Your Home of the Oregon ILLINI. Oskee Wa Wa!

And so did BC, in my humble but honest opinion. Are you kidding me, both of these teams at #4? What planet is the selection committee from again? Last I checked, there still wasn't life on MARS.

OK, you can tell that I'm a little perturbed about where my ILLINI were placed and where they have to go for a Thursday game, San Diego. I mean come on; #4? I had them as a weak #2 or a strong #3. Same for BC. Did the committee just not watch any of the ACC Tourney? BC was a lock for a #2 seed after almost beating the overall #1 seed earlier today, DUKE.

Definitely no love for ILLINOIS by the selection committee. That first-round loss to Michigan State on Friday really weighed heavily (evidently) in the eyes of the bad guys (committee). Not only are we a #4 seed, but we have to travel over 2000 miles to San Diego to open play against Air Force. Yes, that's right - Air Force. How did they make it into the BIG DANCE? Whom did they play? Whom did they beat? They lost to Wyoming in their conference tourney. I guess they beat Miami in mid November. But wow, this one was a shock to me. OK, they're in. We'll see what happens.

How does Tennessee get a #2 seed? Wow - this was also a major surprise to me. At 21-7 do they really deserve this? Looks like the committee put a lot of value on Bruce Pearl early in the season. Although, they did survive in the SEC conference during the regular season. But, they were bounced - out in round 1 by South Carolina and lost 4 of their last 6 games. I'm sorry - this is a bogus seed, in my opinion.

UAB got in, basically because they beat Memphis down the stretch. Arizona? How did they make it? I call this my charity bid of the big dance. Same for UCLA as a #2 seed? What are they smoking? Never mind, it has to be the kool aid. The PAC-10 does not deserve 4 bids this year, including a #2 seed. I don't believe Arizona deserves a bid at all this year. Too many off the court violations as well. But, in terms of play on the hardwood, they were just not worthy, in my opinion. They are several more deserving squads including George Mason, Missouri State, Creighton, Michigan, Cincinnati, and even Florida State. Thank God the Noles were shut-out of this one. I'm stunned that the Bearcats didn't get a bid out of the BIG EAST. I had them ahead of Seton Hall.

Of the 34 at-large bids, 26 went to the 6 power conferences. That's about right. I feel for Missouri State out of the MVC. They now hold the most dubious honor of being the highest-rated RPI school NOT to make the big dance at #21. This is not cool. The RPI thing is broke. RPI = BCS = CRAP. In the information age, computers are not working out when it comes to ranking or seedings in major - college sports. Of the 10 committee members this year, 7 were from non-power conferences. It was interesting to see how things worked out this year. Gonzaga a #3 seed? No love for the ZAGS either, in my opinion. Some EXPERTS had them as the 4th #1 seed overall.

But, DUKE deserves the #1 overall seed after what they did during the regular season and in their conference tourney by beating a very very very good BC squad. Kudos to Mike K and the Cameron Krazies. If ILLINOIS or INDIANA can't win the title this year I hope it goes back to Durham yet again. Mike does it right in ACC country.

Now go fill out your brackets. May the best man win. I can already taste that Whiskey - River BBQ sauce.