Selection Sunday thread

[Lester Bangs]

If you say so ...

RPI is as valid this year as any. It is and it isn't, but when you start measuring teams, it helps. Nevada played nobody ... but still played a tougher sked than Akron. Nevada lost its weak conference ... and Akron lost its weaker conference.

If you'd rather ignore the facts, that's cool ... just don't act like Akron got screwed. If they got screwed, it was by the MAC time keepers and themselves for, you know, doing things like losing to Arkansas-Little Rock and not winning their conference tourney.

Just saw this little nugget:
Dec. 22, Nevada beat Akron 73-71 at Akron. The Zips had a shot to tie at the end but missed it.

And Nevada didn't win their conference tournament either.
But I guess they're in because they are going to have a first- or second-team All-American, plus the fact that they were tabbed as one of the non-majors to watch early on so they've been ranked all season.

No, they're in because they had fewer mis-steps while playing a tougher schedule. They did beat Oregon State and Cal, neither of whom are world beaters, but both play in a major conferences. RPI isn't like the BCS. You do get to start from zero. The only advantage for Nevada over Akron is the natural SOS advantage.

How many Big Six teams did Akron play? None. Who was their best OOC opponent? Nevada, who gave the Zips a chance to win on their home floor, and you already said how that one came out.

 

[ned racine]

enough of the love for drexel..they lost to rider,william and mary,plus were 1-5 against top 3 in CAA...I thought Syracuse got jobbed,but please Mr.Whiner(Boheim),maybe one year you will play a couple of non conference roadies to boost the RIP.....as a big ten fan i think MSU and Purdue deserved to be in,but the conference was weak........

 

[Freelance Hack]

Having been away from the board for near;ly 2 days, I have come to the following conclusion:

There is no team in the Country who got ****ed worse than Syracuse.

The last 4 in, based on seeding of at-large teams, were Stanford, ODU, Illinois and Arkansas. The 'Cuse is better than any of those teams.

How does a team with a 65 RPI, 18 wins, 5th in the Pac-10 get in ahead of a team that was 5th in the Big East, RPI 50, 23 ****ing wins?

How does a team that was 7-9 in the SE-****ing-C ... couldn't even win a title in a divison in which no team played better than .500... get in a head of team that went 10-6 in the Big East, won 6 of its last 8 and blasted No. 2-seed G'town just two weeks ago?

Just ****ing unbelievable!

Spnited,

The Cuse deserved a bid. Especially over weak-ass Arkansas, whose 7-9 conference record is made even worse considering 10 of its games were against SEC West foes. But as I said a few days ago, the SEC West would get a team in. And apparently five straight victories (including two each over Vandy and Miss State) were enough for the consortium of clowns in Indy.

In the end, the NIT may be a blessing in disguise for the Orange. They would have been one-and-done in the NCAA, but they could make a nice little run in the NIT, which could be a springboard for next season.

 

[spnited]

The "springboard for next season" theory doesn't work for a team with an all-senior starting frontcourt.

 

[linotype]

Seven of their 10 Big East wins were against the bottom eight in a 16-team conference. They have no nonconference wins of consequence.

Then, please, 'splain to me Virginia -- which played the ACC's unbalanced schedule right into a No. 4 seed? After losing at home to Stanford, the only at-large team with a worse RPI than the Hoos?

UVa played the three lowest-seeded teams in the ACC twice apiece (N.C. State, Wake Forest and Miami). The Hoos only had to play the top tier teams (UNC, Duke, BC) once and also had losses to Appy St. and Utah.

How UVa got a No. 4 seed while a team with a similar RPI profile (Syracuse) got left out defies logic.

 

[Oz]

How UVa got a No. 4 seed while a team with a similar RPI profile (Syracuse) got left out defies logic.

Except when you consider the ACC -- like the SEC (you're welcome, Arkansas) -- had a rep on the selection committee while the Big East did not.

 

[Ellis Redding]

How UVa got a No. 4 seed while a team with a similar RPI profile (Syracuse) got left out defies logic.

Except when you consider the ACC -- like the SEC (you're welcome, Arkansas) -- had a rep on the selection committee while the Big East did not.

 

[Ellis Redding]

That's weird. I typed a reply. What I said was that the ACC has no business having a better reputation. They each have produced three NCAA champions since 1997.

 

[pallister]

Go back three seasons to 1994 and the SEC adds three more championship game appearances and two more titles.

