College Basketball 2016: Wide Open on the Way to March

[Greywolf2375]

3 minutes ago, Rhom said:

Calipari sort of addressed that in his rant when interviewed in ESPN.

 

Have fun embarassing the America East sacrifical lamb in rd 1 - that game could be the ugliest of the 1st found.

Almost embarrassing Duke got a 4 seed with the way they played over the last few weeks.  

[Mexal]

2 hours ago, KingintheNorth4 said:

St. Bonaventure had a RPI of 29 and didn't get in. Ouch, talk about a snub.

Yea, that sucks for the Bonnies. They were a really good team (better than WSU at the very least) with some great guards. I feel for them.

[DireWolfSpirit]

In honor of the St. Bonnies let us remember St. Lanier-

[RedEyedGhost]

6 hours ago, DireWolfSpirit said:

Izzo said he didnt care whether they got a 1 seed in the B10 championship postgame interview. We were a 7 seed and made the final 4 last year so i'm not overly concerned. Looks like we may get a shot at Virginny in the Midwest bracket, bring on the games baby!!!!

Maybe he should care?  The one championship he has won was as a #1 seed.  Just saying....  Seeding really shouldn't matter once you're in the Final Four, but he's 1 for 3 for championships as a #1 seed in the Final Four, he's 0 for 4 as a lower seed.  He's also made the Final Four 3 out of the 4 times he's had a #1 seed.  So it seems to me that he's either being myopic in saying that he doesn't care about getting a #1 seed or it's just coach speak (what I think is most likely).   

[DireWolfSpirit]

31 minutes ago, RedEyedGhost said:

Maybe he should care?  The one championship he has won was as a #1 seed.  Just saying....  Seeding really shouldn't matter once you're in the Final Four, but he's 1 for 3 for championships as a #1 seed in the Final Four, he's 0 for 4 as a lower seed.  He's also made the Final Four 3 out of the 4 times he's had a #1 seed.  So it seems to me that he's either being myopic in saying that he doesn't care about getting a #1 seed or it's just coach speak (what I think is most likely).   

Izzo is ever the motivator. My impression is he wants the team to go into the tournament feeling they need to prove something. His style has always been to let the players feel "there's another hill we need to push just a little more". "Big Ten championship? That's nice, but it won't help you in the tournament." He's always going to move the goalposts trying to get the team to leave every ounce of energy on the floor, he's always been that way.

[Ramsay B.]

6 hours ago, KingintheNorth4 said:

St. Bonaventure had a RPI of 29 and didn't get in. Ouch, talk about a snub.

Yeah tough break for them, and the likes of Syracuse and Tulsa make it somehow. 

I went from happy that Uconn won their tourney to pretty sour that we're just a 9 seed facing Kansas if we win. I understand the AAC isn't very good but I figured we would be a 7 seed.  A lot of weird seedings all around. 

[RedEyedGhost]

The Kenpom 20/20 rule: since 2002 when Ken started his rankings, only two teams have not finished the year ranked in both the top 20 of offensive and defensive efficiency - 2009 UNC 1 on offense/21 on defense and 2014 UCONN 39 on offense/10 on defense   In fact in 7 of the 14 years the champion has been top 10 in both (neither of the past two years though).

With all the talk of parity this year I was surprised at how many teams meet that criteria this season (o/d):

1. KU 8/5
2. Virginia 9/4
3. MSU 2/19
4. UNC 4/16
5. Villanova 11/7
6. OU 20/11

And several that are close:

1. WVU 23/6
2. Purdue 21/18
3. Miami 12/44
4. Xavier 18/36
5. Arizona 17/40
6. aTm 36/12
7. Iowa 25/31
8. Maryland 26/37
9. Vandy 32/34

As teams make deep runs in the tourney the efficiency numbers keep increasing, so it's possible that some of those teams in the "close" section could play their way into the top 20/20, I think only WVU, Purdue, and aTm really have that potential.  I was also shocked that Iowa and Vandy were as high as they are, because I give them a solid 0% chance of winning the whole.  

Maybe we get another outlier winner like UCONN in 2014 (it makes me wonder what their numbers were going into the tournament), but 1/14 doesn't make me think we will.  So, I'm quite confident that the champion will be one of the those 9 teams. 

