Some takeaways from Selection Sunday:
• First question of the day: Were UCLA’s men underseeded, or did they do this to themselves?
Most of the projections the last couple of weeks in Joe Lunardi’s Bracketology on ESPN.com had UCLA (22-10) as a No. 6 seed, which probably had a lot to do with their issues on the road, and particularly in the Eastern and Central time zones, in their first Big Ten season. They are, as it turns out, back in the Eastern half of the country. a No. 7 seed (and 25th overall in the 68-team field) that draws a 26-7 Utah State team in Thursday’s first round in Lexington, Ky.
The good folks of Kentucky, presumably, will be little impressed by the four letters on the Bruins’ jerseys, having their own championship heritage. (And the current Wildcats are a No. 3 seed at 22-11, as well as one of 14 Southeastern Conference teams in the field.) …
• The suspicion here is that UCLA’s early exit in the Big Ten men’s tournament – a convincing loss to Wisconsin, after a top four finish in the regular season and a double bye into the tournament quarterfinals – knocked them down a peg. Consider: Oregon (24-9) received a single bye, won its opener in Indianapolis against Indiana before losing to top seed Michigan State, and got not only a No. 5 seed in the East Regional but a subregional close to home, in Seattle. …
• A second burning question: Did USC’s women, a No. 1 seed, wind up with possibly an unnecessarily difficult path when Connecticut was seeded second in their Spokane 2 regional bracket?
The suggestion on ESPN’s selection show was that it came down to USC (28-3) and Connecticut (31-3) as a No. 1 seed. Connecticut was No. 1 in the women’s NET ranking, but had just a 5-3 record in Quad 1 games (against top 30 teams at home, top 50 teams on a neutral court or top 75 teams on the road). USC – ranked sixth in the NET behind UConn, South Carolina (30-3), Texas (31-3), UCLA and Notre Dame (26-5, at one point ranked No. 1 but dropped to a No. 3 seed) – was 13-3 in Quad 1 games and nosed out the Huskies on strength of schedule.
So why was UConn – a team the Women of Troy have already beaten – put at the bottom of USC’s bracket? Maybe to create the possibility of another Paige Bueckers-vs.-JuJu Watkins matchup? Better TV ratings, you see.
• There was no question – and should have been no doubt, after UCLA’s victory over USC in last week’s Big Ten women’s tournament – that the Bruins (30-2) would be the overall No. 1 seed. And the two L.A. schools led a contingent of seven former Pac-12 programs into the women’s field of 68, along with Oregon (19-11), Cal (25-8), Utah (22-8) and Oregon State (19-15) in the main field, and Washington (19-13) in a first four matchup of 11 seeds against Columbia.
As for former Pac-12 men’s teams, the only other one besides UCLA and Oregon to make the field was Arizona (28-6), a No. 4 seed in the East. Both Oregon and Arizona are in the Seattle subregional, and if they win Friday they’ll play each other Sunday. …
• By the way, if UCLA beats Utah State the Bruins get 27-7 Tennessee, the No. 2 seed, in the second round Saturday, in SEC country. Reminder: UCLA was 5-5 on the road during the regular season, and 2-7 east of the Mississippi River. …
• Another by the way: Do you realize it is 30 years since Ed O’Bannon, Tyus Edney, Toby Bailey and the rest brought UCLA its last national championship? They were 31-2 in 1994-95, won what was then known as the Pac-10 (a regular season crown, since there was no conference tournament), defeated Missouri in the second round on Edney’s end-to-end rush for a game-winning layup, knocked off Arkansas in the national final in Seattle’s Kingdome and sent six players to the NBA, if only briefly: Ed O’Bannon, his brother Charles, Edney, Bailey, George Zidek and J.R. Henderson.
Of the six, only Edney (226 NBA games) and Zidek (135) lasted as many as three seasons. The most accomplished of all from that team at the next level? Bob Meyers, a sophomore forward, who went on to win four rings and two Executive of the Year nods as the Golden State Warriors general manager. …
• Auburn (28-5) is the No. 1 men’s seed overall, and the other No. 1 regional seeds are Duke (East), Houston (Midwest) and Florida (West). Duke (31-3) was on top in the NET, 9-3 in Quad 1 wins and 10-1 on the road. I’m guessing the ankle injury that sidelined Cooper Flagg in the first game of the ACC tournament was discussed in the committee room, but Flagg is expected to play in the NCAA tournament. …
• How about this for an intriguing men’s potential Sweet 16 matchup: San Diego State (20-9) vs. UC San Diego (28-4)? It would require some heavy lifting; San Diego State, the legacy program in San Diego and a national finalist two years ago, barely scraped into this year’s field and faces North Carolina in a First Four game in Dayton. UCSD, in its first season eligible for the Division I tournament, spanked UC Irvine 75-61 to win the Big West championship and extend its national best winning streak to 15.
The Aztecs would have to beat Carolina in the First Four, then Ole Miss and either Iowa State or Lipscomb to get to the Sweet 16 in Atlanta. UCSD draws Michigan (25-9), the upset champion of the Big Ten, and if it won would have to beat either Texas A&M or Yale to set up an unexpected crosstown matchup three time zones away. …
• Technically, a similar matchup is possible on the women’s side, in Spokane Regional 1. But it couldn’t happen until the regional final – and to get there UCSD would have to win a First Four game, and then beat UCLA – the overall No. 1 seed, as we’ve noted – in Pauley.
Never mind.
• And one more bit of bracket hijinks: If UCLA and USC get through their regionals, the bracket would put them in a national semifinal in Tampa, instead of a potential all-L.A. championship game.
Darn.
jalexander@scng.com
