(Editor’s note: This is part of the Bracket Central Series, an inside look at the run-up to the men’s and women’s NCAA Tournaments, along with analysis and picks during the tournaments.)
We feel 100 percent confident in at least one of our bracket picks after Tuesday: Wagner is going to Dayton.
The Seahawks, who ended the regular season 13-15 and were the No. 7 seed in the Northeast Conference tournament, upset Merrimack to clinch a bid to the NCAA Tournament. (Please, explain to us again why the tournament needs to be expanded so more teams have “access?”) The NEC ranked second-to-last among conferences this season, and you’d be hard-pressed to find an NCAA Tournament team with worse metrics than Wagner: 303rd in the NET, 293rd in KenPom, 11-10 (!) in Quad 4. That’s a No. 16-seed-play-in-game team if we’ve ever seen one.
What, you were hoping for a more interesting bracket update? Sorry, but Tuesday was relatively calm. We did get five more auto qualifiers, including Wagner and highlighted by Saint Mary’s beating Gonzaga in the WCC. Yes, the Zags really were in trouble of missing the tournament in early February. They aren’t now. We didn’t even change the seeding for either team (Gaels are No. 6 seed, Gonzaga a 7), though you could convince us either side…
