12-01-2019, 08:53 PM
Canalejas--
The Selection Committee just had to make up for the Big 10 not earning a top-3 seed by giving them literally every other benefit of the doubt decision.
Wisconsin AND Nebraska seeded ahead of Pitt (and making sure Pitt doesn't get a crack at either outside of making the final by putting them in Stanford's bracket)? Check.
Penn State given the #11 seed and their typical cupcake of a subregional? #35 Towson, #54 American, and #76 Princeton say hello. (For comparison, Stanford, as the #3 seed, drew #31 Georgia, #37 Cal Poly, and #75 Denver. Every one more highly ranked than their Happy Valley counterpart.)
Seeding #21 Purdue at the expense of say #13 Marquette. #14 Rice, or #18 Utah? Check again.
Oh, and putting in 16-13 Illinois over 20-10 Cal? Check.
There are 7 Big 10 teams in the tournament - FIVE are hosting as top-16 seeds. Talk about an advantage.
The committee chair may have made a bit of a Freudian slip - when discussing Illinois, she literally said they got in "because of their body of work in the Big 10." They lost to every top-10 team they played - well, okay, Marquette was ranked #7 when they played in Illinois.) They lost to Colorado at a neutral site. But they still made it in over Cal.
Sheesh.
VG
The Selection Committee just had to make up for the Big 10 not earning a top-3 seed by giving them literally every other benefit of the doubt decision.
Wisconsin AND Nebraska seeded ahead of Pitt (and making sure Pitt doesn't get a crack at either outside of making the final by putting them in Stanford's bracket)? Check.
Penn State given the #11 seed and their typical cupcake of a subregional? #35 Towson, #54 American, and #76 Princeton say hello. (For comparison, Stanford, as the #3 seed, drew #31 Georgia, #37 Cal Poly, and #75 Denver. Every one more highly ranked than their Happy Valley counterpart.)
Seeding #21 Purdue at the expense of say #13 Marquette. #14 Rice, or #18 Utah? Check again.
Oh, and putting in 16-13 Illinois over 20-10 Cal? Check.
There are 7 Big 10 teams in the tournament - FIVE are hosting as top-16 seeds. Talk about an advantage.
The committee chair may have made a bit of a Freudian slip - when discussing Illinois, she literally said they got in "because of their body of work in the Big 10." They lost to every top-10 team they played - well, okay, Marquette was ranked #7 when they played in Illinois.) They lost to Colorado at a neutral site. But they still made it in over Cal.
Sheesh.
VG