March Madness thread

wibi

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I'm with you. No one has an easier path to the round of 16 than MSU, and their likely regional opponents (Utah or Seton Hall in the semi, UVA or ISU in the final) are hardly invincible. I'd take MSU's draw over just about anyone else's.
I wouldnt be so sure Seton Hall makes it out of the first round. Gonzaga is hot right now and their guard play which sucked early in the season (after Karnowski went down with the back injury) is now stellar.
 

canderson

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SFA gets the 7:10 CBS draw vs West Virginia.

It's an interesting matchup. SFA is 1st in turnovers forced, WVU is 2nd. Both teams play fast. SFA's coach Brad Underwood coached under Huggins.

SFA beat VCU's press two years ago abd this team is better. They'll get killed inside because size so have to be hitting outside shots.
 

Hobson's Choice

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The A-10 Commissioner is pissed.

Quite honestly, something needs to be done when it comes to deserving mid-majors vs a glut of majors. St. Bonny, Monmouth, St. Mary's, all of which have strong candidacy, lose out to the Big Boys every time. Maybe it's time to cap the number of teams that can make the tournament from a particular conference, and yeah, I'm talking about the Pac-12 in particular this time. Maybe it would be interesting if the ACC knew in advance that they were only going to get 5 bids?

But more to the point, why isn't it 72? Add 4 more play-ins and be done with it.
 

WayBackVazquez

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Quite honestly, something needs to be done when it comes to deserving mid-majors vs a glut of majors. St. Bonny . . . lose out to the Big Boys every time.

No they don't. The A10 had six bids in each of the last two years, based almost wholly on RPI, which is like deciding the MLB playoffs on the basis of which team stole the most bases. St. Bonaventure's best win was against St. Joseph's, and it lost games to La Salle, Duquesne, and Siena. It's ranked #79 by KenPom and Sagarin. If they got in, that would be the travesty. The more the committee gets away from reliance on the antiquated RPI, the better.
 
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The Napkin

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right here
The conspiracy theorist in me also thinks the NCAA wanted no part of the Monmouth bench getting any tournament air time.
 

WayBackVazquez

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Thanks for responding. I probably would served myself better by not mentioning St. Bonaventure.
Well, I'm not sure Monmouth has anything going for it outside of (a not too impressive) RPI, either. It's ranked #67 by KenPom, #81 by Sagarin. Even going by RPI, what is really the case for a team whose best wins are over #32 and #48, and has losses to #209, #220, and #231? (As compared to say, Michigan, whose best wins are over #14 and #15, and worst three losses are to #35, #42, and #72.)

These teams don't always "lose out to the big boys," and when they do, it's usually because they don't deserve to be there.
 

HomeRunBaker

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Well, I'm not sure Monmouth has anything going for it outside of (a not too impressive) RPI, either. It's ranked #67 by KenPom, #81 by Sagarin. Even going by RPI, what is really the case for a team whose best wins are over #32 and #48, and has losses to #209, #220, and #231? (As compared to say, Michigan, whose best wins are over #14 and #15, and worst three losses are to #35, #42, and #72.)

These teams don't always "lose out to the big boys," and when they do, it's usually because they don't deserve to be there.
Bingo!

Michigan didn't lose to Army and Canisius.....Monmouth did. The solution for smaller conference teams to not get squeezed out is to not to lose to Army and Canisius. Had they won these games they would be in.
 

canderson

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SFA sold out of their ticket alotment in about an hour. That's amazing, and awesome!

It'll cost us like $1,000 all-in to go since we'd need a hotel and crap, not sure I'll pull that trigger.
 

wibi

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SFA sold out of their ticket alotment in about an hour. That's amazing, and awesome!

It'll cost us like $1,000 all-in to go since we'd need a hotel and crap, not sure I'll pull that trigger.
Go. Every March I have regrets of not going to the Gonzaga run back in 1999.
 

