I've got no problem with the four No. 1 seeds.
I've got no problem with the four No. 2 seeds.
The only problem I've got with the NCAA selection committee is the way they matched up the 1s and the 2s.
West Virginia -rather than being paired in the same region with Kentucky -should have been in Duke's region. Ohio State -rather than getting paired with Kansas -should have been in the same region with Syracuse.
Still, it's great to have two teams of high local interest seeded among the top eight in the tournament. And it's even greater that Ohio University made an improbable run through the Mid American Conference Tournament and also is part of the 64-team field.
I kept hearing all day Sunday that West Virginia was going to be a No. 1 seed, but I wasn't buying. As I said in Sunday's column, I felt the four No. 1 teams -Kansas, Kentucky, Syracuse and Duke -were locked in when the day began.
Yes, you could make a strong case for WVU to be selected over Duke, but past reputation told me that wasn't going to happen and indeed it didn't.
Still, I like West Virginia's draw, although opening round foe Morgan State is much better than a typical No. 15 seed. The Golden Bears won at Arkansas and only lost by nine at Louisville. They beat tournament qualifier East Tennessee State.
But before we go making the Mountaineers the underdog in this matchup, we also should note the Bears lost by 30 to Minnesota and 16 to Baylor and were defeated by NCAA qualifiers Robert Morris and Murray State.
West Virginia clearly is the best team in its half of the bracket and should advance to the Elite Eight. However, as we saw in the Big East Tournament, the Mountaineers can turn potential runaways into nailbiters and if you play in enough buzzer-beaters, it's eventually going to be you that gets beat.
Ohio State finds itself in virtually the same boat.
It would be an upset for any team in the Buckeyes' half of the Midwest Region to beat OSU, although Georgetown has the potential to beat anybody in a one-game setting.
Speaking of Georgetown, Ohio University would have been better off playing any of the other No. 3 seeds, but when you're a No. 14 like the Bobcats, you're just happy to be in the tournament and will go play whoever, whenever and wherever you are told.
Speaking of seeds, did you notice how they held up in the recently-concluded West Virginia girls state high school tournament? The higher-seeded team won 20 of the 21 games played.
I remember years ago when some of us kept harping on getting the state tournament seeded, we were told by state officials it couldn't be done.
Now, it is being done and it works.
We're not only getting the best teams to Charleston, but we're getting the two best teams into the championship game. Imagine that!
Contact Dave Poe at dpoe@newsandsentinel.com
