The road won't be easy. . .

Every fan of every tournament team believes their road to the Final Four is the toughest. Every team and coach, as Coach Cal said, believes they got a raw deal. With that in mind, I waited a couple of days before I completed my brackets or offered my thoughts on the field. I did not want to make any knee jerk reactions, but I do believe that Kentucky got the toughest draw out of all of the No. 1 seeds.

I am not sure how this happened, but here are my "Final Four Thoughts" after a few days of pondering.

1. Kansas & Kentucky are the two top seeds in the Tournament. No one would argue against that fact before the brackets were announced, so why does it appear on paper, that Duke and Syracuse have much easier roads to the Final Four? Duke has the easiest road to a Final Four in recent memory. If they don't make it this year, I am not sure Coach K will make it back any time soon.

2. Kansas has the toughest bracket, but Kentucky has the toughest road. Kentucky would play three teams that were all ranked in the Top 10 at one point this season just to get to the Final Four (Texas, Wisconsin, West Virginia). Texas, who backslid into the tournament, was 17-0 and ranked No. 1 heading into conference play. They certainly have the talent to put it all together; but something, not quite sure what, has prevented them of doing so. Still, I don't like the draw.

The Midwest probably has the most talent packed in one bracket. Kansas, Michigan State, Maryland, Tennessee, Georgetown, Ohio State. Wow... just wow.

3. The Committee obviously had to know they were giving Duke the easiest road. I mean is it that hard to look at the brackets and tell which No. 1 Seed had the toughest or easiest path to Indy? Duke, in contrast of Kentucky's difficult draw, would only need to knock off one team that has been ranked in the Top 10 all year (if top seeds advance). Nova, who some thought would slide to a 3 seed ended up with the best position out of all of the 2's, which leads me to my final thought...

4. So if West Virginia was considered for the 4th No.1 seed, how are they in Kentucky's bracket? Wouldn't reason dictate that they would be the top No.2 seed, thus being in Syracuse's bracket, the last No.1? The only thing I can come up with is that they did not want a 1 and 2 seed from the same conference in the same bracket? However, even using that logic, wouldn't it make more sense to send West Virginia to the South with Duke and Nova to the East with Kentucky? I know the pod system comes into play, but it's just hard to make sense of this.

Okay, there it is; my rant is over. It is what it is and we just have to move on. Kentucky has the keys to their own destiny, as every team does that made the field of 65. If Kentucky is to make a Final Four, then they'll have to earn it, but would we really want it any other way?

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