BE, B10, SEC, and B12 tourney champs

[BrysonDeMan]

The conspiracy theories about the politics are dumb, most of the issues with the strength of the region is explained by 2 things:

1) Iowa St and Auburn were forced into our region by bracket principles. The only way to have Iowa St not be in our region was if they were 5th overall on the seedlist and could pick Midwest, because Marquette could not in the East. As long as Tennessee and/or Marquette was ahead of them, we were getting Iowa St in the East. I posted about this several times before the bracket. Similarly Auburn being behind Tenn and Kentucky meant they could not be slotted into South or Midwest, their 2 preferred locales, so East was always next for them.

2) Auburn and Iowa St. were underrated due to the typical committee seedling voting shenanigans. They decide on the seedlist early on every year for the top seeds and then don't adjust enough for the last few days and conference tournaments. Auburn always had the predictive profile of a top 3 seed, but lacked the resume strength due to unbalanced SEC schedule and some close losses. They improved from 16th to 9th in WAB (a large shift) and notched 3 strong wins from their tournament run (the main thing lacking from their resume), and that was not reflected in them being the 15th overall team in the seedlist. But even if they had been 13th, they'd still be in the East. They had to get to the 3 line ahead of Kentucky for us to not have them in our region, and I believe they should have been. But the only way that's possible is if you seriously re-evaluated their resume on Sunday.

I posted in early February that Auburn was the team I most didn't want to see in the tournament. We'll be only like 2.5-3.5 point favorites over them (they're stronger in metrics than Marquette or North Carolina) and the matchup is tougher than most teams. Jaylin Williams is a physical 4 who can stretch the floor. Johni Broome is a 5 who draws a ton of fouls and can also stretch the floor and protects the paint. They have shooting at all 5 spots and mix of talent and experience up the lineup (Chad Baker-Mazara is a future 1st round pick, Aden Holloway is a 5*, KD Johnson is a menace, Denver Jones and Tre Donaldson shoot 40% from 3).

Doomed!!

 

[Tenspro2002]

The conspiracy theories about the politics are dumb, most of the issues with the strength of the region is explained by 2 things:

1) Iowa St and Auburn were forced into our region by bracket principles. The only way to have Iowa St not be in our region was if they were 5th overall on the seedlist and could pick Midwest, because Marquette could not in the East. As long as Tennessee and/or Marquette was ahead of them, we were getting Iowa St in the East. I posted about this several times before the bracket. Similarly Auburn being behind Tenn and Kentucky meant they could not be slotted into South or Midwest, their 2 preferred locales, so East was always next for them.

2) Auburn and Iowa St. were underrated due to the typical committee seedling voting shenanigans. They decide on the seedlist early on every year for the top seeds and then don't adjust enough for the last few days and conference tournaments. Auburn always had the predictive profile of a top 3 seed, but lacked the resume strength due to unbalanced SEC schedule and some close losses. They improved from 16th to 9th in WAB (a large shift) and notched 3 strong wins from their tournament run (the main thing lacking from their resume), and that was not reflected in them being the 15th overall team in the seedlist. But even if they had been 13th, they'd still be in the East. They had to get to the 3 line ahead of Kentucky for us to not have them in our region, and I believe they should have been. But the only way that's possible is if you seriously re-evaluated their resume on Sunday.

I posted in early February that Auburn was the team I most didn't want to see in the tournament. We'll be only like 2.5-3.5 point favorites over them (they're stronger in metrics than Marquette or North Carolina) and the matchup is tougher than most teams. Jaylin Williams is a physical 4 who can stretch the floor. Johni Broome is a 5 who draws a ton of fouls and can also stretch the floor and protects the paint. They have shooting at all 5 spots and mix of talent and experience up the lineup (Chad Baker-Mazara is a future 1st round pick, Aden Holloway is a 5*, KD Johnson is a menace, Denver Jones and Tre Donaldson shoot 40% from 3).

#2 isn't a conspiracy, it's laziness on the part of the Committee rather than intentional, but it absolutely happened to screw us in this case. We were loaded up with all of the teams that happened to go on to win their conference -- hot and underrated relative to their placement a week ago.

Auburn actually have the profile most similar to us last year -- analytics darling (only team top 10 in both KenPom O and D, and #4 overall), horrible "luck" factor (a lot of close losses to great teams) and badly underseeded as a 4. In our case, opponents had to hope that our bad "luck" was really just an indication that we would choke in close games. Obviously that never mattered as we won huge.

