Wednesday, February 15, 2017

Weakest #1 seeds?

Brian posed the question and here's what I think at the moment.

I believe we have two strong 1-seeds in Villanova and Gonzaga. While I don't know that I believe in Kansas a whole ton, their resume will add up to a strong 1-seed. Let's say they finish 4-1 down the stretch to end with a 27-4 record and Big XII title. They'd have a neutral court win over Duke and a road win at Kentucky. We can argue how good those teams are but they're both top-15 KenPom teams. If Kansas wins the Big XII tourney as well, that's a good 1-seed.

The 4th 1-seed might come out of the ACC. I'm basing this on the assumption someone runs the table down the stretch. There are plenty of opportunities for someone to take that 4th 1-seed by the throat. If they do, that's a good team. 

My initial thought was 2011 had weak 1-seeds but in reality, even though the Final 4 was weak, the 1-seeds were good teams.

What's hurting this year is a weak Big 14, the ACC depth & Pac-12 mystery. The Big 14 simply doesn't have a dominant team or teams. It's one of those years. The Pac-12 could have someone earn a 1-seed as well. Any of those 3 top teams (UCLA, Arizona & Oregon) win out and they'd be good 1-seeds.

I think we need to wait and see before declaring these the weakest 1-seeds in recent history. A lot is going to change this month.

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