Charlie Dishes It to the Committee, and Sums Up

[tennparker3]

I am going to give Ariel a homer shout out here since I saw her leadership questioned. She ripped her big toe nail out in the Kentucky game and still fought through two aggressive battles. I ripped my toe nail out in a high school basketball game and vomited from the pain and almost passed out from blood loss. I was disappointed in her offensive showing in the SEC tourney but after learning about that I thought that was mighty tough of her to suck it up and play a lot of basketball.

Charlie Creme gets paid to speculate, something we all seem to be able to do just as well if not better. He is a joke to me.

 

[DobbsRover2]

First off, Leadership is so much more than things in the box score. But speaking of that, yes, Massengale had a putrid SEC tournament. However, even with those averages factored in, she's scoring 13 points a game and her assists are up since Harrison went out, and she tied a school record, hitting 8 3's in the home finale against Vanderbilt. Ariel Massengale has been playing starter's minutes in our backcourt for four years, and her experience and leadership is extremely valuable.

Didn't know about the big toe, and that does give her maybe a pass for 4-25 shooting in the SECT. She did at least average 3 assists during the SECT, which may be something to build leadership around. But it does still beg the question of can she provide the leadership in the Tourney that Kara talked about during the selection show? If she is still at a physically impaired enough state that she shoots 16% along with dishing out a few assists in the NCAAT, even trying to do a Willis Reed impersonation is not going to give the Vols the type of leadership boost they need to go deep. Hopefully the two weeks rest will have her back at normal.

But when the star player on a top team goes down, almost by default the rest of the starters are going to get more shots and take up some of the missing points. A three point boost for Massengale is such a situation is about what you'd expect, and the Vols have been scoring more than 3 points less a game since Izzy went down. But all the best to Ariel, and if she can recover and will her team back to an FF out in Spokane, good for her.

 

[CamrnCrz1974]

I do not understand the hate for Creme. First, it is a thankless job. If you get the picks right, there is no reward, as it is what is expected of you. And if you get the picks wrong, you are called an "idiot."

Plus, it really is a lot of work. Not only do you have to be familiar with every team's body of work, you also have to understand the NCAA's rules, which change (even if the NCAA publicly denies this) on an annual basis.

Even Joe Lunardi, the men's bracket guru who is renown for his accuracy, did not have the geographic placement right or the seeds correct. As an example, he had Indiana and UCLA on his list of "First Four Out" teams. But both made it - and Indiana did so while being seeded 10th.

No disrespect intended to individual posters, but when people comment that "they could do a better job" or that he is a "joke" or an "idiot," I always wonder I did not see their own versions of Bracketology before the Selection Show.

 

[EricLA]

I do not understand the hate for Creme. First, it is a thankless job. If you get the picks right, there is no reward, as it is what is expected of you. And if you get the picks wrong, you are called an "idiot."

Plus, it really is a lot of work. Not only do you have to be familiar with every team's body of work, you also have to understand the NCAA's rules, which change (even if the NCAA publicly denies this) on an annual basis.

Even Joe Lunardi, the men's bracket guru who is renown for his accuracy, did not have the geographic placement right or the seeds correct. As an example, he had Indiana and UCLA on his list of "First Four Out" teams. But both made it - and Indiana did so while being seeded 10th.

No disrespect intended to individual posters, but when people comment that "they could do a better job" or that he is a "joke" or an "idiot," I always wonder I did not see their own versions of Bracketology before the Selection Show.

I think it's because it's low hanging fruit. Anyone can get on a message board and say "So and so is a complete idiot". No proof or facts are needed. I actually give Creme credit for putting Tennessee in ND's bracket - any time they bow out early in the NCAA's is like a holiday for me. And I'm sure he pissed off a lot of Tennessee fans by not following the S curve...

 

[DobbsRover2]

Agree. I use to have a lot more issues with Charlie years ago, but I just am amazed how basically accurate he is in fathoming what the committee will think. Clearly he would make selections differently if it was his job, but it isn't. He just gets to predict. Many fans seem to think that picking the 64 teams in the WCBB tourney for two years in a row is a ho-hom feat, but it is really extremely hard, especially if you don't have someone like him to base your picks on. If you've heard him in interviews, you know that he follows the sport in almost anal depth.

I did call him an idiot earlier in the year when he felt compelled to put Cornell in as the Ivy selection because it had played one more game than Princeton (with the Tigers as an at-large), but even that is just his anal fixation with following his own selecting rules even if they make no sense in early January for selections that will occur two months later. But overall, there is just a lot of jealousy and displaced frustration that gets dumped on him.