Blanchette: It was good to avoid neighborhood fracas

Looks as if the NCAA’s picking panel was having so much fun with its bracket that it had no need to manufacture more by matching the 509’s finest in the big gym in the 206.

That, plus Gonzaga and Eastern Washington were too good to make it even an amusing fantasy.

Besides, we’re always told the committee never aims to contrive drama and storylines for us, being too busy following policies and procedures, and tripping over its untied shoelaces by inviting UCLA to the party.

Scott Barnes, this year’s committee chair and our old friend from his days as athletic director at EWU, spent a lot of time Sunday trying to justify the UCLA misstep – not only putting the Bruins in, but not sending them to Dayton for play-in duty. At one point, he settled on the rationale that the Bruins were “gaining steam” in the season’s closing weeks, which must mean that they were no longer being held under 10 points in the first half, as they were against Kentucky.

What was gaining steam was the bracket outrage.

It’s good to have it back.

Murray State snubbed, Dayton playing in Dayton, Indiana a 10 seed, midmajors back in Shaftsville. Colorado State coach Larry Eustachy wouldn’t even take questions Sunday, so wary was he of torching the pickers for stiff-arming his Rams.

But here in Spokane County? Serenity now.

Gonzaga got the No. 2 it’s been pretty much assured since the loss at home to Brigham Young on Feb. 28 knocked them out of a potential No. 1 that was bound to work up even more public lather than the Zags’ breakthrough to that status two years ago.

They didn’t handle that pressure all so well then, and coach Mark Few will appreciate a break from “the vitriol,” remembering his reaction to the reaction as “Why are you hating on my team? They won games, that’s all they did.”

Being a two seed is not a date in a sensory deprivation tank, but it’s less likely to turn into a bogeyman. Many will offer Notre Dame and Iowa State as more deserving, but those arguments are always half-hearted – people losing interest after the No. 1s are named.

Nor is it an overly daunting course for the Bulldogs to the tournament’s second weekend, if you dare to imagine. And, of course, the Zags have been booked into Seattle’s KeyArena for Friday’s nightcap against North Dakota State, where this 17-year assault on the law of averages – and credulity – began.

With the Zags a two, any back-fence silliness in the Key with Eastern would have required the Eags to be slotted at No. 15.

But a 26-8 record, a 75 RPI and one of the Big Sky Conference’s more impressive out-of-league resumes of late got the Eagles a nod of respect and a 13 seed. No Sky team has been seeded better than that since 2006.

Even better: the Eagles, too, got to stay out West – in Portland on Thursday night against Georgetown, whose No. 4 seed was widely considered a gift, and thus making the Hoyas a pretty good target for both bracket critics and the Eagles.

EWU coach Jim Hayford did have one quibble.

“I was hoping we’d be in the same facility as Gonzaga,” he said, “so the community could cheer both teams on.”

Well, those with the constitution for a commute up I-5 and deep pockets to buy tickets at both venues may still get that done.

Hayford did not voice any regrets about the NCAA not scheduling a neighborhood friendly, nor should anyone. The longer there are multiple rooting interests locally, the less moaning you’ll be doing about Stephen F. Austin and Wofford blowing up your office pool bracket.

The whole point is that this is a national tournament. If EWU and Gonzaga ever want to work out something in December again, swell. If not, so be it. We don’t need it in March. We’re happy to see Washington and the Zags scheduling each other again next year, yes, and while we missed it for a few seasons, college basketball hereabouts survived nicely.

Instead, we now get to see the Zags – back in something of a rhythm off their revenge blitz of BYU – try to maintain it against the upstart Bison, whose metrics suggest they play at the pace of grazing ungulates. The Eags, meanwhile, will see what it can do against the Princeton offensive principles of Georgetown – and if they can take that six-minute finishing stretch against Montana and stretch it to 40.

And that’s only half the fun.

“When my friends fill out their brackets in their office, they have to pick a 13 seed – it’s awesome,” Hayford said. “It’s great to throw all that pressure on my friends.”