I'm finally beginning the slow transition back into a normal state of mind, and the way I can tell is that the more I think about it, the more optimistic I feel about our NCAA Tournament seed.
I think right now there are nine teams guaranteed to sit above us on the proverbial S curve, regardless of what happens over the next two days. Those teams are:
- North Carolina
- Memphis
- Duke
- UCLA
- Tennessee
- Texas
- Kansas
- Georgetown
- Wisconsin.
- Xavier (8)
- Drake (10)
- Louisville (13)
- Michigan State (14)
- Butler (16)
- Indiana (17)
- Stanford (18)
- Washington State (20)
- Purdue (39)
As far as our biggest competition goes, well...
Xavier: Might already have a three seed locked down, but all but ensures one with a win over St. Joe's tonight.
Stanford: Definitely earns a three with a Pac-10 tourney title, and probably gets one with a win over Wazzou tonight.
Indiana: A Big Ten Tournament title does the trick, anything less and their future is less certain.
Purdue: See Indiana.
Drake: In the clubhouse with an impressive conference tournament championship, but history tells us that these mid-major giants with solid RPI's generally don't make it above the fourth line.
Butler: See Drake.
Washington State: A Pac-10 championship win over UCLA might be enough to jump them a couple of rows up to a three, but anything else and they have no shot.
Michigan State: They're likely a low five or a high six right now, which means they need both a Big Ten championship and a little help from the teams in front of them to have a chance at landing a three.
So there's something, I guess. A lot is going to happen starting in about 30 minutes, but I can't foresee any scenario in which we don't end up being a three, four or five.
Go teams playing the teams we just talked about!