The Swamp

I have to say that Virginia got a pretty good bracket, Michigan State aside. If we get that far, I'll worry about it then.

I certainly like our teams better than what KU got. UConn in the second round. Maryland, a top-5 team earlier, as the 4. Cal, a team many think can make a run because of their raw talent, as the 5. And Miami, a very strong 3. And then, of course, Nova - one game away from a 1-seed. If Kansas gets to the Final Four, they will have earned it.

The bar for getting completely fucked is reset with St. Bonaventure.

The ncaa brackets getting leaked ahead of the broadcast shows a clear lack of institutional control.

Maryland seeded lower than Cal in the South is a great example of the way the committee viewed the Pac-12 this year.

mister d wrote:The bar for getting completely fucked is reset with St. Bonaventure.

To my mind Saint Mary's got fucked much more than Saint Bonaventure. Not sure what Michigan, Tulsa, Syracuse and Oregon State are doing in the field.

Bonaventure was 30th in RPI. That's not even bubble usually.

brian wrote:

mister d wrote:The bar for getting completely fucked is reset with St. Bonaventure.

To my mind Saint Mary's got fucked much more than Saint Bonaventure. Not sure what Michigan, Tulsa, Syracuse and Oregon State are doing in the field.

I think it's gotten increasingly clear in the last couple of years that the committee is making business decisions, both with respect to the bubble teams and the seedings. I agree that St. Mary's and St. Bonaventure got screwed and it's likely due, at least in part, to the fact that Syracuse and Michigan have much bigger fanbases. (Tulsa is inexplicable on any level, though.) And the only way that giving Texas A&M a #3 and Kentucky a #4 makes sense to me (when they had the same overall record, same conference record and Kentucky beat A&M yesterday) was that it sets up two juicy second-round matchups: A&M v. Texas and Kentucky v. Indiana.

I also think that the committee went too far with crediting the ACC and Pac-12 at the expense of the other conferences (most obviously the Big 10). I was really surprised that Michigan State didn't get a #1 seed. Is there anyone who doubts that, draw being equal, they are one of the four teams with the best shot of winning the whole thing? Why did Syracuse apparently get leniency for the games Boeheim missed, but Michigan State not get any for the games Valentine missed?

Joe K wrote:

brian wrote:

mister d wrote:The bar for getting completely fucked is reset with St. Bonaventure.

To my mind Saint Mary's got fucked much more than Saint Bonaventure. Not sure what Michigan, Tulsa, Syracuse and Oregon State are doing in the field.

I think it's gotten increasingly clear in the last couple of years that the committee is making business decisions, both with respect to the bubble teams and the seedings. I agree that St. Mary's and St. Bonaventure got screwed and it's likely due, at least in part, to the fact that Syracuse and Michigan have much bigger fanbases. (Tulsa is inexplicable on any level, though.) And the only way that giving Texas A&M a #3 and Kentucky a #4 makes sense to me (when they had the same overall record, same conference record and Kentucky beat A&M yesterday) was that it sets up two juicy second-round matchups: A&M v. Texas and Kentucky v. Indiana.

I also think that the committee went too far with crediting the ACC and Pac-12 at the expense of the other conferences (most obviously the Big 10). I was really surprised that Michigan State didn't get a #1 seed. Is there anyone who doubts that, draw being equal, they are one of the four teams with the best shot of winning the whole thing? Why did Syracuse apparently get leniency for the games Boeheim missed, but Michigan State not get any for the games Valentine missed?

aTM did have more Top 50 wins that UK, but i agree 100000% with what you said.

And you can't say Oregon deserved a #1 seed because they won the Regular Season and conference tournament and not give UK a bump for the same thing (not saying UK deserved a 1 mind you, just that they got zero bump from same thing). They talk out of both sides of their mouth when they try to defend the picks, and they always come off looking stupid.

mister d wrote:Bonaventure was 30th in RPI. That's not even bubble usually.

Akron was 28th before they lost in the MAC finals. And now they're playing Ohio State in the NIT.

#FuckThePowerConferenceBullshit

Well, they have been devaluing RPI for a while now.

There were some shenanigans this year. I expect a 30 for 30 about it sometime, to be honest.

Wichita State vs. Vandy is 12 vs. 27 in KenPom's rankings.

Michigan vs. Tulsa is 56 vs. 58.

Since betting lines largely track Pomeroy and other tempo-free systems nowadays, Wichita could be a favorite in its first 3 games. The worst at large team in the field, by a lot, is Temple. But thanks to the fetish for regular season in-conference achievement (which also killed UK), there was never much question they would be in.

