Now that we are nearly 24 hours removed from the Speedway Horizon League Men's Basketball Championship game, it's time to try to figure out what the NCAA Men's Basketball Committee will do with the class of the Horizon League on Selection Sunday.
Of course ESPN's Joe Lunardi, and many more, dedicate a great deal of time prognosticating how things will shake out, but as I'm sure most of you know it's not an exact science. Lunardi's Bracketology does follow much of the logic used by the committee; however, it is impossible to predict conference tournament champions and their impact on the field of 65. (FYI – ESPN's latest Bracketology places Butler as a #6 seed playing #11 Florida in Providence, RI in the first round.)
Some inexperienced with the seeding methodology would look at Butler's #12 ranking and divide that by the number of regions (four)... that puts Butler at a #3 seed. Unfortunately, that's far too easy and completely unrealistic.
The NCAA is very open about the process of selection. Hats off to them, it's a great idea to be transparent about this process. Fans need to know the amount of time and energy the 10-member committee puts into selecting and placing the teams in the bracket. Some people think it's a popularity contest, or an old boys club with handshake agreements. It's not.
Alright, to the point — Where do the Bulldogs fit into all of this madness? The latest RPI rankings have Butler at 14 with a strength of schedule of 76. The first number is helpful, the second number not so much. Looking at quality wins, the Dawgs took care of Ohio State, Xavier and Siena on their way to a 28-4 record. They have no "bad losses" which is helpful. Butler beat the teams they were supposed to and split with the teams at their level.
That whole 20-game winning streak may prove helpful as well.
All signs point to Butler receiving and deserving a good seed in the tournament. Personally, I'd throw them on the #5 line. The body of work speaks for itself, and anyone would be hard-pressed to name 20 teams better than the Bulldogs. Having been here before though, I won't be holding my breath until Sunday at 6:00pm. More importantly, knowing Brad Stevens, he and his ballclub won't be either.
Tags: Butler - Men's Basketball
