Now that I know that the SI Vault is back, I went back and double-checked the regions that they used for basketball. As I should have known, they used the four regions that the NCAA used to use for its tournament: East, Mideast, Midwest, and West. This makes me very happy, because it works much better than the five regions I had been using. I apologize to old-school SI fans, including myself.
Anyway, here is a ranking of today's teams, using the correct old school regions. We are proud to see two teams from the Commonwealth on the board. (Note to West Virginia fans: The old school rules ignore your current conference affiliation, and assign you to the region you would have entered back in the 1960's and early 1970's. Under the old school regions, WVU is the fourth-best team in the East, not the third-best team in the Midwest. As an old Missouri Valley team, Louisville is in the Midwest.)
EAST:
1. Villanova (22-3)
2. Virginia (20-5)
3. N. Carolina (21-4)
MIDEAST:
1. Michigan St. (21-5)
2. Iowa (20-5)
3. Kentucky (19-6)
MIDWEST:
1. Kansas (21-4)
2. Oklahoma (20-4)
3. Louisville (19-6) (Not eligible for NCAA Tournament)
WEST:
1. Arizona (21-5)
2. Oregon (20-6)
3. USC (18-7)
If the Tournament still worked the way it did back in the 1960's, I think we have to assume that UNC would find a way to beat UVA in the ACC Tournament. And then that would leave us with the following match-ups in the Elite 8:
ReplyDeleteEast: Villanova v. N. Carolina
Mideast: Michigan St. v. Kentucky
Midwest: Kansas v. Wichita St.
West: Arizona v. Gonzaga
Here would be the six teams in the Mideast:
ReplyDeleteMichigan St. (Big 10 champ)
Kentucky (SEC champ)
Akron (MAC Champ)
Morehead St (OVC Champ)
Xavier (Independent)
Notre Dame (Independent)
I was thinking there were five regions, as well--maybe they did five regions for college football?
ReplyDeleteI'm pretty sure the regions I was using before -- East, South, Midwest, Southwest, and Far West -- were the regions for football.
DeleteActually, in 1965 SI used the following regions: West, South, Midwest, East, and Southwest -- which is basically what I had been using. So good for me. But I like the four regions above better, which is what SI was using in 1970. So I'm going to stick with that.
ReplyDelete