2014 NCAA Tournament Selection Sunday: 4 Local Schools Await Their Fates
By Joel Wagler
Wichita State Shockers celebrate. Mandatory Credit: Scott Kane-USA TODAY Sports
The 2014 NCAA Tournament, fondly known as March Madness, is upon us. Today is Selection Sunday, and the 4 schools covered by KC Kingdom await their fates.
The Kansas Jayhawks (24-9) will find out how much their late season slump will really affect their seeding.
The Wichita State Shockers (34-0) will have it confirmed they are a number one seed.
The Kansas State Wildcats (20-12) will find out who they will see in the first round.
The Missouri Tigers (22-11) will find out if they did enough in their up and down season to even make the tournament.
All will be revealed today, on CBS, at 5 p.m. CDT, in their annual Selection Sunday reveal event. Analysis can be seen on CBS and ESPN.
The Jayhawks struggled down the stretch without Joel Embiid in the lineup. They surrendered more than 90 points in two if their final three games, and fell unceremoniously to the Iowa State Cyclones in the Big 12 tournament semi-finals.
Kansas has played the most difficult schedule in the nation, by far, this season, but still have 9 losses. Both the CBS and the ESPN RPI have Kansas ranked third. This leaves an opening for the Jayhawks to garner a 2 seed despite their multitude of losses.
They were 4-4 against top 25 teams, played 19 games against top 50 teams, going 12-7, and they are 18-9 versus top 100 teams. Michigan is the only other school with more than 20 games against top 100 schools, going 15-6.
The Wichita State Shockers are undefeated, of course, winning all 34 games this season after appearing in the Final Four a year ago. The Shockers are ranked 4th in both the CBS and ESPN RPI.
The biggest problem with the Shockers resume is that they have zero games against the top 25, only 3 against the top 50, and just 10 against the top 100. Their strength of schedule is a lowly 112th. Still, 34-0!
The Wildcats are ranked 51st in both RPI, and struggled mightily on the road. Their record against top teams reveals this mediocrity. They went 3-3 against the top 25, 7-8 against top 50 teams, and 9-10 against top 100 schools.
Kansas State’s total schedule strength ranked as the 39th hardest. Their body of work should garner them a 10 or 11 seed.
The Missouri Tigers seem to be the whipping boy for the national talking heads. The CBS RPI has them sitting 49th, and ESPN and 48th, obviously slightly higher than Kansas State. The difference is that the SEC wasn’t near as strong as the Big 12 this season, and the schedule strength ranked just 70th. They played 10 games to start the season at home, with UCLA as the only strong opponent.
The Tigers are just 1-3 against the top 25, 2 -4 against the top 50, and 7-9 against the top 100. Their early season schedule just wasn’t enough, and the Tigers are looking at a probable NIT invitation as it is doubtful they hear their name called this afternoon.
There is still some mystery to the revelation this afternoon. Kansas resume is probably good enough to be in the number one seed conversation but their 9 losses are hard to overlook. They are clearly not one of the top 4, and maybe not the top 8, schools in the country right now.
The Shockers beat everyone on their schedule, including 28 games by 11 points or more. It will be nearly impossible to keep the Shockers off the one line.
There is a chance the Wildcats won’t make the field but it is a very slim possibility. They won’t have a good seed, but they will be dancing.
The Tigers will have to wait for next year.
Enjoy our FanSided printable brackets.