Winners and losers from Selection Sunday, including Illinois having ‘the easiest advance to the Final Four’ and only 1 Indiana team making the NCAA Tournament field

It’s nice when March Madness doesn’t begin with anger, so let’s thank CBS for again getting right to revealing the brackets on its NCAA Tournament men’s basketball selection show Sunday.

A lot of us remain traumatized by CBS’ big reveal in 2016, a two-hour slog in which the network didn’t bother sharing any matchups for 20 minutes and viewers had to wait 77 minutes for all of the pairings to be announced.

Much like in 2019, it took no more than two minutes for Greg Gumbel, Seth Davis and Clark Kellogg to start revealing the tournament seeding and matchups, and they had the whole tournament laid out by 5:40 p.m.

They actually worked faster this time because Illinois’ overtime victory over Ohio State in the Big Ten Tournament title game delayed the selection show’s start.

That still left 20 minutes for a quick analysis, a perfunctory interview with the selection committee head and the revelation of four understudy schools that might get into the tournament if a team runs into trouble with COVID-19 protocols.

Viewers just want to see who’s in and who’s out and start filling out their pool entries.

Let’s follow CBS’ example and not waste another moment before getting to other Selection Sunday winners and losers.

Winner: Loyola

Welcome back to the dance, Loyola. The nation has missed Sister Jean. Even if she doesn’t get to the games, it’s a safe bet the TV cameras will find her.

Winner: Illinois

ESPN’s LaPhonso Ellis sees Illinois, a No. 1 seed, as having “the easiest advance to the Final Four,” and CBS analysts Davis and Kellogg predicted the Illini will play top overall seed Gonzaga in the national championship game.

Loser: Illinois

Davis and Kellogg both predicted the Illini will lose to undefeated Gonzaga in the national championship game.

Winner: Michigan

Losing to Ohio State in the semifinals of the Big Ten Tournament on Saturday hasn’t hurt Michigan heading into the tournament.

The Buckeyes got big national exposure with Illinois when the title game bled into the selection show, but both of those teams now must turn around and play Friday.

Michigan, meanwhile, got Sunday off and gets to rest until Saturday. The Wolverines also weren’t downgraded by the tournament committee, remaining a No. 1 seed despite senior Isaiah Livers’ foot injury. Ohio State remained a No. 2 seed.

Loser: Geography

The NCAA Tournament long ago gave up geographic significance for its East, West, Midwest and South brackets after the top seed, but it’s especially silly when the entire tournament will be played in Indiana. Then again, it’s better than selling the name outright to what is now each region’s presenting sponsor.

Winner: 1976

With Gonzaga undefeated, expect to hear a lot about 1976 NCAA champion Indiana, the last team to take the title with a perfect record. Bobby Knight’s 31-0 Hoosiers, led by future Chicago Bulls forward Scott May, beat Johnny Orr’s Michigan team.

Also, 1976 was the last time before this year both Duke and Kentucky were not part of the tournament field.

Loser: Indiana basketball

Speaking of the Hoosiers, the entire tournament is in Indiana, yet Purdue was the only school from the state to make the cut? No Indiana, Indiana State, Butler, Ball State, Valparaiso, etc. That might be the biggest surprise since the Cutters won the Little 500 or Hickory upset South Bend Central.

Winner: Media alumni

It’s that time of year when you’re invited to guess — or be told — where your favorite media people went to school. (Wisconsin, here.) Among the local TV, radio and print alma maters represented in the tournament field are Illinois, Loyola, Missouri, Syracuse, Kansas, Michigan, Ohio State, Alabama, Ohio and North Texas.

Winner: Illinois gambling outfits

While it’s illegal for gambling companies in Illinois to take bets on games involving in-state schools, there’s no way for more than one Land of Lincoln team to be alive after the Round of 32. That’s because, assuming neither is knocked off in the first round, Illinois and Loyola would meet in the second round.

The result is fewer tournament games potentially off limits to this state’s bettors.

Loser: Suckers

Those gambling outfits advertising on the selection show are going to make their money back and then some because people who shouldn’t be betting on the tournament won’t be content to stick to their office pool, which they’ll also probably lose.

Winner: The Jackson 5

In pop culture consciousness, there are several songs about Indiana, the exclusive home of this year’s NCAA Tournament. It was always a safe bet that the one to get the most play would be the Jackson 5 1/4 u2032s “Goin’ Back to Indiana,” introduced on the group’s 1971 special from Gary, Ind.

Its status was confirmed when it showed up in a credit card ad with Charles Barkley, Samuel L. Jackson and Spike Lee.

Other contenders included Melissa Etheridge’s “Indiana;” the Indy 500 traditional reprise “Back Home Again in Indiana;” R. Dean Taylor’s ode to fugitive romance, “Indiana Wants Me;” and “Gary, Indiana” from “The Music Man.”

Winner: Patrick Ewing

Former New York Knicks star Patrick Ewing is bringing alma mater Georgetown back to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2015. Can’t wait for the commercial in which he and Lee use a credit card to buy Madison Square Garden.

Loser: NCAA attorneys

The NCAA zealously guards its trademarks, so much so that its lawyers have filed a complaint against a Virginia urologist who trademarked Vasectomy Mayhem, arguing the phrase is too close to its own trademarks for March Mayhem and March Madness.

From where we sit, it seems the NCAA is being a little snippy.