Bracket of Death: 10 South Region Teams Were Ranked in the Top 16 at Some Point This Year

The NCAA Selection Show started off by revealing the South Region. I think it’s already locked up as the toughest region.

Here are the top 11 seeds:

Kansas (first overall)
Villanova
Miami-FL
California
Maryland
Arizona
Iowa
Colorado
Connecticut
Temple
Wichita State and Vanderbilt

How tough is it? Well, I could point to advanced metrics. 10 of the teams in that group of 12 are in the Ken Pomeroy top 27 heading into the tournament. Nearly half!

Or, if you’re not into advanced stats, how about this about how these teams have been perceived this year: those same ten teams have ALL been ranked in the Top 16 this year. They made up 40% of the preseason AP Top 20–and Miami and Iowa both rose inside the top 10 after not being ranked initially.

The region has the top overall seed, another team that looked like a 1 seed a week ago, a preseason favorite (Maryland), a team that has been around the top 10 since January (Miami), three teams that have lost close games or who’s “profile” doesn’t match the efficiency stats (Arizona, Wichita State, Vanderbilt), a talented young team that was ranked preseason and is finally living up to expectations (California) and, well, I’m tired.

Here’s the highest each team was ranked this year:

Kansas- #1

Villanova – #1

Maryland – #2

Iowa – #3

Miami- #7

Arizona – #8

Wichita State – #9

California – #14

Vanderbilt – #16

Connecticut- #18