Stanford Now #1 Seed? Seriously?

[stamfordhusky]

Stanford's 2 losses are to Colorado in OT and UCLA. I am not sure why a big margin of victory yesterday would suddenly have them leapfrog ahead of UConn as overall number 1?

I'm not sure "leapfrog" if the right word. Stanford likely trailed UConn by a miniscule margin prior to their UCLA win. And their resume is a bit better than that of UConn.

 

[jaydee602]

Massey currently has Stanford ranked ahead of UConn. So how would he have UConn as a favorite over Stanford?

Massey currently has Stanford ranked ahead of UConn. So how would he have UConn as a favorite over Stanford?

He doesn't. Stanford is favored by 1 point.

 

[Vowelguy]

I'm not sure "leapfrog" if the right word. Stanford likely trailed UConn by a miniscule margin prior to their UCLA win. And their resume is a bit better than that of UConn.

Not 1 game. Stanford looked really good in the PAC tourney. They beat Oregon St, a team on par with Marquette, by 30+ and then UCLA, a team slightly ahead of Tenn, by 20.
It's close, but can easily make an argument that Stanford's total resume is stronger.

 

[Dokey]

Charlie Creme now claims that Stanford is the top seed for the tourney due to their defeat of UCLA. How's that? Did he not have a Fox channel with which to view UConn's dismantling of Villanova?

Something smells here....

Women's Bracketology: All eyes on final projection

Who's in and who's out? Surprises will likely come when the bracket is revealed (8 p.m. ET, ESPN), but not at the top. South Carolina is No. 1 overall.

www.espn.com

It is the penalty UConn pays for being in a mediocre conference. The rest of the Big East probably couldn’t crack top six, maybe top eight, in PAC-12.

 

[Vowelguy]

The PAC-12 Tournament Championship was on the ESPN family of networks, the Big East is on the Fox Sports family of networks, Charlie Creme works for ESPN. That's all folks.
In previous seasons, not counting 2020, in the final weeks of the season, has Charlie changed "his" Number 1 seeds without the team losing???

I was wondering how long it would take for someone to cite the old favorite of the Creme conspiracy.

Btw, only the Pac final was on ESPN. The rest were on the PAC network, which is not owned by espn.

 

[and one]

I could care less! I don't want UCONN to win the NCAA Tourney because they had an "easy pass" by playing inferior teams on their way to the National Championship.
If they are the BEST team they should be able to beat ANY team no matter when they confront them.

I'm with Monte in this. There are so few teams that can match up with the handful of top teams that getting to play the best is a treat for players and fans alike. Let's play Stanford and SC and Baylor and NC State and Maryland and who ever else is a challage and see how good we are. Obviously we won't play all the best but the more the better. Talking about who is better is fine; putting it to the test infinitely better.

Ranking and seedings don't interest me all that much as a UConn fan. Most teams can take pride in breaking into the top 25 or 10, or getting a seeding that might result in one more tournament win. UConn is beyond that point. We pretty much expect we can beat anyone on a given day.

As far as ranking go, losing the occasional game that should have been won isn't much of an indicator of how good a team is. Upsets happen. Stanford wasn't suddenly a worse team because they lost to Colorado. Maybe, as we surmise about the UConn loss to Arkansas, it made them better in the long run. How a team is playing in February is much more informative that how they played in December.

We didn't get a chance to play some of the best teams in OOC games this year so let's give it a go in the NCAAs.

 

[Vowelguy]

I have my reservations with the NCAA concerning matters in dealing with UConn. They showed their colors with allowing incoming transfer players to Notre Dame, to play immediately, yet when it came to a UConn player transfer, it was just the reverse !

Completely different parts of NCAA.
Transfers is determined by NCAA staff.
The committee is a group of university athletic directors.

 

[Vowelguy]

Oregon: That's a problem with net's programming and the PAC's lack of quality OOC games.

Net is a guide to the committee not a mandate.

In my OPINION, the committee will go "political" on this. ie UConn, and three Power 5 conference AQ's as first seeds:
1 Seeds
UConn
Stanford
SCar
NC State

2 Seeds
The next choices will be:
Maryland
Baylor
Then two Non-AQs from P-5 Conferences.
My guesses are Louisville and A&M - However, UCLA could replace one of those two.

A&M will DEFINITELY be a 1 or 2. I think a #1.

 

[MooseJaw]

Charlie Creme now claims that Stanford is the top seed for the tourney due to their defeat of UCLA. How's that? Did he not have a Fox channel with which to view UConn's dismantling of Villanova?

Something smells here....

Women's Bracketology: All eyes on final projection

Who's in and who's out? Surprises will likely come when the bracket is revealed (8 p.m. ET, ESPN), but not at the top. South Carolina is No. 1 overall.

www.espn.com

Charlie may be right, but he is a Creme puff.

 

[jaydee602]

A&M will DEFINITELY be a 1 or 2.

I agree. UCONN, SC, & Stanford are locked into a #1 seed. TEXAS A&M might drop to a 2. Then it's a matter of Baylor, NC State, or Maryland moving from a #2 to a #1 seed. Louisville is the other #2 seed.

 

[Urshurak]

“Stanford's decisive win over UCLA in the Pac-12 championship game and dominance throughout the tournament is enough to make the Cardinal the No. 1 overall seed. Stanford continues to be the top-ranked team in the NET and now has six top-25 NET wins, tied for best in the country with South Carolina and Texas A&M. That results in UConn being pushed to No. 2 overall, and a win over Marquette in the Big East tournament title game on Monday won't be enough to change that.”

Not sure I disagree, but certainly lots of takes.

