There are four interesting games today, but the only team probably playing for an NCAA tournament bid is Dayton in the Atlantic 10 Final. ESPN bracketologist Joe Lunardi has Richmond safely in as a #10 seed, but if the 22-12 Flyers can pull the upset, that means one of the teams on the bubble won’t get a bid…Duke and North Carolina square off for the third time this season after splitting the first two meetings. Lunardi has both teams slated for a #2 seed, so the winner has a shot at a #1 seed assuming the committee isn’t sold on having two Big East teams (Pitt and Notre Dame) who lost early in the Big East Championship as #1 seeds. Pitt’s resume shapes up better than Notre Dame’s, and I’d wager that the winner of the Duke/UNC game (especially if it’s Duke) gets a #1 seed instead of the Irish…Florida and Kentucky are both slated for #3 seeds, so the SEC won’t have a huge impact on the seeding, though the Gators could potentially move to a #2 seed if the committee doesn’t give their three bad losses (Jacksonville, South Carolina, Mississippi State) much weight. Florida is 11-2 against the RPI Top 50 — that’s impressive…Lunardi has Penn State as a #12 seed and given the Nittany Lions’ nice run in the Big Ten tourney, they should be in. Ohio State will be a #1 seed win or lose.
Be sure to check back tomorrow morning for my annual March Madness column, where I use a variety of statistics to help readers fill out their brackets.
