Flash Facts: Early Tournament Thoughts

Well its tournament time. The magical time of the year when Gamblore the tyrannical gambling monster, enslaves this nation and forces us to worship at the foot of the mighty brackets. As the week goes on I'm sure the crack team of BSDers will add their thoughts (remember to fill out your BSD tournament bracket so we can all show how we are smarter than Publius) but here's a few of mine.....

1. Flash Fact #1 .... The vanishing Mid-Majors - This year the Mid-Majors and Mid-Mid Conferences received only 4 at large bids. Over the past 5 tournaments Mid-Majors have received fewer bids than the previous tournament. The fact that Arizona (RPI in the 60s) was included over Saint Mary's or San Diego State shows the bias. I tend to wish there were more Cinderallas then over-rated legacy cases but I also tend to think the tournament will weed out those faulty at larges....

2. Flash Fact #2.... Injuries. If your scowering the internet, newspaper (they still have those right?) , that random dude on the street corner with the end is near sign (Ben Bernatke?) for information remember injuries mean a lot. Illinois might be missing their PG. No one is certain how ACC player of the year Ty Lawson's toe is. Can UConn overcome the loss of Dyson? All are relevant questions as past performance might be misleading given the injuries....

Fed Chairman inspiring Confidence

3. Flash Fact #3 A #1 seed will lose...unless it doesn't. Last year was the first year all 4 #1 seeds made it to the final four. So you can take that breakage from history as a statement of gamblers logic (i.e. it can't happen again so soon) or a trend setter. Given the amount of upsets in the conference tourneys this year I'm guessing last year was an anomaly.

4. Flash Fact #4 Region of Death ? I think the two toughest regions are the Midwest and the East. The Midwest I think has the better teams but both Louisville and Michigan State have substantial homecourt advantages. The East has a number of potential teams to upset Pitt but all have shown erratic play over time. Nonetheless good luck picking either....

5. Flash Fact #5 Conference Pride Counts - While not as intense as in college football conference pride will be on display. The Big East was treated this year like the SEC is in football....excessive ball handling. However the Big East got the same number of bids as the Big 10 and the ACC (7 each). So which of the Power 3 will do the best? And how does one judge? Sweet 16 bids? Final 4 bids? Champion?

Olivia Munn says : To the victor goes the spoils.....