To host or not to Host

It is about a month away from tournament selection and so I thought we might speculate on some parings for the 64 team tourney.

U of P probably has a lock on hosting the first round. We have hosted in '03, '04 and '08. In '07 we got sent to Col where we were in a group with Den & Hawaii. In '06, we went to Utah along with Idaho St and BYU. In '05, we went to Neb with Creighton and Iowa St. Gonzaga made it that year too, but were shipped to CS-Full. In '02, we went to BYU to join Idaho St and Utah. There was another NW school that year (WSU), but they got shipped to Santa Clara.

In the years we have hosted we had a NW school as a partner: In '03 we had UW along with Neb and Denver. In '08, we had WSU along with N.Az and Tex. Only in '04 did Weber St, Col, and Utah all have to travel to our place. UW made it in '04 too, but were seeded and got sent to Aub.

This year is so different with all the Pac 10 schools in the mix. We only have ourselves to blame for providing the difference to get U of O. and OSU in the mix. We are getting a reputation as a coaches training ground.

I'll make a guess and say we will host with Ptld St from the Big Sky, Boise St from the WAC and take your pick of UO, OSU, UW or WSU. I am thinking it might be the one with the lowest RPI. UW is there now. All this depends on who wins the Big Sky and WAC but those have the best RPI as of now.

Does anyone know if they will allow a school to meet someone from their conference in round 2 this year? Looking back to '02 and '03 I see USC, Pep, SD and UCLA all in one foursome.

Looking at the rest of the country:

CAL/AZ area: you have Stan, UCLA, ASU, USC, CAL LB St, and Santa Clara in the mix. Cal's on the bubble but other than LB St everyone one else might get seeded. A lot traveling for the Pac 10 teams. Could be Stan or ? hosts and everyone else is shipped.

Col/Ut area: you have Col, BYU, and Denver. I assume one of the Pac 10 travels there.

FL/AL area: you have FSU, Miami, UCF, UAB, FL GC, Aub, FL, UGA.

In NE: you have BC, Uconn, BU, LIU, St J, Samford, Dart.

In Tex/LA: you have A&M, LSU, Tex St,

In Vir/MD area: you have VT, MD, W&M, Loyola.

Big contingent in Great Lakes area: ND, Ind, OSU, Pur, ILL, Minn, MSU, Dayton, C. Mich. Evansville.

NC/SC: Unc, SC.

Forgive me if I have put someone in the wrong region. I'm a West Coaster, what can I say.

Should be interesting. The at large bids will be confined to the ACC, Pac 10, WCC, Conf USA, SEC, Big E. Big 12, Big 10, and maybe the Mt W. All the other conferences will have only one team most likely.

To answer your question, teams from the same conference cannot be in the same "first weekend" pod.

To answer your question on whether Gonzaga can come here, the answer is no. Teams from the same conference can't play in the first two games. If they make it to the third round they could.

There is a pending proposal to make that restriction for only the first game, but it hasn't been adopted.
http://www.ncaa.org/wps/ncaa?ContentID=37239
For that reason, you'll only see one team from each conference in a first round pod. They might have to make an exception if more than 8 teams from a conference ever get in.

If Stanford hosts (almost certain) my money is that you would see two pods with a PAC10 school and one of the non-PAC10 teams in California, and the other PAC10 schools will travel. So- Stanford and SCU, and UCLA and LB St. are good bets, and other schools will be shipped in. unless some school like UNLV gets in. I don't think SCU has a prayer of being seeded at this point, and I'm not convinced LB St is the Big West choice. UC Irvine, Pacific, or one of the others have legitimate shots.

It may be that another WCC school gets in, but after San Diego's tie today that seems less likely. Whoever does get in will have to rock in conference.

When you make the brackets this year, keep in mind that the BCS conferences have 60% of the vote in the selection process by statute. 50-50 decisions are sure to go in that direction.

I also wouldn't bank on PSU. they look better this year, but they have never gotten in the tournament except possibly once under Tara Ericson (too lazy to look it up.) I'd be tickled for them if they made it, though.
I look forward to what you come up with this year.