BE, B10, SEC, and B12 tourney champs

[CTFAN4LIFE]

How about putting the best teams and league champs in - that’s it - no other political BS criteria.

See FSU football.

 

[AdamaNation]

the P5 conferences seem to have it out for the BE & to squash UConn's chances but Hurley will use this as fuel to keep the guys focused, I believe. Only 3 bids in the second best conference in the nation is a travesty.

Perfect stage to make the world see and offer the basketball gods the sacrifices they want. 6-the hard way!!!!!!!

 

[ColchVEGAS]

don't forget the American Conference champ UAB!

If only Temple remembered they already got paid for they efforts against UAB 10 days prior.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

Auburn was perfect against Quads 2-4. Versus Quad 1? 3-7. They beat Quad 1s 30% of the time. It gets worse: against Quad 1a they are 1-6.

This means Auburn has beaten a team of UConn’s quality once in 7 tries this season.

A lot of worrying about a team that hasn’t proven they can win against UConn.

Auburn hasn't played a team of UConn's quality. We're at a minimum a tier above whoever they played in those seven games.

 

[HCCForever]

If this was any of all but a couple of our prior teams I would be a little angry with how this fell out but this year, with this year's team, it doesn't bother me at all. If anyone should be complaining about how things fell out with arguably the best second, third and fourth seed in the same bracket as the overall number, it should be the schools that are argualy the best second, third and fourth seeds as their paths have a massive road block (us).

The one thing that has angered me a bit about this is the location of the first two rounds. It's irritating as hell that where they are playing is geographically so close to where I live but also such a pain in the backside to get to.

Why is it such a pain in the backside to get there? I have gone to concerts at Barclays taking the metro and subway and I'm probably not as familiar with NYC as you are.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

Why is it such a pain in the backside to get there? I have gone to concerts at Barclays taking the metro and subway and I'm probably not as familiar with NYC as you are.

That was primarily a joke, but the few times I've driven to Brooklyn (from late 1980's to early 1990's) the route (IIRC) was 95 to 287 to Saw Mill to Henry Hudson to West Side highway into Brooklyn.

A metro north express from Stamford to Grand Central, the a walk to the Garden is Infinitely easier.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

Can we stop crying about the 4 conference champions? The only way we play Illinois or Iowa State is in the Final 8, where we should expect to play a good team.

Auburn is another overrated "ramp up the scores on low majors to juice the efficiency ratings" team whose KenPom and Net Ratings are inflated. They also didn't play Tennessee, Kentucky or Alabama to win the SEC. That was kind of weird actually. They don't suck, but they are not unbeatable, and they will have their hands full with SDSU in the second round.

If UConn loses to Stetson or Northwestern, UConn doesn't deserve to go to the Final Four. FAU has some nice wins, but also has some ugly losses.


Honestly, a case could be made that Purdue has a tougher path than UConn. I think the winner of USU/TCU is a much better opponent than UConn's second round matchup, and Kansas is a completely different team with Dickinson and McCullar, and if they are not healthy, Gonzaga is no joke either. Tennessee and Creighton are both good on the other side of the bracket. although I like the way the bracket lays out for Creighton.

Houston also has a tough path, especially if Kolek is healthy. Although, I like Wisconsin in that region.

The West, on the other hand, may be the weakest region in years. I can not remember the last time one region was this far behind the other three.

 

[Scottobot]

On the plus side, I don’t think any of these teams will sneak up on UConn. UConn should be on high alert against all of them. When we lost in 1996 as #1, nobody saw the loss to the Miss State coming. Perhaps the team was thinking beyond the current game. When UConn lost to Seton Hall earlier in the year I think part of that loss was they underestimated Seton Hall coming into the game.

We have a favorable 1st 2 rounds lined up, which will help UConn work out any butterflies. Finally it’s possible some of these teams get upset and we don’t have to play them, like last year.

This team has played really well with a favorable crowd, and we should have a pro UConn crowd at first 4 games. Finally Auburn has to fly out west for 1st 2 round than back east for next two. That travel is not going to help them.