Sabo wrote:Akron was 28th before they lost in the MAC finals.

Yup. Bonaventure was 26 heading into their matchup with Davidson. I thought it was pretty cool the conference commissioner actually released a statement on their behalf.

"St. Bonaventure belongs in the NCAA Championship. Their body of work, seven wins against top 70 teams, their first-place finish in the A-10, and a 29 RPI — every measuring point has been successfully met. In short they met the 'eye test' and the fact test. I am shocked that the committee did not select this team. It's a tremendous disservice and disappointment to these student-athletes, the SBU nation and the A-10."

McGlade says she will talk to the selection committee and compare stats of all of the at-large teams.

mister d wrote:McGlade says she will talk to the selection committee and compare stats of all of the at-large teams.

Unless the stat she shows is $$$, it will be a moot point.

Yeah, its not going to matter, but I appreciate someone in a position of relative power calling it out versus the standard "the committee has a very difficult task that they perform exceptionally well, even if we do respectfully disagree this one time" shit.

Brontoburglar wrote:Wichita State vs. Vandy is 12 vs. 27 in KenPom's rankings.

Michigan vs. Tulsa is 56 vs. 58.

KenPom's highest rated team to get snubbed is St. Mary's at #34. Temple is #86 and doesn't even have to win a play-in game.

Fun fact...every team in field has at least four losses. First time that's ever happened.

A_B wrote:Fun fact...every team in field has at least four losses. First time that's ever happened.

69% of teams in the tourney are sponsored by Nike

rass wrote:

/slowclap

So is it a distraction for Michigan State that Mateen Cleaves and Branden Dawson were both arrested in the past few days for sexual assault and domestic violence? Not a great week for Sparty.

Dawson maybe, but these kids prob don't know who Cleaves is, aside from that dude whose jersey in in the rafters.

howard wrote:Dawson maybe, but these kids prob don't know who Cleaves is, aside from that dude whose jersey in in the rafters.

I disagree. That dude is always at games and I bet Izzo has an open door policy for former players. All kinds of UK players still come around, even the ones who didn't play for Calipari. I'd say all of the current UK players are on first name, and maybe even text-level basis with Kenny Walker and Jared Prickett. One was a superstar, one was just a four-year glue guy but they all hang around. Granted, both of those guys live and work in Lexington.

The CIT thread will have much more on this I'm sure, but right now the Vermont Catamounts are playing the Western Carolina Catamounts

mister d wrote:Bonaventure was 30th in RPI. That's not even bubble usually.

Looks like Wagner (which I always pronounce like the composer) should have gotten in too!

Rex wrote:

mister d wrote:Bonaventure was 30th in RPI. That's not even bubble usually.

Looks like Wagner (which I always pronounce like the composer) should have gotten in too!

See and I thought you were talking about the Michigan game. (Michigan has a player from Germany whose last name is Wagner pronounced like the composer.)

This all reminds me that Billy Wagner's failure to run out to Flight of the Valkyries is perhaps baseball's biggest ever disappointment.

A_B wrote:

howard wrote:Dawson maybe, but these kids prob don't know who Cleaves is, aside from that dude whose jersey in in the rafters.

I disagree. That dude is always at games and I bet Izzo has an open door policy for former players. All kinds of UK players still come around, even the ones who didn't play for Calipari. I'd say all of the current UK players are on first name, and maybe even text-level basis with Kenny Walker and Jared Prickett. One was a superstar, one was just a four-year glue guy but they all hang around. Granted, both of those guys live and work in Lexington.

Yeah, Cleaves is probably the second-most loved MSU hoops alumnus. Hell, he might even be first, since I think he's around the program a lot more than Magic.

Oh man. I've paid no attention this year. If I wasn't managing the pool here at work I would just keep my $10 and go buy a beer or two at lunch instead.

Grayson Allen has to be related to Ted Cruz, right? They both have that same punchable face.

C'mon, Buffs!

Big 12 being overrated going into the NCAA Tournament like clockwork.

(Also in a related story you'd think Ivy League kids would be better at free throw shooting?)

A few years later, mission accomplished:

I'll be a lot more impressed if he ever gets that EMU jersey.

Great action so far. Purdue getting all hey want

Purdue puckered up quite nicely those last 5 minutes.

I've never seen a uniform throw shade at the team's home city quite like SUNY Buffalo's.

Neither Providence nor USC deserved to win that game.

Pac-12, seven bids, 1-3 so far.

Rex wrote:I've never seen a uniform throw shade at the team's home city quite like SUNY Buffalo's.

Don't call it that around Sybian.