Crab Cakes & Championships! Crab Cakes & Championships!

As the Buffet tries to determine whether:
(1) this entry's title, uttered as Coppin State clinched the MEAC Conference Tournament championship;
(2)"BING ... GO!!! BING .... GO!!! BING ... GO" or;
(3) from the MEAC seminal final, "Roy Bright, you can't do that, that's a double-dribble, homeboy"

...wins this year's "Buffet Favorite 12 Days of Conference Tourney Play-by-Play Call"...

we bring to you, the notes on the bracket

The Buffet is proud to announce that not only did it pull off 65 of 65 teams (once the Clemson & George Mason ERRATAs are accounted for), that is also placed 59 of 65 teams within one seed of their appropriate lines (which is more than Jerry Palm or noted Bracketologist Joe Lunardi).

Here's the breakdown, with teams grouped by actual seed, and then the Buffet projections in parentheses, anytime there is a discrepancy, the Buffet will comment:

#1 Seeds
North Carolina (1)
Univ of California - Los Angeles (1)
Memphis (1)
Kansas (2) -- The Buffet does not argue with the talent-level Kansas being #1 seed worthy. But if the committee is going to use common sense for this, then should Arizona St be in the field, as they are clearly better than several at-large teams. Instead, the committee uses resumes, and Kansas, while better than Tennessee, does not have Tenn's resume, even if they would have their number 8/10 times on basketball court.

#2 Seeds
Duke (2)
Texas (2)
Tennessee (1) -- Again, review Tennessee's resume, it is one of the best in the country, and they lost in the semis, but to a tournament team.
Georgetown (3) -- This is the interesting thing, Wisco won it's conference tourney (albeit over a below-average Illinois team) and G-Town did not, but the Big East regular season title means more than a Big Ten double title, apparently. Georgetown, the Buffet believes, is the better team, but that's not supposed to be what gets you in/seeded, it is about how you played, who you beat, not what subjectively is perceived.

#3 Seeds
Wisconsin (2) -- Apparently the committee is punishing Wisconsin for the Big 10 being down this year, after enduring some of those tourney games, the Buffet has no problem with that, but Wisco deserved a #2, ITBO (in the Buffet's opinion)

Louisville (3)
Stanford (3)
Xavier (3)

#4 Seeds
Washington St. (4)
Pittsburgh (4)
Connecticut (4)

Vanderbilt (6) - A real puzzler for the Buffet, maybe the committee like Shan Foster and knows a 6/11 would be perilous for Vandy (whereas despite the trendy Siena upset pick, the Buffet isn't sure the Saints can keep up with Vandy's offense) -- but Vanderbilt had 4 road wins ALL year - Georgia, South Carolina, DePaul & Toledo, Georgia won the SEC and still only got a 14 (so clearly the committee doesn't respect them all that much), Toledo just fired their coach for their season, and So Carolina & DePaul were not good. So what on earth earned them a protected seed? The 3 point win over Tennessee (who was prime for a post-Memphis letdown)? The 3-point, double-OT win at home over South Alabama? The 1 point, OT home win over Mississippi St? The Buffet thinks they are seeded to high, but also thought Siena got a bump, so maybe it evens out.

#5 Seeds
Notre Dame (5)
Clemson (5)

Drake (4) -- No real problem here, except the Committee really seemed to stick it to the non-BCS schools this year (only taking 6 at-larges, knocking them all down a line or two, seeding wise, and pretty much setting them against each other), so Drake was a victim.

Michigan St. (6) -- So Wisconsin's double-title was not important enough to get a 2-seed, but Michigan St.'s gross road display (4-6 on road, losses on the road to any good team faced (unless you consider Minnesota or Illinois "good"), and losses to Penn St and Iowa). Yes they beat Texas & BYU, but a 5 seed? Nope.

#6 Seeds
Marquette (5) -- No real problem there, but the Buffet does think Marquette and Michigan St should have been flip-flopped, 5-5 road record (including wins at Wisconsin, which Michigan St couldn't accomplish, and Villanova), wins over Wisco, Pitt, Notre Dame X2, and close shaves vs. Duke (77-73) and Georgetown (2 points in OT) ... gives the Buffet a better feel for the Eagles than Sparty

Oklahoma (7) -- Really? Maybe the committee only thinks the Big XII plays a tournament final. Otherwise, a 30 point loss to a Texas team missing Gary Johnson was overlooked, along with a 5-6 road record, a loss at Colorado, and 0 wins versus RPI top 25. They did do some nice things (wins @ W.Virginia, vs. Gonzaga, Arkansas, A&M and twice over Baylor), but there are more deserving #6s out there.

