Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, March 13, 1990 TAG: 9003133041
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Bill Brill
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
So how did I do?
I had 46 teams correct, including 23 of the 34 at-large selections. I started to say nobody could do better, but perhaps some readers made their own picks and saved them. Hey, I'm a trusting guy. If you really did make your early picks and you got 47 or more correct, let me know.
Of the 18 teams I picked that didn't make it:
N.C. State was placed on NCAA probation. Otherwise, the Wolfpack would have been picked.
New Orleans won the American South regular-season and tournament titles, but that league doesn't get a bid until 1991. The Privateers weren't chosen. James Madison and Southern were regular-season champions and lost in their tournament finals. Like New Orleans, they are going to the NIT.
Five other teams - DePaul, Rutgers, Creighton, New Mexico and Oklahoma State - also are headed to the NIT.
Of the remaining nine schools, I have reasonable excuses for Pitt and Florida. The Panthers lost point guard Sean Miller for the season with an injury. The Gators lost everybody, including big men Dwayne Schintzius and Livingston Chatman.
Seven teams let me down - Wake Forest, Austin Peay, West Virginia, Pepperdine, Evansville, McNeese State and Old Dominion. ODU and Wake win the Empty Beer Can award as the biggest flops. They had no excuses, so I won't offer any.
My biggest oversights were Connecticut, the Big East champion and a No. 1 seed, and Purdue, runner-up in the Big Ten and a No. 2 seed. Nobody knew about Nadav "The Dove" Henefeld, UConn's "Gaza Stripper." The 6-foot-7 freshman helped turn a team picked to finish eighth by league coaches into a force. Purdue was 15-16 a year ago and had no spectacular new faces, and Gene Keady simply did a great coaching job.
Of the top 16 seeds, I got nine. My four No. 1 choices - Nevada-Las Vegas, Syracuse, Georgetown and Michigan - wound up seeded Nos. 1, 2, 3 and 3, respectively. I had Arizona, Duke, Louisville and Arkansas properly pegged.
Of the teams I missed, only UConn and Purdue wound up being seeded higher than seventh. One of them was Virginia. I should have had more faith in Terry Holland.
What you don't know is that I picked the field again Saturday night. There, with the benefit of current knowledge, I missed on two teams. I had Memphis State and Maryland in the field, rather than Southern Mississippi and Southwest Missouri State.
So what about this year's 64, which has stirred the usual controversy?
I was most surprised at the way the basketball committee dropped Loyola Marymount in the seedings. The Lions have been ranked in the Top 25 most of the season and should have merited no worse than a No. 6 seed. They were dropped to 11th, an obvious reflection on the tragic death of star forward Hank Gathers. Even though Loyola won't be as strong without Gathers, that raises the ethical question: Should the team have been penalized in advance? If a star player was hurt, would the committee have reacted so dramatically?
Georgia Tech's No. 4 seeding in the Southeast is a mystery. The Yellow Jackets were 13-0 against teams outside the ACC. While they finished behind Duke during the regular season, they won the ACC Tournament. And while Duke is a No. 3 seed in the East, regular-season champion Clemson was seeded fifth in the same region.
The committee seeks to balance the top four seeds in the regions. On that basis alone, it would appear Georgia Tech and Duke should have been switched, which would have allowed the Yellow Jackets to play in Atlanta.
The Midwest is, without question, the toughest regional, with Oklahoma, Purdue, Georgetown and Arkansas. The East is the easiest, with UConn, Kansas, Duke and LaSalle the top seeds.
Even now, picking a Final Four is absurd. The balance in basketball was never more evident than during the league tournaments. Last-place Colorado reached the final in the Big Eight; Mississippi got to the title game in the SEC. No fewer than 11 regular-season champions lost in their conference tournaments, some in the opening round.
Oklahoma and Arizona are the hottest teams in the nation right now, but that seems to change as quickly as the weather. Showing partiality for the good guys, my choices are UConn, Georgia Tech and Arizona. That leaves only the Midwest, where I fear either Oklahoma or Georgetown will advance.
Keywords:
BASKETBALL
by CNB