second shot away from advancing to the 2008 final four losing to eventual champion Kansas. Oh did I mention that Stephen Curry and Davidson were a tenth seed.

Last year was the first time since the tournament's inception in 1939, that all four number one seeds made the final four. One of the reasons that the NCAA tournament has been so successful is the fact that the top teams have been knocked off by "lesser" opponents. So much for those silly bracket predictions right?

Who can forget the Richmond Spiders beating Billy Owens and the Syracuse Orangemen (I know their the orange now but they were "men" back in the day) in the 1991 tournament. What about Webber State busting North Carolina's chops in 1999 led by Harold "the show" Arceneaux. Carolina had an impressive streak of winning every first round game since 1980.

UNC was a third seed and Webber State was a 14th seed. "The Show put on one on one while handing UNC 36 points en route to one of the most surprising tournament upsets. I'm willing to concede that the top teams gives us something to discuss and breakdown but we must all admit that seeding is thrown out of the window when the refs throw the ball up for tip off.

The AAU circuit and year round basketball against the best competition in the world prepares young players like never before. These kids are familiar with each other. Twenty years ago players from different regions would only hear about each other through third parties. Now they can meet each other head to head every summer.

Selection Sunday is still a week away. Some teams are still trying to play themselves off of the bubble. Most of these teams will have to win their conference tournaments to get in. The Not Invited Tournament is definitely in the future of most of these teams.

The conference tournaments and its analyst will still fuel more frivolous predictions that boils my blood but the one consolation prize I can always cling to is that the games must still be played. That's what makes March Madness worth it. So without further ado let the debate began. I'll chime in win it really counts- After the games are played...

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