Playoffs 2011

The season is over and brackets released.

No surprise Sam Houston State is the top seed and North Dakota St. comes in as the second seed. Georgia Southern is the #3 seed thanks to Montana beating Montana State this weekend. And they did not just beat them, they thumped them. That gave the #4 seed to Montana, but Montana State could earn a possible rematch if they make it to the Semi-Finals.

Two things stand out as I look at this bracket. First is how many CAA teams made it in what I thought was a down year for the conference over all. Towsen was in as the champs, but their second game will be against ND St. Not a good draw. New Hampshire frankly had a better draw and will play Montana State in round one, but has to travel so it kind of evens out. Maine probably deserved to get in, but in my opinion that should have been a close call. They start with App St. Old Dominion got in, and I thought they would, but they have to play in round one. They do host round one. Then James Madison got in. Now, I don't think they deserved to get in. They travel in round one to Eastern Kentucky. I thought the CAA would be three deep, but not five. Some polls had Delaware higher than James Madison. I am not sure why they got in. Liberty, Jackson State, Harvard, and Illinois State have legitimate gripes tonight at James Madison.

The other thing that stuck out was how weak the top part of the bracket turns out to be. Sam Houston State is a bit of a soft overall #1. They deserve it as the lone undefeated, but I don't actually think they are a better team than North Dakota State or Georgia Southern. Don't be surprised if they are the first ranked team to go down. Their next game would be against Montana State or New Hampshire. Two teams that suffered major defeats at the end of the season that might just be demoralizing. The Big Sky was weak this year, and New Hampshire lost some big games especially on the road. Northern Iowa is the 5th ranked team playing Wofford. Wofford lost huge against Georgia Southern late in the year (but did rally to beat UTC on the road), and Northern Iowa lost their big game. Montana plays the winner of Tennessee Tech/Central Arkansas. Again Montana is not a team that played a lot of great teams this year since the Big Sky was down. And they lost one of those games. Montana is probably the second best team in this group, and maybe the best. It is a weak grouping.
Compare it to the bottom bracket than has Three time champ App State as an unranked team. It has one time champ James Madison in a play in game. It has a 9-2 ODU squad in their play in (first round) game playing another 9-2 Norfolk State team. The CAA champ Towsen is in that grouping, as is 10-1 Leigh. Five time champ Georgia Southern and recent power house North Dakota State (who beat Minnesota this year) are also in this group. It is insane.

The fun begins next weekend. I am ready to watch.