Purdue (6)

Southern California (5) - USC got the royal screw-job. Not a ton of non-conference work (beat Oklahoma by 11, beat Southern Illinois by 25), but played Memphis (58-62 in OT) and Kansas (55-59) real tough, and won at UCLA & at Arizona, and holds a win over Stanford. That's some quality. RPI of 28 and SOS of 9, and they're a 6. And not only a 6, but playing Kansas St in Omaha, Nebraska. I know the Michael Beasley versus OJ Mayo factor loomed large, but let's get serious.

#7 Seeds
Butler (6) -- A non-BCS shakedown, but it is hard to argue, Butler kept winning everything, even if they didn't beat anyone super impressive (although, they did do away with a number of Waiting Liners: Ohio State (65-46), Florida St (79-68), Texas Tech (81-71) and Virginia Tech (84-78 ot) ... they no losses after top 100 (and of the 3, 2 were on conference road games by a total of 5 points, which they have a target on their back for, and one was to #5 seed Drake by 7 points, Butler should have been a #6 seed ... in the Buffet's mind, when you beat that many near miss teams, you should not be playing a #10 seed, you should be playing an #11 or #12, like you demonstrated you were clearly better than.

Gonzaga (7)
West Virginia (7)
Miami - Florida (8): Not a huge issue here, the Buffet just thought Miami would get hit a bit more for losing 3 times to teams ranked 101-200 and losing 2 of 3 down the stretch (to non-invitees Florida St & Virginia tech). But in the end the big win over Duke, coupled with ACC-tourney finalist Clemson and @Mississippi St carried the day, and got Miami (Fl) to a #7 seed

#8 Seeds
Indiana (7) - This is actually perfect, and the Buffet is kicking itself for not going with gut on this one. Indiana has nice wins early, and yes, for the most part this is about body of work and not recent history - but since Dan Dakich has assumed control, Indiana has NOT been a good team. A 3-point squeaker versus Northwestern, a 3-point home win over Ohio State, lost by 29 to Michigan St., seemed to settle down with a 69-55 win over Minnesota on March 5, but then lost to Penn St in OT, and then to Minnesota in the Big 10 tourney on the buzzer beater ... granted other than Michigan St, they've won or played close, but other than Michigan st, they haven't exactly played the USA Today/Coaches Top 25. 8 seed is perfect for this team, and the Buffet regrets not pulling the trigger on it.

BYU (8)
Mississippi St. (8)
UNLV (9) - Is fine here, can't really quibble in 8/9 situations, and makes sense to line them up with BYU, whom they beat for conference title. However, this team didn't do a ton (only 10 non-conference wins, the best being against Nevada (not in tourney) and San Diego (wouldn't be in tourney if not for auto bid). But, 8 seed is fair.

#9 Seeds
Texas A&M (9)
Arkansas (8) -- Here's a team the Buffet would've swapped with UNLV. Some nice wins (Tennessee in SEC tourney, that may have cost UT a #1 seed), twice over Vandy (who WASN'T hurt by this loss, seeding-wise), Miss St, Baylor and Miss (all top 50 wins), and a run to SEC tournament final. Although, the road record (2-7), the .500 record in last 12, makes a 9 seed OK to deal with, but an 8 would've made more sense.

Kent St. (10) - They and South Alabama got an unexpected non-BCS bump, although the cynic in the Buffet believes it was just so they or UNLV could knock each other out. The win at St. Mary's was really key to the seeding and it proved Kent could take out strong team on the road, also, they really weren't threatened too much in the MAC tourney (Miami Ohio hung around for a bit, but never made Kent fight to get the lead back, despite the 2 point differential) ... but, a win versus Illinois St and the St. Mary's win are the only wins on Kent's resume (blowout losses to North Carolina (61-90), Xavier (65-78), and @ Ohio (12 points), cloud it, as do losses to @Toledo (ranked #187), @Bowling Green (#201), and @Detroit (#287) ... and apparently, unless you are North Carolina, this isn't a home tournament.

