SB Nation’s final 2011 NCAA Tournament bracketology, from Chris Dobbertean of our bracketology blog Blogging the Bracket, was not as right as he would like: Dobbertean missed three teams from March Madness’ 2011 bracket — UAB, Clemson, as you can see in our printable NCAA 2011 bracket. But did the Selection Committee do a good job of picking and leaving out bubble teams for this year’s edition of March Madness?
Selection Sunday 2011: Surprises And Snubs Abound Among Bubble Teams
Who’s In?
Clemson and UAB were both big surprises, each earning No. 12 seeds and a date in the First Four in Dayton on Tuesday. It’s likely that the Selection Committee saw the Blazers’ 12-4 record in Conference USA and decided to reward it, but their best win this season was probably over VCU. (And VCU was questionable to get in its own right, and only got a No. 11 seed!) Clemson, on the other hand, played mediocre ball in the ACC, and did little to distinguish itself.
Who’s Out?
Colorado is by far the biggest snub of the 2011 NCAA Tournament. The Buffaloes took down Texas and beat No. 5 seed Kansas State three times, but early-season struggles likely torpedoed their at-large chances.
Further down the list, Virginia Tech’s win over Duke turned out to be not enough to get Seth Greenberg’s squad off the bubble once and for all, Boston College’s lackluster resume did the Eagles no favors, and Alabama’s SEC West championship meant very little.
And then there are mid-major darlings St. Mary’s and Harvard, teams that lost games that would have gotten them March Madness dance tickets and couldn’t have done that much more in conference. But bad losses — St. Mary’s to San Diego, Harvard’s to Yale — probably made those potential Cinderellas’ slippers less shiny.
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