NCAA: Seeds of spring have been planted

Author's Note: For the second straight time, this column is not dedicated to baseball. (At this rate, I just may have to change my column title.) Please forgive my diversion into the world of NCAA tournament basketball and read on…

Grab your partner and hit the floor, because it’s time to go dancing! The NCAA tournament begins Tuesday with the new play-in game between powerhouses Northwestern State and Winthrop. The winner earns the right to be the latest 16 seed to get its clock cleaned by a No. 1 seed. Other than that all-but-guaranteed result, everything else seems up for grabs this year.

No team seemed eager to snare a top seed, as every team in the Top 10 except Duke and Boston College lost in the final week leading up to March Madness. The selection committee did a very good job with what it given, but there were a few exceptions.

The No. 1 seeds were a bit surprising, but make sense upon reflection. Duke and Stanford were automatics. Illinois tied for the Big Ten regular season title with Michigan State, defeated the Spartans in their only head-to-head encounter, went one round further in the conference tourney, and had a marginally tougher non-conference schedule. Michigan State had wins over two other contenders for the final No. 1 seed, North Carolina and Florida, plus a victory over Kentucky. Iowa State had a soft schedule out of conference.

Boston College, winner of seven straight games, cruised through the Big East tournament after winning the regular season conference championship. It’s reward? A No. 3 seed in the East bracket with Duke, the only team to handily defeat BC this season - by 22 points in January. The Eagles deserved a better fate, certainly a No. 2 seed, and perhaps in a different bracket. Georgetown, a Top 20 team, received only a No. 10 seed in the Big Dance. The chairman of the selection committee is the Commissioner of the Big East, and this is how his conference gets treated?!?! Gonzaga may never get any respect playing in the West Coast Conference, but they’ll take their 12 seed and once again try to prove that they belong. Georgia did what the committee wanted – play a tough non-conference schedule. However, I thought they were supposed to win the majority of those games. The Bulldogs went 7-7 out of conference and 9-7 in the SEC, they’re 3-7 in their last 10 games, yet they’re an eight seed? Can somebody please explain that one?

Enough with the seeding issues, what about the intriguing first-round matchups? In the Midwest, slumping Tennessee takes on surging Charlotte, while two teams without much bench help, Notre Dame and Xavier, face off against one another. The ‘Zags from Spokane, Washington, travel to the South bracket to match up with the enigma that is Virginia. Out West, St. Joseph’s tries to prove its Top 25 ranking is justified as the Hawks challenge Georgia Tech.

In the second round, Indiana and Cincinnati could square off in a matchup that would drive fans of both Midwestern teams into a frenzy. If you’ve lived near either university - and I’ve lived near both - you know the passion these schools have for their basketball. Perennial tournament disappointments Syracuse and Kansas could meet in the second round, if they both get that far. George Mason won the Colonial Athletic Conference championship game by a score of 35-33, the second-lowest scoring game since the shot clock was instituted.

They’ve held their last two opponents to 69 points combined. Just imagine a second-round game with defensively-minded Wisconsin. Could we see a single-digit score?

Elite Eight matchups to watch out for include a rematch of last season’s championship as Michigan State could match up with Florida. Both teams experienced significant roster turnover, but they’re back in similar positions as last year. A possible third meeting looms between Illinois and Arizona, this time with a trip to the final four on the line. We may also see another classic between Duke and Kentucky. Who might be this year’s Christian Laettner?

This all takes us up to the Final Four and my picks for that quartet of elusive and desirable births. In the Midwest, the Illini defeated Arizona at home, but they lost to the Wildcats at a neutral-site game in Hawaii. I predict Arizona will once again claim victory in a game where neither team has a home-field advantage. Michigan State will return to the Final Four, this time from the South regional, in an attempt to repeat as champions. Kentucky will derail Duke to represent the East in Minneapolis. Stanford has looked strong all season long, losing only two games, and I think they’ll continue to roll all the way through the West.

Look for Arizona to exhibit the dominance many expected to see from them all year long as they upset the defending champion Spartans. Their opponent will be a very familiar one, as Stanford takes out Kentucky to produce an all PAC Ten final. As is usual in that conference, points will be plentiful. The Collins twins and company will prove too much for Loren Woods and the Wildcats, as the Standford Cardinal take home the NCAA championship, 91-86.