Grimace-HS

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Quite honestly, something needs to be done when it comes to deserving mid-majors vs a glut of majors. St. Bonny, Monmouth, St. Mary's, all of which have strong candidacy, lose out to the Big Boys every time. Maybe it's time to cap the number of teams that can make the tournament from a particular conference, and yeah, I'm talking about the Pac-12 in particular this time. Maybe it would be interesting if the ACC knew in advance that they were only going to get 5 bids?

But more to the point, why isn't it 72? Add 4 more play-ins and be done with it.
I do agree with this for the most part. Monmouth is a team that I believe should certainly have been chosen, especially given a few teams that were selected instead of them. The advice given to mid-majors has always been to either dominate and win their league, or at least prove they can compete with out-of-conference games. I'm just not sure what more they could have done....23 road or neutral site games (the only non-conference home game all season was a win against Wagner; who won the NEC regular season title). Being successful with this schedule away from home, and going 10-1 at home (only loss was to Iona), and then making the tournament final and losing by three points shows that they scheduled a tough road out-of-conference schedule, won their league's regular season schedule, and made it to the finals and lost a one possession game. The three losses to Army, Canisius, and Manhattan were cited as the reasons they missed out; but these were also road losses (two by 7 points). For a mid-major to be consistently good and take on challenges all season long should still be allotted some margin of error, especially when they were on the road so much. The message left seems to be that they had to be perfect or win the league tournament.

I would like to see a few more breaks given to mid-majors that try to take on these challenges. I'm not sure a conference can be limited in bids, but perhaps make "20 wins" a minimum (or winning percentage). I also read somewhere (apologies if it was up-thread as I've read a lot over the past few days) that shifted the automatic bid to the regular season winner. The conference tournaments generate money and help teams get in, but those that demonstrated success throughout the entire season shouldn't necessarily miss out if they drop a game. Perhaps the regular season champs of the mid-majors get the automatic bid; then select the best 3-4 of the mid-major conference champions to get the other at-large mid-major bids (or something like this to make both the regular season and conference tournaments have significant impacts).

A side note is that the NIT does have a very good field of teams, so I would expect some very good games to be played there.
 

DukeSox

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I started typing up this list to demonstrate how few "mid majors" make the Final Four, given that the entire point of the Tournament is to crown a champion and not to say 'good job for having a pretty good season!', so you want teams in it that can really compete, but i ended up surprised by how long the list grew.

Since 2000 (16 final fours, so 64 teams), there have been 8 teams from mid-majors to make the final four - i.e., every other year on average. I wouldn't have expected it to be that frequent.

Marquette 2003 C-USA
George Mason 2006 Colonial
Memphis 2008 C-USA
Butler 2010 Horizon
Butler 2011 Horizon
VCU 2011 Colonial
Wichita State 2013 MVU
Connecticut 2014 American
 

WayBackVazquez

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I'm not going to argue with you except to say your dismissal of losses to three sub-200 RPI teams is not very convincing. And if given the chance between taking their chances with the selection committee and getting to play their way in by beating Iona, I have a feeling Syracuse, Michigan, et al, would choose playing the Mighty Gaels.

But to your other point, the leagues decide how they want to award their automatic bid. If the MAAC wanted to award its bid to the regular season champ, it could do so. But it--like the other leagues--would rather gamble on the cash grab and potential Cinderella story that might get its conference an extra invite. I'm not going to weep for them.
 

HomeRunBaker

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I do agree with this for the most part. Monmouth is a team that I believe should certainly have been chosen, especially given a few teams that were selected instead of them. The advice given to mid-majors has always been to either dominate and win their league, or at least prove they can compete with out-of-conference games. I'm just not sure what more they could have done....
Not lose to THREE teams in the 200's? You say yourself that these teams are asked to dominate their conference......Monmouth didn't.
 

