The 25-7 Hoosiers got an 8 seed and will play Arkansas in the first round. The 24-7 Fighting Irish got a 5th seed and will play George Mason. The 29-3 Bulldogs got a 7 seed and will play South Alabama. And, the 24-8 Boilermakers got a 6 seed and will play Baylor.
IU finished weak after Sampson got fired and appear to have been seriously penalized in the seeding because of the lackluster finish. And, frankly, based on what I’ve seen under Dakich, I don’t blame the NCAA committee. I don’t really like their chances against Arkansas, though I would be happy to be wrong and see the Hoosiers, who have considerable talent, pull it together and make a run.
WTF, is what I’ve got to say about Butler’s seed. Basically the same as last year’s team, that was a 5 seed and made it to the sweet 16, except now they’re even better (won 3 more games) with a legit inside threat (frosh Matt Howard)–and they get dropped to a 7 seed and have to play South Alabama IN ALABAMA!!!
IU put the committee in a tough spot. The Hoosiers are playing poorly, but certainly have an overall resume better than that of the typical #8 seed.
Glenn, as for Butler, while the Bulldogs have a better record this year, last years’s team was much more accomplished. Last year, Butler beat NCAA teams Notre Dame, IU, Tennessee, Gonzaga, Purdue, and Wright State. This year, Butler played only one fellow NCAA Tournament team (Drake) and lost at home. The Bulldogs’ best wins were against Michigan, Va Tech, Texas Tech, Florida State, and Southern Illinois, none of whom made the NCAA Tournament. Certainly, it takes a very good team to go 29-3 under any conditions, but no major conference team that hadn’t beat anyone better than OSU would have much hope of being seeded higher than #7. I realize that Butler can’t necessarily control the quality of the teams it plays, but Butler’s 2007 resume was objectively much better.
Leave it to IU to do something to peak well before tourney time. It’s been that way since the late 1980’s. And that was without coaching changes.
Maybe they’ll prove me wrong…but I’m not holding my breath!