SI Coverage of West Region

http://www.si.com/college-basketball/2015/03/15/ncaa-touranment-west-region-preview-prediction-wisconsin-arizona

I was a big fan of the way Sports Illustrated presented its predictions for this years NCAA tournament.  They divided their coverage into the four different regions and gave each the time it deserved.  If you click on the link above, you’ll find that I selected the West Region for this blog.  This is because my beloved hometown North Carolina Tar Heels (born and bred), are the 4 seed.  I was interested in what SI had to say.

To be hoenst I was not a huge fan of the website layout.  It seemed a little clunky and did not flow well.  I wanted to be able to see all the components at once. In fairness however, the website contained a lot.  There was an article that highlighted the expert’s main predictions about the region, a video that expanded on his viewpoints, and then an info graphic at the bottom of the page that compared the #1 seeds across all four regions. 

As a fan of North Carolina I was naturally interested in what the expert, Seth Davis, had to say.  I tended to agree with his analysis of the situation.  Arizona and Wisconsin are good this year.  Very good.  In my own bracket I did pick them to Elite Eight.  However, I do hold out hope for my Tar Heels.  He says that there is an outside chance that they along with Virginia Commonwealth University and Baylor could come out of the region and into the Final Four. 

The info graphic was also of note.  I would have liked to see it be of the 16 teams in the west, or at least the top four seeds.  However, it does provide a strong statistical comparison of Duke, Kentucky, Wisconsin, and Villanova.  It compared their records at home, away, in conference, and overall.  Additionally it presented side-by-side analysis of their points per games, points allowed per game, assists per game, etc… Accompanying the stats were circles that varied in completeness depending on how the team’s statistics stood up against the competition.  I understood the concept but I think it could have been done better.  Perhaps a basketball pie graph for the percentages?   At the bottom of the info graphic was a link to an expanded comparison of the four number one seeds.  Here the info graphics accompanying the statistics made more sense.  They were triangles that denoted the relative position of the team statistically compared to others in that category.  Accompanying the statistics was information on past championships, home venues, Final Four appearances, and a roster.  Additionally one could take out and replace any team.  So for instance I naturally replaced Kentucky with my Tar Heels to see how they stacked up against Duke.  Despite knowing most of the information, I found re-reading quite enjoyable.

In regards to the video, I thought it did a decent job of expanding upon the text.  As a little bit of a sports junky I would have liked the video to have run longer and go more in-depth.  Oh well.