WalletTrack

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Not lose to THREE teams in the 200's? You say yourself that these teams are asked to dominate their conference......Monmouth didn't.
VCU barely did -Joe Castig himself spoke to the importance types of wins road,neutral, home, and strength of opponent. Penalizing a team for the crappy losses,stinks!
Monmouth play big against big comp. Any team can can suck few games, play down so to speak.
The Committee Marvin Hagler'ed Monmouth. Kept them out cause they're damn dangerous.

BTW Villain Brackets are out.
 

TallManinOregon

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raise your hand if you saw Oregon play a game this year.
I saw them three times in person and pretty much every other game either on TV or radio (went old school for a few).
  • First, if you're questioning the Ducks and the 1-seed, I simply ask, if Arizona won the regular season title and and the conference tournament - whether or not you saw a single Pac 12 game - would you question them getting a 1-seed? Check the resume (RPI, Top 50 and Top 100 wins, etc.) and get back to me.
  • Second, Dana Altman is a really, really good college basketball coach. Look at his resume. Look at his time at Creighton. And as far as what he's done with the Ducks in the 6 years he's been in Eugene, it's like a goddamn magic show with the players he's actually had here.
  • Third and finally, Chris Boucher is the first legitimate rim protector the Ducks have had in the 20 years I've been out here. And the fact the kid can stretch the floor is gravy. Dillon Brooks, Elgin Cook and Dwayne Benjamin (off the bench) all played what I can only call "veteran" basketball down the stretch... what I mean by that is: College hoops talent has become pretty watered down and these three in particular have a certain poise and attitude/tenacity that has been nothing short of impressive. They could have rolled over a few times (and the Bay Area trip was tough to watch) but seasoned teams respond to adversity and these Ducks have answered that bell.
So, yeah... [Raising_Hand] ... I've seen Oregon play this year.
 

DJnVa

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I just want an Oregon-Baylor matchup for the uniform possibilities.
 

johnmd20

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I saw them three times in person and pretty much every other game either on TV or radio (went old school for a few).
  • First, if you're questioning the Ducks and the 1-seed, I simply ask, if Arizona won the regular season title and and the conference tournament - whether or not you saw a single Pac 12 game - would you question them getting a 1-seed? Check the resume (RPI, Top 50 and Top 100 wins, etc.) and get back to me.
  • Second, Dana Altman is a really, really good college basketball coach. Look at his resume. Look at his time at Creighton. And as far as what he's done with the Ducks in the 6 years he's been in Eugene, it's like a goddamn magic show with the players he's actually had here.
  • Third and finally, Chris Boucher is the first legitimate rim protector the Ducks have had in the 20 years I've been out here. And the fact the kid can stretch the floor is gravy. Dillon Brooks, Elgin Cook and Dwayne Benjamin (off the bench) all played what I can only call "veteran" basketball down the stretch... what I mean by that is: College hoops talent has become pretty watered down and these three in particular have a certain poise and attitude/tenacity that has been nothing short of impressive. They could have rolled over a few times (and the Bay Area trip was tough to watch) but seasoned teams respond to adversity and these Ducks have answered that bell.
So, yeah... [Raising_Hand] ... I've seen Oregon play this year.
And, yet, isn't it preordained they are going to lose in the Round of 32 or Sweet 16? Same with Virginia. Everytime one of these pretender, out of nowhere teams who never really make it deep in the tourney get high seeds, they always seem to fail very early. Wichita did it two years ago, although they got screwed with a terrible second round matchup with one of the best teams in college.(kentucky) Virginia was a 1 in 2014, too, and lost in the third round.
 

WayBackVazquez

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I saw them three times in person and pretty much every other game either on TV or radio (went old school for a few).
  • First, if you're questioning the Ducks and the 1-seed, I simply ask, if Arizona won the regular season title and and the conference tournament - whether or not you saw a single Pac 12 game - would you question them getting a 1-seed?
Well, last year they did, but they didn't.
 

DukeSox

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Obama picks the overall #1 seed. Again. Without factchecking, that feels like the 7th time in a row he's done that (or however long he's been doing this).
 