 

[Vowelguy]

I agree. UCONN, SC, & Stanford are locked into a #1 seed. TEXAS A&M might drop to a 2. Then it's a matter of Baylor, NC State, or Maryland moving from a #2 to a #1 seed. Louisville is the other #2 seed.

Disagree on SC locked into a 1 seed. I think TAMU, NCSt, SC are in a battle for the last two #1s. I'd put them in that order.

 

[Littlemin]

It is funny that many of the fans of the most successful program in the history of college basketball, men’s or women’s, a program built on anyone, anytime, anywhere, would be so sensitive to seedings. IMO, there is not a team in the country they can’t beat and more than a couple that could beat them. I don’t think that will change appreciably ever again, too many good players concentrated in too few programs.

 

[jaydee602]

Charlie Creme now claims that Stanford is the top seed for the tourney due to their defeat of UCLA. How's that? Did he not have a Fox channel with which to view UConn's dismantling of Villanova?

Something smells here....

Women's Bracketology: All eyes on final projection

Who's in and who's out? Surprises will likely come when the bracket is revealed (8 p.m. ET, ESPN), but not at the top. South Carolina is No. 1 overall.

www.espn.com

Villanova isn't a tournament team. Stanford beat #3 seed UCLA. UCONN & Stanford were ranked so closely & Stanford passed the Huskies with a top 25 win. Beating a #8 seed Marquette won't make up the difference for UCONN.

 

[jaydee602]

Disagree on SC locked into a 1 seed. I think TAMU, NCSt, SC are in a battle for the last two #1s. I'd put them in that order.

Fair enough! But South Carolina was already the last #1 seed in last week's bracketology. Winning their tournament could solidify their seeding. Texas A&M losing the tournament could hurt their #1 seeding with NC State, Maryland or Baylor replacing them.

 

[Vowelguy]

Fair enough! But South Carolina was already the last #1 seed in last week's bracketology. Winning their tournament could solidify their seeding. Texas A&M losing the tournament could hurt their #1 seeding with NC State, Maryland or Baylor replacing them.

In the last bracket, TAMU was #3 and SC was #4.

Since then, TAMU beat SC. SC beat Georgia. Georgia beat TAMU.
Is that enough to for SC to move ahead of TAMU? I dont think so.

 

[jonson]

According to Massey, here are the projected point spreads for UCONN games vs. the #1 & #2 seeds as of today:
#2 Louisville: UCONN (-10)
#2 NC State: UCONN (-10)
#2 Baylor: UCONN (-3)
#2 Maryland: UCONN (-3.5)
#1 South Carolina UCONN (-4)
#1 Texas A&M: UCONN (-10)
#1 Stanford: STANFORD (-1)
Any surprises?

If I read Massey correctly, this morning he has the "most likely" Stanford/UCONN final score at 66-64 Stanford, with the Cardinal win percentage at 53%. (Very small, in short.) Stanford also edges UCONN (slightly) in both the current and power ratings. But this is all about match-ups, rather than ratings, isn't it? It's my sense that Stanford is/will be a difficult match-up for UCONN: just as good, if not better, defensively; deeper, and stronger up front. No Paige, obviously, but the Stanford Williams is in my view superior to the Storrs version, especially in big games, and Wilson is very good defensively (I suspect Tara would put her on Paige). On the other hand, I think SC could be a tough opponent for Stanford, which has been turnover prone at times. I'm not familiar enough with NC State and A&M to predict where either belongs in all of this, but I suspect the former may be the more difficult out of the two.

 

[jaydee602]

There are probably SEVEN teams that have an argument to be a #1 seed. If UCONN finishes as the 2nd highest #1 seed barely behind a skilled Stanford team, then that's a great feat. I hope they meet in the finals to decide the best team!

 

[jaydee602]

If I read Massey correctly, this morning he has the "most likely" Stanford/UCONN final score at 66-64 Stanford, with the Cardinal win percentage at 53%. (Very small, in short.) Stanford also edges UCONN (slightly) in both the current and power ratings. But this is all about match-ups, rather than ratings, isn't it? It's my sense that Stanford is/will be a difficult match-up for UCONN: just as good, if not better, defensively; deeper, and stronger up front. No Paige, obviously, but the Stanford Williams is in my view superior to the Storrs version, especially in big games, and Wilson is very good defensively (I suspect Tara would put her on Paige). On the other hand, I think SC could be a tough opponent for Stanford, which has been turnover prone at times. I'm not familiar enough with NC State and A&M to predict where either belongs in all of this, but I suspect the former may be the more difficult out of the two.

Good analysis. But I'm not sure that Stanford is much stronger or deeper upfront vs. Liv, Aubrey, Westbrook, & Edwards. Both teams play stifling defense & their coaching preparation is flawless.. You can see why the spread is only a bucket. I think the road to the Championship Game will be tough for both teams, but I hope we get that matchup.

 

[hart2hart]

MooseJaw-You made me laugh!
Creme puff it is!

 

[HiDribble]

I saw the the Villanova game and loved the way we played. We are clearly ready for the big dance. However I would still make Stanford number one based on having wathed them play during the season. We will have our hands full with their bigs.

 

[jaydee602]

I saw the the Villanova game and loved the way we played. We are clearly ready for the big dance. However I would still make Stanford number one based on having wathed them play during the season. We will have our hands full with their bigs.

I agree! If UCONN & Stanford are even, then the Cardinal get the #1 spot due to strength of conference. But I love our Husky team's energy, confidence, & cohesiveness, especially considering their youth.

 

[darkstar1]

Yes, agree. In any case, if UConn plays at its best, it might be UConn Vs Stanford for the championship. At this moment, I would take Stanford -3.

Why would you take Stanford -3 when you can bet them at +1?