Friday night lights: Big East and Pac-12 action

[Plebe]

Well get ‘em next year.

Elon vs James Madison is becoming something of a rivalry game in all sports. My son says the Elon pep band gets treated rather rudely on the JMU campus. The football rivalry is downright ugly

Has Elon ever beaten James Madison in football?

 

[npignatjr]

Not necessarily. If Hebard is available for the postseason, the committee can take into account her absence.

Doesn't deserve a 1, 3 losses 2 to only fair teams

 

[HuskyNan]

Has Elon ever beaten James Madison in football?

FCS: Elon football ends No. 2 James Madison's 22-game CAA win streak, earns first top 5 win at DI level | NCAA.com

The win helped Elon to a #6 national ranking in FCS football

 

[WestsideWaltz]

Sabrina should have gotten angry at him and not Gildon.

Yeah, I would have loved seeing her shove Graves.

 

[Orangutan]

 

[Plebe]

Which means he now has UConn as #3 overall, I suppose. And Louisville is #2.

If it were to end up that way then UConn would almost definitely gets MSU as the #2 in Albany. But there is a LOT that can happen in the next 2-3 weeks.

 

[jennyo70]

Well get ‘em next year.

Elon vs James Madison is becoming something of a rivalry game in all sports. My son says the Elon pep band gets treated rather rudely on the JMU campus. The football rivalry is downright ugly

@HuskyNan my daughter has been invited to interview for admission to Elon School of Law. She is going to ride down to Greensboro with us when we head to ACC tourney and interview, tour the school and sit in on classes. We will drop her off and scope out the campus and area ourselves before games start on that Friday.

 

[HuskyNan]

@HuskyNan my daughter has been invited to interview for admission to Elon School of Law. She is going to ride down to Greensboro with us when we head to ACC tourney and interview, tour the school and sit in on classes. We will drop her off and scope out the campus and area ourselves before games start on that Friday.

We love Elon. I’m actually wearing my Elon tee this very moment. Elon is an “up and coming” university and has a well-defined, well-executed growth plan academically. I’ve been very impressed with the school overall and feel my son made a great choice.

Best of luck to your daughter no matter where she goes.

 

[Fightin Choke]

Which means he now has UConn as #3 overall, I suppose. And Louisville is #2.

If it were to end up that way then UConn would almost definitely gets MSU as the #2 in Albany. But there is a LOT that can happen in the next 2-3 weeks.

Why is Louisville #2 overall? I am interested in hearing the committee's next reveal. If both ND and Louisville are undefeated before that, I would expect the Irish to be seeded above Louisville, as they have been more impressive. Look at the computer composite and note Louisville's position. The Irish are far ahead of the Cardinals and have more good wins.

 

[Plebe]

Why is Louisville #2 overall? I am interested in hearing the committee's next reveal. If both ND and Louisville are undefeated before that, I would expect the Irish to be seeded above Louisville, as they have been more impressive. Look at the computer composite and note Louisville's position. The Irish are far ahead of the Cardinals and have more good wins.

I like your work there but the committee doesn’t use computer composite rankings as far as anyone knows.

ND has a *slight* edge over Louisville in quality wins but ND has the extra loss to UNC. And if the committee uses common opponents as a tiebreaker, Louisville has the win over UConn as well.

To me it’s not at all clear right now how the seeds line up from #2 to #5. Lots of permutations are possible depending on how one weighs quality wins against semi-soft losses, and whether the injuries to Young and Hebard are taken into account.

 

[Fightin Choke]

I like your work there but the committee doesn’t use computer composite rankings as far as anyone knows.

ND has a *slight* edge over Louisville in quality wins but ND has the extra loss to UNC. And if the committee uses common opponents as a tiebreaker, Louisville has the win over UConn as well.

To me it’s not at all clear right now how the seeds line up from #2 to #5. Lots of permutations are possible depending on how one weighs quality ins against semi-soft losses, and whether the injuries to Young and Hebard are taken into account.

