Other Stuff Going On...

Getting it on the main page, Tory Jackson added to Seth Davis' All Glue Team on si.com. Thanks to an anonymous poster for that one.

And on Winthrop, "Expect to hear the tear jerker story about the kid who died in the car crash last year since every time one of their players shoots free throws they emulate his motion and the fans do it too. Sad story..." -Allwhoyonder

Terrible story and very moving tribute by the team and fans.

From Ken Pomeroy on the East Region:

"East Region


2ndRd Swt16 Elite8 Final4 Final Champ
1 UNC 98.06 70.99 46.43 29.45 9.98 4.77
3 Louisville 94.66 72.82 45.07 23.21 6.60 2.72
4 Washington St. 91.16 61.12 28.45 15.35 4.02 1.54
2 Tennessee 95.66 68.56 35.57 16.29 3.95 1.42
8 Indiana 64.62 21.26 10.07 4.56 0.92 0.28
5 Notre Dame 81.77 34.29 12.01 5.04 0.92 0.26
7 Butler 71.24 25.35 9.11 2.73 0.39 0.09
6 Oklahoma 58.80 16.95 6.28 1.73 0.22 0.05
9 Arkansas 35.38 7.65 2.57 0.82 0.10 0.02
11 Saint Joe's 41.20 9.37 2.77 0.59 0.06 0.009
10 South Alabama 28.76 5.59 1.09 0.17 0.01 0.001
12 George Mason 18.23 2.91 0.33 0.05 0.00 0.0002
13 Winthrop 8.84 1.68 0.14 0.02 0.00 0.00004
14 Boise St. 5.34 0.86 0.08 0.01 0.00 0.000005
15 American 4.34 0.49 0.03 0.00 0.00 0.0000005
16 Play in 1.94 0.10 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00000004

The East could be the most likely region to wreck your brackets. We'll see tomorrow that the South also has a claim as well. Louisville has the best chance to reach the second weekend, and yet there's better than a one-in-four chance that they won't. This has widely been described as the toughest region, though these kinds of claims are much like figuring out which conference is the toughest. It doesn't matter whether the East is the toughest, but it is the most competitive.

The Cardinals edge UNC for Sweet 16 probability honors because of the perceived strength of Indiana, a potential second-round foe for the Tar Heels. I'll vouch for Indiana's physical ability to test Carolina, but their mental strength appears to be shot under Dan Dakich. However, they're playing an Arkansas team in the first round whose coach spent the better part of the first half against Tennessee last Saturday having a profanity-laced conversation with the Vols' JaJuan Smith. So I'm not sure which team will be the least prepared to advance.

Back to Carolina...they beat Virginia Tech by 39 without Ty Lawson and won by two with him. Figure that one out. Louisville would be the worst regional final matchup for them by virtue of its outstanding halfcourt defense, especially down low.

I'm one of the few that isn't high on Tennessee, because they've had a bunch of close games since knocking off Memphis. Does Georgia winning the SEC Tournament make the SEC stronger or weaker? I'd argue the latter. The SEC is a distant sixth in the power conference hierarchy. There's a potentially interesting second-rounder with Butler, a team that takes care of the ball religiously. However, they've never faced a turnover-forcing squad like Tennessee. A UT/Louisville Sweet 16 game would be fun. One team likes to press for turnovers, the other likes to press to run clock.

Notre Dame and Washington State are other reasonable Final Four picks. Both teams appear to be better than last season's counterparts, ones that suffered premature exits."

Interesting stuff from Pomeroy, as always.