To me it seems this regional and the end of season limpedness,
gives some people the option to take the excuse route to woe-is-me-ville....
"well it was a really tough draw in a tough region so gosh we just gave it our all but ...."
as opposed to standing up and embracing the expectations of success as the 1st seed they should have been.
who knows just seems like I'm getting this excuse-a-vibe by quite a few folks.