Right idea, wrong day.
For a third straight season, the NCAA and broadcast partner CBS unveiled an in-season look at the top 16 overall seeds for the upcoming men's basketball tournament.
The reveal took place Saturday at the CBS studios in New York with Greg Gumbel serving as host and Clark Kellogg and Seth Davis providing analysis.
According to the Division I Men's Basketball Committee, the four #1 seeds for the NCAA tournament are Duke, Tennessee, Virginia and Gonzaga.
The #2 seeds would be Kentucky, Michigan, North Carolina and Michigan State.
Purdue, Kansas, Houston and Marquette were voted as the #3 seeds while Iowa State, Nevada, Louisville and Wisconsin completed the all-important top four lines of the seeding list.
The idea for an in-season peek at the top four seeds in each of the four regions is a good one.
It creates publicity for college basketball's signature event, provides content for college basketball television analysts and whets the appetite of college hoop fans everywhere.
But why not reveal the top 16 teams on a late Sunday afternoon after the weekend games have been played?
By moving the release date to Sunday, the committee would not only have a chance to process the weekend results of important showdowns like Duke-Virginia, Wisconsin-Michigan and Cincinnati-Houston, but also replicate the short turnaround time required five weeks from now.
The actual Selection Sunday show on CBS is scheduled for Sunday, March 17 at 6:00 p.m. ET.
Duke is the #1 overall seed -- the one of the ones, if you will -- and deservingly so.
EOG contributor WINKYDUCK several months ago secured odds of 6/1 on Mike Krzyzewski's team to cut down the nets on Monday, April 8 in Minneapolis and that attractive price is now long gone.
Zion Williamson, a virtual cinch to win the Wooden Award as the nation's most outstanding player, is an 18-year-old man-child with incredible explosiveness for a player his size (6-8 and 285 pounds).
Williamson will be the #1 overall selection in the June NBA Draft and I believe he's as good as current NBA player Julius Randle right now.
Randle is averaging 20 points and nine rebounds per game this season for the New Orleans Pelicans.
POINTS GALORE.....Scoring in the NBA is at a 34-year high.
Not since the mid-1980's have games averaged more than 220 points per game.
Hardcore analytics are the leading reason for the scoring revolution.
Teams are employing more and more statisticians every season to assist coaching staffs with game plans and strategy sessions.
No longer do we see players taking tough mid-range shots with a hand in their face.
Instead, the focus is on pace, space and the three-point shot.
Credit the betting marketplace for keeping abreast of the changing game.
After 838 NBA games this season, the percentage difference between the number of overs and unders is negligible.
I count 420 overs and 413 unders with five pushes.
The two most productive spots on the offensive end of the floor remain the restricted area for layups and dunks and the three-point arc for uncontested long balls.
So much for the mid-range jumper.
WACKY WALTON....ESPN commentator Bill Walton needs to drop his repeated references to "The Conference of Champions" for the struggling Pac-12 Conference.
It's understood Walton is trying to be entertaining while hoping to draw attention to himself and his network.
But the revenue-generating sports of football and basketball have never looked worse in the Pac-12.
The football teams are a combined 7-15 in bowl games over the past three seasons and Pac-12 basketball is dangerously close this season to being a one-bid league for the NCAA tournament.
EOG contributor PARLAYNOW recently labeled the Pac-12 as the "Conference of Dung."
Walton's praise of the Pac-12 ignores the reality of a conference in decline.
And it's only a matter of time before the on-field competitive struggles and off-field financial troubles of the football and basketball programs trickle down to negatively affect the country club sports of golf, tennis, swimming and water polo.
MONDAY'S BEST BET.....Play 855 Virginia -1 (-110) over North Carolina.
Quality team off a loss.
Tony Bennett over Roy Williams.
UVA point guard Ty Jerome is not 100% but the Cavs should be good enough against a Tar Heel team forced into overtime to defeat a subpar Miami squad this past Saturday.
UNC freshman point guard Coby White was visibly frustrated with several teammates last game as the home team struggled to shake Miami.
White will be facing Virginia's vaunted pack-line defense for the first time in his career.
No team in the country plays at a more deliberate pace than Virginia.
If UNC is sloppy with game management, the Tar Heels trailed Miami by 7 points with only 7 minutes left in the second half, Virginia will escape the Smith Center with a victory.
INSIDE INFO.....A little birdie whispered in my ear this past week about an injury to Chicago State's Christian Jacob.
Jacob is one of the few D-I talents on a Chicago State squad featuring mostly D-II and D-III players.
Chicago State this season is 3-22 overall and 0-10 in conference play.
The Cougars are 0-18 on the road.
Only MEAC dregs Delaware State and Maryland Eastern Shore are rated lower than Chicago State on Ken Pomeroy's trusted scale.
Cal Baptist pounded Chicago State, 94-44, as a cheap 17.5-point favorite this past Thursday.
Jacob played well (20 points in 30 minutes) against Cal Baptist in a narrow 79-77 loss at Chicago State earlier this season.
Information about Jacob's injury was not widely distributed and the last news story posted to Chicago State's official basketball website was dated January 4.
Someone who follows WAC basketball closely was asked why the injury information was not disseminated to the public.
The WAC insider responded bluntly, "Because no one gives a shit about Chicago State basketball."
Not true.
Some people love to follow Chicago State hoops.
