T1B

Ucla loses Luc Mbah a Moute to a sprained ankle tonight. Even though he is the most expendable starter, his loss could compromise how the "experts" feel he hurts their chances and result in a lesser seed....

Fair?

Damn, I was going to pick them to win it all too.

I don't think that matters much; UCLA is still going to be the #1 seed with the "West" region regardless. You reward what a team has done; you don't project how missing a player will affect a team. Conversely, I think some teams could get the benefit of the doubt if they were without their best player for a period of time but still had a tournament-worthy season. If they lost a guy like Love or Collison or Westbrook; they'd still be a #1 seed but they'd looked upon as vulnerable.

I've never thought injuries should affect seeding......the selection committee should look at the body of work of the season, not be getting out their crystal ball and predicting what will happen in the future, or how an injury will/will not affect a team's performance. The Kenyon Martin injury a few years ago was a prime example of exactly what you are talking about. NCAA should seed teams based on what they have accomplished, or not accomplished on the court.

the Kenyon Martin injury in 99 (?) is about the best example. personally, Cincy is by far the odds on fave to win that year. they might not have won, but they WERE the best team in country with Martin. I think.

the best team doesn't always win. but, it's makes the tournament different if he plays.

he's not much to love as a Denver Nugget, i'll you that. but, was a great college player. no doubt about that.

Injuries, suspension should NEVER affect a seeding. I don't care if you're without your entire starting lineup. You get a seeding/berth based solely on your resume, not by who will be in uniform for the tournament. If you start booting teams or dropping a teams seed based on injuries than you have to go back through the entire year and see who beat who with who!!

For example..... If you're going to base a teams seed/berth on injuries than it's only fair to discredit any wins against quality opponents that were playing without top player(s). Conversely, if you're going to do that you can't count a bad loss against a team that was playing without their top player(s). But you can't expect the committee to go back and check every single game played and see who was or was not playing. That's ridiculous.

So, no, injuries should not impact anything. Your resume is your resume regardless of who will not be playing in the tournament.