March Madness is Here - NCAA Selections, Snubs and Flubs

      It is March Madness Time once again! Brackets will be discussed and filled out and talk around the water coolers at work will increase while productivity will decrease. College Basketball enthusiasts will all claim to have picked the correct Final 4 and Champion and for the next 3 weeks we will see the Analysts come out of the woodwork for their 15 minutes of fame. CBS really flubbed the showing of the teams selected by trying to change their format and announcing all teams first and then putting them into their perspective seeds and Regions. A terrible decision by CBS and a major screw up. The NCAA Selection Committee has rolled out its 68 teams and Team seedings and the 4 Regions where the teams will play.  This years Committee is made up of the following people. The committee chairman is Bruce Rasmussen, who is the chairman, and is Creighton’s athletic director. The vice chair of the committee is Bernard Muir, who is also Stanford’s athletic director. The committee is made up entirely of either athletic directors or conference commissioners:

• Mitch S. Barnhart: Kentucky AD
• Tom Burnett: Southland commissioner
• Janet Cone: UNC-Asheville AD
• Tom Holmoe: BYU AD
• Jim Phillips: Northwestern AD
• Jim Schaus: Ohio University AD
• Craig Thompson: Mountain West commissioner
• Kevin White: Duke AD

      The NCAA Tournament snubs and flubs started with the smaller schools getting passed over for the Tournament were; Middle Tennessee State University (27-6) which 2 years ago as a #15 seed, upset Michigan State in the 1st round and St. Mary's (28-5) which beat Gonzaga but lost in their conference tournament. Others making a case for being left out were; USC (23-11), Notre Dame (20-14), Oklahoma State (19-14), Marquette (19-13), and Louisville (20-13).  It should also be mentioned that Oklahoma State, USC and Louisville all have one major thing in common, they are 3 of the major teams that are part of the FBI investigation into corruption in College Basketball.
     Not only do these schools have legitimate grips but once again many are scratching their heads trying to figure out how teams like UCLA, and Syracuse got invites. As it is every year, when a team that is not the favorite to win their Conference Championship does win it, that team takes the spot of a team that is on the bubble and this year wasn't any different then previous years as Davidson beating Rhode Island, took a spot away from a deserving bubble team. 
     Teams that are seeded and in one of the 4 Regions, always are grumbling that some Regions appear to have an easier road to the Final Four then others have, is no different and this year as  Kentucky head coach John Calipari has already starting the complaining that his team got the toughest draw while he states Duke got the easiest draw.  March Madness is here and as it was last year, Joey again will pick his best of the 64 teams and His bracket selections.  Last Year, Joey finished an amazing 55-8 including having the 3 of the the Final 4 picked correctly as well as the Championship winner  Stay tuned this year to see how He does again.   Joey will have his NCAA Bracket and team choices released on Thursday morning.

NCAA First Round Picks:
Thursday:  First Round
SH,OK,Tenn,Gonz,Kansas,Duke,Loy-Ill,OSU,Vill,Kent,Hou,TT,VT,Az,Mich,Fla
Joey was 14-2 on Day One of Tournament First Round
Friday: First Round
Virg,Creighton,Nev,Cincy,Xav,FlaSt,Prov,NC,WVU,WichSt,Butler,Purdue,NewMexSt,Aub,Syrac,MSU
Joey was 12-4 on Day Two of Tournament First Round
Saturday: Second Round
Villanova,Duke, Kentucky,Tennessee, Kansas,Gonzaga, Florida, Michigan,
Joey was 6-2 on Day One of Second Round
Sunday: Second Round
Purdue, Michigan State, North Carolina, Cincinnati, Auburn, Virginia, Fla.St., West Virginia
Joey was 4-4 on Day Two of Second Round  
Sweet 16: Thursday Games 
Michigan, Fla.St., North Carolina, Kentucky, Cincy
Joey was 2-2 on Day One of Sweet 16
Sweet 16: Friday Games
Villanova, Purdue, Duke, Kansas
Joey went 3-1 on Day Two of Sweet 16 




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Joey relaxing as He ponders over the NCAA Brackets