Week 18 - March 4 to 11 (conf standings, NET, conf tourney games)

[BRS24]

With a few exceptions (MWC), that’s a wrap on the regular season. Eleven top 25 teams lost last week, with VA Tech and Colorado x2. We’re now onto the conference tourneys, and if these games are indicative of the regular season, we’ve got some crazy-town in store. As we get closer to the conference tourneys mid-week, I'll try to post the daily matchups.

Here's a final look at Conf standings. Maybe later this week I’ll pull the preseason coaches polls and compare to what actually happened. Most of the conference vs overall standings shook out over the last few weeks, however Tennessee had the largest delta of -5. Arizona, Oklahoma, and Wyoming at -3, however TCU with its blazing start, actually had a +3.

 

[BRS24]

Of course, after updating the NET table this morning, along with a little VLOOKUP fun (go on, excel geeks), WN updated the rankings as of yesterday’s games. Grr. Largest movers shown on the right.

 

[BRS24]

Hey gang - here's a snippet of conference tourney games for tomorrow, along with a few of my/our friends. Since there are sooooo many games this week, I'm trying to keep it to the higher ranked conferences in the NET. Enjoy!

 

[WBBTakeover]

WSU/Cal looks interesting. I don't think Cal can beat WSU three times in a single season, however.

 

[Vowelguy]

Conference tourneys! You know what that means: get your helmets on because lots of record books are about to be thrown around.

 

[maple]

One upset tonight in the Horizon League conf tourney, round 1: #9 N Kentucky defeats #8 Oakland by a score of 70-62.

Every other 1st round game in both the Horizon League and Sun Belt was chalk.

 

[nwhoopfan]

AAC and Mountain West wrapping up their regular season schedules tonight, fairly full slate of games. UNLV is crushing Utah St., they aren't messing around. They will be 35-1 in conference the last 2 seasons. Not many programs can match that.

 

[GamecockFam]

This should be a fun week! Us SEC fans will be watching intently. Any typical 1-bid conference that gets two teams in the tournament because of an upset in their conference tournament (e.g., Princeton losing, etc.) could have huge implications for the many SEC teams in the last 4/bubble watch. Alternatively, any SEC team on the bubble that makes it far into the SEC tournament could punt a team from another major conference out of the NCAA tournament.

 

[GamecockFam]

This should be a fun week! Us SEC fans will be watching intently. Any typical 1-bid conference that gets two teams in the tournament because of an upset in their conference tournament (e.g., Princeton losing, etc.) could have huge implications for the many SEC teams in the last 4/bubble watch. Alternatively, any SEC team on the bubble that makes it far into the SEC tournament could punt a team from another major conference out of the NCAA tournament.

I was looking at Charlie Creme's bubble list and it seems that the performance of Mississippi State, Vanderbilt and Texas A&M in the SEC tournament will have the greatest implications. An early exit could doom those teams but also upsets by those teams could cement them a place in the NCAA tournament.

Mississippi State and Texas A&M play each other in the "second" round of the SEC tournament. So that should be a game with heavy NCAA tournament implications. The winner of that game would probably determine which of those two teams is in the last four in/first four out. The winner would then have to beat South Carolina in the third round of the SEC tournament to absolutely be guaranteed a spot.

 

[WBBTakeover]

Outside of South Carolina/LSU and UCLA/Stanford, I'd prefer to see a ton of unexpected match-ups for the P5 conference titles. So bring on Duke/UNC Part 3, Illinois/Penn State, and Kansas/Oklahoma State! It's called "March Madness", not "March Chalk".

 

[Plebe]

The Day of the Dregs at the ACC and SEC tournaments.

The riveting halftime studio discussion could begin: “Muffet, in the last game you ever coached, you lost on a Wednesday in the ACC tournament to Pitt. Give us some insight into how the losing coaches will feel today.”

 

[Vowelguy]

The Day of the Dregs at the ACC and SEC tournaments.

The riveting halftime studio discussion could begin: “Muffet, in the last game you ever coached, you lost on a Wednesday in the ACC tournament to Pitt. Give us some insight into how the losing coaches will feel today.”

I would purchase ESPN+ just to see this.

 

[maple]

Some upsets in the smaller conferences. UMass takes down La Salle (54-49) in the A-10, first round.

App State sneaks by Georgia State (73-68) in the Sun Belt, second round.

 

[VA Huskie]

The Day of the Dregs at the ACC and SEC tournaments.

The riveting halftime studio discussion could begin: “Muffet, in the last game you ever coached, you lost on a Wednesday in the ACC tournament to Pitt. Give us some insight into how the losing coaches will feel today.”

“Dregs”? As a UVA fan I’m looking to bubble up!

 

[maple]

#13 Boston College “upsets” #12 Clemson in the ACC first round by a score of 85-72.

 

[azfan]

Vegas observations
1. Flashback to the 70s with smoking in the casino
2. I appear to be the only one not smoking dope when outside
3. MGM Garden Arena on the south end of the strip it's filthy outside. I mean Douglas Arizona border filthy.
4. Very visible homeless problem with significant number wheelchairs?

