Brown: "Committee Didn't Have A Lot of Respect for our Conference"

[DarthGrumpy]

UConn was knocked down two seeds "just because" - they reaped nothing from their out of conference schedule.

I wonder what our seed was prior to beating Cincy on Friday...

UConn would have been an 8/9 seed playing in Orlando with a date with Florida, also in Orlando, in round 2.

 

[upstater]

But Uconn lost 3 times to a team that did have a bad OOC. I'm not defending the rationale, just showing how the case is made. Ville's OOC losses dragged down the RPI of the whole conference.

The problem with this is that UConn's RPI was above a 7 seed and UConn's SOS was #22, also above a 7 seed. if you give any credit at all for handing the #1 team in the nation one of their 2 losses, you are left scratching your head at how these decisions came about. If you're telling me it's strictly by the numbers and not by the eye test, then how do you explain the seed that is lower than all the numbers?

 

[upstater]

Only if you lose ... and seeding was random enough that, with parity already present in college ball, there's not a lot of difference in facing a higher seed than a lower seed. Many of the high seeds were overseeded. I think each of the AAC teams has the potential to make a run. Cincy has the hardest road relative to seed, having to face B1G champ Michigan State in the second round. Other than that I don't think there's any great ground for complaint. Yes, UConn was underseeded at 7, but we were gifted with an overseeded Nova at 2, so it's not so bad. Yes, Memphis is an 8, about what they deserve, but they have the type of team speed that could create trouble for UVa, just as they were able to create trouble for Louisville. I feel for Cincy but their road is hard because MSU was underseeded as much as because Cincy was underseeded. SMU has the major ground to complain.

Sure, you can win out. Or lose in the first game. But the odds say that teams with better seeds will win more games and make more money for their conference.

5 AAC teams properly seeded in different regions is a big money winner for the conference.

 

[itgoeslike]

The problem with this is that UConn's RPI was above a 7 seed and UConn's SOS was #22, also above a 7 seed. if you give any credit at all for handing the #1 team in the nation one of their 2 losses, you are left scratching your head at how these decisions came about. If you're telling me it's strictly by the numbers and not by the eye test, then how do you explain the seed that is lower than all the numbers?

Agree. Forget about the eye test, UConn's seedings fail the math test.

 

[itgoeslike]

Sure, you can win out. Or lose in the first game. But the odds say that teams with better seeds will win more games and make more money for their conference.

5 AAC teams properly seeded in different regions is a big money winner for the conference.

When you put 75% of a conference's seeds in the same bracket they cancel each other out, which does cost the league an opportunity to generate a greater amount of NCAA credits.

 

[DarthGrumpy]

The problem with this is that UConn's RPI was above a 7 seed and UConn's SOS was #22, also above a 7 seed. if you give any credit at all for handing the #1 team in the nation one of their 2 losses, you are left scratching your head at how these decisions came about. If you're telling me it's strictly by the numbers and not by the eye test, then how do you explain the seed that is lower than all the numbers?

Because we are talking about the NCAA and UConn. The rules that apply to most schools have never applied to UConn and it does not help that the Basketball selection committee was chaired by a ACC school, though Wake, if rumors are true, is not one of the anti-UConn members. Just look at UConn’s APR suspension versus UNC’s fraudulent classes, realignment over the last 10 years, treatment of UConn at the Fiesta Bowl, etc.

 

[itgoeslike]

It appears Wake's AD is attempting to apply the same exclusionary practices to basketball as they are doing in football. Also, it's funny how Coach K was pushing for Virginia as #1 and an NC State bid.

http://www.sportingnews.com/ncaa-ba...-coach-k-stumps-for-nc-state-dance-invitation

Anyhow, time to win out and make the seeding committee look like a bunch of incompetent and/or corrupt idiots.

 

[itgoeslike]

If you look at who got marginalized I think it has more to do with the conference than specifically UConn. The P5 conferences do not want the AAC to be a 4 or 5 bid conference. By putting 3 top 25 teams in the same bracket it limits the potential for an "embarrassing" AAC final four. The reality is that games against the top 5 teams in the AAC conference helped prepare them for the tourney. I hope it pays off. And I'll be rooting for SMU to be the NIT champ. . .

