Toughest/Easiest Roads to the Final Four
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When looking at a bracket right after the pairings are announced, people will always say "Oh, so and so has a cakewalk to the Final Four." It obviously helps to have a fairly easy road to the national semi-finals. On the other hand, some teams get shafted in the seedings and end up with plenty of potential pitfalls. This ranking only took the top four teams in each region into consideration. Here are the teams in each region with the easiest and the hardest roads to the Promised Land.
East Region
Easiest Path: North Carolina. The Tar Heels get to face two disappointing major-conference teams in Arkansas and Indiana in the second-round, then one of two overseeded teams in Notre Dame and Washington State.
Hardest Path: Tennessee. The Volunteers got shafted on Selection Sunday. They get placed in the No. 1 overall seed’s bracket, and will have to face either underseeded Butler or a South Alabama team playing in Birmingham.
Midwest Region
Easiest Path: Kansas. The Jayhawks should roll to at least the Sweet Sixteen before breaking a sweat. Neither UNLV or Kent State will pose a threat, while Vanderbilt is an extremely overseeded four-seed.
Hardest Path: Wisconsin. Wow, this is rough for the Badgers. Not only should they have been a No. 2 over Duke, they have to face an outstanding USC team or Michael Beasley in the second-round. And then they get Georgetown. Again, wow.
South Region
Easiest Path: Texas. The Longhorns might have received a No. 1 seed had they beat Kansas, but this is an excellent consolation. Miami (Fl.) is not very good, and UT already beat Saint Mary’s by 19. After that, the regionals are in Houston.
Hardest Path: Memphis. This is what they get for going 33-1? The Tigers will get hot Pittsburgh or very tough Michigan State in the Sweet Sixteen, and then a trip to Houston to potentially face Texas in the Elite Eight.
West Region
Easiest Path: UCLA. The Bruins have the easiest path of any No. 1 seed. No team in their half of the bracket outside of UConn will pose a threat, and they get the weakest No. 2 and No. 3 seed in Duke and Xavier, respectively.
Hardest Path: Duke. The Blue Devils certainly didn’t get any favors. In the second-round, West Virginia is very hot and Arizona has plenty of talent. After that, Xavier has the inside-outside balance to hang with Duke. They won’t reach the Final Four.
When looking at a bracket right after the pairings are announced, people will always say "Oh, so and so has a cakewalk to the Final Four." It obviously helps to have a fairly easy road to the national semi-finals. On the other hand, some teams get shafted in the seedings and end up with plenty of potential pitfalls. This ranking only took the top four teams in each region into consideration. Here are the teams in each region with the easiest and the hardest roads to the Promised Land.
East Region
Easiest Path: North Carolina. The Tar Heels get to face two disappointing major-conference teams in Arkansas and Indiana in the second-round, then one of two overseeded teams in Notre Dame and Washington State.
Hardest Path: Tennessee. The Volunteers got shafted on Selection Sunday. They get placed in the No. 1 overall seed’s bracket, and will have to face either underseeded Butler or a South Alabama team playing in Birmingham.
Midwest Region
Easiest Path: Kansas. The Jayhawks should roll to at least the Sweet Sixteen before breaking a sweat. Neither UNLV or Kent State will pose a threat, while Vanderbilt is an extremely overseeded four-seed.
Hardest Path: Wisconsin. Wow, this is rough for the Badgers. Not only should they have been a No. 2 over Duke, they have to face an outstanding USC team or Michael Beasley in the second-round. And then they get Georgetown. Again, wow.
South Region
Easiest Path: Texas. The Longhorns might have received a No. 1 seed had they beat Kansas, but this is an excellent consolation. Miami (Fl.) is not very good, and UT already beat Saint Mary’s by 19. After that, the regionals are in Houston.
Hardest Path: Memphis. This is what they get for going 33-1? The Tigers will get hot Pittsburgh or very tough Michigan State in the Sweet Sixteen, and then a trip to Houston to potentially face Texas in the Elite Eight.
West Region
Easiest Path: UCLA. The Bruins have the easiest path of any No. 1 seed. No team in their half of the bracket outside of UConn will pose a threat, and they get the weakest No. 2 and No. 3 seed in Duke and Xavier, respectively.
Hardest Path: Duke. The Blue Devils certainly didn’t get any favors. In the second-round, West Virginia is very hot and Arizona has plenty of talent. After that, Xavier has the inside-outside balance to hang with Duke. They won’t reach the Final Four.
posted by Jeff at 7:34 AM
6 Comments:
So you would call Vandy a "sleeper" as a 6 seed (meaning you obviously think they'd win a game or two against an 11, then against probably a 3), but we can't beat a 13 seed because we're over-seeded at 4? Not a whole lot of logic there.
Vandy will beat Siena EASILY.
*above comment intended to be in the "BCS Busts" comments...my mistake.
21-11 in the first round?
dude, you suck.
I went 22-10, not 21-11. I'm stil confident I'll have a solid overall tourney -- it was just the first-round.
By the way, to the first commenter -- great call with the "Vandy will beat Siena EASILY."
well, you've proven you can't pick worth a shit.
UCLA to go all the way, nice move. You actually do suck.
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