Yes, in a word, we got hosed. But Baylor is in the right region, per the S-curve. The South Region (or whatever region they put the overall #1) should get the overall #8 and overall #9 and the overall #16. I'm guessing KY isn't thrilled either. By the S-curve, as the #6 overall, per the head of the committee, we should be in the same region as the #3 overall. When asked, the committee chairman said that "We try to keep those (top seed) teams in their 'natural regions.'" Frankly, I'd much rather be in any of the UNC*, MSU or Syracuse regions, even if it meant more traveling for the team and fans. Apparently Shane Battier was tweeting about the 'conspiracy' as well during the show (as they mentioned his tweet later in the ESPN show I believe).
That said, given Ryan's foot, I do like that we are not playing until Friday and playing only an hour from home rest, bab, rest!
But, yes, I have no doubt the draw of the 20th-anniversary of "The Shot" was too much for them to resist. But as we saw in the SEC tournament, KY
is susceptible to a good outside shooting team...
Let's just win our little 4-team mini-tournament this weekend in Greensboro first. Obviously we SHOULD win w/o a lot of late drama on Fri., and then the Sunday match-up vs Brey and the Fighting Irisish in Greensboro, or a tough Xavier squad. BTW, a couple of the talking heeads on TV are already picking Xavier over ND. So don't be surprised if we don't get to see the anticipated mentor-deciple pairing between K and Brey. (If we do, I think we actually match up with ND fairly well.) A Sweet-Sixteen match-up vs Baylor, who we beat two years ago in a classic in Houston (right?) on our way to the 2010 National Championship. I wonder what the crowd would be like in Atlanta if, for example, the top four seeds in the region make it there? I'm thinking there'd be a lot of KY-blue loudly rooting against Duke (vs Baylor or whoever in the Sweet-16) around the 23rd and 24th...
I think NC@ch got pretty lucky with their road, except that it is a nice storyline if we get to see a KA and NC match-up in the Elite-8, given the history between those two schools (including ole Huck migrating eastward from there). Many will pick KA over NC.
Let the fun begin!!!
(Here's our chance to devastate another whole generation of Wildcat fans!!!! )
*.... Obviously the committee would never put NC and Duke in the same region, as 1 and 2 seeds from the same conference.