 

[alphasigko]

The Committee was dealt a tough hand: Houston, Purdue, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Arizona ALL lost. Only North Carolina got to its tournament finals. Creighton, Kentucky, and Duke lost before their finals too.

It was like that week when everybody in the top 10 lost to an unranked team. The losses went further into the Top 25. Pretty much only UConn and Duke won during that episode

Just as the weekly poll voters were getting pretty much forced to choose UConn then, the Committee similarly had to make UConn the overall #1 seed for the Tournament after this weekend's games

Unless UConn collapsed, the Committee had already been
shoehorned into placing UConn into Brooklyn, with a path to Boston. What a mess. This waa already going to be uncomfortable, somewhat like having Jeff Emmert congratulate the 2024 "hungry Huskies," as labeled by Shabazz Napier

The only way out of this mess would be to give them the 2nd best Big 12, Big 10, and SEC teams (as the 2-4 seeds), and spice it up further with last year's runner-up as the 5, and the team SDSU had beaten in the Final 4 game to get the Championship.

And then all the 1 seeds lost.

The computers knew what to do; the poor human beings were stuck in a very hard place. So what did they do? Nothing. They slapped Overall #1 on UConn, and left things as they were.

They kept the most dubious P4 teams (Michigan State, Virginia, Mississippi State, and TCU) in the field; decided not to choose between the half-dozen Mountain West peers (drawing the line at UNLV, which stalled at 19 wins, though one was against Creighton) by inviting them all in a demonstrated show of respect for a non-major conference that had developed a reputation for late night entertainment; and, in the interest of keeping things simple, correspondingly decided against choosing between SHU, PC, and Seton Hall by just saying No to all three.

Let's face, it wasn't the Committee's fault that two of the solid #1s, and every other contender for the fourth spot faltered. And UConn got its two-pack of friendly locations and the prestige of being the top seed for only the small cost of having to blatantly lie in assigning questionable numeric rankings to the other teams in the East Region to make the narrative 'fit.'

Remember, UConn will still be favored in all of the games. And its top potential foes will remain hubris, distraction, dissension, and injury. We as fans can make a difference by not contributing to the first three of these risk factors, by not accepting any invitations to organize & grow negative energy around them.

Last year's West region was top-heavy with highly-rated KenPom teams, and UConn emerged as the 4-seed.

This year's team will play its games one-at-a-time, and the team is currently playing well. Prepare for a successful weekend in Brooklyn, and see where that leads.

Go UConn!

THAT is one EXCELLENT summary of what took place! Kudos to you!

 

[Scottobot]

The Committee was dealt a tough hand: Houston, Purdue, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Arizona ALL lost. Only North Carolina got to its tournament finals. Creighton, Kentucky, and Duke lost before their finals too.

It was like that week when everybody in the top 10 lost to an unranked team. The losses went further into the Top 25. Pretty much only UConn and Duke won during that episode

Just as the weekly poll voters were getting pretty much forced to choose UConn then, the Committee similarly had to make UConn the overall #1 seed for the Tournament after this weekend's games

Unless UConn collapsed, the Committee had already been
shoehorned into placing UConn into Brooklyn, with a path to Boston. What a mess. This waa already going to be uncomfortable, somewhat like having Jeff Emmert congratulate the 2024 "hungry Huskies," as labeled by Shabazz Napier

The only way out of this mess would be to give them the 2nd best Big 12, Big 10, and SEC teams (as the 2-4 seeds), and spice it up further with last year's runner-up as the 5, and the team SDSU had beaten in the Final 4 game to get the Championship.

And then all the 1 seeds lost.

The computers knew what to do; the poor human beings were stuck in a very hard place. So what did they do? Nothing. They slapped Overall #1 on UConn, and left things as they were.

