Watching the selection show, the following stood out to me. You mean fast-paced and fun to watch Missouri is going to have to play slow-footed Ivy league Cornell in the first round? But after reviewing the numbers, I discovered Cornell isn’t that slow at all. They are actually in the middle of the Pomeroy Ratings for adjusted pace. Here’s a quick scan of the tempo match-ups to watch:
Fastest paced games: Oklahoma St. vs Tennessee and North Carolina vs Radford
Slowest paced game: Arizona St. vs Temple
Biggest Contrast in Styles:
Utah St. (slow) vs Marquette (fast)
Cleveland St. (slow) vs Wake Forest (fast)
Michigan (slow) vs Clemson (fast)
Stephen F. Austin (slow) vs Syracuse (fast)
Ohio St. (slow) vs Siena (fast)
Texas A&M (slow) vs BYU (fast)
Looking back at my final bracket projection, I had Creighton and San Diego St. in and Minnesota and Arizona out. I guess I’m just a sucker for the non-BCS teams, and that is a position I am not interested in changing even if it does cause me to miss two NCAA teams every year.
Creighton and San Diego St. did receive 1 seeds in the NIT bracket that was announced at 9pm. (Here’s the printable NIT bracket.) How does Cincinnati feel to know they don’t even get an NIT invitation despite finishing 8-10 in the “greatest” Big East of all time, or whatever they are calling it? They probably feel about the same as NC State, Seton Hall, Vanderbilt, Alabama, Ole Miss, and Stanford.