In Table 1, I've listed AP rank and points; these ranks and points are placed in column groups to the right corresponding to NCAA tournament region. If the regional brackets were equal, the sum of the AP ranks would be roughly equal, but as indicated in the bottom rows, they're far from it. West ranks accumulate to 25½, far, far, below the Southeast's 45 cumulative. AP points is a more nuanced indicator of cumulative perceived strength because it accounts for differentials between ranks (120 voting points separate #7 and #8; only 6 separate #11 and #12). But, still the West is the toughest, and the Southeast, by far the easiest.
Table | AP | wins- | AP | Region | AP Rank | AP Points | |||||||||||||||
1 | rank | losses | pts | west | sw | se | east | west | sw | se | east | west | sw | se | east | ||||||
--- | 1 | Ohio State (51) | 32-2 | 1,611 | 1 | 1 | 1,611 | ||||||||||||||
2 | Kansas (14) | 32-2 | 1,574 | 1 | 2 | 1,574 | |||||||||||||||
AP | 3 | Duke | 30-4 | 1,472 | 1 | 3 | 1,472 | ||||||||||||||
rank | 4 | Pittsburgh | 27-5 | 1,406 | 1 | 4 | 1,406 | ||||||||||||||
vs. | 5½ | Notre Dame | 26-6 | 1,332 | 2 | 5.5 | 1,332 | ||||||||||||||
bracket | 5½ | San Diego State | 32-2 | 1,322 | 2 | 5.5 | 1,322 | ||||||||||||||
and | 7 | North Carolina | 26-7 | 1,189 | 2 | 7 | 1,189 | ||||||||||||||
seed | 8 | Texas | 27-7 | 1,069 | 4 | 8 | 1,069 | ||||||||||||||
9 | Connecticut | 26-9 | 1,019 | 3 | 9 | 1,019 | |||||||||||||||
10 | Brigham Young U | 30-4 | 977 | 3 | 10 | 977 | |||||||||||||||
11 | Kentucky | 25-8 | 928 | 4 | 11 | 928 | |||||||||||||||
12 | Syracuse | 26-7 | 922 | 3 | 12 | 922 | |||||||||||||||
13 | Purdue | 25-7 | 903 | 3 | 13 | 903 | |||||||||||||||
14 | Louisville | 25-9 | 874 | 4 | 14 | 874 | |||||||||||||||
15 | Florida | 26-7 | 840 | 2 | 15 | 840 | |||||||||||||||
16 | Wisconsin | 23-8 | 619 | 4 | 16 | 619 | |||||||||||||||
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | |||||||||||||||||||||
West Region Total ............................................ | 25½ | 4,882 | |||||||||||||||||||
Southwest Region ............................................ | 34½ | 4,683 | |||||||||||||||||||
Southeast Region ............................................ | 45 | 3,842 | |||||||||||||||||||
East Region Total ............................................ | 31 | 4,650 |
The differential between West and Southeast is considerably worse yet when you look at the top 5 seeds with Arizona (#17, 516 pts) in the West and Kansas State (#21, 240pts) in the Southeast.
The top seven seeds are worth considering because this year, there's a sharp break in the AP voting between Cincinatti (#28, 115 pts) and Old Dominion (#29, 65 pts). Twenty-seven of the 28 #1-7 seeds are in the AP top 28. The exception is UCLA (#42, 3 pts), while Utah State, #19 overall, received only a #12 seed -- the standard non-major conference bias. Why UCLA was deemed worthy of a #7 seed is anyone's guess, but rather than put them in their natural West region, where they could balance an otherwise tough field, they've been placed in the Southeast in the same absurdly weak Southeast sub-bracket.
The Southeast region is especially weak in the lower half of the bracket. It would seem as though the committee was trying to rig a trip to the elite 8 for Florida. The two most outlandish high seeds of the tournament are #7 UCLA and #2 Florida and they'll play each other in the round of 32. in the round of 16, they'll face-off against whoever emerges from the tournament's version of the Paralympics, the sub-bracket of Brigham Young (#3) without their starting center and 2nd best player (dismissed for having had sex) is not remotely a top 10 team, and St. John's (#6) likewise crippled from the loss of their top player.