They kept the most dubious P4 teams (Michigan State, Virginia, Mississippi State, and TCU) in the field; decided not to choose between the half-dozen Mountain West peers (drawing the line at UNLV, which stalled at 19 wins, though one was against Creighton) by inviting them all in a demonstrated show of respect for a non-major conference that had developed a reputation for late night entertainment; and, in the interest of keeping things simple, correspondingly decided against choosing between SHU, PC, and Seton Hall by just saying No to all three.

Let's face, it wasn't the Committee's fault that two of the solid #1s, and every other contender for the fourth spot faltered. And UConn got its two-pack of friendly locations and the prestige of being the top seed for only the small cost of having to blatantly lie in assigning questionable numeric rankings to the other teams in the East Region to make the narrative 'fit.'

Remember, UConn will still be favored in all of the games. And its top potential foes will remain hubris, distraction, dissension, and injury. We as fans can make a difference by not contributing to the first three of these risk factors, by not accepting any invitations to organize & grow negative energy around them.

Last year's West region was top-heavy with highly-rated KenPom teams, and UConn emerged as the 4-seed.

This year's team will play its games one-at-a-time, and the team is currently playing well. Prepare for a successful weekend in Brooklyn, and see where that leads.

Go UConn!

The Committee was dealt a tough hand: Houston, Purdue, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Arizona ALL lost. Only North Carolina got to its tournament finals. Creighton, Kentucky, and Duke lost before their finals too.

It was like that week when everybody in the top 10 lost to an unranked team. The losses went further into the Top 25. Pretty much only UConn and Duke won during that episode

Just as the weekly poll voters were getting pretty much forced to choose UConn then, the Committee similarly had to make UConn the overall #1 seed for the Tournament after this weekend's games

Unless UConn collapsed, the Committee had already been
shoehorned into placing UConn into Brooklyn, with a path to Boston. What a mess. This waa already going to be uncomfortable, somewhat like having Jeff Emmert congratulate the 2024 "hungry Huskies," as labeled by Shabazz Napier

The only way out of this mess would be to give them the 2nd best Big 12, Big 10, and SEC teams (as the 2-4 seeds), and spice it up further with last year's runner-up as the 5, and the team SDSU had beaten in the Final 4 game to get the Championship.

And then all the 1 seeds lost.

The computers knew what to do; the poor human beings were stuck in a very hard place. So what did they do? Nothing. They slapped Overall #1 on UConn, and left things as they were.

They kept the most dubious P4 teams (Michigan State, Virginia, Mississippi State, and TCU) in the field; decided not to choose between the half-dozen Mountain West peers (drawing the line at UNLV, which stalled at 19 wins, though one was against Creighton) by inviting them all in a demonstrated show of respect for a non-major conference that had developed a reputation for late night entertainment; and, in the interest of keeping things simple, correspondingly decided against choosing between SHU, PC, and Seton Hall by just saying No to all three.

Let's face, it wasn't the Committee's fault that two of the solid #1s, and every other contender for the fourth spot faltered. And UConn got its two-pack of friendly locations and the prestige of being the top seed for only the small cost of having to blatantly lie in assigning questionable numeric rankings to the other teams in the East Region to make the narrative 'fit.'

Remember, UConn will still be favored in all of the games. And its top potential foes will remain hubris, distraction, dissension, and injury. We as fans can make a difference by not contributing to the first three of these risk factors, by not accepting any invitations to organize & grow negative energy around them.

Last year's West region was top-heavy with highly-rated KenPom teams, and UConn emerged as the 4-seed.

This year's team will play its games one-at-a-time, and the team is currently playing well. Prepare for a successful weekend in Brooklyn, and see where that leads.

Go UConn!

They could have just swapped Alabama and Auburn after Auburn won the SEC, and then things would have been reasonable.

 

[ValleyGuy]

The complaining on here is painful. Everyone said UConn had a cake walk last year to the Championship. The committee was 100% going to stick it to UConn this year. How did none of you see this coming?

Also, who cares? You have to play good teams at some point and you should be up for the challenge. It’s not like you have to beat every single team.

You think all these teams are happy seeing UConn in the bracket. Stop complaining. You should enjoy the competition, not running from it.

