I'm not a big fan of Andy Katz, but he had a few quotes I liked in his article:
http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketba...basketball
• So much of the talk was about Kentucky's bracket being difficult, but I viewed Syracuse's as more challenging with two hot conference champs from Sunday in the bracket in Vanderbilt (SEC) and Florida State (ACC), as well as a possible No. 1 in No. 2 Ohio State.
• I still can't get used to saying second-round instead of first round.
• It's strange to see the Big East with nine teams in the field, and two of them aren't named Pitt and Villanova.
• Georgetown is the type of team that could either get beat by Belmont in the first round or get to the Elite Eight based on the lower part of the Midwest bracket.
• For all the pounding we put on South Florida's schedule and lack of quality Big East wins, Stan Heath deserves a ton of credit for getting this team to the NCAA tournament. The Bulls made themselves relevant and in the ever-changing Big East that's a huge step forward.
Commentary:
Quote 1: Katz has bought into the hype over the hot conference tourney team Both Vandy and FSU deserve kudos for their performance and both can be winners in the Dance, Yet neither has shown the high level of consistency to go very far in the Dance. The SEC is light this year in depth and the ACC isn't much better. This is not a slam on the teams, but rather a "wait and see, I'm not convinced yet," position.
Quote 2: ABSOLUTELY! I still call them play-in games. If you see my posts and the rounds don't match up, please forgive me. (I've already predicted a UCOnn win over Kentucky in "Round 2" which is really "Round 3")
Quote 3: Unbelievable. No Pitt. No Nova. 9 teams dancing.
Quote 4: Jeckyll/Hyde syndrome. I agree with Katz on this assessment.
Quote 5: Kudos to the Bulls and a fine performance in the toughest conference. Glad others recognize this.