A few links for you after a night of having visions of the perfect bracket still dancing in your head:
- For the second year in a row, pundits and fans seem to generally agree that the team with the overall number 1 seed has the toughest bracket to go through. Ohio State has a great team but there’s too much firepower in the East to just pencil them in as a sure thing.
- Sports Illustrated’s Luke Winn, however, argues that Duke got the toughest region in the West, owing mostly to the fact that Texas is the toughest #4 seed in the field.
- Tar Heel Fan illustrates how loaded the East Region is by lining up every team 1-16 with their Ken Pomeroy team ranking. It’s a murderer’s row.
- The Dagger already has their West Region Preview out, saying Duke’s task is harder this year after getting what was perceived to be the easiest path of all the number 1 seeds in 2010. In the East Region preview, they still seem to think Ohio State will be the team traveling to Houston despite the tough draw.
- The Dagger also has a nice list of do’s and don’ts in filling out your bracket.
- The News & Observer notes Duke and Carolina will be together again for the first two rounds, both playing in Charlotte. We’ve seen this happen before, so count on whoever plays each of these teams in the 2nd round to have an extra cheering section from the opposing rivalry fan base.
- I keep seeing articles like this one suggesting Kyrie Irving could be close to a return, but nothing in the quotes they include leads me to believe that to be true, so I’m still chalking that up to media hype. Sorry, Duke fans, but correct me if I’m wrong on that one.
- Luke DeCock seems to think both Duke and Carolina got just what they needed in the ACC Final to prepare for the NCAAs. UNC got a wake-up call, and Duke got rolling.
- ESPN’s college basketball nation blog has some good bracket nuggets from Andy Katz, Eamonn Breannan and Pat Forde. Now, if only you could choose which pieces of wisdom to focus on…
- And finally, here are tip times for the first round, so organize your viewing habits accordingly.
