11-13-2017, 12:36 PM
It is an extraordinarily tough bracket. And Stanford can't control the fact that the rest of the western teams on their schedule did not have good seasons. But they shouldn't have lost to Tulsa and St. Louis.
That said, the committee absolutely hammered the western teams - the only teams from west of the Rockies other than Stanford ALL play each other in the first round - and the winner of one of those matches plays Stanford in the second. The other two, Washington-Seattle U winner plays at #5 Akron, and C.al-USF winner plays at #4 Louisville.
And the regionalization is strong with this bracket - it looks like a lot of the seed lines were adjusted just slightly so that the potential sweet 16 and Elite 8 pairings are geographically concentrated (Akron/UND/Michigan/Louisville, Mich St/Western/Michigan/Dartmouth/Indiana, Duke/Virginia/Georgetown/North/Carolina, and Wake Forest/VCU/Clemson/Stanford) - two midwest and two ACC regions, with Stanford and Dartmouth the only outliers.
VG
That said, the committee absolutely hammered the western teams - the only teams from west of the Rockies other than Stanford ALL play each other in the first round - and the winner of one of those matches plays Stanford in the second. The other two, Washington-Seattle U winner plays at #5 Akron, and C.al-USF winner plays at #4 Louisville.
And the regionalization is strong with this bracket - it looks like a lot of the seed lines were adjusted just slightly so that the potential sweet 16 and Elite 8 pairings are geographically concentrated (Akron/UND/Michigan/Louisville, Mich St/Western/Michigan/Dartmouth/Indiana, Duke/Virginia/Georgetown/North/Carolina, and Wake Forest/VCU/Clemson/Stanford) - two midwest and two ACC regions, with Stanford and Dartmouth the only outliers.
VG