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March Madness Tips Off

A few quick observations on Selection Sunday:

-- This might have been the easiest tournament to seed in years. Sure, St. Mary's, San Diego State, Creighton and some others had arguments, but it is certainly no great crime that none of those made it. And when you factor in the handful of conference upsets that took away available bids, it's not surprising that some mid-majors missed out. All the teams whose bubbles burst had flaws.

-- That said, the dearth of mid-major at-large bids hurts the tournament. David slaying Goliath is what March Madness is all about. A No. 12 Wisconsin upsetting a No. 5 Florida State just doesn't provide the same tingle even though it is technically an upset.

-- And speaking of Wisconsin, for all the talk about Arizona not deserving a bid, what about the Badgers? Wisconsin doesn't have one good non-conference win, had some bad conference losses and couldn't win a game in the Big Ten tourney.

-- Kudos to Greg Gumbel for calling B.S. On the Selection Show, Jim Nantz applauded Clark Kellogg for correctly picking the four No. 1 seeds has his Final Four last year. When it came back to Gumbel, he pointed out that Clark Kellogg always picks the No. 1 seeds.

-- Hopefully, Alabama State wins the play-in game, because that means more Chief Kickingstallionsims.

-- On ESPN's tourney show, Bobby Knight said the selection committee should include former coaches because of their "inside expertise." That's just what the system needs. There wouldn't be any conflicts of interest with that, right? Knight mentioned John Thompson as a possibility. The same John Thompson who I've heard refer to Georgetown as "we" while working radio broadcasts.

-- Siena got shafted. Siena was one of the sleeper teams on my radar. Siena enters playing well, its RPI is 19 and it returns almost everyone from last year's team that upset Vandy in the tournament. But thanks to a No. 9 seed, Louisville awaits in the second round. That's really disappointing. If I'm Siena, I would much rather have a lower seed than a No. 9.

-- Don't overlook Portland State, who's in for the second straight year. The Vikings lost to Washington by one, beat Gonzaga in Spokane and play their first-round game in Boise against an unsuspecting Xavier. And they shoot a ton of threes.