With every Selection Sunday before the big annual March Madness Tournament, there are a group of teams who felt they have been cheated and a group that feel blessed. We will now view this on how teams felt with their spot this year and if they ended up “winning” or “losing”.
Winners
Belmont: After a tough and rigorous season, the Belmont Bruins have received their first at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament in school history. This was not truly expected by many, but felt just right as many in the media congratulated the Bruins on history. This means the Belmont Bruins will get a shot at Temple in the First Four games and will get to play Maryland if a victory comes Tuesday.
Duke: This team looked like it was going to split off and drop to a two-seed after the loss of Zion Williamson. However, with some true motivation and the return of their star player, the Blue Devils were able to win the ACC Tournament. And aside from that, Duke now gets to be a one-seed in the East Region of the March Madness Bracket.
Florida: The Gators were essentially on the fence on if the tournament was going to invite them. This didn’t let the Florida Gators get down though, in fact, the Gators went to beat LSU and show why they belonged. And it paid off as they were put in as a tenth-seed against the seventh-seed, Nevada. This will show to be an interesting game between these two capable teams and will be a bracket killer for most either way.
Yale: I feel that this team might have some of the most underrate potential going into the tournament this year. First off, Yale just won their conference tournament against rival Harvard. And now they are paired up with a scandal-riddled LSU, who could easily lose to Yale. Then after that, they would get either under-performing Maryland or undermanned Belmont/Temple. Watch out for a Yale team that is ready to make their mark.
Losers
NC State: This is one team that did not make the bracket. It was expected, however, with the Wolfpack not performing at their desired level all year and a handful of bad games. It seemed whenever the Wolfpack had things trending in the right direction that they would drop a major game. This has upset many of their fans, including their Athletic Director, but their rivals love it.
St Johns: Instead of this team getting a straight big to the tournament without a play-in, they have to face against Arizona State for a spot. This is not at all what this team was expecting after a great year on their part. All their efforts seemed that a cemented eleventh-seed would make sense, but the selection committee had other ideas.
Lipscomb: This one right here is painful to talk about for the Bison fans because they were so close they could taste it. All year we talked about how Lipscomb was vying to be the next Cinderella story. Unfortunately, their automatic bid was stripped away from them by the Liberty Flames in a big tournament upset. This one will sting for the Lipscomb fans and for the analysts ready to see this team do damage.
Cincinnati: If you want to see a perfect example of under-seeding a team, than look no further than the Cincinnati Bearcats. This was a team that showed us high performance defense and knocked off great teams all year. However, they ended being dropped to a seventh-seed by the selection committee! Not only do I personally feel bad for Cincinnati, but I feel bad for Iowa because they’ll feel the wrath of it.
Photo Credits: https://www.dukechronicle.com/article/2019/02/duke-mens-basketball-looks-to-snap-2-game-losing-streak-against-n-c-state-saturday