Oregon (11). Come again? A 9 seed? Did they have a few beers in there and vow to pull one team's seed out of a hat, just for fun? Which is why Gonzaga got stuck playing Wyoming as a 6 seed a few years back? This is a WTF seeding, ITBO. If Arizona St's sweep of Arizona didn't mean anything, then why shouldn't Oregon's? A 5-8 road record, a 1-6 record versus the top 25, wins over Stanford (#14) Arizona x2 (#37) and Kansas St (#50) are nice, losses at Washington and versus Oakland, are not. Neither is losing 4 of 7 to end the season. Oregon belonged in the tournament, the did not belong in the 8/9 game.

#10 seeds
Arizona (10)
Davidson (12) -- The Buffet believes this is a scheduling reward, and knowing that Davidson is better than their close (North Carolina, Duke) and almost close (an 18-point lead versus UCLA was turned around into a 12-point loss by the end), also, they were 11-3 on the road, absolutely devastated their conference opponents, and have won 12 straight (and turned a 129 SOS rank into a 35 RPI, which is some strong work ... but also with UNC, Duke, UCLA and to some extent Charlotte (at 68) on the schedule, that gives an idea of just how weak the Southern Conference is for those top teams to be on a schedule still rated down at 129.) The Buffet doesn't have a problem, per se, with the 10 seed, but isn't sure the Wildcat's resume (with 0 top 100 wins) supports it.

St. Mary's (9) -- Kent St. beat St. Mary's in Moraga. Simple as that, Buffet should have swapped these teams on the strength of that alone (but putting St. Mary's at 10 makes no sense, because they ended up having to be in the South, to avoid Gonzaga and other team's conflicts, and now the committee violated their own rule by potentially scheduling a second round re-match, if they can upset Miami (the #7) and Texas can get by Austin Peay (the #15), they'd have a rematch of Texas' January 5, 81-62 win in Austin (the same day a member of the The Buffet's staff had their car battery inexplicably die, that the same member ordered Chinese takeout next door to the sports bar this UT/St. Mary's game was watched in, and then took that home in a taxi, to be met there by Buffet subscriber Leif Beaver, before heading out to Jackrabbit, and boozing with Boris Diaw.)

South Alabama (12) - Moving USA up to play in Birmingham is interesting, fits in the Buffet Conspiracy Theory (they play Butler), but isn't necessarily supported by their resume. They belong in, but they have only wins over W.Kentucky x2 and Mississippi St, to go with a tough double-OT loss to Vandy (in Nashville -- 88-91) and at Ole Miss (78-81). Also losing a home tourney game to Middle Tenn St is unimpressive, and USA didn't pay any price for it, it seems.

#11 Seeds
St. Joseph's (11)
Kansas St (11) This is another head-scratcher, Kansas St did lose a bit to close the season, but not so much that they'd be seeded near the bottom of the bracket. What may have done them is, was their lack of major non-conference scalp (only California), but they did beat Kansas, won at Oklahoma, beat Texas A&M (75-54, which more than makes up for their close 3 point loss in the Big XII tourney) and all are seeded above them. 3 top 50 wins, 6 top 100 wins, only one "bad" loss - @Missou ... this seems more like a 9-seed than an 11.

Baylor (10) - The Buffet was clearly wrong on Baylor. Not that the seed was that off (10 vs. 11), but the Buffet didn't think they were so close to being out, but since they were an 11, and one of the last at-larges, unless there was serious bracketing rules re-seeding, they had to be. But they were RPI 43 (which "projects" to a 10), but had an SOS of 49, 6-4 road record, wins over Notre Dame, @Texas A&M (the 5ot thriller) and seemed to right the ship a bit down the stretch, 4 of 5, but really, don't be the first time your conference's history to lose to the last ranked team in the opening round.

Kentucky (11). The Buffet is of the opinion that the committee punished Kentucky for losing Pat Patterson despite Kentucky not really showing much of an effect of that yet. Georgia was on a mission in the tourney, Kentucky had the game postponed and got caught up in debating the double-header (so screw them, yes, but this isn't a revenge game, this is tourney seeding), so the Buffet doesn't hold that loss against them too much. They beat Tennessee & Vandy, and quite nearly got a sweep of Tenn. They beat Arkansas, Georgia two other times and Ole Miss. They did lose all of their big road games, and to San Diego (but, let's be honest and note that the Kentucky in January/February/March was MUCH much better than Nov/December, once Gillespie finally got his players to figure out his plan, and the Wildcats were 9-3 down the stretch, and 12-4 in conference. But, #10 vs. #11 is just a quibble. Yes, the Buffet uses words like quibble.

