2023 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament: Reacting to the bracket
The 2023 NCAA Tournament is set after the Selection Committee revealed its 68-team field on Sunday, navigating an especially tough year as many teams had similar resumes.
Of the four teams that landed No. 1 seeds, Kansas (27-7) had a chance to land the No. 1 overall seed with its 17 Quad I wins. Still, Alabama (29-5) deserved that distinction, with Houston (31-3) losing 76-65 to Memphis (26-8) in the American Athletic Conference tournament final.
2023 @NCAA Basketball Tournament Bracket:
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Of the first four out, Clemson (23-10) had a strong case to be in the tournament.
The 2023 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament will tip off with the First Four games on Tuesday and Wednesday. First-round games will be on Thursday and Friday. All games will be available on TBS, CBS, TNT and TruTV.
2023 NCAA Tournament
Tennessee was seeded too high
Tennessee (23-10) was seeded fourth in the East, marking the Volunteers as being considered a top 16 team, but they could easily have been a fifth seed.
there it is
Orlando bound https://t.co/WcTGltXH81
Tennessee has dealt with injuries throughout the year, with only one starter and two players appearing in all 33 games. But the Vols have 10 losses, including seven in their last 12 games. The Vols are not a good shooting team, and they won't have sophomore point guard Zakai Ziggler for the tournament due to a knee injury.
USC and Arizona State could have been flipped flopped
Including USC (22-10), a 10th seed in the East, and Arizona State (22-12, a First Four participant, gave the Pac-12 four teams in the tournament. However, the Trojans' and Sun Devils' seeds could have easily been flipped.
While USC won two of the three matchups between the squads, the Sun Devils had a better resume and beat the Trojans 77-72 in the Pac-12 tournament quarterfinals. Arizona State had five Quad I wins, was 12-7 in road/neutral games and played 21 QI and Q2 contests. Meanwhile, USC had three QI victories and is just 7-8 in games away from the Galen Center.
Texas A&M and Memphis were not correctly awarded for their seasons
It's not a huge issue, but the Selection Committee did not correctly award Texas A&M (25-9) or Memphis for their fantastic seasons. The Aggies are a No. 7 seed in the Midwest, and the Tigers are the No. 8 seed in the East. Texas A&M could have been a No. 5 or 6 seed and Memphis a sixth seed.
Texas A&M recorded a school-record 15 Southeastern Conference victories. The Aggies finished second in the regular season and the conference tournament. They have 12 QI and Q2 victories (7 Quad I) and were 10-6 away from home.
Memphis won 20 games for the fifth straight year under Anfernee Hardaway, although their 25 victories are the Tigers' most since 2012-13. The Tigers finished second to Houston in the AAC and defeated the Cougars to win the AAC tournament on Sunday. They were 4-4 in Quad I, and five of their eight losses were by three or fewer points.
𝐀𝐀𝐂 𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐌𝐏𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐒
#GoTigersGO https://t.co/v9hGrrjJss
Clemson should not be playing in NIT
Perhaps the biggest issue with the bracket is that Clemson was left out of the field. The Tigers had the best record in the ACC for at least half the season, with their 23 wins being more than at least 18 NCAA Tournament teams. They were 8-9 away from home, while their four QI wins were more than N.C. State, Providence, Illinois, Maryland, Auburn, Boise State, Utah State and Creighton.
Other thoughts
San Diego State (27-6, No. 5 South), Pittsburgh (22-11, No. 11 Midwest, First Four) and Missouri (24-9, No. 7 South) were seeded too low, while Michigan State (19-12, No. 7 East) and Auburn (20-12, No. 9 Midwest) were seeded too high.