Shameful how scared some of you sound.

 

[HCCForever]

The complaining on here is painful. Everyone said UConn had a cake walk last year to the Championship. The committee was 100% going to stick it to UConn this year. How did none of you see this coming?

Also, who cares? You have to play good teams at some point and you should be up for the challenge. It’s not like you have to beat every single team.

You think all these teams are happy seeing UConn in the bracket. Stop complaining. You should enjoy the competition, not running from it.

Shameful how scared some of you sound.

Most people are just highlighting the inferior work of selection committee. It is not just UConn fans but most bracketologists and announcers as well.

Nobody is running from anything.

 

[upstater]

I think people are underestimating the problem with a loaded bracket. You're betting that one of the 6 teams isn't going to get hot one night and cause the same sort of difficulties UConn ran into against Creighton and Seton Hall.

Of course UConn should win all 6.

But when you face FAU and Auburn in games 2 and 3, you're betting these 2 teams won't get hot, and they just might.

In weaker brackets like UNCs, they'll get a couple breathers on the way to the Final 4.

Your chances are increased in a weaker bracket no matter how good you are.

On any given day, most of the top 30 seeds can knock off ANY other team in the tournament.

 

[UConnJim]

Shouldn’t the committee put the 4 highest ranked P6 tournament champions in different regions to allow all 4 to get to the Final 4?

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

That was primarily a joke, but the few times I've driven to Brooklyn (from late 1980's to early 1990's) the route (IIRC) was 95 to 287 to Saw Mill to Henry Hudson to West Side highway into Brooklyn.

That's an interesting route that I can fully picture & see how it works, but had never really occurred to me as a driving option from northeast of the city.

You got me to check out what GMaps app recommended, and it provided I-95 to Whitestone Bridge, Whitestone Expressway (678) to BQE (278) into Tillary St (downtown Bklyn) to Flatbush Ave, which is pretty much what I would have thought. But that wasn't offered to make you wrong in any way. Instead, I appreciate your awakening me to going wide-west and through the Battery tunnel.

It could absolutely make sense sometimes, very much akin to when I've chosen to get crosstown eastward to depart Manhattan from a day in Hudson River/west side environs by way of the streets/avenues/roads/bridges that drop me into the Bruckner/I-95 corridor.

And that sparks recollection of my learning from Yankee fan friends that I could shoot up the Major Deegan to get to Westchester to Fairfield County.

It's fascinating that the infrequency of visits by people focused on an arena event can yield unexpected routes that didn't readily occurr to me when I lived within NYC/LI and used the various roads for all kinds of purposes.

Thank you.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

That's an interesting route that I can fully picture & see how it works, but had never really occurred to me as a driving option from northeast of the city.

You got me to check out what GMaps app recommended, and it provided I-95 to Whitestone Bridge, Whitestone Expressway (678) to BQE (278) into Tillary St (downtown Bklyn) to Flatbush Ave, which is pretty much what I would have thought. But that wasn't offered to make you wrong in any way. Instead, I appreciate your awakening me to going wide-west and through the Battery tunnel.

It could absolutely make sense sometimes, very much akin to when I've chosen to get crosstown eastward to depart Manhattan from a day in Hudson River/west side environs by way of the streets/avenues/roads/bridges that drop me into the Bruckner/I-95 corridor.

And that sparks recollection of my learning from Yankee fan friends that I could shoot up the Major Deegan to get to Westchester to Fairfield County.

It's fascinating that the infrequency of visits by people focused on an arena event can yield unexpected routes that didn't readily occurr to me when I lived within NYC/LI and used the various roads for all kinds of purposes.

Thank you.

I had a number of friends from Westchester many decades ago, one of whom lived for a number of years in Brooklyn (barely over the bridge) who knew most of the better ways to get around by car from Westchester throughout the boroughs (well, all but Staten Island). From around 1988 through around 1994 this was the best route lower Fairfield County (things may have changed), which included attending his wedding a litttle more than thirty years ago.

