March Madness 2011 Predictions: The Most Overrated and Underrated Teams

The NCAA tournament selection committee may have the final say on both who gets into the field and where those teams are seeded, but that doesn't mean that the committee knows everything. 

Based on the seeding alone, teams are bound to be overrated and underrated. Some of the mistakes are more egregious than others, but to be fair, it's incredibly difficult to get everything set up perfectly. And after all, if it was perfect, what would be the point in even playing out the tournament?

It's really more fun this way. And now that the overrated and underrated teams exist, we get to point them out!

So without further ado, read on for the most poorly-seeded teams of the field of 68. 

Underrated: Kentucky

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ATLANTA, GA - MARCH 13: Brandon Knight #12 of the Kentucky Wildcats celebrates during their 70 to 54 win over the Florida Gators in the championship game of the SEC Men's Basketball Tournament at Georgia Dome on March 13, 2011 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Phot

This is probably the seeding that had me scratching my head more than any other. 

Just hours before Selection Sunday kicked off, the Kentucky Wildcats beat the Florida Gators quite handily, 70-54 to win the SEC tournament championship. Somehow, the Gators wound up with a No. 2 seed while the Wildcats were handed a No. 4 seed and a first-round date with No. 13 Princeton. 

That doesn't exactly seem fair.

Kentucky struggled a bit on the road but still posted a 24-8 record in a difficult SEC East. Kenpom.com has the Wildcats as the No. 8 team in the country, and those rankings were put together before the SEC championship. 

The freshman-laden team should make some noise in the tourney, especially now that it feels snubbed by the committee. 

Overrated: Georgia

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ATLANTA, GA - MARCH 11: Trey Thompkins #33 of the Georgia Bulldogs celebrates after hitting a 3 point shot against the Alabama Crimson Tide during the quarterfinals of the SEC Men's Basketball Tournament at Georgia Dome on March 11, 2011 in Atlanta, Geor

Sticking with the SEC, it's time to move on to my school.

Georgia, in my very biased opinion, absolutely deserved to make the field, but I felt as though they should be one of the last four teams in and forced to play in the opening round. 

Somehow the Bulldogs snuck into the tournament as a No. 10 seed, where they'll play the very underrated Washington Huskies in the first round. 

Georgia doesn't have a single bad loss on the résumé (unless you consider the two losses to Alabama bad losses), but the Bulldogs failed to post too many marquee wins. 

The team has loads of talent but also possesses the remarkable ability to collapse late in games. It kills me to say it, but Georgia is quite overrated based on its seeding. 

Underrated: Utah State

So the Aggies of Utah State went 30-3, winning the WAC championship in the process and only losing to Idaho, Georgetown and BYU. 

That should be the beginning of a very impressive résumé, but the committee didn't see it that way. In fact, the members only chose to give the Aggies a No. 12 seed and a first-round matchup with the Kansas State Wildcats. 

Just to give you a comparison, Ken Pomeroy has Utah State as the 17th-best team in the country, meaning that they should be a No. 5 seed. 

But hey, you're supposed to pick a No. 12 seed to beat a No. 5 seed, so maybe you'll be picking Utah State either way. 

Overrated: Texas A&M

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KANSAS CITY, MO - MARCH 10: Khris Middleton #22 of the Texas A&M Aggies goes up for a shot against the Missouri Tigers during their quarterfinal game in the 2011 Phillips 66 Big 12 Men's Basketball Tournament at Sprint Center on March 10, 2011 in Kansas

After losing by 12 points to the Texas Longhorns in the Big 12 Conference tournament, Texas A&M possessed a 24-8 record with quality wins over Temple, Washington, Missouri, Kansas State and that would be about it. 

This team is good, but not as good as their No. 7 seed indicates. 

The Aggies have an offense that struggles at times and can't always be picked up by their good defense. But the offense won't be able to struggle at all in the tournament if Texas A&M is going to justify the lofty seeding. 

A No. 10 or No. 11 seed would have been more appropriate. 

Underrated: Washington

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LOS ANGELES, CA - MARCH 12: Isaiah Thomas #2 of the Washington Huskies moves the ball while taking on the Arizona Wildcats in the championship game of the 2011 Pacific Life Pac-10 Men's Basketball Tournament at Staples Center on March 12, 2011 in Los Ang

Inconsistency has killed this team throughout the year, but don't let that stop you from considering the Washington Huskies a great team. 

