Southern California is a bit easier to buy, especially in place of Colorado. The Trojans played better once transfer Jio Fontan became eligible in mid-December, and the Buffaloes were punished in part because they played a terrible nonconference schedule.

That was a toss-up, and it’s easy to handle a miss when you know it was a coin-flip going in.

As for UAB over Virginia Tech … the best explanation for how exactly that happened was the committee valued the Blazers’ plethora of Conference USA victories enough to nudge them into the field.

The Blazers were 10-7 against the top 100. Virginia Tech was 8-8.

The Blazers were 1-4 against the tournament field. Virginia Tech was 4-6.

The Blazers had an RPI of 31. Virginia Tech was No. 62.

Clearly, the committee valued UAB’s work in Conference USA more than most. So that’s the story there.

2-Florida (picked as a 3)3-Brigham Young (picked as a 4), Purdue (picked as a 4)4-Kentucky (picked as a 3)5-Arizona (picked as a 6), West Virginia (picked as a 6)6-Cincinnati (picked as a 5), Georgetown (picked as a 7), St. John’s (picked as a 5)7-Texas A&M (picked as a 7), UCLA (picked as an 8)9-Villanova (picked as an 8)10-Michigan State (picked as an 11), Penn State (picked as an 11)11-Gonzaga (picked as a 10), Marquette (picked as a 10), VCU (picked as a 12 play-in)13-Morehead State (picked as a 14)14-Bucknell (picked as a 13), Wofford (picked as a 15)15-Long Island (picked as a 14), UC Santa Barbara (picked as a 15)16-Boston University (picked as a 15)

Not seeded correctly or within one line (8)

4-Texas (picked as a 2)8-Butler (picked as an 11), Michigan (picked as an 11)9-Old Dominion (picked as a 7)10-Georgia (picked as a 12)11-Missouri (picked as a 9)12-Richmond (picked as a 10), Utah State (picked as a 9)