Basketball fever...catch it! Eh, well, IU's women narrowly missed their first NCAA bid since 2002, and now are playing in the WNIT for the second time in three years. Here's the bracket (.pdf). No, there won't be a contest. IU earned a bye and a home game in this 48-team tournament, and on Sunday at 2 p.m. the Hoosiers will face the winner of a first round game between Dayton and Oakland.
Other basketball notes:
- I'm not a big conference pride guy (I'll root for or against whomever I choose), and that certainly applies to Purdue, but shouldn't the final game of the Big Ten Tournament count for something? Has anyone ever asked the committee if there is a contingency plan depending on who wins that game? It is to the Big Ten's benefit that its tournament championship game is the lead-in to the selection show, but presumably if CBS thought it would be a better draw, it would put the SEC championship in that slot. If the Big Ten is going to cooperate with the TV folks, how hard would it be to have scenario A and B for the bracket?
- Along those lines, while I'm no Big Ten homer, I do have four of the Big Ten's 7 entrants reaching the Sweet 16 (Ohio State, Michigan State, Purdue, and Illinois) and I have OSU and MSU in the midwest final with MSU winning (no good reason on OSU--just a hunch). I'm sure there will be upsets in this tournament, but I had a hard time spotting them in this bracket. The strong teams strike me as stronger than usual this year.