Led by Isaiah Thomas, Justin Holiday and a very experienced batch of players, the Huskies have enough talent to play like a No. 3 seed. 

They proved that when they went on a run through the Pac-10 and eventually took home the title with an overtime nail-biter against Arizona. If they can keep that level of play up, a second-round upset against UNC could be possible. 

But then again, the bad Huskies could show up and blow a first-round game against Georgia. 

Despite the inconsistency, Washington should have gotten more credit than being saddled with a seven beside its name. 

Overrated: Pittsburgh

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VILLANOVA, PA - FEBRUARY 12: Gary McGhee #52 of the Pittsburgh Panthers blocks out Mouphtaou Yarou #13 of the Villanova Wildcats at The Pavilion on February 12, 2011 in Villanova, Pennsylvania. Pittsburgh won 57-54. (Photo by Drew Hallowell/Getty Images)

Now don't get me wrong. Pittsburgh is a great basketball team and it is undoubtedly deserving of at least a No. 2 seed, but I had to include them here because I don't believe that they should have received a No. 1 seed. 

I would have selected either San Diego State, Notre Dame or North Carolina (in that order) ahead of the Panthers. 

Plus, I don't like picking teams that lost early in their conference tournaments to advance too far in my brackets, and that's exactly what happened to Pittsburgh. 

They're a great basketball team, but the committee kind of forced their inclusion on this list. 

Underrated: Texas

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KANSAS CITY, MO - MARCH 11: Tristan Thompson #13 of the Texas Longhorns dunks the ball against the Texas A&M Aggies during their semifinal game in the 2011 Phillips 66 Big 12 Men's Basketball Tournament at Sprint Center on March 11, 2011 in Kansas City,

According to kenpom.com (hopefully by now I've convinced you to go that site), Texas is the fourth-best team in the country. 

The have a great offense and the Longhorns' defensive efficiency is tops in the nation. 

Texas made it all the way to the finals of the Big 12 tournament, where they lost to Kansas. Remember, the Jayhawks are a No. 1 seed.

The Longhorns also went 27-7 and don't really have a single bad loss.

Sounds like they should be given a better seed than a No. 4, right?

Overrated: Florida

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ATLANTA, GA - MARCH 12: Chandler Parsons #25 of the Florida Gators dunks against the Vanderbilt Commodores during the semifinals of the SEC Men's Basketball Tournament at Georgia Dome on March 12, 2011 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty I

According to Mr. Pomeroy, Kentucky is the eighth-best team in the country. Florida is the 16th. 

Florida also just lost to Kentucky by 16 points in the SEC championship game. 

They've also lost to Central Florida, Jacksonville, South Carolina, Mississippi State and Kentucky once more. 

Kentucky got a No. 4 seed. 

Florida got a...No. 2 seed.

What?

Underrated: Belmont

At 30-4, Belmont deserves some respect—especially after winning their conference championship game by 41 points. Now granted, it was the Atlantic Sun Conference championship against North Florida, but still, that's an impressive feat. 

Belmont has one bad loss on the year, a nine-point defeat at Lipscomb. Their other three losses came at the hands of Tennessee (twice) and Vanderbilt. 

But this team is absolutely incredible and needs to be more well known. One of my best friends and I were trying to figure out where they should be seeded and we settled around No. 10, but agreed that they could play like a No. 5 seed. 

The tournament selection committee thought they were only deserving of a No. 13 seed. 

Overrated: BYU

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LAS VEGAS, NV - MARCH 12: Jimmer Fredette #32 of the Brigham Young University Cougars reacts during BYU's 72-54 loss to the San Diego State Aztecs in the championship game of the Conoco Mountain West Conference Basketball tournament at the Thomas & Mack

Without suspended center Brandon Davies, this is not the same team. And yes, this might be the first time you've ever heard someone talk about BYU and mention a name other than Jimmer Fredette first. 

Since Davies left the team, the Cougars have fallen twice, including once to San Diego State by 18 points in the Mountain West championship game. 

Fredette is being forced to hoist up nearly half of his team's field-goal attempts and the team lacks a defensive identity. As soon as they have to play another good team, their season is likely to be over. 

The body of work may be deserving of a No. 3 seed, but this depleted team cannot possibly live up to the expectations that come with that seeding.