With Auburn, who knows. Are they really a top 5 team that got unlucky, or are they flawed in ways that make their bad "luck" systematic and repeatable? But it is entirely plausible that if we face them, they would be at worst the 2nd toughest game out of the 6 we'd face en route to the championship.

 

[UCfor3]

The worst part is the committe stooge acts like putting out a relatively equitable and balanced bracket is akin to cracking the enigma code only Alan Turing is nowhere in sight. It's not the some borderline impossible task they make it out to be. Get rid of all the rules and bracket principles. Give close to home preferrences to #1 seeds only. Everyone else plays on a neutral court. Teams fly all over the country all season. In conference realignment geography isn't even considered anymore. Cal and Stanford in the ACC? Why worry about it in the tournament after the #1 seed? Why can't Arizona be a #2 seed in the east? They play the first 2 rounds in Salt Lake City already. So what if they have to zip over to Boston for the 2nd weekend.

 

[Samoo]

Line em up, knock em down. Rinse repeat 6 times.

 

[Inyatkin]

There should be no reason Arizona couldn't have been shipped east to be our 2 seed. We have been sent west so many times over the years (with great success), yet Arizona gets the benefit of staying west for what reason, exactly?
Still not as bad as Michigan State being in, period.

 

[Scottobot]

It is really Auburn as the #4 that is most egregious. At #5 in Ken Pom and winning their tournament they had a case to be a 2 seed, and a 3 seed at worst. I would rather play any other 3 or 4 seed then them.

 

[JungleLobo]

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.

 

[auror]

There should be no reason Arizona couldn't have been shipped east to be our 2 seed. We have been sent west so many times over the years (with great success), yet Arizona gets the benefit of staying west for what reason, exactly?
Still not as bad as Michigan State being in, period.

Because the committee had them ranked higher than Iowa St.

 

[JungleLobo]

Iowa State is short. They drop down to 6’8-6’9 after their starting PF at the 5.

Going to be matchup problem for them over the top.

 

[Inyatkin]

Because the committee had them ranked higher than Iowa St.

Right, and has been pointed out numerous times, they reverse justify whatever decision they made based on whatever is convenient. There's no way to know what the real story is, but anyone paying attention the past few weeks had Iowa State above Arizona. It's just that the committee was not among the people paying attention.

 

[uconnfan68]

UConn being put in such a loaded bracket does not seem accidental. But at least we can all take comfort in that the top seeded ACC team North Carolina doesn't have to face such a gauntlet.

And they're playing in West Charlotte.

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

The east has 11 conference tournament champions, no other region has more than 6.

It's not a minor statistical aberration when it's this egregious.

If Houston, Purdue, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Arizona had just 'done their jobs,' the imbalance you justly decry would have been non-existent, and irritated UConn fans could be dismissed as greedy whiners, lacking appreciation for a top seed in their best 2 locations since, well, 2014.

In this ultimately most awkward 'perfect storm’ of a final weekend, all the key information was fully known before UConn won at MSG (Houston getting blown out starting in the first half helped), save for the good times, bubble-bursting DJ Burns show, during which UNC still saved its #1 seed by having made its tournament Finals.

To strengthen the above perception, Auburn and Illinois performed to expectation on a Sunday that turned out to be meaningless...except to those who wanted at least a second CT team in the field of 68.

The Committee's pants stayed at their ankles when they arguably had their best opportunity ever to rework things in response to what actually happened during the conference tournaments, as though everything was in order by the end of Saturday. And they couldn't be bothered.

They just needed to keep the cameras above their waste and recruit someone who could keep a straight face. It could have been a hostage video look, so committed were they to the reasonable scenario they'd preconstructed.

I didn't see or hear the suit who laid out the case for Auburn, Illinois, and ISU's positions on the S-curve, but somebody mentioned that he had a "smirk." If he did, it's understandable. Maybe he drew the short straw.

He was no less than a stand up guy for something that could ultimately be defended by, "Who cares what those folks think?" and, "Let 'em just win their games if they're so good."

UConn did it last year when their high KenPom region was packed with teams set up for play in their own time zone, in addition to the defending champion and Musselman's NBA talent-packed roster.

And so, let 'em just win their games. At this point, nothing's going to change.

My earlier post began as an, "It's not their fault" joke. That's why I quoted @tennspro calling it "ludicrous." I initially went for the absurd, but the more I wrote, the more it made sense.

