Yeah. When I heard that Stanford could be a #1 seed, I was left confused. I think that Stanford is a great team and usually they are worthy of that #1 spot. This year, they have been hot/cold. I just can't see them being a #1 seed.
www.espn.com
Hmmm. His Bracket has Columbia as the automatic qualifier and Princeton as an at-large team that is on the bubble.According to this:
Women's Champ Week predictions: Which teams will win the auto bids in all 32 conferences?
Conference tournaments have tipped off. Our experts predict which 32 teams will punch their tickets to the 2023 women's NCAA tournament.
He picked Princeton.
And also #4 Tennessee in the Seattle region.
Nah Uconn is considerably less athletic in the front court. Boston, Saxon, Amihere and Watkins. Only Cardoso would be less athletic.
With all due respect, it’s difficult to see how a nationally known writer whose entire career is built around his “bracketology” schtick can be said to have no influence on tournament selections. It is basically inconceivable that many of the selectors do not look at Crème’s brackets and accompanying articles. As for him having the same influence as “you and I” , I’m afraid that dog just won’t hunt. I wish it did though, as I find him to be extremely biased and full of himself.
LSU by 10+
He and others at ESPN say 2) is his goal but we know from tweets ("I was right all along and ___ should not be top 16") suggests he lets 1) affect his work. He's human with an ego so understandable. All and all he and ESPN get what they want: fans paying attention. He'll still have a lot to say after the Committee reveals its brackets and the games begin but what he says then will be much less relevant or newsworthy.
While SC is clearly the (heavy) favorite, they have nevertheless shown that they are not an unbeatable juggernaut. They’ve had two overtime games, and a four point game against a seriously compromised UConn team that was missing their best player and another starter/top bench player. They should win but it’s clearly not a certainty. One bad offensive game coupled with a hot shooting opponent and it’s bye bye SC! Not likely perhaps but, “Hope springs eternal”.
That reminds me of another (perhaps appropriate) saying, “whistling past the graveyard”
www.espn.com
I read this article and thought, huh, is it my UConn-bias, or did he cite a bunch of stuff re TN without going into detail about UConn's undefeated+natty years?I didn't notice this one when it first came out. Creme with another artful piece attempting to minimize UConn's historic achievements. In this one, He's forecasting an SC NC, which isn't unlikely, and the comparing it to other undefeated NCs. The problem is how to do that without noticing UConn's towering achievements in precisely this area.
It must have killed him to post a table to past undefeated seasons that clearly shows SC to trail UConn in several statistical categories. In the end, he resorts to noting that UConn wasn't ranked #1 for the entirety of everyone of those seasons. Gee, I wonder why that was?
Six wins away: How unbeaten South Carolina stacks up against the perfect teams of the past
The Gamecocks haven't lost in a year. As they close in on a perfect season, it's easy to see similarities with undefeated teams of the past and how Dawn Staley has them ready for a run at a repeat.
Agree with both of your comments. My guess is that ESPN writers feel that people are tired of UConn and/or hate UConn, so best to downplay them. That is, unless we have Stewie and can’t be ignored.
If you have followed Creme's picks and through the years have the committees have followed his assessments, you realize there is little influence. Charlie is more click bait than factual analysis.
I was just going to ask if the actual brackets matched Creme's. I'm glad they don't.
Conveniently ignores every UConn team has a higher mov, while searching for SC dominance.
As I said on another thread a UConn versus Indiana debate should give the #1 to UConn. In almost any metric you want to name UConn ranks better than Indiana. NET ranking, wins against top 25 NET, common opponents, SOS and regular season and conference tournament champions while Indiana lost in tournament semifinals. The only edge Indiana could claim would be last 10 but given the injury situation, which the committee is supposed to consider I can’t see how Indiana rates a #1 in the same bracket as UConn.
