Penn not a 16 seed

Based on my DPPI, there are 4 teams rated lower than Penn that are not 16 seeds. The 5 lowest rated teams in my DPPI are all 16 seeds. But you also have Cal-Fullerton (15 seed), Lipscomb (15 seed), Wright State (14 seed) and Iona (15 seed) who are rated below Penn. Duke, the second seed in our region, got an easier opponent. (but just barely, Iona is 125 and Penn is 124). 19 teams rated 69 or worse made the field. 17 of those were automatic bids. Alabama (69) and Providence (73) were at-large but poorly rated. Based on my DPPI 18 teams were more deserving than Alabama and 21 more deserving than Providence. The biggest snubs were;

Loiusville (24)
Penn St. (26)
Maryland (32)
Notre Dame (37)
Baylor (38)
St. Mary's (40)
USC (43)
Middle Tennessee (45)

While Oklahoma St. had some nice wins their early season was way not good. Given that Alabama and Oklahoma (52) both made it ahead of better teams, and given that they have two of the top freshmen in the game I think the committee is straining credulity to say the freshman phenom impact is not considered.

Let's not whine about Penn. They played 1 game against a top 50 team and lost (Villanova won by 28). They have one guy who's 6'10" but he only plays 2.6 minutes a game and is averaging 0.5 points. Their other bigs top out at 6'8"...same height as Svi. I don't think we need to worry about their perimeter defense if Dok and/or Silvio play even marginally well.

This "they're the toughest 16" or "they should be a 14" stuff just makes us sound like whiners. If we can't beat a team that only beat UMKC by 3 and has losses to Fairfield, LaSalle, Towson, and Toledo, then we have much BIGGER problems within our own program.

Nope. The only thing we should be thinking about is beating them HANDILY. Come out with energy and never let it even begin to resemble any kind of actual contest. Step on their throats guys.

NotO, not whining at all nor do I care one whit about Penn. I am just indulging in the game of the day between selection Sunday and the beginning of play which is analyzing all manner of bracket decisions. I have posted my teams that were snubbed, I have posted some individual posts of teams that were potentially mis-seeded. I don't believe the selection committee has one iota of concern or bias against Kansas. I have listened to the various interviews of committee members and I tend to lean toward taking them at their word. The one area where I doubt the veracity of their stated position is the inclusion of Oklahoma and Alabama based on the "body of their work." It is my assessment which I put as much stock in as any of them since I spend countless hours analyzing these things, that Louisville or even Baylor had a greater body of work. Heck, USC probably had a greater body of work. The committee has averred ad nauseum that the early season weighs as much as the end of season and conference tournament games are no different than any game. Yes, those exact words have been stated a number of times. Tell me what Alabama "corpus" of work is if you don't count their late season run any heavier? The Penn issue was just interesting. I am more curious how they decided to seed them 16 than worried about it. In years past they have been pretty good about 16 seeds being the lowest rated teams. This year they deviated from that and pretty significantly. I'm sure they had a reason and I'm equally sure it had nothing to do with a bias toward Kansas. I am just curious. I was hoping someone on this board had heard an interview on this with a committee member and would respond.

CJ - I posted this to the #1 Seed in the Midwest - Starting in Wichita thread two days ago. Glad to see your DPPI agrees.
" I don't have to go past the 1st round to see that KU got screwed. #1 seed order is VA, Nova, KU, Xavier. I would argue that play-in teams are at a disadvantage, with the additional game. Using Sagarin (S) and Ken Pomeroy (KP) ratings, VA has UMBC (189S - 184KP), Nova has the winner of LIU Brooklyn(256S - 251KP) & Radford (190S - 170KP), KU has Penn (121S - 127KP), while Xavier has the winner of NC Central (295S - 309KP) & Texas So (242S - 249KP). So instead of Xavier getting the easiest teams of the 4, they should have had Penn (assuming Penn is a 16 seed). Lipscomb has 168S & 165KP and CSU Fullerton has 171S & 153KP, so either of those teams appear to be more 16 seed caliber than Penn."
NotO - of course KU should beat Penn - the issue for me is selection committee screw-ups.

Story about Penn's seeding https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/penn-is-historys-best-16-seed-can-it-pull-off-the-ncaa-tournaments-greatest-upset/

Nice post HE. I know we all agree that hopefully the players can just concentrate on winning the game. Do not worry about who you are playing just win the game.

To be the best, you've got to beat the best.
No worries for the Jayhawks, where Penn is seeded.
We expect our guys to end up facing a couple #1s in the FF, and we won't complain about that.

Thank you so much NotO for shedding some much needed reality into this discussion. LaSalle, Towson, Toledo, Yale and of course the best team in the galaxy..Villanova? Come on! Best 16 seed ever? I’m telling you right now, find the starting 5 from Western Kentucky from 3 years ago and THEY would beat Penn. You know why they have such ungodly numbers against the 3 ball? Cuz they play in the Ivy freakin League! Now I am in no way trying to run down the ONLY division 1 league in the country that has true scholar athletes. They, and the service academie, deserve a ton of respect and admiration for competing as well as they do and maintaining their academic excellence. I still love watching the “Princeton” offense. It is truly beautiful. But please, best “ever”? Last time I checked ever was a really long time.

As for JRs posted article...call me jaded but reading any story generated by a polling blog, owned by ESPN and headquartered on Columbus Ave. NY, NY is dare I say...slanted? Thank you for sharing it, just not my cup of Joe I guess.

Hawknmo - whether Penn is the best ever 16 seed is immaterial. Most everyone says they should not have been a 16 seed. They clearly are better (by anyone's metrics) than the rest of the current 16 seeds. KU should not be paired against them. Of course KU should win, but they don't need to have a tough first game. Don't want any "emergency situation" where Dok might have to play.