Big Bubble Night Discussion

[Waquoit]

If you can juke your own NET into a higher ranking you also raise the teams you play. It becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

I can't crunch the numbers. But the B10 had the most OOC games and won a good percentage—but mostly not against the best of other teams, so sort of like what Nelson was pitching—and that meant that all their NETs were inflated and they got way more Quad 1 opportunities. It's probably more of a "Big East in general should have played more" than a UConn specific thing. But it does matter.

Again, it's Non-Conference Strength of Schedule that is most important. Actually winning those games is only of some value. Jerry Palm's bracketology explanation says to me that if we had ginned up a few games against some local scrubs if would have given us little to no value seeding-wise. That OOC USC game would have been severely diluted. A neutral court win versus a top opponent is like gold this year. The fact that we have hit the BET with all systems go shows not playing those games didn't hurt us on court.

Getting back to hanging, this was a drumbeat carried on for months. Constant criticism of the coach and program that ends up being incorrect without some level of atonement is hanging-worthy. And this is only one charge!

 

[freescooter]

It is possible that the Big East gets 3 bids. Villanova, Creighton and UConn. How can anyone seriously think Seton Hall deserves anything? Xavier got smoked by Marquette. 6-7 in the league. Their 4 of the 7 non-league wins are Tenn Tech, Bradley, Oakland, Eastern Ky. and the 5th is a Cincinatti team that has struggled. So while they or somebody will probably get the Big East legacy bid, it is pretty slim pickins after the top 3. Maybe you could make a case for the Johnnies, but I don’t see it myself. Do you seriously want to waste a bid on a team that has lost games to Georgetown, DePaul, Butler and Marquette? The Hall? How do you invite a team that I’d dropping like a rock and only 1 game over .500. If I’m Val I’m meeting with the refs to fix things so an underdog wind the tourney to insure 4 slots. Nobody is leaving out the other 3 regardless of performance.

 

[tzznandrew]

Again, it's Non-Conference Strength of Schedule that is most important. Actually winning those games is only of some value. Jerry Palm's bracketology explanation says to me that if we had ginned up a few games against some local scrubs if would have given us little to no value seeding-wise. That OOC USC game would have been severely diluted. A neutral court win versus a top opponent is like gold this year. The fact that we have hit the BET with all systems go shows not playing those games didn't hurt us on court.

Getting back to hanging, this was a drumbeat carried on for months. Constant criticism of the coach and program that ends up being incorrect without some level of atonement is hanging-worthy. And this is only one charge!

In the list you gave:

Most important​

• Games by quadrant, listing results and upcoming games
• Records by quadrant, away and neutral
• Non-Conference Strength of Schedule (SOS)
• Overall SOS
• Overall road and neutral records
• Non-Division I losses

NCSOS isn't the most important. It's in a list of other relevant statistics including games by quadrant, etc.

Win percentage as a raw stat isn't itself that important, but it factors into your NET, which determines the quadrants, which are the first two categories. Win% is also a major determinant SOS.

The B10 got lots of wins against sundry OOC opponents. Their high winning percentage helped them get a load of Q1 games in conference.

Think of it this way. Michigan is absolutely going to get a #1 seed. Their NET is through the roof. Part of that is that they played and won more games. Their OOC schedule wasn't something to write home about:

134 Bowling Green
255 Oakland
170 Ball State
104 UCF
63 Toledo

UConn's is

302 CCSU
167 Hartford
14 USC

If they were able to schedule a couple of games in the Hartford territory, it clearly wouldn't have hurt. And, it looks to me like it would have helped a lot, because you can do this through most of the B10.