The time has come fellas. Here is how I currently see it shaking out when the bracket is revealed tonight.
1-Seeds:
1. UConn (EAST)
2. Purdue (MIDWEST)
3. Houston (SOUTH)
4. North Carolina (WEST)
2-Seeds:
5. Tennessee (MIDWEST)
6. Iowa State (EAST)
7. Arizona (WEST)
8. Marquette (SOUTH)
The regions Tennessee, Iowa State, and Marquette are sent too are the harder pieces of the puzzle to determine if you don’t understand the bracketing principles.
Basing it off mileage, the Midwest region would be the closest for all 3 teams (Tennessee, Iowa State, Marquette). Per the committee’s bracketing principles, the top 4 teams from each conference will be placed in separate regions. So the South is eliminated for Iowa State and the East is eliminated for Marquette. So if the seed list above is correct….
Tennessee will be in the Midwest with Purdue.
Iowa State will be in the East with UConn.
Marquette will be in the South with Houston.
Since the committee bracketing principles state that teams on the 2-seed line will be placed in their most natural region in true seed list order, Tennessee would be placed in their most natural region first. And then Marquette and Iowa State would be placed in the other two regions opposite of their fellow conference teams on the 1-line.
It will be interesting to see how the bubble shapes up and which teams are slated on the 7 and 10 seed lines. Happy March! Let the Madness begin.