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Hello all and welcome to another edition of blind resume testing. It’s been 3 weeks since my last entry and with another month of games in the books, I figured it would be a good time to take a look at where Xavier stands in terms of seeding. Without further ado, let’s get right into it.
The thing that immediately stood out to me was just how close the race for a 1 seed seems to be. No one has cemented their place as an elite team, which means the last month and a half of basketball will be crucial in separating the men from the boys. Should be fantastic television as teams fight night in and night out to prove to the committee that they deserve a 1 or a 2 in front of their name come March.
The first team I would eliminate from this group is team 2. They do have one top 10 win, but going 1-3 against the RPI top 50 is not good enough to make the case for a 1 seed. As I’ve said in the past, big wins are the most important factor for the selection committee and having one lone big win is not cutting it.
Now that we’re down to 8 teams, let’s find the best 4. Team 5 jumps out to me as having the best resume right now. 5-2 against the RPI top 50 with no bad losses is very impressive. They could certainly use a few more top 100 wins down the stretch, but they are the only team who has a combination of good wins and no bad losses. Next up is team 9 for the same reason. The lack of a top 10 win hurts them a bit, but none of the other teams have more than 1 either. In a year where everyone is dropping games they should win, simply taking care of business against solid opponents will allow you to rise to the top, which is what team 9 has done. Next, I have team 3. 4-0 against the top 25 and 12 top 100 wins is the best in both categories. They do have a bad loss, but the committee tends to forgive bad losses if you have the wins to make up for it, and team 3 does. Finally, I have team 6. 7-3 against the top 50 is very strong, and their top 10 win counteracts their bad loss. You could probably make the case for any of the remaining teams to get that last spot, however.
In conclusion we have:
1 Seeds: Team 5, Team 9, Team 3, Team 6.
2 Seeds: Team 1, Team 4, Team 7, Team 8.
Scroll down to reveal the teams.
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1 Seeds: Oklahoma, Xavier, Virginia, Kansas
2 Seeds: Villanova, Oregon, Iowa, UNC
As you can see I have Oklahoma as the #1 overall seed, which is the general consensus at this point. The team I didn’t expect to see here, however, was Virginia. They have faltered a bit of late, but their resume stands strong. As for Xavier, you can see that they are still in fantastic shape. When compared side by side with other teams it’s clear that the Georgetown loss didn’t really hurt them much at all. My opinion is that either Xavier or Villanova will get a 1 seed, barring a bit of a collapse from both teams. If Xavier beats Villanova and Providence at home they will probably have a slight advantage heading into the conference tournament. Regardless we are in as good of a position as anyone in the country and if we continue to play up to our capabilities we should have a relaxing selection sunday
Feel free to let me know if theres anything additional you would like to see here.
Thanks, and go X.