TallManinOregon

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I am not just saying that Oregon deserves a No. 1 seed... but they definitely earned it. My point is that America questions the 1-seed for the Ducks and nobody would have said Boo if Arizona was a 1-seed in the same situation.
Truth be told, I'd be happier and more comfortable from a fan perspective with a 2 seed for the reasons mentioned above..

I just want an Oregon-Baylor matchup for the uniform possibilities.
They already played and beat Baylor. The uniforms were relatively tame.
http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/recap?gameId=400818879
 

Clears Cleaver

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I saw them three times in person and pretty much every other game either on TV or radio (went old school for a few).
  • First, if you're questioning the Ducks and the 1-seed, I simply ask, if Arizona won the regular season title and and the conference tournament - whether or not you saw a single Pac 12 game - would you question them getting a 1-seed? Check the resume (RPI, Top 50 and Top 100 wins, etc.) and get back to me.
  • Second, Dana Altman is a really, really good college basketball coach. Look at his resume. Look at his time at Creighton. And as far as what he's done with the Ducks in the 6 years he's been in Eugene, it's like a goddamn magic show with the players he's actually had here.
  • Third and finally, Chris Boucher is the first legitimate rim protector the Ducks have had in the 20 years I've been out here. And the fact the kid can stretch the floor is gravy. Dillon Brooks, Elgin Cook and Dwayne Benjamin (off the bench) all played what I can only call "veteran" basketball down the stretch... what I mean by that is: College hoops talent has become pretty watered down and these three in particular have a certain poise and attitude/tenacity that has been nothing short of impressive. They could have rolled over a few times (and the Bay Area trip was tough to watch) but seasoned teams respond to adversity and these Ducks have answered that bell.
So, yeah... [Raising_Hand] ... I've seen Oregon play this year.
I was basically referring to the fact that Oregon games are not frequently on tv and when they are its late night for 70 percent of cbb fans. I'm not questioning their seed or their talent, just that most fans couldn't name a player on their team or had seen them play.

Based on your description of them, they sound a lot like a team that plays well as a team, is smart, well coached and has marginal talent. They shoot very well. They have as good a chance as anyone I guess. They never played or beat a top 10 team. Killing Utah is impressive, but Utah is not a team that can come from behind because their guards are not very good.
 

TallManinOregon

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They absolutely did shut down Jakob Poeltl, the conference player of the year and probably top 5 NBA draft pick, 3 times. I was at the game here at UofO against Utah and it was incredible how little of a factor Poeltl was.

They may not have played a Top 10 team, but for the reasons you cite, Cleaver, there wasn't anyone in the west that had that distinction this season, really... which is very, very strange. The Ducks did however have the 2nd highest RPI in the country, I believe, at the end of the year and the most T100 and T50 wins.

Like Chuck said during the broadcast, "don't sleep on Oregon..." (which of course makes no sense when speaking about a 1-seed)
[he says, effectively sealing their fate to be a disappointing Sweet 16 victim]
 

HomeRunBaker

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I am not just saying that Oregon deserves a No. 1 seed... but they definitely earned it. My point is that America questions the 1-seed for the Ducks and nobody would have said Boo if Arizona was a 1-seed in the same situation.
Truth be told, I'd be happier and more comfortable from a fan perspective with a 2 seed for the reasons mentioned above..
I'm guilty of not seeing a single Duck game this year as well. I can't recall ever entering this tournament without seeing 1-seed play a single game over the course of the season.

Off topic....whenever I see you posted my first image is always Blair Rasmussen. This is my cross to bear.
 

soxhop411

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Dec 4, 2009
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Good lord the NCAA is tone deaf.

“@InsidetheNCAA: The NCAA provides free wi-fi to student-athletes at all of the team hotels during the DI men’s basketball championship.”


So if an athlete uses free WIFI when it's not the men's championship they will be ineligible?


Edit:

Yup!
 

DJnVa

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One is provided by NCAA, another is provided by a school, so yeah, there's a difference.

It's dumb, but it's not the school giving an extra benefit to someone.