Yes, common opponents matter. And while it's true that Louisville beat UConn while ND lost to the Huskies, the Irish beat Louisville head-to-head, which should carry more weight than common opponents.

You're also correct about the not knowing whether the committee uses computer ratings, but I'd be stunned if they didn't have the data provided to them. I think what we are unsure of is how much it factors into their decision. My composite just makes it easy to see all the models together as a single number, but each of the models tells its story on its own.

I agree with you that right now, it's Baylor as the overall 1-seed, and then 2-5 or 6 is really blurry. My composite is just a tool to help clear up and focus that vision.

 

[Bigboote]

Sabrina Ionescu fouled out with 11.8 seconds and a three point game, and instead of cheering on her teammates who are still trying to battle it out, what does she do? Walks to the locker room and throws some stuff.

I've only seen a couple of Oregon games this season, but in both I noticed a distinct lack of enthusiasm among the players on the bench. My wife noticed it in last Sunday's game and noted that it didn't reflect well on them.

Have our PAC12 fans noticed the same thing, or have I just seen a couple of uncharacteristic games?

 

[WestsideWaltz]

I've only seen a couple of Oregon games this season, but in both I noticed a distinct lack of enthusiasm among the players on the bench. My wife noticed it in last Sunday's game and noted that it didn't reflect well on them.

Have our PAC12 fans noticed the same thing, or have I just seen a couple of uncharacteristic games?

There was also concern with the number of transfers Oregon had recently.

 

[Dillon77]

Oregon only had 10 players on its roster heading into the season, lost Nyra Sabally at the outset and now Hebard is injured. All eight players left on their active roster played, but the five starters all played more than 30 minutes.

Guard Maite Cazorla and forward Oti Gildon are seniors, due to graduate this year.
If Sabina Ionescu chooses to go pro, that will knock the roster down to 7 this spring. The Ducks have an incoming class of two: Jazmin Shelley, a 5'11" PG from Australia; and, Holly Winterburn, a 5'11" wing from -- here's something you wont' expect -- England!

That gives them 9 players with the most experienced guard returning being Taylor Chavez, the frosh, who has been promising off the bench. Still, to ask her to fill the void left by Ionescu and/or Cazorla is virtually impractical.

Besides Chavez, the core of the team would be the Sabally sisters (both forwards), Erin Boley (who is kind of position-less...just get her the ball!) and Ruth Hebard at the post. Would Graves go with four bigs in this day and age. Might work against the multiple towers that will be Oregon State, but what about guard-oriented teams, like ND and UConn?

Graves is putting together a very cosmopolitan team, with players from Germany, England, Australia, Arizona, Washington, Kentucky, and Alaska. Maybe all those different backgrounds produce a different kind of vibe on the bench. Not bad, just different.

 

[triaddukefan]

Well get ‘em next year.

Elon vs James Madison is becoming something of a rivalry game in all sports. My son says the Elon pep band gets treated rather rudely on the JMU campus. The football rivalry is downright ugly

Wait til the fall....... it should be extra spicy... as the successful Elon coach left to be the head coach of James Madison. Im sure the Phoenix players will be EXTRA motivated for his return to campus.

 

[bballnut90]

Good points. The bubble did just get stronger in the last two days. I still think Tennessee's in decent shape with its wins over Missouri and Texas. But yeah, the margin for missteps has narrowed.



Not sure I'm quite on board with the point about SC. I suppose you're referring to their two losses to Tennessee when Wilson didn't play. But they were still given a #2 seed in the tournament, and it's not clear to me that their placement was downgraded by those two losses.

I think SC may have avoided the east regional if they won both Tennessee games. Even if they still go there, the committee didnt mitigate Tennessee's wins over SC twice by giving them a 3 seed, even though in reality SC was a pretty bad team without A'ja during those games and Tennessee's resume wasnt 3 seed worthy without them. I dont think the committee will downplay Oregon's losses for not having Hebard, nor will they downplay Notre Dame for missing Young against UNC....just part of how it all shakes out.