#1 Overall Seed Championship Odds

Since the NCAA expanded the tournament field to 64 in 1985 only four teams ranked No. 1 in the final AP poll have won the national championship. One of those four No. 1 ranked teams was 2012 Kentucky. The other three were 2001 Duke, 1995 UCLA and 1992 Duke.

In the past 11 NCAA Tournaments, top overall seeds have produced a mixed bag of results. Six of the 11 teams seeded first overall have gone to the Final Four, while three of those teams have won it.

In that same period, five other No. 1 seeds that were not first overall won the national championship (North Carolina in 2005; Kansas in 2008; North Carolina in 2009; Duke in 2010; Duke in 2015).

I'd say Kansas has a good shot at getting to the Final 4, but probably not at winning it all. Only four teams ranked #1 in the AP poll at the end of the regular season won it all and I think that speaks to the parity and unpredictability in the NCAA tournament. It's the old saying that the best team doesn't usually win the championship.

BUT, WOULDN'T IT BE SOMETHING IF BY SOME MIRACLE (we know all about miracles) KANSAS WAS ABLE TO BUCK THE TREND AND BECOME ONLY THE 5TH AP #1 RANKED TEAM TO WIN IT ALL SINCE 1985!!!

And we're just the guys to do it!!




RC!

...let him go, he's on a roll....

Perhaps the team ranked #1 at the end of the season was not, in fact, the best team. I have never trusted the rankings, and the very fact that so few #1s have won the tournament is more a function of the inaccuracy of the rankings, than the premise that the best teams don't always win.

The Germans? You must be one of the younger fellas!

Ok, I can't remember who missed on the Caddyshack references, but now Bayhawk was making a reference to Animal House. After having their fraternity shut down, and as part of a rousing speech to call for a "really futile and stupid gesture", John Belushi starts to give the guys a pep talk after one of the guys says "it's over" in regard to the frat.

"Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?" Belushi asks.

One of the guys looks at his buddy and says "Germans?" to which the buddy replies, "Let him go, he's on a roll."

I think we need to compile a list of required films for the board to watch over the offseason. Maybe do a "movie club" and discuss the nuances of each film after we watch them.

While computer rankings can help pick favorites, at this point stats trying to tie polls to success seem to be kind of meaningless.

We all know who the real contenders are this year, and KU is certainly among them. We also all know that there will be 1 or 2 Cinderella stories, and a couple of big upsets. So if you take the top 16 teams (1-4 seeds) it's pretty safe to assume that at least 3 of the 4 teams who get to Houston will be from that group. There's a small chance (we've all seen the numbers at some point) that a team outside that group might get there, but the odds start to drop off very quickly after that.

Barring an "outsider" (5 or higher seed) getting to Houston, any of the teams in that group will likely have the ability to beat any of the other teams on any given night. So IF Kansas (1 seed) makes it and faces one of the 4 seeds from the other brackets (Duke, Kentucky, or ISU) the computers will certainly favor KU, but as you can see from who is in that group, it's entirely possible for us to lose if we're not properly motivated or prepared.

There's really nothing stopping this team from making the Final Four this year except the following:
>unexpected injury or illness
>lack of preparation or motivation

We can't control the 1st one, and there's no excuse for not controlling the 2nd one. Bottom line, the list of teams that can simply outplay us when we play to our potential is very very small.

Good idea, Not O. I never watched the film but should have! Mea Culpa.