2014 NCAA Tournament thread

Re: 2014 NCAA Selection Sunday thread

A gauntlet? Kentucky was falling apart heading into the tournament and if anything, they're a bit overseeded at 8 (presuming they even beat Kansas State in the first round, which is no sure thing whatsoever). Louisville is a dangerous 4, but they're not the only one. Acting like the "big boys" are out to get Wichita State is completely unprovable. I guess they have sent the Gonzaga-Oklahoma State winner there, but then people would complain because a) Oklahoma State's too good for their spot or b) a Gonzaga matchup is just more mid-on-mid violence.

If they're one of the best teams in the country, they should have at least a puncher's chance.

 

Re: 2014 NCAA Selection Sunday thread

Look it up, Sam. Duke (and North Carolina) have been opening up inside state lines since the 1979 tourney when they both got knocked out in North Carolina and the Elite Eight game Penn won was played to a crowd of about 4000. Now that the pod system is in place, it's an annual basis. And it stinks just as much for the other teams who get the break. Why should UCLA get San Diego, or Syracuse Buffalo? If the idea is fair competition, that is wrong. That's much more of a thumb on the scales than the actual seeds are. Duke's gone everywhere and played and won everywhere in the regular season for decades. They don't need the scheduling break they get -- opening up 10 miles from the campus. And I would hope that Raleigh is enough of a basketball town it wouldn't need an in-state school to sell tickets.

 

Re: 2014 NCAA Selection Sunday thread

Won't disagree with the basic premise, but I'll argue the politics isn't fractionally as ridiculous in Division I basketball as it is in Division I-A football.

 

Re: 2014 NCAA Selection Sunday thread

How is that not a reasonable Final Four?

 

Re: 2014 NCAA Selection Sunday thread

Wichita State
Florida
Sparty
Creighton

Wichita State over Florida.

 

Re: 2014 NCAA Selection Sunday thread

The whole thing stinks to high heaven.

 

Re: 2014 NCAA Selection Sunday thread

If you don't know the answer to your last sentence, then you've already exposed your ignorance on the subject. I won't possibly claim that every seat will be filled for every sub-regional game in Raleigh, but that area lives and breathes college basketball.

But the fact that you went after schools in this area shows your bias. Would you willing to say the same thing if BC or UMass (in a similar scenario … and Gene DeFilippo was a loon who was stupid to fire Al Skinner, but that's another argument) were playing in the Garden? Um, yeah …

It isn't about being fair. The NCAA tournament was, is and will continue to be about money. Selling tickets. Drumming up interest. Sending teams most of the way across the country doesn't help ticket sales.

I didn't say I agreed with it, but that's our current reality.

 

Re: 2014 NCAA Selection Sunday thread

The road of a No. 1 and No. 8 is exactly the same after the first two rounds. I think we'll agree Wichita State has an easier first-round draw than No. 8 Kentucky. After that, Kentucky gets a No. 1 seed -- Wichita State, while the Shockers get a 10-loss team that has lost five of its last 10.

 

Re: 2014 NCAA Selection Sunday thread

Not too late to turn on 30 for 30 "Requiem for the Big East". It's good.

 

Re: 2014 NCAA Selection Sunday thread

So far, so very good. John Thompson saying drastic things, Jim Boeheim deflating potential dramatization ...

 

Re: 2014 NCAA Selection Sunday thread

Louisville is a bitch of a #4 seed. They did pretty well in this thing last year, IIRC.

 

Re: 2014 NCAA Selection Sunday thread

Sam, I covered two subregionals at the Garden, and no local teams were in either. This was before the pod system, mind you. They were complete sellouts for all games and I'm sure Raleigh will be, too. My point wasn't to diss Raleigh, it was to say the NCAA doesn't need the pod system to make money. It really has no other effect but skewing competitive balance. And it's hardly consistent. Why is four seed UCLA traveling to San Diego while fellow four seed Michigan State is headed to Spokane?
PS: You are certainly right about firing Skinner. That was a completely brain-dead move.