With a first round game against Okie Lite, who we should have beaten anyway on their home court. Gonzaga is the 1 seed in that quadrant (really can’t call them regions this year with the tournament bubble).
Other 8 seeds are Louisville, Clemson and Loyola Chicago. Since geography will play no role in bracketing whatsoever, we could play anyone.
Bracket Matrix update is still a 9 seed, on 101 of the 103 brackets; the two holdouts are still Andy Katz and Stadium who have not updated since Monday. Some guy who is apparently in Big Ten country has the Hogs as a 4 seed. Another guy (apparently from Indiana) has us as a 12 but hasn’t updated since last Friday.
I would prefer a 10-12 seed. I don’t want to win the first game just to face a #1 seed in the second round. Theoretically our chances of winning the first game go up with a 9 seed, but I’m not sure there’s enough difference to matter. As badly as I want to win the first game, I’d really like to win two. Anything past that is gravy. Of course, I probably just need to remember how important it is just to get in.
Getting in is the key point. Then win one. I also remember that our path to the 1990 Final Four was cleared out when an 8 seed beat a 1 seed (that would be UNC over Mobilehoma). So it does happen.
But if I had my druthers, we’d be a 6.
BTW, we’re up to 26 on NET. If they used that for seeding (they don’t), that would be a 7. Better than an 8-9, worse than a 6-11.