2026 Men's NCAA Tournament, Selection Sunday.

They avoided heresy, but *barely*.

The issue facing the committee is that no one wanted to schedule the Miami University in Oxford, Ohio this year in basketball. Thusly, said university proceeded to win all of its regular season games, only losing the first game of its conference tournament. A record of 31-1, and the loss was an otherwise awful University of Massachusetts. The non-conference wins...Air Force was not good this year, and that and Eastern Kentucky might be the only recognizable brands to the casual fan. Among teams that made the tournament, they beat automatic bids Akron and Wright State.

Leaving a 31-win team out because they lost the first round of their conference tournament? Almost happened, because every other team in the field looked better. Akron looked better, even before the MAC tournament.

But they're in and we don't have to gripe.

The alma mater actually won some games down the stretch, so they're in. TSUN is, sadly, much better, and has a 1-seed for their troubles. Also, sadly, the alma mater is staring down overall 1-seed Duke in the second round.

Other 1-seeds are Florida and Arizona...okay.

Other First Four teams are SMU, NC State, and really suspect Texas at the 11-line and 16-seeds Lehigh, Prairie View, Howard, and giant-beater University of Maryland Baltimore County. Siena and Long Island are your 16-seeds going straight into the first round.

Breakdown by conference for multiple-bid leagues:
ACC: 8, but two are in the First Four
Atlantic 10: 2, and the committee said VCU needed the auto-bid
B1G: 9
Big East: 3
Big XII: 8
MAC: 2, BABY
SEC: 10, with Texas in the First Four
WCC: 3, as Santa Clara won the WCC tourney and Saint Mary's and Gonzaga are Saint Mary's and Gonzaga

...that's not all that many, but it could have been worse. They could have put in Auburn over SMU. Which, yes, this bears mentioning: they picked teams first, then adjusted seeding. Miami of Ohio was in the field with room to spare, but when you compared their seeding prediction factors with anyone the result was "lol no". So they ended up as the lowest of the at-large seeds, but they were in the field well before Texas.

I've got my ticket for Wednesday to go see Miami with a hometown crowd in Dayton. I think we have ourselves a good tournament; maybe a touch less chalk than last time. (It wouldn't be hard.) Yay basketball season!

2025 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament, Elite 8:

We have four 1-seeds. Wheeeeeeeee.

ACC: 1-0 this round, 5-3 overall. Duke did Duke things. They now play Houston.
B1G: 0-1 this round, 13-8 overall and done. Izzo kept it somewhat close, but Auburn's that good. B1G looks good and wasn't putting in marginal teams, but the best is the best, and none of the B1G was the best this year.
Big XII: 1-1 this round, 13-6 overall.
SEC: 2-2 this round, 21-12 overall. The 3-point well dried up for Alabama. Tennessee let Houston score points, and that's how Tennessee loses games. Auburn refused to get Izzo'ed. Florida held off a feisty Texas Tech. SEC is that good at basketball this year.

That leaves a Final Four about to start:
From the SEC, Auburn and Florida.
From the ACC, Duke.
From the Big XII, Houston.

...

..........

...this is kinda boring. It shouldn't be! This tournament is built on stories out of nowhere, and that's...not at all what we got. I can't fault the committee, because they got seeding nearly dead-on despite having to fit fourteen SEC teams in; zero upsets in the second weekend. The team selection was rough at the very margins, but that's nitpicking.

Here's to some Final Four games in a bit, I guess.

2025 NCAA Men's Basketball Championship, Sweet 16:

Yes, I'm writing this late, but this is the tourney that is just bleeeeeeeeeh. Only the Big Four conferences made it here, and there wasn't any less chalkiness. Indications are the seeding and selection was mostly correct, and we're arguing edge cases.

ACC: 1-0 this round, 4-3 overall. Duke is Duke, but Arizona did hang in until just before the half. No one is challenging this team until the Final Four.
B1G: 1-3 this round, 13-7 overall. Team Up North was tied with Auburn halfway into the second half, and then wasn't. Purdue fell too far behind their 1-seed matchup and couldn't close the deal. Maryland insulted Florida by hanging with them for a half, after which don't look. Remaining is Team Up North State, which is pulling another Izzo; they grabbed the lead with 1:27 to go and matched buckets until time ran out.
Big XII: 2-2 this round, 12-5 overall. BYU got Pittsnogled. Arizona faced Duke. Purdue tied Houston with thirty-five seconds to go, and Houston had a play for that. Texas Tech and Arkansas was the only drama of the tournament, and the higher seed pulled it out in overtime.
SEC: 4-3 this round, 19-10 overall. We got our first SEC vs. SEC game this round, with Tennessee choking out Kentucky. This happens when fourteen make the field of 68. Also losing was Ole Miss (barely, to MSU) and Arkansas (finally, in overtime). Alabama, Auburn, and Florida handled their business like they have all season...well, okay, Alabama went and put up fifty-one three-point shots and hit twenty-five of them, and going just under 50% on that heavy volume does wonders for your score.

...and that's it. We had four conferences in the Sweet 16, and two are barely hanging on at this point. All four 1-seeds are still in. The only 2-seed not in is St. Johns, and 3-seed Texas Tech won over a 10-seed to take that slot. NO UPSETS IN THE SWEET 16. Second round and third round upsets together are 4/32, or 12.5%, which I like to call, "We can argue about a couple of seeds, but, why?"

The third round is wrapping up now, and I'll cover it later, just as I'm covering my mouth now while yawning...

