Pat Caputo: NCAA Tournament Format Can Be Unjust, But Teams Must Adapt
The NCAA tournament is a lot of things. Fair isn't necessarily one of them.
Especially when it comes to bracketing and seeding.
For example, there are three teams from the state of Michigan in this season's NCAA tournament field — Michigan, Michigan State and Oakland University.
Of those three teams, Oakland had by far the best regular season at its level. The Golden Grizzlies dominated the Summit League like no team has in the history of a conference that is more than three decades old.
Yet, 13th-seeded Oakland will have to open the tournament Friday against Texas, which just as easily could have been seeded second or third rather than fourth. It would have been more feasible for OU to develop into a Cinderella story if the Golden Grizzlies were opening the tournament against Wisconsin or Louisville, other No. 4 seeds (Kentucky, the remaining fourth seed, is in a similar spot as Texas — young, but exceptionally talented).
Theoaklandpress.com for more