 

[pj]

Because we are talking about the NCAA and UConn. The rules that apply to most schools have never applied to UConn and it does not help that the Basketball selection committee was chaired by a ACC school, though Wake, if rumors are true, is not one of the anti-UConn members. Just look at UConn’s APR suspension versus UNC’s fraudulent classes, realignment over the last 10 years, treatment of UConn at the Fiesta Bowl, etc.

This was about money, pure and simple. Universities have gotten used to feeding political constituencies with more money every year but are struggling to grow revenue. They are looking for money everywhere. Since the total pot is largely fixed, they are trying to take it from other universities. Conference realignment is about taking money from networks and other conferences. Even basketball seedings are in this.

The AAC happened to have no one on the committee this year and two ACC members were there.

Not sure what we can do about it, except compete. No one ever said life was fair.

 

[Waquoit]

But Uconn lost 3 times to a team that did have a bad OOC. I'm not defending the rationale, just showing how the case is made. Ville's OOC losses dragged down the RPI of the whole conference.

Why doesn't our beating the #1 seed count for anything?

 

[DarthGrumpy]

If UConn somehow wins this thing (I honestly have them falling to Michigan St in the Great 8 at MSG in my bracket), they should show the world how UConn feels. As Emmert and the head of the basketball committee comes up to give UConn the trophy, first 1) invite Jim Calhoun up to join them (Emmert & co. would go nuclear) and 2) arrange everyone on the podium so that it looks like UConn is giving everyone the single finger salute. If UConn is going to go down, go down in a blaze of glory and have fun while doing it.

 

[freescooter]

Mr C. I'd go one better. I wouldn't send anyone up to accept the award. Just tell them to mail it to us. By the way, I doubt we get anywhere near the Final Four, but if a miracle happens, that's what we ought to do.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

If SMU getting bumped was the only snub, I would have not thought it was a big deal. SMU put themselves into trouble by losing to Houston. But this was an across the board snub solely targeted at the AAC. I actually don't have a huge problem with the other seeds, and NC State seems like an odd choice but the committee often seems to take a flyer on the last school or two.

The treat of the AAC stands out as the only unusual aspect of this Committee's work.

 

[Dogdeacon]

I wonder if the AAC conference tournament atmosphere and attendance had anything to do with the seedings debacle. AAC fans essentially decided the conference tourney wasn't worth attending. That couldn't have helped. The arena was >half empty except for the UConn-Memphis game and once Memphis lost the atmosphere was ehh.

 

[djct1999]

If SMU getting bumped was the only snub, I would have not thought it was a big deal. SMU put themselves into trouble by losing to Houston. But this was an across the board snub solely targeted at the AAC. I actually don't have a huge problem with the other seeds, and NC State seems like an odd choice but the committee often seems to take a flyer on the last school or two.

The treat of the AAC stands out as the only unusual aspect of this Committee's work.

Nelson, why dont you run for governor of this great state under the platform of ESPN getting us into the P5 or simply get out of Bristol? I will vote for you!

 

[upstater]

I wonder if the AAC conference tournament atmosphere and attendance had anything to do with the seedings debacle. AAC fans essentially decided the conference tourney wasn't worth attending. That couldn't have helped. The arena was >half empty except for the UConn-Memphis game and once Memphis lost the atmosphere was ehh.

To be honest, I was quite surprised at the attendance of the final. I didn't expect that many people.

 

[Dogdeacon]

To be honest, I was quite surprised at the attendance of the final. I didn't expect that many people.

I didn't attend that one, maybe the Memphis fans got over their loss and decided to come out for that game?
Very disappointing attendance Thursday and Friday.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

Nelson, why dont you run for governor of this great state under the platform of ESPN getting us into the P5 or simply get out of Bristol? I will vote for you!

Our politicians have been useless in helping us. I am not a big Mitch McConnell fan, but he went to bat for Louisville in a big way with the Big 12, and almost knocked out WVU who had a several month lead.

The single biggest threat to UConn's university, not just its athletic program, is the current conference affiliation. UConn has to end it as soon as possible.

 

[upstater]

I didn't attend that one, maybe the Memphis fans got over their loss and decided to come out for that game?
Very disappointing attendance Thursday and Friday.

It looked like Louisville/Cincy fans to me. I'm sure the upper deck was empty, but there were only a smattering of empties on the bottom. Ville traveled well.

