The Tournament At-A-Glance

Snubs
I don't believe in snubs.  When you are talking about the last 4 in and the first 4 out, there is no such thing.  Is it a "snub" to get a chance for 3 home games before a trip to Madison Square Garden?  As opposed to a first-round (or with the new tournament format, a Play-In Game) loss and being home in time to watch the Thursday action?  No, I believe the real snubs come in terms of the seeding.

Big Ten Love
So who can complain about the seeding?  No Big Ten team for sure.  Yes, Ohio State may have a tough bracket, but they are still a 1-seed.  Everybody is still beatable for them.  The 2-seed North Carolina has lost 7 times, and in December a lot of people questioned whether this team would even get a single-digit seed.  Look at the other gifts the Big Ten got: Purdue as a 3 (not entirely unreasonable, but taken in context of the rest of the Big Ten seeds, it starts to look like the Committee likes to favor the conference the Chairman comes from), Michigan as an 8, Illinois as a 9, and Penn State and Michigan State as 10's.  How did all 4 Big Ten bubble teams make the field?  How did all 4 miss the Play-In games?  How did two of them nab single-digit seeds?  And the one with the worst resume (other than overall record) got the best seed (Michigan)!

Non Big-6 Gripes
Mid-majors can complain about seeding for sure.  Utah State, Memphis, and Richmond fell below the Play-In games, meaning that none of the 3 would have been in without winning their conference tournaments.  Really?  With UAB, USC, VCU, and Clemson making the field, none of those three would have made it without an automatic bid?  Gonzaga only just beat the Play-In game line at 11.  They sure don't think much of BYU's new home, the West Coast Conference, as regular season champ and Tourney Final loser St. Mary's missed the bracket completely.  ODU-Butler in the 8-9 matchup to play Pitt?  That sucks.  Either of them could do some damage, but only one will have a chance.  ODU should have been an 8-seed, let's be honest, maybe they could have taken Michigan's spot and Butler-Michigan could have squared off.  George Mason as an 8-seed?  Yes, VCU and UAB making the field is a "victory" for non-BCS teams, but they had to get in to make up for the seeding snubs of the other non-BCS schools: the Committee has to throw them some bones somehow.

The View From the Mountain
The Mountain West schools were well taken care of.  UNLV got an overseeded Illinois, followed by perennial Tournament choker Kansas.  SDSU shouldn't have much trouble getting to the Sweet 16 (obviously COULD lose, but shouldn't), and they get to play from there in Anaheim against teams from the East Coast (except maybe Texas in the Elite Eight).  With their potential opponents all playing 3 time zones west of their traditional locations, that's a huge advantage, especially if they get late-night games!  BYU held onto a 3-seed, down two guys that started at some point this season in Davies and Chris Collinsworth, which baffles a lot of people (though apparently not Charles Barkley...).  They draw a St. John's team minus a starter, or a Gonzaga team that lost to SDSU at home.  With rematches looming against Florida or UCLA, or perhaps getting a 14-loss Michigan State team that 3 weeks ago looked dead and buried.  There is no Center that they couldn't slow down enough to make a Final Four.

SEC Whacked
Kentucky finishes just behind Florida in the standings, and beats them up in the Tournament Final.  Florida still gets a 2?  Kentucky only gets a 4?  That seems a little inconsistent.  Maybe they didn't want to be too obvious that there was an SEC bias.  Tennessee got a gift with Michigan in the first game and Duke in the second.  Georgia making the field is also a baffling choice.  Yes, they held a head-to-head advantage over Colorado, but they also lost to Alabama TWICE.  Oh, and not only did they make the field, but they avoided the Play-In game.  SEC and Big Ten: overseeded and overhyped.  If you are looking for upsets, go with those conferences.

Big East
So the Big East did get 11 teams in.  It is a shame.  Especially because none of the teams really challenged themselves in the non-conference, besides St. John's.  So now that the Big East knows they get a free pass (Cincinnati played NOBODY in the non-conference and got a 6-seed), they have no incentive to play anybody in the non-conference ever again, and the ones they do schedule can all be at home (Pitt and Louisville).  So for the St. Marys' and Utah States of the world that have been told they have to start playing people: the pool of "people" to play just shrunk by 16, unless you want to play a bunch of road games 2 or 3 time zones away.  With that said, the Big East didn't fare as well in the seedings (besides Villanova) as most people thought they might.  Underseeded teams are always dangerous, just as the SEC/Big Ten, I mean the overseeded teams, are always prime for an upset.