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Get inside March Madness with SI.com's Luke Winn in the Tourney Blog, a daily journal of college basketball commentary, on-site reporting and reader-driven discussions.
3/17/2008 11:28:00 AM

Day 6: The Morning After

Wisconsin
AP

NEW YORK -- After a long night of bracketing -- and a few hours' sleep -- I woke to find 2,090 entrants in the third annual Tourney Blog pool. Considering we had 644 entrants last year, this is amazing. (If you haven't signed up yet, follow the instructions in the blog's right rail.)

Five more thoughts on the bracket, to accompany last night's post-selection show dispatch:

1. North Carolina got the No. 1 overall seed in the bracket, but the only real advantage it received from the selection committee was geographical. (The Heels play the first weekend in Raleigh, the second weekend in Charlotte.) The East Region was the one we most struggled with picking in the SI bracket last night. Whereas I thought there were really only two reasonable Final Four options in the West (UCLA and Xavier), Midwest (Kansas and Wisconsin) and South (Memphis and Texas), there were three in the East: UNC, Tennessee and Louisville. Plus, the likely Notre Dame-Washington State showdown might be the best 4-5 matchup in the field.

2. We were considering labeling that Irish-Cougs tilt "Blizzard Conditions in Denver." Just look at those rosters.

3. In case you like your Cinderellas to be able to D up ... these are the top six double-digit seeds in adjusted defensive efficiency:
Team           Seed       DEff.          Adj. DEff.   
               (Reg.)     (Nat'l Rk.)    (Nat'l Rk.) 
Kansas State   11(M)      94.7 (31)      89.0 (19)
Winthrop       13(E)      92.2 (14)      89.9 (23)
Oral Roberts   13(S)      94.0 (27)      91.4 (36)
Davidson       10(M)      92.3 (15)      91.9 (38)
Kentucky       11(S)      97.7 (75)      91.9 (39)
St. Mary's     10(s)      92.1 (13)      92.1 (42)
Of those teams, it should be noted: K-State, Davidson and St. Mary's have respectable offenses to match; Oral Roberts and Kentucky score enough points to get by; and Winthrop is downright atrocious in offensive efficiency, ranking 229th.

4. I'm leaving later this week for Omaha. I was worried it was going to be a dud site, with Kansas as a No. 1, Wisconsin as a No. 2, and six uninspiring teams slotted around them. Not so: the committee's shafting of the Badgers produced one of the bracket's best pods, with the O.J. Mayo-Bill Walker reunion game in the 6-11 matchup, and a vets-versus-phenoms duel between UW and either K-State or USC in the second round. Other than the 1 a.m. bar time, Omaha now looks great.

5. There was not a single time I looked at the bracket last night and said, "Man, I really wish Arizona State (or Virginia Tech or Ohio State or Illinois State) was in here." None of the excluded had much of a right to cry foul.

• Thanks to all who have signed up for the Tourney Blog Pool so far. For those who haven't, click here to begin the process, and then find the invitation to the pool on the application's home page. Then go back and friend my SI profile on Facebook.

• The tourney playlist, curated by the folks at Gorilla vs. Bear, rolls on, one free mp3 at a time:

Day 6's track is Midlake's Roscoe. They hail from the home of the University of North Texas, which went 20-11 this season but failed to make the NCAAs or the NIT. At least they're making music in Denton. Download and enjoy.

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posted by Luke Winn | View comments (6) |

6 Comments:

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Posted: March 17, 2008 2:22 PM   by Anonymous Anonymous
How do you figure Arizona State has no gripe. Put them in for Arizona. Arizona has only 2 wins over the top 7 pac-10 teams, they all came against the bottom 3 teams. Who else did they beat non-conference. Texas A&m?? This is a perfect example of why SOS/RPI is complete BS. How can you lose to a team twice, finish lower than them in conference play, have a worse overall record, and still get picked over them?? Sounds like a legitimate gripe to me.
Posted: March 17, 2008 2:56 PM   by Anonymous Anonymous
Luke, head to the Dubliner while in the Big O.
Posted: March 18, 2008 12:31 AM   by Anonymous Anonymous
I hope ND doesn't choke against GMU, I really want to see them against WSU and maybe Carolina. Oh so excited...

Side note- Midlake is a great band, and Roscoe an excellent track. Good pick...
Posted: March 18, 2008 10:43 AM   by Anonymous Anonymous
Don't worry about the 1 a.m. bar closing - just head to Council Bluffs across the river - the bars are open later in Iowa.
Posted: March 18, 2008 11:30 AM   by Blogger Matt D
Luke, I will look you up after the VOLS fail to make it to the final four much less beat the HEELS if they get there, so I can watch you pull your head out of the sand. I can not understand why there are so many UNC haters in the world.
Matt
Posted: March 18, 2008 4:30 PM   by Blogger Longhorn Road Trip
Council Bluffs is the most depressing "city" in America. At least you have a lot of good basketball in the midst of all the (frozen) corn.

UNT/Denton is actually a hell of a place for musicians. Roy Orbison, Norah Jones, and Meat Loaf all studied music there.
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(Right-click the song names and choose "Save As ..." to download for your iPod)

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