 

[Samoo]

This means Auburn has beaten a team of UConn’s quality once in 7 tries this season.

A lot of worrying about a team that hasn’t proven they can win against UConn.

No, this means Auburn has never beaten a team of UConn's quality, and only beaten teams a step down from UConn once in seven tries. Your final sentence only rings truer.

Proposed:

Auburn's ceiling is UConn's C+ game, they usually reach it and beat mediocre to pretty good teams.
If UConn played at C+ level and below all season, they would probably have a record similar to Auburn's. .
UConn rarely plays its C+ level game - maybe 10% of the time (Creighton, Seton Hall,?).

Given a 10% chance UConn is playing badly enough to lose to Auburn; and maybe an 80% chance that Auburn plays well enough to take advantage of that, so I put Auburn's chances at 8% - but wait - they still need to get past Mr. Wolf

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

I had a number of friends from Westchester many decades ago, one of whom lived for a number of years in Brooklyn (barely over the bridge) who knew most of the better ways to get around by car from Westchester throughout the boroughs (well, all but Staten Island). From around 1988 through around 1994 this was the best route lower Fairfield County (things may have changed), which included attending his wedding a litttle more than thirty years ago.

I still choose Hutch to Cross County to Saw Mill to HHudson to West Side as my preferred route in from CT. Just never extended it in Brooklyn.

And I don't use Joe DiMaggio, Ed Koch, Hugh Carey, or RFK's names for the West Side, Queensboro (sometimes "59th St"), Battery, or Triboro.

I accepted the shift from Interboro to Jackie Robinson, and conceptually pair it with the later-occurring rotonda & statue at Citi Field that honors a former Brooklyn Dodger in Queens.

And just to complete the record, The Governor Malcolm Wilson Tappan Zee Bridge was an unnecessary and dumb post-naming, whereas the Governor Mario M. Cuomo Bridge represents a petty, unnecessary, and offensive naming. Both iterations were/are the "Tappan Zee Bridge."

OK, one more: "6th Avenue." I got properly bullied into that as a teenage college student visiting during semester breaks & summer vacation by friends who grew up in or near the city. Nobody has ever told me to call it "Avenue of the Americas," though maybe it can apply to the boxy corporate towerred area just west of Rockefeller Center.

 

[Scrutiner]

Oops:

"waist" not "waste"

@Tenspro2002 not "tennspro"

I think you had it right the first time............

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

I think you had it right the first time............

I considered that

 

[JungleLobo]

No, this means Auburn has never beaten a team of UConn's quality, and only beaten teams a step down from UConn once in seven tries. Your final sentence only rings truer.

Proposed:

Auburn's ceiling is UConn's C+ game, they usually reach it and beat mediocre to pretty good teams.
If UConn played at C+ level and below all season, they would probably have a record similar to Auburn's. .
UConn rarely plays its C+ level game - maybe 10% of the time (Creighton, Seton Hall,?).

Given a 10% chance UConn is playing badly enough to lose to Auburn; and maybe an 80% chance that Auburn plays well enough to take advantage of that, so I put Auburn's chances at 8% - but wait - they still need to get past Mr. Wolf

Read it again dude. Quad 1A. That’s UConn

 

[freescooter]

Really some people will whine no matter what. Yeah, there are conference champs in our bracket. Big deal. Exactly zero of them are the best teams in their leagues. Conference tournaments are a crapshoot. You have players and teams with variable degrees of motivation, especially if you are already in the tournament. Even Marquette sat their best player, who was reported at least to have been cleared to play, because they wanted to give him extra time to heal for the really important event. Over the years I’ve seen coaches use it to play less used players more minutes to get them used to pressure. Hurley started Diarra last year in the NBE tournament over Newton at least against PC. In the giant scheme of things, unless you are a bubble team it doesn’t really matter if win or don’t. Occasionally a team moves up a spot or down a spot but usually not. I agree that Iowa State is playing very well. But if we meet them in the Elite 8, so what? That is supposed to be a good matchup.