Face it, as I mentioned before, if you're a mid-major and you don't win your conference tournament (or, like Drexel, weren't even close to winning the conference in the regular season), you're almost always going to lose out to a team with a national rep in a BCS conference that makes a strong conference tournament run. And speaking of reps, if Syracuse gets to the Big East final, the Orange is in and Arkansas is left out. The conference that should be ashamed is the Big Ten. Purdue AND Illinois (Sorry, Doc). Please.

 

[broadway joe]

Seven of their 10 Big East wins were against the bottom eight in a 16-team conference. They have no nonconference wins of consequence.

Then, please, 'splain to me Virginia -- which played the ACC's unbalanced schedule right into a No. 4 seed? After losing at home to Stanford, the only at-large team with a worse RPI than the Hoos?

UVa played the three lowest-seeded teams in the ACC twice apiece (N.C. State, Wake Forest and Miami). The Hoos only had to play the top tier teams (UNC, Duke, BC) once and also had losses to Appy St. and Utah.

How UVa got a No. 4 seed while a team with a similar RPI profile (Syracuse) got left out defies logic.

Virginia beat Arizona and Gonzaga non-conference. Who did Syracuse beat? Once and for all, you cannot schedule the kind of cupcakes Boeheim did in the early season and then whine when you don't get in. He wants to pad his record against non-conference patsies, beat up the bottom half of the Big East, and then yell, "Hey, we had 20 wins!" The committee saw through that. F--k him.

 

[Fenian_Bastard]

Win your freaking games.
That is all.

 

[Oz]

Virginia beat Arizona and Gonzaga non-conference. Who did Syracuse beat? Once and for all, you cannot schedule the kind of cupcakes Boeheim did in the early season and then whine when you don't get in. He wants to pad his record against non-conference patsies, beat up the bottom half of the Big East, and then yell, "Hey, we had 20 wins!" The committee saw through that. F--k him.

I don't like Boeheim or his whining (2003 might have something to do with it). That said, I did some research ...

Non-conference SOS rankings
122 -- Syracuse
130 -- Vanderbilt
149 -- Indiana
160 -- Georgia Tech
175 -- Virginia
181 -- USC
309 -- Notre Dame

 

[Mystery_Meat]

Win your freaking games and not be Akron.
That is all.

 

[Mystery_Meat]

And I'm still waiting for the list of mid-majors that deserved to be in that aren't. Apparently six mid-major at-larges is a travesty of justice </gorillamonsoon>. But outside Drexel, nobody makes a good case. Not Appy, not Mo. St., not Air Force and certainly not the teams below them.

Syracuse and Drexel in, Stanford and Purdue or Illinois out, and the field is solid.

 

[Oz]

MM, my list starts and ends with Drexel. There's no rule that says mid-majors must get eight, 10, 12 teams into the tournament every time. Just be fair and award at-large berths to teams that deserve it, that's all I ask.

 

[ondeadline]

To hell with ESPN's Joe Lunardi. The only Web site of the 31 predicting the field that picked 64 of 65 teams was <a href="http://bracketproject.atspace.com/">
The Bracket Project.</a>

The Bracket Project also led the 31 in number of correct seeds (34) and number of seeds predicted within one of actual seed (54).

They had Syracuse in instead of Arkansas, but 30 of the 31 sites had Syracuse in.

 

[Mystery_Meat]

MM, my list starts and ends with Drexel. There's no rule that says mid-majors must get eight, 10, 12 teams into the tournament every time. Just be fair and award at-large berths to teams that deserve it, that's all I ask.

Agreed, but a few pages back there was a hue and cry over only six mid-major at-large bids. This wasn't a good year for them. And actually, having Nevada and Xavier and Butler lose helped them because it made two-bid conferences out of three would-be one-bidders. Take them out of the equation, and you might be looking at four, five at-large bids tops (assuming Drexel and either Missouri State or Air Force, depending on how you view the MWC).

 

[spnited]

Virginia: 19-10, 11-5 conference, 55 RPI, 49 SOS, 175 NC SOS = No. 4 seed
Ga Tech: 20-11; 8-8, 52 RPI; 41 SOS, 160 NC SOS = No. 10 seed
Stanford: 18-12, 10-8; 65 RPI; 32 SOS, 116 NC SOS = No. 11 seed

Syracuse: 22-10, 10-6 conference, 50 RPI, 46 SOS, 122 NC SOS = OUT!

Yeah, Boeheim has no reason to complain.
I repeat...no team in the country got ****ed worse than Syracuse.

 

[Cosmo]

Too much was made of Virginia gaining a share of the ACC title. That's the only reason the Cavs are a four. It's a sham.

 

[ondeadline]

Virginia had the weakest conference schedule in the ACC, which had a lot to do with it sharing the regular-season title.