Game one-I would never have believed there was a more incompetent Pac-12 team than the Sun Devils. Oh my God Oregon is making ASU look competent trailing 26-7 at the end of the first quarter. No discernible offense run by the Ducks I know Colorado is delighted after going one and four in their last five games to have the chance to get healthy against the Ducks. OMG-this level of preparation by Graves makes Natasha Adair looks like Geno.



I'm super excited. Three more games today with my Sun Devils in the nightcap.

 

[DefenseBB]

Vegas observations
1. Flashback to the 70s with smoking in the casino
2. I appear to be the only one not smoking dope when outside
3. MGM Garden Arena on the south end of the strip it's filthy outside. I mean Douglas Arizona border filthy.
4. Very visible homeless problem with significant number wheelchairs?

Game one-I would never have believed there was a more incompetent Pac-12 team than the Sun Devils. Oh my God Oregon is making ASU look competent trailing 26-7 at the end of the first quarter. No discernible offense run by the Ducks I know Colorado is delighted after going one and four in their last five games to have the chance to get healthy against the Ducks. OMG-this level of preparation by Graves makes Natasha Adair looks like Geno.



I'm super excited. Three more games today with my Sun Devils in the nightcap.

MY SINCERE CONDOLENCES! I am watching this game on TV and know the area and situation to which you refer and you also have my sympathy. Please pass it along to your other 25 friends in attendance today.

I jest about the attendance but the crowd does look pretty sparse.

 

[CBus13]

Vegas observations
1. Flashback to the 70s with smoking in the casino
2. I appear to be the only one not smoking dope when outside
3. MGM Garden Arena on the south end of the strip it's filthy outside. I mean Douglas Arizona border filthy.
4. Very visible homeless problem with significant number wheelchairs?

Game one-I would never have believed there was a more incompetent Pac-12 team than the Sun Devils. Oh my God Oregon is making ASU look competent trailing 26-7 at the end of the first quarter. No discernible offense run by the Ducks I know Colorado is delighted after going one and four in their last five games to have the chance to get healthy against the Ducks. OMG-this level of preparation by Graves makes Natasha Adair looks like Geno.



I'm super excited. Three more games today with my Sun Devils in the nightcap.

Oh wow, 13 minutes since you posted this and the score is now 9–36. Will Oregon make it to double figures before halftime?? 34 seconds left.

Follow-up Edit:
Whelp, with 5 seconds left Chance Gray made a layup. 11-39.

 

[Plebe]

Oregon with the buzzer beater to get to double digits AT THE HALF.

Good lord almighty what a train wreck that team is.

I'd actually kinda enjoy, perversely, an 8-team tournament for the Raspberry Championship with:

Oregon
Arizona State
Kentucky
Missouri
Northwestern
Rutgers
Pitt
Wake Forest

 

[DefenseBB]

Oregon with the buzzer beater to get to double digits AT THE HALF.

Good lord almighty what a train wreck that team is.

I'd actually kinda enjoy, perversely, an 8-team tournament for the Raspberry Championship with:

Oregon
Arizona State
Kentucky
Missouri
Northwestern
Rutgers
Pitt
Wake Forest

Wait, what? why is the Big East team Xavier being excluded? Again, a P5 acolyte arrogantly assuming their teams are the only ones who can be brutal....

 

[cancontent]

Oh wow, 13 minutes since you posted this and the score is now 9–36. Will Oregon make it to double figures before halftime?? 34 seconds left.

Follow-up Edit:
Whelp, with 5 seconds left Chance Gray made a layup. 11-39.

Eleven points with the roster they have? I don't get it. Has the team check out mentally as a whole? I know we'll never know, but man, I thought they be much more competitive than they are showing.

 

[Vowelguy]

Oregon with the buzzer beater to get to double digits AT THE HALF.

Good lord almighty what a train wreck that team is.

I'd actually kinda enjoy, perversely, an 8-team tournament for the Raspberry Championship with:

Oregon
Arizona State
Kentucky
Missouri
Northwestern
Rutgers
Pitt
Wake Forest

Stop stealing my ideas!

 

[DefenseBB]

AAC and Mountain West wrapping up their regular season schedules tonight, fairly full slate of games. UNLV is crushing Utah St., they aren't messing around. They will be 35-1 in conference the last 2 seasons. Not many programs can match that.

I just want to let my fine Washington Huskie fan know I specifically put on my newly acquired Columbia brand name "W" purple polo shirt today to support the team! Having gone to Seattle last March for that debacle against tOSU, we did visit UW campus, enjoyed it and I did buy this shirt to wear on occasions like this!

 

[CBus13]

Eleven points with the roster they have? I don't get it. Has the team check out mentally as a whole? I know we'll never know, but man, I thought they be much more competitive than they are showing.

I was going to reply with thoughts but like....yeah, I mean, not much more to say. So many questions, never any answers. I'm curious about what type of team is coming to the Big Ten next year.

 

[WBBTakeover]

Pitt is giving Georgia Tech all they can handle right now. If Miami just lost to this same Georgia Tech at home on Senior Night, should they really be NCAAT-bound?