The NCAA is "looking into how its NCAA tournament bracket leaked on the Internet before it was unveiled during CBS's Selection Sunday show," according to Nicole Auerbach of USA TODAY. NCAA D-I Men's Basketball Committee Chair Joe Castiglione said, "It was surprising and very regrettable. I wasn't made aware of it until just before I was walking onto the set for [a] live shot with CBS." Auerbach noted the bracket "leaked about halfway through CBS's two-hour special" (USATODAY.com, 3/13). In N.Y., Bernie Augustine reports Page2Sports.com Founder Eric Rosenthal "leaked the entire NCAA Tournament bracket on Twitter." Rosenthal tweeted, "NCAA imma let you finish but this is the worst selection committee of all-time." He then "leaked what he presented as the entire NCAA Tournament bracket." Augustine: "And he was right" (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 3/14). ESPN.com's O'Neil & Goodman noted by the time the bracket had been leaked, the South and West regions had "been revealed, and they were identical to the leaked versions." Saint Mary's coach Randy Bennett, whose team did not make the tournament, in a text message wrote, "Our entire team saw it before the fourth region was out. We were ready to leave at that point" (ESPN.com, 3/13). Dayton coach Archie Miller: "A couple people walked in and said we're playing Syracuse. I said, 'How do we know that?' They said there's a leaked bracket. I rolled my eyes, and I got 30 text messages in the next 10 minutes that said we've got the Cuse in St. Louis" (DAYTON DAILY NEWS, 3/14).
OFF THE RECORD: In K.C., Jeff Rosen notes several Twitter users, including a couple with apparent K.C.-area sports ties, "posted the bracket at about the same time during the selection show." One such user "declined to be interviewed or say on the record how the bracket had been obtained." By last night, the user had "either removed his Twitter account, or had it disabled" (K.C. STAR, 3/14). ESPN Radio’s Mike Golic said, “It should not shock us in this day and age of social media and everything being out there instantly. … Talk about just a buzzkill, when all the sudden you can click one link and there it is for you. The shame of it is a couple of teams found out they were not in the tournament that way” ("Mike & Mike," ESPN Radio, 3/14).
CONTINGENT UPON THIS: CBSSPORTS.com's Matt Norlander wrote the NCAA on Saturday for the first time in history "invited select members of the media" into its selection committee room. The specific details on teams, seeds and selections "were not disclosed," but as of Saturday morning, 21 teams "were battling for seven at-large spots." Sources said that this season "amounts to the toughest selection process in years -- more than a decade." Also revealed was that the committee would "have its 68-team field determined later Saturday night." There would "be contingency brackets," but the general template of 68 teams would have been "agreed upon" before committee members went to bed Saturday night (CBSSPORTS.com, 3/12).
