Posted by Charlie Creme
Two things stood out in a Saturday full of automatic bid magic and the despair of seasons ending: Texas A&M beat Oklahoma and Southern California upset Cal.
Despite those results, the seed line didn't change for either the Aggies or the Bears in the latest Bracketology.
Here's why: Keep in mind that changing a seed line can mean that the team in question might have to leap over or slide down past as many as four teams, and it might be easier to understand why Cal, for instance, stayed on the No. 4 seed line.
The Bears had been 13 on the S-curve. Make no mistake -- the loss to USC did hurt Cal and dropped the Bears from 13 to 16. But that still means they are a No. 4 seed. And because of some of the other rules that dictate how teams are placed in the bracket -- Cal can't be placed in the Berkeley Regional, Pitt can't be placed with fellow Big East team UConn, Iowa State can't go in the same regional as fellow Big 12 teams Oklahoma and Texas A&M, and Vanderbilt, as the top No. 4 seed, gets placed in its nearest geographical region first -- the Bears remain the No. 4 seed in Oklahoma City despite dropping three spots on the S-curve.
Similarly, Texas A&M moved up the S-curve from 11 to 9. One more spot and the Aggies would be on the No. 2 seed line. But even with Saturday's impressive win over Oklahoma, the Aggies' body of work isn't enough to pass North Carolina for the No. 8 spot on the S-curve. It's extremely close; the profiles are nearly identical. But the Tar Heels' collection of good wins is a bit better than the Aggies' collection, and when comparing their losses, Texas A&M falling to Texas Tech is the worst.
Remember, the selection committee examines a team's entire body of work. This is a good time to emphasize that point. This is especially easy to overlook in the women's game, where the scheduling of the major conference tournaments is so spread out and thus some results become old news.
It's easy to want to heap a large amount of importance on Texas A&M's win over Oklahoma on Saturday. It was huge, no doubt. But the danger is getting too excited about one win because it just happened. Big wins occurred in the ACC, Big East and SEC tournaments, too (granted, not as big as knocking off a No. 1 seed-type team). The point is, this process still comes down to examining an entire body of work.
It's not as simple as just dropping a team after a loss or two. Another club has to have earned the spot ahead of them. And the fact remains that there are not four other teams in the country that have had better seasons than Oklahoma. That's not even debatable.
None of this means that Sunday might not bring changes. While Oklahoma will not move off the No. 1 line, a Texas A&M win over Baylor in the Big 12 tournament final might help the Aggies improve on their current seed; it would give them another big win to add to their growing résumé.
The Bears still have a chance to do the same. Come the end of the day, Stanford will likely have a Pac-10 tournament title and a 15-game, season-ending winning streak to go with a regular-season championship.
So while it's important not to overstate one single result, it's also important not to go away. The season has one more day.
Women's Basketball
