NCAA Tournament: Strengths and weaknesses of top 16 overall seeds

As the NCAA Tournament approaches closer and the deadline for your completed bracket nears it is time to take a look at how you are going to fill out that bracket as you get to the Sweet Sixteen and can no longer depend on the seed to persuade who the winner will be.

Now that we know that ShanQuan Hemphill will be available for Drake, and De’Vion Harmon will not be for Oklahoma such knowledge should help you early in the bracket, but what about as the tournament progresses.

Once the No.4 seeds start being discussed, you are talking about the top 16 seeded teams in the nation a series of teams that are separated by very little. The AP Poll can be used to demonstrate such frivolities ( which should be the only thing the AP Poll is used for).

For example, the No. 9 ranked team has won both games this season versus the No. 4 ranked team; Ohio State defeated Michigan and Iowa defeated Ohio State. In addition No. 12 Oklahoma State defeated No. 2 ranked Baylor by nine points. Whether you choose the AP Poll, NET, or Pomeroy to crunch the numbers for you, unless you have seen each team play, it is just that, crunched numbers.

As you prepare to fill out your brackets it is not only important to know what happened, by the way it happened, anything short of that is just numbers that make-up a meaningless score. Basketball is about matchups one team’s strength will be another’s weakness which will allow them to defeat certain teams but not others. The next 4550 words or so will explore those strengths and weaknesses to help you have your most informed March ever.