I Can Read Math, And I Need Help...

I need a Bracketologist to educate me. I have questions. March questions. Admittedly, these questions arise from not fully understanding the Net system or how teams are being evaluated for the NCAA tournament. Someone can set me straight and I'm perfectly fine.

It starts here:

How does Virginia Tech, with the fourth-best Net and fewest number of Q1+Q2 wins, earn a middle seed? And don't give me the "they play in the ACC and thus played a tougher schedule" argument. You don't get to double dip. Schedule strength is part of the calculation. Their strength of schedule is 86 on KenPom. Good, but not exactly chock full of the 1984 Lakers.

How is Michigan State, with a Net of 67, fairly safely in the field? Five Q1 wins you say? Awesome, I'll buy that. Why then is Louisville, 1-5 in Q1 games, also in better shape than VCU? Ditto Maryland, who has lost 12 of 18 Q1/2 games.

And while we're at it, how is Michigan State--better in Q1/2 games than Maryland and carrying the 5th hardest schedule in the country, 33 spots behind the Terps in the Net.?

This is a VCU blog so this is the ultimate question: how is VCU, with better metrics than any of the teams in the above chart, the closest to the cutline? It makes no damned sense to me, other than the obvious answer: a deeply flawed metric favors the brand names.

One final question and then I'm going to cheer on Drexel: what are the chances Syracuse, listed in the first four out in the major bracketology exercises despite a 1-6 Q1 mark and a Net 14 spots behind VCU, beats NC State and then Virginia to sew up a bid?

I mean, other than 100%?