I think we agree. The Midwest is the toughest. I mention
West Virginia, USC and Arizona as teams that no one wants to play as well.

But I just came across another piece of info that strengthens my cause: “Ohio State received a bit of a pass by getting to play in Dayton in the first round. The selection committee said it protects the seeds only in the first round. So if Ohio State beats Siena and gets Louisville, the Buckeyes will be the home team.” Wow. One more obstacle!

1. Every team that got to number 1 – North Carolina, Wake Forest, Connecticut, Pittsburgh, Duke – lost very shortly after. No one top team separated themselves from the pack, they just kind of hung around together. I don’t count Louisville because they’ve been there for a week. (I’m aware that Carolina held it down for a while early, but they were feasting on weak squads. Go back and look at those games and you’ll find 1 team that’s in the tournament, and I’ll get to that team in a minute.)

2. Where in this tournament will you find Georgetown, Notre Dame, Davidson or Florida? Nowhere. All of them ranked and touted too highly at different points of the season, and all of them fighting for NIT glory.

3. Look at the other teams you mentioned. Michigan State and the Big 10 (funny, same thing as football) are so overrated it’s comical. Their brand of ball just can’t get it done anymore when they go up against the other more athletic leagues. They went 2-7 in last year’s tourney. Carolina beat them by 30…the UNC taxi squad would have buried State by 15. Their second game may be against a team that beat UNC (Boston College).And Wake Forest and Kansas are so darn young that I can’t put a lot of stock in them. I see them both wilting under the pressure. Their potential second round match-ups aren’t good at all I think – an extremely underrated West Virginia and Arizona, whom many believe is as dangerous as they come in the tourney.

I see where you’re coming from, but I just think that Louisville has legitimized themselves far more than any of the other teams in the region, and as of late all teams across the country. Plus, this region has three teams that nobody wants to play right now – a tough and well-coached West Virginia, an extremely talented Arizona, and a USC squad that just won the Pac-10.

Just food for thought – love Dime, keep it comin’

Aldrich is not garbage. Pretty athletic for a big goofy white center. Collins will straight shoot Kansas out of games too.

With Michigan losing to Ohio St., Wake losing to Maryland and Kansas losing to Baylor, all those rankings would have dropped.

To tell you the truth. I don’t know. I’ll put y’all on to some Final Four picks later in the week.