Nebraska gets an 8 seed, against Texas A&M, is that a cruel pairing or what?? Houston is the #1 in that bracket.
Game will be on Friday.
Houston remains a #1 seed after getting destroyed by Iowa State in the Big XII final. Interesting.
Greg Zimmerman, UNL '75
Overland Park, Kansas
ISU had weak non-conference schedule, in the 300’s for strength, that hurt them a lot.
I’m not saying Iowa State should have replaced Houston. Actually I’m surprised Iowa State is a #2.
Also, Purdue lost to Wisconsin and was still a #1.
Kansas was a #4 despite their late season swoon and recent injuries.
Greg Zimmerman, UNL '75
Overland Park, Kansas
I think I’ll get tickets for the second round after the Huskers win the first round.
John Killmar
Memphis
I just saw that the Husker women also play Texas A&M.
John Killmar
There are truly EVIL people on the committees!
I hope somebody doesn’t try to convince me the men and the women both playing Texas A&M is just coincidence. That is just a little too coincidental along with Alberts leaving with a lawsuit pending. I am not saying good, bad, or indifferent. I just find it interesting.
John Papenhagen
Exactly no one thinks it’s a coincidence.
ISU’s non-conference schedule was awful. Creighton Prep would have beaten a couple of the teams on their schedule. That said, they beat a #1 seed and won a conference championship hours before the selection show. I think they have a legit beef with getting seeded with UConn, which means they weren’t even the top #2.
UNC lost in the ACC CCG and kept its #1 as well.
I know I have said I don’t believe in coincidences, and I don’t. But, there is one thing that would make me believe in this case it is. That is I would doubt the committee just put teams in certain places just to stick it to them. But, all this that has happened recently really does make a person wonder, at least it does me.
John Papenhagen
The committees have a lot of things to do when they make up the brackets and there are hundreds of minor bracket adjustments they can make. Geographic placement come into play for the high seeded teams, not so much for the lower seeded ones. They are supposed to avoid first or second round conference matchups. (That could get challenging if there are enough teams in the field from the 18 team Big Ten down the road.)
Lincoln has applied for a 2028 or 2029 NCAA Regional at PBA. Should they get one, and should the Huskers make the tournament, would they try to avoid having the Huskers play on their home court?
When I first started running chess tournaments, we were pairing by hand. (These days the computers do most of the pairings, though the TD can alter them.) Sometimes things got silly in the TD room after many hours of tournament grind, I’d imagine the same thing happens in the tournament selection committee room.
IMHO what happened is that there were a handful of equally acceptable bracket choices and some of them had the UNL-TAM matchup, and they chose one of them. I’ve always wondered if the TV folks have any input into those decisions (most likely not) but there’s no question that the media will point out the irony of both matchups.
CBS has the full listing of games and times, the Huskers (men) play A&M at 5:50 PM (CT) on Friday, coverage on TNT.
Curious what TD means? I don’t see anything in the post that states it. I assume it is the committee in charge of the tournaments. No big deal. I was just curious.
I doubt the NCAA would allow the Huskers to play a Big Dance game at PBA. I can’t think of very many times, if ever since 1960, a team played a tournament game on their home floor. There certainly have been times teams play where it is convenient for their fans to get there. Some examples are Kansas playing in Kansas City, Indiana playing in Indianapolis, etc. I think it would be possible for the Huskers to play in Omaha but I doubt in PBA.
As far as this year’s dance I could see where it might be possible one of the Husker teams to play A&M but BOTH the men and the women and just after Alberts left for A&M? That is quite a coincidence.
I understand the committee usually will take how things fall with the computers. However, they can step in if something doesn’t look right. The computers would have no concept of the situation surrounding UNL and A&M and as fresh as it is. I would think the committee would take both the men and women and put UNL and A&M in different brackets and maybe even different regions.
John Papenhagen
TD stands for tournament director.
John Killmar
Thanks for that. That certainly makes sense. So many times when someone just posts letters I know I should know what they mean but I just can’t place it. Then when I see what they mean I wonder how I could have missed it.
John Papenhagen
You are not allowed to play any games on your home court during the tournament. Which is why Creighton is in Pittsburgh. Nebraska, however, could have played in Omaha since CHI is not their home floor. Kansas can play at the Sprint/T-Mobile Center in Kansas City as it is not their home floor even if it seems like it is whenever they do play a game there.
Gary Fead
Omaha