"Conspiracy" wasn't in mind. Nor was "incompetence." But I can see and have read credible pros & cons for both of those charges, which is why I've Liked many of the posts that have surrounded mine.

The "lazy" angle has merit, but I think that doing the full job (even with the uniquely available opportunity) just calculated out to the multiple powers that be as not worth the effort. That is indeed part of the ever-inescapable money motivation angle, even without adopting a sinister view of it.

When UConn is clicking, it can look like there must somehow be an extra player on the floor. I suppose the East region might look like there's an additional round to be played. It is the hand that has been dealt.

It's very very hard to win 6 consecutive games against steadily escalating one-or-done competition, but every year somebody does it. Once again, it might as well be us. Let's do it.

Go UConn!

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

The conspiracy theories about the politics are dumb, most of the issues with the strength of the region is explained by 2 things:

1) Iowa St and Auburn were forced into our region by bracket principles. The only way to have Iowa St not be in our region was if they were 5th overall on the seedlst


2) Auburn and Iowa St. were underrated due to the typical committee seedling voting shenanigans

I'm glad you used the word "most" in your first paragraph. It leaves room for me to reject the word "conspiracy."

And Iowa State could have not been in the East if they'd been chosen as the 4th 1-seed, after everyone above them faltered, and they crushed the presumptive top #1.

 

[UCOnions]

We were born underdogs. This toughest region crap just plays into our programs history and storyline. We will play each game like we are the lower seed. It's us against the world. No surprises, just hard work.

 

[HooperScooper]

We were born underdogs. This toughest region crap just plays into our programs history and storyline. We will play each game like we are the lower seed. It's us against the world. No surprises, just hard work.

And Hurley loves playing up slights for motivation. I'm sure he told the team last night that the NCAA is trying to screw UConn so we have a harder time winning it all. So let's go out and play our a---- off and win it all and show them nobody can ---- with us.

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

They just needed to keep the cameras above their waste and recruit someone who could keep a straight face. It could have been a hostage video look, so committed were they to the reasonable scenario they'd preconstructed.

My earlier post began as an, "It's not their fault" joke. That's why I quoted @tennspro calling it "ludicrous."

Oops:

"waist" not "waste"

@Tenspro2002 not "tennspro"

 

[Scottobot]

Seems like the NCAA basketball admins go out of their way to constantly hookup UNC, Duke, and Kentucky as the expense of everyone else.

 

[HooperScooper]

UConn not only performed adequately in the Big East Tournament, it excelled. The Huskies were the only team in the top seven of the selection committee's rankings to win their conference tournament, and in doing so they not only locked up the No. 1 seed in the East Regional but the No. 1 overall seed for the 2024 NCAA Tournament.

UConn's reward? The toughest corner in the entire bracket.

2024 NCAA Tournament bracket East Regional: March Madness predictions, upsets, players to watch

UConn is the No. 1 overall seed and the reigning champs, but it faces the toughest regional in the bracket

www.cbssports.com

 

[HooperScooper]

UConn not only performed adequately in the Big East Tournament, it excelled. The Huskies were the only team in the top seven of the selection committee's rankings to win their conference tournament, and in doing so they not only locked up the No. 1 seed in the East Regional but the No. 1 overall seed for the 2024 NCAA Tournament.

UConn's reward? The toughest corner in the entire bracket.

2024 NCAA Tournament bracket East Regional: March Madness predictions, upsets, players to watch

UConn is the No. 1 overall seed and the reigning champs, but it faces the toughest regional in the bracket

www.cbssports.com

East Regional winner​

(1) UConn: Debates over the best team in college basketball have been divisive over the last two to three months. Despite little consensus, much of the sport acknowledges that UConn, Houston and Purdue occupy space in the top tier. My argument for UConn has been and remains very much in line with a college football style of analysis: it passes the eye test. Houston's numbers are great and Purdue's résumé is excellent, but when I watch 40 minutes from the best teams in the sport, no one in the country plays more connected and at a high level than the Huskies. They have multiple scoring options, good size and elite coaching. They're capable of winning high-scoring track meets and low-scoring grinders. Their odds to emerge were lessened by the teams put in their bracket by the committee, but I think UConn is up for the challenge.

 

[huskyharry]

All in the East. Crazy.

don't forget the American Conference champ UAB!

 

[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.