 

[freescooter]

attendance is a huge issue for these tournaments. Most of them don't sell out. Even the ACC has struggled with attendance outside of North Carolina. There were tickets available to the Big 10 final Friday night. If the AAC really wanted to be innovative, it would explore a different approach. I sort of like awarding the automatic bid to the regular season champ, but rather than play a league tournament in the traditional sense, play maybe 2 extra games that count toward the league standings. The first game would be 1-12, 2-11 and so on, but the final would be 1-2, 3-4, 5-6, etc. It would set up some pretty interesting scenarios, and could really create movement in the standings. I know it would probably not be doable under current rules, but I'd treat it as an experiment, much as the Big East did with the 6 foul rule and the Big 10 (I think) did with the video rule at one time. It is totally nuts to play in front of 8800 as the A-10 did. Heck, the Big didn't even publish attendance figures for its tournament games before the championship, which leads you to suspect there were a few seats available there too.

 

[CL82]

I wonder that if we lost to Memphis and smu won 2 games that uconn would've been out! I'm only half joking. There seems to be an axe to grind with the AAC .

I don't know about an axe but there seems to be a concerted effort to keep non P5 teams in their place. The AAC made a little too much noise this year. This seems to be a concerted effort to squelch that.

 

[partial]

The most reasonable conclusion is something we all knew there is bias in the selection process. It's probably not overt but i don't think you can look at how the aac teams were seeded and in what region they were put in and argue that was just random variance in the process.

This year I don't think the draw we got was particularly bad but it's worrying for the future what happens if cincy memphis and/or uconn have a down year do we become a 1-2 bid conference?

 

[Senore]

Louisville is partly to blame here. They are the measuring stick for the conference as a whole and played two ranked teams OOC and lost to both of them. That killed the RPI they carried into conference play.

A-10 was over rewarded for early season play.

LOL, if that was the case, they didn't pay any f---g attention to the arc of Louisville's season. We lost the 2 time Regional MOP in Behanen and the services of our 6th man, Kevin Ware about one third into the season. If they were paying such rapt and close attention to Embiid's back, you think they could pause for a sec and realize what was put together to compensate for a loss like that in Louisville's case. 2 of the losses occurred during the weirdness of Chane's ultimate dismissal and temporarily tore the team up. After that, the arc begins and evolves. UofL's OOC losses occurred during a period of serious turmoil.

I don't care and I know you guys don't give a dam either, lol. But I would like to think someone would appreciate that UofL developed their current rotations as adaptations to team important personnel losses, which as far as I am concerned should have raised their status. I blame the same willing inattention we are all complaining about towards the AAC.

The committee seemed to me to be short on basketball people and large on accountants.

 

[upstater]

LOL, if that was the case, they didn't pay any f---g attention to the arc of Louisville's season. We lost the 2 time Regional MOP in Behanen and the services of our 6th man, Kevin Ware about one third into the season. If they were paying such rapt and close attention to Embiid's back, you think they could pause for a sec and realize what was put together to compensate for a loss like that in Louisville's case. 2 of the losses occurred during the weirdness of Chane's ultimate dismissal and temporarily tore the team up. After that, the arc begins and evolves. UofL's OOC losses occurred during a period of serious turmoil.

I don't care and I know you guys don't give a dam either, lol. But I would like to think someone would appreciate that UofL developed their current rotations as adaptations to team important personnel losses, which as far as I am concerned should have raised their status. I blame the same willing inattention we are all complaining about towards the AAC.

The committee seemed to me to be short on basketball people and large on accountants.

The funny thing is that we hear incessantly about how Florida didn't have their backup guard Hill when they played UConn, but no one ever mentioned that UConn had our second leading scorer Daniels injured for 3 games during the heart of conference play. It was so odd that not even the announcers of our game against Cincy mentioned that he wasn't playing. That's actually an indictment of Daniels, now that I think about it, but nonetheless, he was our second leading scorer.

 

[Senore]

Mr C. I'd go one better. I wouldn't send anyone up to accept the award. Just tell them to mail it to us. By the way, I doubt we get anywhere near the Final Four, but if a miracle happens, that's what we ought to do.

Ha ha. I can see it now. What you need to do is take the other 3 NC trophies to the Final. Put them in a plastic garbage can with a couple of their tops sticking out. That way you can look at Emmert and go: "Just throw it over there with the rest of them."