Grantland: Mock Selection Sunday Edition

[Harry0569]

http://grantland.com/the-triangle/ncaa- ... e-arizona/

Fascinating tidbits regarding how the bracket is created:

Of particular note:

Geography drives everything when it comes to planning the regions.

When we assigned matchups, the very first thing mentioned with literally every team was which site was closest to its campus. This surprised me. It makes sense to do this with the top few seeds since it gives them more fan support. But why do it for lower seeds? “To make travel less burdensome on the players and coaches” was the reason that kept popping up, but come on — it’s 2015. Teams aren’t riding covered wagons and fording rivers to get to their games. Is the difference between a two-hour flight and a five-hour flight — on a chartered plane, mind you — really worth losing some competitive balance in the bracket?

[tristatecoog]

Maybe they want to sell more tickets to fans that are able to travel by car or short flight. Even the early round games now seem to be in huge venues and high prices.