Now, I'm not claiming that Joe Lunardi is a prophet, but his bracket projections are usually in the right ballpark.

As of yesterday he had Cuse in the West starting out in Auburn Hills as a 3 seed.

I don't know if that was before or after the game, but for argument sake, let's say it was before, and SU drops to a 4 but stays in the West region. If that's the case, it's a region that includes Gonzaga, and a bunch of other teams that played better than SU down the stretch, but are not necessarily better teams.

The tournament is all about matchups and (supposedly) great guard play. MCW is an NBA-bound guard (who needs another year of college to polish off the rough edges, but whatever) and Triche is still someone I'm pretty sure we all think is a "solid player" and both can create matchup problems.

Again, I don't know where the team is going, but the last 4 days provided a glimpse of 2 things: 1) this team can be REALLY REALLY good if it plays under control and doesn't rush the offense (rushing the offense is not the same as high-tempo offense, which this team is pretty good at actually) and 2) this team can be REALLY REALLY bad if too many threes fall early in the game, because then it starts relying on them too much and there aren't enough shooters on the team to warrant doing that, especially if the main threat (Southerland) is in foul trouble.

A first-round loss would not shock any of us.

And if the bracket appears favorable, a trip to the Elite 8 wouldn't shock us either.