#12 Seeds
Western Kentucky (12)
Villanova (11) -- Villanova was one of the last teams in, both by the Buffet and by the Committee's standard. However, the Buffet felt that they were better looking resume and on-court than So Alabama & Oregon, and should have been at least an 11. Plus, with Scottie Reynolds, this team can stick with anyone in the country, and a 5-seed may soon discover this. In the grand scheme, this downtick by one line isn't too drastic, and nothing worth really arguing about.

Temple (11) - Temple's run to A-10 championship gets little love from the Committee. Also getting little love, doing the one thing other Waiting Liners couldn't -- winning (7 straight to finish the season - albeit over only 4 different teams), but 1o of 12 overall. They also have wins over Xavier, UMass, St Joe's x2, and a nice 7-5 record, 47 RPI and 51 SOS. The Buffet is a bit surprised, even if by only one seed line, that Temple didn't get more respect here.

George Mason (13) -- Buffetthinks (methinks, in Buffet speak) this is a bit of 2006 nostalgia. Clearly the Colonial didn't get a ton of respect, otherwise the reg season champ by THREE games would be in this field. So what did Geo Mason do to get a 12 seed? Maybe the wins over Dayton, K-State and VCU? But a 5-9 road record, whose best work was against #215 James Madison, otherwise road losses to Kent St, Ohio, Wilmington (126), Old Dominion (129), Northeastern (170), Delaware (181) @ Georgia St (283) expose Mason as what should be a 13 or lower.

#13 Seeds
San Diego (13)
Siena (14) - The Saint win over Stanford gets a lot of love. Perhaps those lovers should be introduced to the impact that Brook Lopez has on that Stanford team and be reminded that he was not eligible for that game. The Buffet would understand if academic ineligibility would not discount a loss for a team the way an injury does (and actually, the Buffet would strongly support this), but it does not support crediting the team who benefits from the ineligibility. Other than that, Siena was a strong foil for Syracuse in the Carrier Dome (before losing by 10), and vs. St Joseph's (68-74) loss, but did get beat up pretty good at Memphis (102-58), and lost @ #14 seed Cornell (77-83) ... they did, however, win @Boise St very handily (93-70), so perhaps that was the difference in seeding.

Oral Roberts (13)
Winthrop (14) - Again, nostalgia may have won out here. This isn't the 2007 Winthrop outfit. Key guys are missing, as it the coach, as it the regular season conference championship. They are also a trendy upset pick (over Washington St), but, the Buffet doesn't see it, although they've shown some mettle in their 76-70 win over Miami (Fl), close loss v. Mississippi (71-76), but were blown out at WVU, by Davidson, and lost by 8 to Baylor. Also, Washington St was a good tourney team last year ... Winthrop lack of conference crown, and 7 101+ losses seems to indicate a 14 seed, but apparently not in the committee's eyes.

#14 Seeds
Cal-State Fullerton (14)
Cornell (14)
Boise State (13) -- This isn't a huge deal for the Buffet, it understands this seeding. But a tough 3ot win to win the conference championship (after sharing it during the regular season) on the home floor of their opponent, a win over 8 seeded BYU, over 13 seed San Diego (77-71), and a 12-3 road record (2-0 on neutral courts/3-0 in tourneys) really makes Boise a tough team to figure out, and made the Buffet project them over Siena, despite the 70-93 loss at home to the Saints. The Buffet still thinks they were underseeded, but, they play Louisville, otherwise a different 3 seed (Wisconsin, anyone?) may have paid the price

Georgia (12) - Granted Georgia belonged nowhere near this tournament from an at-large standpoint, and were tied as a last place finisher in the SEC, BUT that tournament run proved that they can do something that many of the other teams in this same 12-14 region have no proven, or simply put, cannot. Beat the teams at the top of the bracket (they've now won 5 of 6, and in doing so, beat a Waiting Liner (Ole Miss), an 11 seed (Kentucky), an 8 seed (Mississippi St, in the same day as Kentucky, no less) and a 9 seed (Arkansas). Granted they loss to just about everyone else, but that run alone gives them 4 wins versus the top 50 (7 versus top 100)... they should have been higher.

#15 Seeds
American (15)
Austin Peay (15)
Univ of Maryland - Baltimore County (15)
Belmont (15)

#16 Seeds
Mount Saint Mary's (16)
Coppin State (16)
Portland State (16)
Mississippi Valley State (16)
University of Texas @ Arlington (16)

More pre-tourney talk as Buffet visiting hours permit...