Eight Clap? Bruins Behind The Eight Ball

February 11th, 2017

Remember when you thought the Bruins were going to be a #1 seed in this year’s tournament? Well the odds of that happening now are about as good as going a whole day without hearing anybody talk about Donald Trump.

For the first time, the NCAA released a midseason preview of what the top four seeds would look like in each region if the tournament started today. The Bruins were the fourth seeded team in the East Region. That region also had Villanova, Louisville, and Kentucky as the top three seeds. Villanova was the #1 overall seed, with Kansas, Baylor, and Gonzaga as the other three #1 seeds.

The real problem for UCLA is Oregon and Arizona, who are likely to finish ahead of them in the Pac 12 standings. Even after defeating Oregon on Thursday night, the Ducks were the #2 seed in the West. Arizona, who was recently defeated by Oregon by 27 points, is a #3 seed in the Midwest.

UCLA is 2 games behind Arizona for 1st place in the conference, and 1 game behind Oregon.   The Bruins get to play Arizona 1 more time during the regular season, but Arizona and Oregon don’t play again. That means it would take a Hillary Clinton like collapse by The Wildcats and Ducks to be passed in the standings heading into the Pac 12 tournament.

The committee didn’t seem to put much weight into recent wins when they came up with their rankings.   North Carolina was still a #2 seed despite losing to Duke on Thursday. Florida hammered Kentucky a week ago, yet they have the same #3 seed as Kentucky, who also lost at home to the Bruins. It’s also strange that a team like West Virginia, who has 5 losses and 2 against teams rated outside the top 75, has the same #4 seed as UCLA.

The best hope for the Bruins is to get hot in March and win the Pac 12 tournament. That might get them a #2 seed and slightly closer to home in the West Region. The Bruins will try to keep things rolling tomorrow afternoon at home against Oregon State.

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