Selection Sunday

Hello Followers.  Hope you’re having a great weekend!!!!!

While I remain BURIED in work at the old compound (which is the reason for my near two week hiatus from the blog, a forced sabattical which I hope to end by next week), Selection Sunday is once again upon us.

So, if you want to check out a few very quick thoughts about what I am expecting to see this weekend, well, read on.

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Followers, I want you all to know that for the past few days I have been telling SeanHawk that there are NO CIRCUMSTANCES in which Washington will be left out of the NCAA tournament.  And the reason why I have felt that way has nothing to do with the basketball side of the ledger (e.g. Washington’s body of work) but instead has EVERYTHING to do with the political side of the selection process.  Simply put, there are no AD’s from BCS conferences, nor conference comissisioners who are communicating with them, that want to see a BCS conference champion get excluded from the NCAA tournament.  And for that reason alone, expect to see Washington seeded 12 in play-in game on Wednesday night.  I guarantee it.

That all said, the one thing that has me thinking that Washington may get the NCAA ziggy has everything to do with the team that won the Pac-12 tournament: those zany dancing Buffaloes from Colorado.

You see, in my mind, the ONLY way that a major conference champion can be excluded from the dance with FOURTEEN conference wins is if they have ZERO wins against confernece opponents who are going to the Dance.  And in the case of Washington, their record against conference foes who are dancing?

A FAT  0-2.  

Had Arizona beaten Colorado on Saturday, UW would have been 2-1 in that same category.  And, in my view, that record alone would have SEALED 3 bids for the conference.

In the end, here’s to thinking that the Committee is going to pick between California, Washington, Mississipi State, and Brigham Young for three of the final four spots.  And the loser in all of this?  Either California or BYU.  But, of course, we’ll see.

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Following the NCAA tournament selection show, we’ll learn about the post-season fate of our beloved Cougs. 

And boy even a CBI bid look like an uphill climb right now, doesn’t it?

Basically, if you take at face value that the Pac-12 figures to receive 2 bids to the NCAAs, that leaves 6 other Pac12 teams with 19 or more wins.  While I have not done the math to figure out how many NIT bids will be eaten up by regular seasoon conference champions who did not make it to the Dance, you can bet that the Pac12 will NOT receive 6 bids to the NIT.  I think we’re looking more at 3 or 4.

So, in order for the Cougs to get invited to the CBI, that tournament is also going to have to go 3 deep into the lack luster Pac-12 to pick a Cougar team that was five games under .500 in conference and one game under overall.

Simply put, I don’t see it happenning.

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That’s all we have for today, feel free to use this thread to talk about your thoughts about who is in, who is out, and who you see cutting down them nets in April.

All for now.  Go Cougs.