My analysis of NCAA: Would not be surprised to see all -- or none -- of No. 1 seeds advance




… with a few head-scratchers 

The selection committee of the NCAA men's basketball tournament may be the most thankless job in America. However, every year, they generally do a good job, including this year.

The positives

I thought that the number 1 selections were good. Villanova is overall number 1, Kansas next with Gonzaga and North Carolina the others. Some felt that Duke was better than Gonzaga based on schedule and wins over top-25 teams, but Gonzaga had just one loss and had some quality wins, including Arizona.

North Carolina lost to Duke in the ACC tournament, but was still the strongest team in the conference. They deserved the number 1 seed, though a good case could be made for Pac-12 champ Arizona, which had just four losses to NC's seven.  

Overall, good job there.

The East

Villanova is top seed overall and will play the winner of a pathetic play-in game. However, the interesting part of this is that Wisconsin, which made it to the Big Ten title game before losing to Michigan, is a number 8 seed. That seems to me to be somewhat of a snub.

It also raises a potential red flag for Villanova early since the winner of the 8 Wisconsin-9 Va. Tech game will face the Wildcats in the second round. That is not easy. though Wisconsin may have a tough game against Va. Tech, which has looked good at times.

Duke is the second in the region and Baylor third, making this a tough bracket in my estimation. Lots of potential pitfalls for 2016 defending champion Villanova.

South

North Carolina heads the South regional, which is good. Number 2 is Kentucky and 3 is UCLA, which makes this a very tough bracket too.

In addition, the section has some tough sleepers too with number 4 Butler, number 5 Minnesota, number 6 Cincinnati, and number 7 Dayton -- yes, Archie Miller's squad has some potential, too.

Wichita State, at number 10, was thought by some to be too low a seed for a physically talented squad.

We shall see. This should be an interesting section.

West

Gonzaga leads the West, but they have Arizona right behind them as a 2. Many thought that the Wildcats should be a 1, so that makes the Zags' job challenging. Florida State is number 3, and they are tough, too.

Much potential for upsets here, too. WVU is 4, Notre Dame 5, and Maryland 6, and any of them could take down the top three.

Overall, I rate this not as tough as the East and South, but not bad, either.

Midwest

Finally, the Midwest. That also looks tough with Kansas, which was number 1 in the country for a while this season, as the top seed followed by the ACC's Louisville and the Pac-12's Oregon. Those are all tough teams, and I would not be surprised to see any of them advance to the Final Four.

One of the puzzles is why Michigan, the Big Ten champion who is on a roll right now, has a lower seed, a 7, than Minnesota, which lost in the semifinals but is a 5. Louisville may meet the Wolverines if both win early, so that could be an interesting matchup and potential upset.

Strength

In my humble opinion, this is the way I look at the strength of each:

Toughest: East by a whisker over the South.

Third: Midwest

Fourth: West

Analysis

Overall, I would not be surprised to see all four number 1's advance to the Final four, but conversely, I would not be surprised to see none of them advance.

The reason is simple: There is a lot of parity this year. Potential upsets abound.

Should be a great 2017 tournament!

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