• KU: yeah here's your champion  15-3 against the RPI top 50.  Battle tested.
• Virginia: initially I had thought they had a breeze of a path to the Elite Eight, but maybe Purdue will be a much tougher out than I originally thought.  Tough, tough region for the Wahoos.
• MSU: possible match up with Virginia in the Elite Eight could be very exciting, MSU has knocked UVA out of the tourney each of the past two years.  The bottom of the bracket looks so much easier than Virginia's top half.
• UNC: honestly, I'm surprised their numbers are so high.  They're only 5-5 against the RPI top 50
• Villanova: they're too much of a shooting team for me to think they're a legit threat to win it all - as evidenced by their utter annihilation at the hands of OU early in the year.  Arcidiacano is the only player in college that's been around longer than Perry Ellis
• OU: same problem as Villanova - one bad shooting night and you're out, but their guards are just so damn good, that I could easily see them cutting the nets down.  It's funny how similar their numbers are to Purdue
• WVU: legit threat - with, I think, a very winnable path to the Elite Eight, just a terrible shooting team though, but this really hasn't been a hindrance to them all year because they do extremely well on the offensive glass.  Strong rebounding teams and "unfriendly" refs are their biggest threat
• Purdue: I really know very little about them, and don't think I've watched more than about 10 minutes of them all season
• aTm: big, physical, experienced (but not in the tourney) team, and that's always good in the tournament, but I don't know much about them either. How's their guard play?

That's my post, and I'm sticking to it (and yes, I'm well aware it shows my Big XII bias, but right now I think the only other Big XII team I'll pick to advance to the Sweet 16, is possibly Baylor).

[Rhom]

Vegas odds to win the tourney.  I'll take it.

[Fez]

I was hoping for at least a little better than a #14 seed for Buffalo. Last year the team was a #12 seed, and even though their record is a little worse this year they are playing better. It was just a tougher schedule this year (still not anywhere close enough to qualify if they hadn't won the MAC, but everything's relative).

Playing Miami in the first round is just a real tall order for trying to get an upset. And the game is in Providence, which is just far enough away that I have to really think hard about whether I want to try to get to the game in person.

[Mexal]

Joe Lunardi was not happy with the job the selection committee did. Seems like there are a lot of complaints this year, more than usual.

[Ded As Ned]

19 hours ago, Ded As Ned said:

I went ahead and setup a pool for us: https://yho.com/tourney?g=59582&k=efad5c4f7823b328&soc_trk=lnk

Password is GRRM

bump

[Rhom]

29 minutes ago, Ded As Ned said:

bump

Thanks so much!  I'll get in there later today.

Like I said, I already have stuff I have to do this weekend... but if there was any chance at all to make it to Des Moines, I'd be there in a heartbeat.  Kansas, UConn, Kentucky, IU all in one arena?!!?    Yes please.  If everything works out and you get those four all playing on Saturday, that'll be a tough ticket.

[Michael Seswatha Jordan]

Happy with WVU bracket. Seen where someone on ESPN picked them to win the East. I got them losing to UNC in mine. Though, as long as we hit some shots, there isn't a team we can't beat. Graham played lights out in the BIG XII championship, sweet shot he has. Anyhow,  I hope we make a run and don't get knocked out early. Need to make this great season one to remember. 

[Rhom]

I'm in... but I'm also in a Yahoo pool from a UK message board I'm in, and I couldn't figure out how to make a different bracket.   

So I'm in there as chirop1.  It'd be so much easier if I had one online identity everywhere!   

Is it Thursday yet?!!?  I'm excited! 

Actually, I do think that these play in games are going to be good.  I'm anticipating Vandy/Wichita State to be a great ballgame.

[Ded As Ned]

Rhom I haven't checked but last year they had an "import bracket" feature where you could import the same picks from another pool (i think it was the default and you had to change it).  I'll check it out when I'm home from work and provide more info if you're interested in making different picks between the other Yahoo pools you're in.  I'm in three but I haven't started making picks yet.

[Fez]

Created my bracket. I have Kansas winning it all. I don't feel good about that at all, but with the way my final four shaped up I don't see any of the other three winning it.

I'm going to lose badly of course though. I have Buffalo over Miami, and in a show of SUNY solidarity have Stony Brook over Kentucky. And all sorts of other more reasonable, but still unlikely, upsets.

[Rhom]

22 minutes ago, Ded As Ned said:

Rhom I haven't checked but last year they had an "import bracket" feature where you could import the same picks from another pool (i think it was the default and you had to change it).  I'll check it out when I'm home from work and provide more info if you're interested in making different picks between the other Yahoo pools you're in.  I'm in three but I haven't started making picks yet.

Yeah, the import bracket was the only option given to me... I would have likely had all the same picks, but I would have given it a different name!

[Rhom]

16 minutes ago, Fez said:

Created my bracket. I have Kansas winning it all. I don't feel good about that at all, but with the way my final four shaped up I don't see any of the other three winning it.

I'm going to lose badly of course though. I have Buffalo over Miami, and in a show of SUNY solidarity have Stony Brook over Kentucky. And all sorts of other more reasonable, but still unlikely, upsets.

 

[Ded As Ned]

I finished 2nd last year, so I'm looking to get over the hump this year.  Although with how likely this tourney is to be even more chaotic than usual, I think the winner might be lucky to get even 2 final four correct.

[RedEyedGhost]

New thread.