Who were the winners and losers on Selection Sunday, as TBS announced and analyzed the NCAA men’s basketball tournament?
Loser: Big Ten
With Nebraska and Penn State left out, as expected, the Big Ten received just four bids for its 14 schools. The ACC went 9-for-15 and the football-obsessed SEC is sending 8 of 14. The last time the Big Ten had just four bids was 2008. Last year, the conference had seven.
Loser: The last 80 minutes
Despite everyone’s fears about what TBS said it planned for the two-hour selection show, bracketeers had all the opening matchups within the first 40 minutes. The hare-brained idea of announcing all the teams to make the tournament in the first 10 minutes was a bit of a bust, doing nothing for fans and taking 13 minutes. At least Charles Barkley was entertaining for viewers who bothered to stick around.
Winner: Loyola
Some forecasted a 12 seed, but the Ramblers are an 11 and will face Miami. The Hurricanes are formidable but beatable, having lost to Syracuse four weeks ago and splitting a pair with North Carolina. KenPom.com rates the Hurricanes just five spots about the No. 41 Ramblers.
Loser: Notre Dame
Selection committee chair Bruce Rasmussen said the Irish got lopped after Davidson upset Rhode Island in the Atlantic-10 tourney finals. “Not enough on the resume,” Rasmussen said – even with a healthy Bonzie Colson.
Winner (and loser?): Syracuse
The Orange’s bid raised some eyebrows. Jim Boeheim’s crew was snubbed a season ago with a 10-8 ACC record but made it in this year after going 8-10 in the conference. Sure, plenty of other factors go into it, but for what it’s worth, Syracuse’s Pomeroy ratings from both seasons are nearly identical (55 last season versus 54 this season). Fortunately, during the selection show, Barkley asked selection committee chairman Rasmussen how the ‘Cuse and Arizona State got the nod over USC. Rasmussen said Arizona State had “a couple of outstanding wins early.” He offered no explanation for Syracuse.
Winner: Conspiracy theorists
Louisville, USC and Oklahoma State, all part of the fed investigation into college hoops, got left out.
Loser: Conspiracy theorists
Hard to claim that Duke has an easy ride to the Final Four. Blue Devils might have to beat Trae Young/Oklahoma in the round of 32 and then Michigan State and Kansas.
Loser: Poll voters
Virginia is the tournament’s No. 1 overall seed. Virginia was unranked in both the preseason top 25 Associated Press media poll and and preseason top 25 USA Today coaches poll. Consider that when hearing experts make predictions.
Winner: Corporations
The NCAA long ago gave up any significant ties to region, placing schools wherever was expedient. But by giving each bracket a sponsor — AT&T in the South, Capital One in the East, etc. — it paves the way to someday simply call the bracket by its business partner.
Winner: Bill Murray
The comedian now has two teams to root for in the tourney. First Xavier, where his son, Luke, is in his third year as an assistant coach. And now the College of Charleston, which beat Northeastern 83-76 in overtime in the Colonial Athletic Association championship game. Murray has a home in the Charleston area and is co-owner of the Charleston RiverDogs, a Class A affiliate of the New York Yankees.
Winner: Atlanta
Not only hosts to the NCAA tourney’s South Regional March 22-24, but Sunday hosted 72,035 fans for the Atlanta United-D.C. United game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, the most ever for an MLS match.
Losers: Julia Louis Dreyfus and Brad Hall
No more basketball game screen time for the power couple, with Northwestern (and their son, Charlie Hall) back in Evanston getting ready for finals, still trying to figure what went so wrong this season.
Winner: Lipscomb University
The Nashville school usually labors in the shadows of nearby Vanderbilt. But no more. The Bisons will play in the NCAA tournament for the first time after winning the Atlantic Sun championship game. Meanwhile, Vandy lost to Georgia in the first game of the SEC tourney.
Winners: Loyola fans
The good news is the Ramblers are in the tourney and an 11 seed. The other good news is that Thursday’s game will be against vulnerable Miami in Dallas, where most round trip flights are under $300. Earlier projections had the Ramblers playing in Boise, where airfare was more than $600. And for intrepid Loyola students, the drive is a mere 14 hours.
Winner: The Hoosier State
A potential Butler-Purdue showdown in the Round of 32? Yes, please. If only the NCAA could move the Detroit sub-regional to Indianapolis.
Winner: Capitalizing on the NCAA tournament
StubHub, the Cooking Channel, Yoga Beauty and Health – even something called the Faster Horses Festival – are just a few of the corporate entities who mined some likes and retweets from mentioning Selection Sunday. But Politico probably topped them all with their “Trump Madness” parody bracket. We predict Mike Pence in the White House bracket, Donald Trump Jr. in the Trump World bracket, Lindsey Graham out of Congress, and our Cinderella — Diamond and Silk in the Media bracket. Question, though: How is Eric Trump a sixth seed?
Loser: Pizza
In an awkward in-show plug for Pizza Hut, Ernie Johnson, munching on a slice, said to the studio audience: “Yum, that’s good pizza, isn’t it folks? Uh, a little more enthusiasm. That’s good pizza, isn’t it?”
Winner: Mountain Dew
Dew’s deal with analyst Grant Hill, who’s scheduled to partner with announcer Jim Nantz through the title game, blindsided CBS, TBS, the NCAA and Coca-Cola, who have an exclusive deal to ensure Coke brands are the only ones officially associated with the tournament. Not settling for tweaking the NCAA-Coke licensing agreement, Mountain Dew and Hill also tweak the NCAA’s aggressive defense of trademarked terms such as “March Madness.”
Winner: Loyola’s Aundre Jackson
He called his mom as soon as the team’s name was called during the TBS Selection Sunday show as the crowd screamed and the band blared.
Winner: DoBee Plaisance
Reasons? A) The Nicholls women’s coach led the Colonels to their first ever NCAA tournament; B) “DoBee” is the best nickname in college sports not owned by an SEC football coach; and C) here she is, just casually palming a basketball.
Loser: Davy Crockett
Remember the Alamo? The Texas mission, site of the last stand for Crockett, James Bowie and others, is now the Ala Mode for Charles Barkley in the first of his annual Capital One commercials with Spike Lee and Samuel L. Jackson tied to traveling to the Final Four in San Antonio.
Loser: An airplane or blimp
Maybe the camera adds 50 yards but it looked like Greg Gumbel and Ernie Johnson were hosting the selection show in Atlanta from a hangar, meaning someone’s aircraft had to park outside.
Shannon Ryan contributed.
