I wind up the same place almost every basketball season. You live and die by each game's results, which is fine and normal. But at the end of the day, basketball might be the most "random" of the major sports. Some days you have it, some days you don't. Some days bounces go your ways, other times they go straight to the other team. Some days you can't get an open shot to fall while your opponent can't miss. It happens.
The beauty of college basketball is it's all about how you play in March and how you match up with the teams in your bracket. Just look at Lunardi's bracket. Let's say the loss causes us to flip with Kansas State. We were a 5 seed who would have had to play Hofstra/ Villanova/Duke. K State was a 6 seed having to play Alabama, Houston, Michigan State. So by dropping seeds I'm not sure you've done that much to hurt your overall chances. It's just all very random .