Running NCAA men's tournament thread 2012

[Dick Whitman]

I'm sure that the East Coast media will fully investigate Syracuse with vigor.

 

[MileHigh]

Less than five minutes into Iona-BYU and it's up and down, no stopping. I feel like I'm watching Redlands and Grinnell. Well, back when Redlands played like that.

 

[mb]

I'm sure that the East Coast media will fully investigate Syracuse with vigor.

Especially with the way they let Penn State off the hook.

 

[Mystery Meat II]

Iona is on pace to break the 100-point mark. By halftime. No but seriously, the Gaels are running roughshod. Much pilloried mid-major pick sent to the First Four that runs and presses. It's almost as though there's an analog to a team from last year.

 

[MileHigh]

They've got 49. With more than six minutes left in the first half. I know it's BYU, but love their style of play.

 

[Guy_Incognito]

Good thing Syracuse already had its No. 1 seed locked up before the news got out. :

Boeheim needs to get his house in order.

Yeah, he was on Mike and Mike today talking about depth and something struck me funny about the whole interview. Actually, something has struck me funny since his lack of urgency since they lost to Cincy.

I wouldn't be surprised if this doesn't end here, and Syracuse has to forfeit more games going back to the first suspension.

I'm really not following this closely - what do we think the suspension is for?

 

[farmerjerome]

Good thing Syracuse already had its No. 1 seed locked up before the news got out. :

Boeheim needs to get his house in order.

Yeah, he was on Mike and Mike today talking about depth and something struck me funny about the whole interview. Actually, something has struck me funny since his lack of urgency since they lost to Cincy.

I wouldn't be surprised if this doesn't end here, and Syracuse has to forfeit more games going back to the first suspension.

I'm really not following this closely - what do we think the suspension is for?

Academics

 

[Guy_Incognito]

Good thing Syracuse already had its No. 1 seed locked up before the news got out. :

Boeheim needs to get his house in order.

Yeah, he was on Mike and Mike today talking about depth and something struck me funny about the whole interview. Actually, something has struck me funny since his lack of urgency since they lost to Cincy.

I wouldn't be surprised if this doesn't end here, and Syracuse has to forfeit more games going back to the first suspension.

I'm really not following this closely - what do we think the suspension is for?

Academics

How is it possible that it came out now? Is he the only lousy student athlete in the country?

 

[lisa_simpson]

Good thing Syracuse already had its No. 1 seed locked up before the news got out. :

Boeheim needs to get his house in order.

Yeah, he was on Mike and Mike today talking about depth and something struck me funny about the whole interview. Actually, something has struck me funny since his lack of urgency since they lost to Cincy.

I wouldn't be surprised if this doesn't end here, and Syracuse has to forfeit more games going back to the first suspension.

I'm really not following this closely - what do we think the suspension is for?

Academics

How is it possible that it came out now? Is he the only lousy student athlete in the country?

It didn't - he was already suspended for three games earlier in the season. The conventional wisdom is that he's basically punted on his classwork since the semester began.

 

[MileHigh]

And now we know why Iona barely got in.

25-point lead down to ... seven.

Gulp.

 

[Beaker]

BYU now up one with a minute left.

 

[Mystery Meat II]

So remember when I went and implied a similarity between tonight's Iona and last year's VCU? Yeah, you know what, no.

 

[Batman]

Bruiser Flint is searching the streets of Philadelphia right now, looking for a hobo to kill.

 

[RickStain]

I don't understand the play-in system at all.

 

[Mystery Meat II]

I don't understand the play-in system at all.

What's to not understand? The weakest four conference champions and weakest four at-large teams play an extra game.

Everyone acts as if this is some massive affront to the sanctity of Division I college basketball, but play-in/first-round games were standard operating procedure for a few years in the 80s and also between 1953-1974.

 

[zagoshe]

I don't understand the play-in system at all.

What's to not understand? The weakest four conference champions and weakest four at-large teams play an extra game.

Everyone acts as if this is some massive affront to the sanctity of Division I college basketball, but play-in/first-round games were standard operating procedure for a few years in the 80s and also between 1953-1974.

The larger issue is that too many teams get in to the tournament.

 

[RickStain]

I don't understand the play-in system at all.

What's to not understand? The weakest four conference champions and weakest four at-large teams play an extra game.

Everyone acts as if this is some massive affront to the sanctity of Division I college basketball, but play-in/first-round games were standard operating procedure for a few years in the 80s and also between 1953-1974.

The weakest four at-large teams are 14 seeds? I would have assumed higher.

I wasn't making a passive-aggressive commentary. I'm a casual fan who honestly didn't get it.

 

[Baron Scicluna]

I don't understand the play-in system at all.

What's to not understand? The weakest four conference champions and weakest four at-large teams play an extra game.

Everyone acts as if this is some massive affront to the sanctity of Division I college basketball, but play-in/first-round games were standard operating procedure for a few years in the 80s and also between 1953-1974.

The weakest four at-large teams are 14 seeds? I would have assumed higher.

I wasn't making a passive-aggressive commentary. I'm a casual fan who honestly didn't get it.

They wanted to make it fair to the No. 16 seeds so they wouldn't all have to play an extra game in order to get squashed by the No. 1 seed.

That, and they didn't want four games involving eight No. 16 seeds. They wanted a couple of games that would feature BCS schools or upper-mid-majors.

 

[franklin lincoln]

I don't understand the play-in system at all.

What's to not understand? The weakest four conference champions and weakest four at-large teams play an extra game.

Everyone acts as if this is some massive affront to the sanctity of Division I college basketball, but play-in/first-round games were standard operating procedure for a few years in the 80s and also between 1953-1974.

The weakest four at-large teams are 14 seeds? I would have assumed higher.

I wasn't making a passive-aggressive commentary. I'm a casual fan who honestly didn't get it.

They wanted to make it fair to the No. 16 seeds so they wouldn't all have to play an extra game in order to get squashed by the No. 1 seed.

That, and they didn't want four games involving eight No. 16 seeds. They wanted a couple of games that would feature BCS schools or upper-mid-majors.

I think the committee said BYU and Iona would have been higher than a 14 seed, but they couldn't put them in different spots because those spots would have played Friday/Sunday, and they won't force BYU to play on Sunday.

 

[Mystery Meat II]

I don't understand the play-in system at all.

What's to not understand? The weakest four conference champions and weakest four at-large teams play an extra game.

Everyone acts as if this is some massive affront to the sanctity of Division I college basketball, but play-in/first-round games were standard operating procedure for a few years in the 80s and also between 1953-1974.

The weakest four at-large teams are 14 seeds? I would have assumed higher.

I wasn't making a passive-aggressive commentary. I'm a casual fan who honestly didn't get it.

My bad. In that case, they expanded the tournament to 68 teams after backing down from a previously stated plan to expand to 96. I presume they didn't just make all the 16-seeds play in because two nights of doubleheaders involving low-major teams and mid-majors with sub-.500 records wouldn't be much of a live or TV draw. So two of the games feature at-large teams.

This year, the two weakest at-large teams were 14 seeds, and the others (Cal and South Florida) were 12 seeds. I think one of the tournament selection committee members said on Sunday that they had to move BYU and Iona down to a 14 seed to accommodate BYU's unwillingness to play on Sundays. On merit, they probably would have been 12 or 13 seeds.