The Sweet Sixteen will be set late Sunday and this sports scribe’s bracket is in shambles. That’s not to be unexpected, of course.
The logic here is to predict chaos. It happens every year. Seldom, however, does the chaos come from logical places.
So we watched the eighth No. 2 seed get defeated by a No. 15 — that is eight in 128 matchups between the seeds over the last 32 years. That comes out to 6.25 percent chance of that upset happening. Michigan State is out, and now part of March Madness history, and with ol’ Sparty went a slew of brackets to the shredder.
But here is some historical context for the what else happened during the tournament’s first weekend, one that saw 10 double-digit seeds win in the first round — an all-time record in the big bracket.
Let’s start at home: Bob Huggins lost in the first round for the first time ever as a No. 5 seed or higher. He had been 13-0 before WVU got bounced by Stephen F. Austin on Saturday night.
Speaking of the No. 5 seeds, Baylor of the Big 12 and Purdue of the Big Ten were sent home by No. 12 seeds in the first round. That gives No. 12 seeds a 17-15 record against No. 5 seeds in the past eight tournaments. That’s right — it’s better to be a 12 seed in this tournament.
The fate isn’t much better in the 6 vs. 11 matchups. Wichita State beat Arizona, Northern Iowa took out Texas and Gonzaga eliminated Seton Hall to give No. 11 seeds a 3-1 record in this year’s event. Before the tournament started, the 6s and 11s had split the last 24 matchups. Now the No. 11 seeds have a 15-13 advantage over the past seven tournaments.
Michigan State’s ouster shouldn’t shock anyone. Only once in the past 19 tournaments had all four No. 2 seeds survived the first weekend.
Gonzaga’s presence in the Sweet Sixteen shouldn’t be a stunner, either. The Zags are a No. 11 seed, which makes the 30th time in the last 32 tournaments that a double-digit seed has emerged from the opening weekend.
Long live the madness.
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There will not be an Associated Press top 25 poll released Monday. The final version of the AP’s poll was released last week prior to the start of the NCAA tournament.
Compare the final poll to my preseason ballot and 17 of 25 teams were ranked in both. I missed on Gonzaga (preseason No. 4), Wichita State (No. 8), Notre Dame (No. 14), Vanderbilt (No. 15), Butler (No. 18), UConn (No. 20), Providence (No. 21), Wisconsin (No. 24) and Boise State (No. 25). In defense of my preseason ballot, all of those teams except for Boise State made the NCAA tournament.
Among my biggest misses: Maryland, which was No. 3 on my preseason ballot and finished No. 18; Iowa State, which started at No. 6 and finished No. 22; and Michigan State, which I placed No. 17 on my preseason ballot and finished No. 2 before last week’s first round tourney exit.
As for West Virginia, my preseason ballot placed the Mountaineers at No. 19. They finished No. 8, so an 11-spot improvement. In the preseason, however, only 18 of 65 sportswriters ranked WVU. My ranking, No. 19, was the third highest at the time.
In the final poll, WVU’s highest ranking was No. 5 (by three sportswriters) and the lowest was No. 13.
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Remember Dikembe Dixson? He made a splash at Mingo Central, where the 6-foot-7 basketball player became a first-team all-state selection and helped Mingo Central to last year’s state tournament.
Dixson, who is originally from Chicago, was heavily recruited before signing at the University of Illinois at Chicago.
He had a heck of a season there.
Dixson averaged 19.8 points in 30 games for the Flames and captured the Horizon League Freshman of the Year honors. His scoring average ranks third nationally among freshmen, trailing Rice’s Marcus Evans (21.4) and Kentucky’s Jamal Murray (20.0).
A closer look at Dixson’s stretch run reveal even more potential for the rising sophomore. He scored 323 points in his final 13 games, which is a 24.8 average. He scored at least 20 points in 11 of those 13 games, including a 40-point game at Youngstown State last month in which he attempted 39 shots and grabbed 17 rebounds.