2025 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament, Round 2:

This tourney might be a bit forgettable. We had a buzzer beater! We also have no Cinderellas in the Sweet 16. Your lowest seed still in is Arkansas at 10. It's been easy to put off this writing, and not just because I'm playing video games, I swear 🤥

Conference breakdown:
ACC: 1-0 this round, 3-3 overall. Duke wasn't losing to Baylor. There's no reason to think Arizona's going to fare any better.
B1G: 4-4 this round, 12-4 overall. Oregon couldn't pull things out againt Arizona, Maryland beat out Colorado State at the bell, Wisconsin's narrow loss belies the fact that they never led and were down 30-16 early, and the rest were stomps one way or the other. There were a lot of stomps in the second round.
Big East: 0-3 this round, 3-5 overall and done. UConn's Dan Hurley was not pleased. Three games against the SEC, and UConn's was the only close one. Not good.
Big XII: 4-2 this round, 10-3 overall. Baylor and Iowa State were both beaten soundly - the latter being an upset from a mid-tier SEC team. BYU found themselves on the better end of a similar upset, as Wisconsin shots just didn't fall. Overall, pretty good work for this conference, despite Kansas just not being Kansas this year.
MWC: 0-1 this round, 1-2 overall and done. Colorado State hit a shot with six seconds left to take the lead by one. Maryland used three seconds to get to halfcourt, then had their best player run a layup to clinch it with the rest of the time. This game will hurt you.
MVC: 0-1 this round, 1-1 overall and done. Drake just wasn't able to hang with Texas Tech, but they did keep it respectable. Definitely could have had a better seed.
SEC: 7-1 this round, 15-7 overall. Second round and they've guaranteed better than .500 WITH FOURTEEN TEAMS MAKING THE FIELD. Most surprising are Ole Miss and Arkansas, with Arkansas providing the biggest second round upset. If they don't feel like much of a Cinderella with John Calipari at the helm, well, you're right, they don't.
Southland: 0-1 this round, 1-1 overall and done. Unlike Clemson, Purdue only let McNeese State have a 3-2 lead early. Then they crushed their soul. BUT THEIR AURA STILL REMAINS.
WCC: 0-2 this round, 2-2 overall and done. Both teams belonged in the tourney this year, but neither was beating a 1-seed in Round 2. The 1-seeds were just too good this year.

So, round 2 upsets were 4/16, or 25%. Round 1 and 2 together come to 11/48, or a smidge over 22.9%. Less than a quarter is actually pretty low. Not that we aren't still saying Boise State or West Virginia over North Carolina and Texas, but the gripes are around the First Four. We've lost one 2-seed and no 1-seeds have been threatened. It gets tougher, but the best teams are the best this year I guess *sigh*

More basketball tomorrow!

2025 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament, First Four and Round 1:

So it's that time again. I have a bracket here: https://fantasy.espn.com/tc/sharer?challengeId=257&from=espn&context=CHAMPION_PICK&entryId=4436d160-0593-11f0-8bd3-f739c398f7e6&outcomeId=29ef87b1-e4b2-11ef-b0aa-77c6c7c47db6&propositionId=29ef8790-e4b2-11ef-b0aa-77c6c7c47db6

The tourney's been a bit dry; many blowouts, not as many upsets. We got a few, some of which I even called. When the basketball has been good, it's been *good*; it's just not been there enough.

Breakdown by conference:

ACC: 2-3, including a win in the First Four, which was predictable for the same reasons North Carolina got in the tourney in the first place. 8-0 in Quad 2 and 1-13 in Quad 1 says you're consistent - you beat teams on the edge of the tourney fine - but you can't beat a good team in an away environment. Duke's really the entire ACC this year.
B1G: 8-0 this round. Truly impressive, even if they were the higher seed in all games; both of the 5-12 games that the 5 won had a B1G team.
Big East: 3-2 this round. With the SEC and B1G being so big and so good this year, the Big East found itself with only five bids, but Creighton beating Louisville was their leg up over the ACC. Marquette losing to New Mexico was a disappointment, however.
Big XII: 6-1 this round. Kansas got in on name this year, and now they have to pronounce it kən-saw. Baylor actually fought off the back end of the SEC.
MWC: 1-1 this round, including a First Four loss by San Diego State to a North Carolina team that was angry about being told they didn't deserve to be in the field. (They didn't deserve to be in the field.) Colorado State took their vengeance out on Memphis.
MVC: 1-0 this round. Drake came in 30-3, and left 31-3. There will be tests for this team, but they're capable of handling the middle of what's still a very good SEC.
SEC: 8-6 this round, including a First Four loss by a Texas that was probably one team too many. They also went 0-3 in 8-9 matchups. But the teams that were supposed to win and Arkansas won.
Southland: 1-0 this round. Hello, McNeese State! Glad to have called you in my bracket, glad to have you around for the weekend, and glad to see you spank Clemson for thirty minutes (including a halftime palindroming). Clemson went full-court press at that point just to get some extra possessions in that might even things, except, well, being down twenty-plus with ten minutes to go was about three points too many.
WCC: 2-0 this round. Gonzaga removed Georgia. Saint Mary's had a dogfight with Vanderbilt, but, unlike football in the State of Alabama last year, Vandy did not overcome.

Upsets were a bit low this round. 7/32 = 21.875%, not a quarter of the bracket. The 5/12 and 8/9 games had their share, but your remaining Cinderellas are Drake (which 31 wins now) and McNeese State (Cowboys!) We'll see if the second round starting shortly has some more available.

So that's Bob Uecker and David Lynch today...who's the third?

Good morning, SNK just dropped that Ken and Chun-Li are DLC for Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves.

Because at least @dolari would be interested, the non-DVD, non-artbook portion of the backer rewards for the Dirty Pair re-dub arrived this morning. Not shown is the 20% off coupon for the Crunchyroll store.