For a third straight season, the NCAA and broadcast partner CBS unveiled an in-season look at the top 16 overall seeds for the upcoming men's basketball tournament.
The reveal took place Saturday at the CBS studios in New York with Greg Gumbel serving as host and Clark Kellogg and Seth Davis providing analysis.
According to the Division I Men's Basketball Committee, the four #1 seeds for the NCAA tournament are Duke, Tennessee, Virginia and Gonzaga.
The #2 seeds would be Kentucky, Michigan, North Carolina and Michigan State.
Purdue, Kansas, Houston and Marquette were voted as the #3 seeds while Iowa State, Nevada, Louisville and Wisconsin completed the all-important top four lines of the seeding list.
The idea for an in-season peek at the top four seeds in each of the four regions is a good one.
It creates publicity for college basketball's signature event, provides content for college basketball television analysts and whets the appetite of college hoop fans everywhere.
But why not reveal the top 16 teams on a late Sunday afternoon after the weekend games have been played?
By moving the release date to Sunday, the committee would not only have a chance to process the weekend results of important showdowns like Duke-Virginia, Wisconsin-Michigan and Cincinnati-Houston, but also replicate the short turnaround time required five weeks from now.
The actual Selection Sunday show on CBS is scheduled for Sunday, March 17 at 6:00 p.m. ET.
Duke is the #1 overall seed -- the one of the ones, if you will -- and deservingly so.
EOG contributor WINKYDUCK several months ago secured odds of 6/1 on Mike Krzyzewski's team to cut down the nets on Monday, April 8 in Minneapolis and that attractive price is now long gone.
Zion Williamson, a virtual cinch to win the Wooden Award as the nation's most outstanding player, is an 18-year-old man-child with incredible explosiveness for a player his size (6-8 and 285 pounds).
Williamson will be the #1 overall selection in the June NBA Draft and I believe he's as good as current NBA player Julius Randle right now.
Randle is averaging 20 points and nine rebounds per game this season for the New Orleans Pelicans.
POINTS GALORE.....Scoring in the NBA is at a 34-year high.
Not since the mid-1980's have games averaged more than 220 points per game.
Hardcore analytics are the leading reason for the scoring revolution.
Teams are employing more and more statisticians every season to assist coaching staffs with game plans and strategy sessions.
No longer do we see players taking tough mid-range shots with a hand in their face.
Instead, the focus is on pace, space and the three-point shot.
Credit the betting marketplace for keeping abreast of the changing game.
After 838 NBA games this season, the percentage difference between the number of overs and unders is negligible.
I count 420 overs and 413 unders with five pushes.
The two most productive spots on the offensive end of the floor remain the restricted area for layups and dunks and the three-point arc for uncontested long balls.
So much for the mid-range jumper.
WACKY WALTON....ESPN commentator Bill Walton needs to drop his repeated references to "The Conference of Champions" for the struggling Pac-12 Conference.
It's understood Walton is trying to be entertaining while hoping to draw attention to himself and his network.
But the revenue-generating sports of football and basketball have never looked worse in the Pac-12.
The football teams are a combined 7-15 in bowl games over the past three seasons and Pac-12 basketball is dangerously close this season to being a one-bid league for the NCAA tournament.
EOG contributor PARLAYNOW recently labeled the Pac-12 as the "Conference of Dung."
Walton's praise of the Pac-12 ignores the reality of a conference in decline.
And it's only a matter of time before the on-field competitive struggles and off-field financial troubles of the football and basketball programs trickle down to negatively affect the country club sports of golf, tennis, swimming and water polo.
MONDAY'S BEST BET.....Play 855 Virginia -1 (-110) over North Carolina.
Quality team off a loss.
Tony Bennett over Roy Williams.
UVA point guard Ty Jerome is not 100% but the Cavs should be good enough against a Tar Heel team forced into overtime to defeat a subpar Miami squad this past Saturday.
UNC freshman point guard Coby White was visibly frustrated with several teammates last game as the home team struggled to shake Miami.
White will be facing Virginia's vaunted pack-line defense for the first time in his career.
No team in the country plays at a more deliberate pace than Virginia.
If UNC is sloppy with game management, the Tar Heels trailed Miami by 7 points with only 7 minutes left in the second half, Virginia will escape the Smith Center with a victory.
INSIDE INFO.....A little birdie whispered in my ear this past week about an injury to Chicago State's Christian Jacob.
Jacob is one of the few D-I talents on a Chicago State squad featuring mostly D-II and D-III players.
Chicago State this season is 3-22 overall and 0-10 in conference play.
The Cougars are 0-18 on the road.
Only MEAC dregs Delaware State and Maryland Eastern Shore are rated lower than Chicago State on Ken Pomeroy's trusted scale.
Cal Baptist pounded Chicago State, 94-44, as a cheap 17.5-point favorite this past Thursday.
Jacob played well (20 points in 30 minutes) against Cal Baptist in a narrow 79-77 loss at Chicago State earlier this season.
Information about Jacob's injury was not widely distributed and the last news story posted to Chicago State's official basketball website was dated January 4.
Someone who follows WAC basketball closely was asked why the injury information was not disseminated to the public.
The WAC insider responded bluntly, "Because no one gives a shit about Chicago State basketball."
Not true.
Some people love to follow Chicago State hoops.
Last edited: