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Bracket evolves daily Wednesday, Mar 12, 2008 By Harry King LITTLE ROCK - Arkansas is a No. 12 seed, playing Michigan State in Washington, D.C. Check that. Downing a second cup of coffee, the Razorbacks are a No. 10, taking on USC in North Little Rock. Back from a mid-morning meeting and Arkansas is still a 10, but now in Birmingham against Oklahoma. Those changes in Joe Lunardi's projections occurred in less than 24 hours without explanation other than building the NCAA Tournament bracket is a fluid thing. Although there will be 65 teams in the tournament, the bracket only involves about 48 teams. Generally, the No. 13 through No. 16 seeds are filled by the winners from the minor conferences such as the Patriot, Summit, Big Sky, Big This, Big That, etc. Remember that last year, Arkansas was one of the last teams to get an at-large bid and the Razorbacks were a No. 12. With that in mind, Ohio State, Syracuse, Arizona State Florida, Ole Miss and a few others are in a real bind and the culprits include Kevin Kanaskie, Brandon Johnson and De'Jon Jackson. Recognize those names? Kanaskie scored 23 points when Middle Tennessee beat South Alabama in the Sun Belt Tournament in Mobile. In the West Coast Conference Tournament, Johnson had 28 as San Diego bounced back from a 17-point deficit to beat St. Mary's and Jackson scored 16 the next night as the Toreros defeated Gonzaga. Those results expanded the NCAA participation from the Sun Belt and the WCC, and the Buckeyes, Gators and Rebels are among those caught in the trickle-down. A pretty good basketball league when Charlotte and UAB were members 25-30 years ago, the Sun Belt has not received an at-large bid since 1994. This year, regular-season champion South Alabama will get in, along with the winner of Middle Tennessee-Western Kentucky. As an aside, Arkansas-Little Rock coach Steve Shields won't have an easy time letting go of the loss to Western Kentucky, knowing before the tip that the best in the league was on the sideline and that the NCAA bid was available. In Lunardi's bracket, South Alabama dropped from a No. 9 to a No. 11. From the WCC, Gonzaga is a lock and St. Mary's is very close. San Diego makes three bids for a league counting on two. To make room, Lunardi bumped Arizona State and Syracuse out of the tournament. The happenings in Mobile and San Diego give real meaning to this week's tournaments in the major conferences. Those teams in jeopardy know who they are and know the challenge is squarely in front of them. That is how it should be. Man up and play like it's important. No backing in, counting on some other team for help. For instance, Arizona State opens the Pac-10 Tournament against USC and the winner gets top seed UCLA while Syracuse and Villanova play an elimination game in the first round of the Big East tournament and the survivor can make its reputation against league champion Georgetown. If the bracket was released today, Tennessee, Vanderbilt, Mississippi State, Kentucky and Arkansas would be in from the Southeastern Conference. The Volunteers will be a No. 1 or No. 2 seed while the Commodores and the Bulldogs will be around No. 6 or No. 7. Kentucky will be even lower, but the Wildcats are extremely dangerous even without freshman standout Patrick Patterson. Instead of trying to earn a bid, Arkansas is playing to protect its position. The Razorbacks are likely to get Vanderbilt on Friday afternoon and should be OK as long as they are competitive against the Commodores. A victory would be ideal, but a 72-68 loss would maintain the Razorbacks' status as an NCAA Tournament participant and only cost them a seed. A bad loss could be something else, particularly if Ole Miss or Florida makes it to Sunday. Personally, Arkansas vs. Oklahoma in Birmingham sounds good. The drive is not bad and weather prevented a first-hand look at the Sooners' 11-point victory at Norman in mid-December. ------- Harry King is sports columnist for Stephens Media's Arkansas News Bureau. His e-mail address is hking@arkansasnews.com. |
