NCAA Tournament Day 1 Thread (Merged)

[upstater]

Maybe the Big East's problem isn't a conspiracy against them, but their inept commissioner sending an inept representative to the committee? Do you think the power conferences send placeholders to advocate for their schools?

The question answers itself.

Who has the power to do whatever they want?

The SEC and B1G.

The idea that these conferences care about the Big East at all is quaint.

I mean, somehow, these 2 conferences forced the basketball conferences to pay the salaries of their football players from 15 years ago?!?! One of the most hare-brained rulings in the history of not only college sports, but fairmindedness.

 

[superjohn]

Maybe the Big East's problem isn't a conspiracy against them, but their inept commissioner sending an inept representative to the committee? Do you think the power conferences send placeholders to advocate for their schools?

It's been beaten to death but she's inconsequential. Only time anyone has heard her name in recent years is her talking about women's basketball and creating a rehab program for coaches who go after refs. It's time for a 48 year old shark. Val was fine and even good for the league at one point but that time has passed. Big East is actually positioned well in this revenue sharing time now.

 

[6Nattys4Us]

Why does #8 Louisville get a home game?

I wonder what the average seed is for the #2 team in the big east??? I bet it's alot lower than 9.

Technically they do not: game was in Lexington not Louisville but that’s a distinction without merit.

 

[tzznandrew]

I have to be getting them confused with an earlier team. Still, the point remains, don't you think the BE is perennially underseeded?

They build a strong tourney record even though they rarely get those cupcake 1-16 or 2-15 matchups, which always buffs up a conference's overall W/L

Not extremely so. It's all within the realm of what is normal. Nothing like the AAC used to get. St. John's should have gotten in last year, but I think they've been reasonable, getting between 4-6 out of 11 teams all but last year.

But, since UConn has come back, take a look. Is anything egregious? There are certainly some generous seeds and inclusions, if you ask me.

2021 (AP, Post-Tournament Kenpom)
5 Creighton 22-8 (19, 22)
5 Villanova 18-7 (18, 12)
7 UConn 15-8 (Unranked, 21)
12 Georgetown 13-12 (Unranked, 63)

2022 (AP, Pre-Tournament Kenpom)
2 Villanova 26-7 (6, 11)
4 Providence 25-5 (13, 48)
5 UConn 23-9 (21, 18)
8 Seton Hall 21-10 (Unranked, 41)
9 Marquette 19-12 (Unranked, 46)
9 Creighton 22-11 (Unranked, 53)

2023 (AP, Pre-Tournament Kenpom)
2 Marquette 28-6 (6, 12)
3 Xavier 25-9 (13, 16)
4 UConn 25-8 (10, 4)
6 Creighton 21-12 (Unranked, 13)
11 Providence 21-11 (Unranked, 44)

2024 (AP, Pre-Tournament Kenpom)
1 UConn 31-3 (1, 1)
2 Marquette 25-9 (8, 12)
3 Creighton 23-9 (11, 11)

2025 (AP, Pre-Tournament Kenpom)
2 St. John's 30-4 (5, 11)
7 Marquette 23-10 (Unranked, 28)
8 UConn 23-10 (Unranked, 35)
9 Creighton 24-10 (Unranked, 37)
11 Xavier 21-11 (Unranked, 43)

 

[tzznandrew]

The SEC deserves the bids from a resume point of view. The question is whether those resume-building wins are "predictive."

There are sometimes statistical flukes. Bad teams sometimes beat good teams. The SEC may have had a lot of flukiness in their favor. You have to give them the bids -- what else would you go on? -- but there's a decent likelihood that the conference overall is just overrated.

This is exactly how I feel, and why I'm not all fussed up about it. Because I want there to be a precedent that conferences are rewarded for exceptional OOC performances.

 

[AZHuskiePop]

People think Vanderbilt is good because they came into tournament play 13-1 (only losing to Drake), and beat Tennessee, Texas A&M, Kentucky and other teams that made the NCAAs along the way.

Look, I get that you think the SEC is overrated. They actually haven't had a terrible performance other than Georgia embarrassing themselves, which happens to teams of every conference every year. Ultimately, there's no real other way to judge a conference's strength than OOC. And we want to allocate more bids to better conferences, not give the SOCON the same number of bids as the SEC. The 9th place BE team won, which went 9-9 in conference, won the NCAAT in 2011 and got in with a 3 seed because of its OOC performance. It's the way it is, and the way it sort of has to be unless you want to entirely destroy the value of teams playing OOC games. There has to be a reward.

The SEC's reward was a well-earned 14/16 bids. At least 13 of them are going to lose. More in probably spectacular fashion. Some of their seeds are a bit inflated...but unless you want to go 4-team CFP style "ummm... they just look better now" this is the best we got and it gets settled on the court. Some teams are clearly over-valued, but that's a price I'm willing to pay to reward continued strong scheduling, great OOC performance, and an inclusive nature of who gets into the tournament.

Also...no, 19-14 Villanova, who lost to Georgetown twice, Providence, and MFing Columbia is not good. They stink. They were talented, but they were not a good team and we should be embarrassed we lost to them.

I say this every year the first poll or ratings of any kind I look at every year are at the end of December. . The number of bids a conference is going to get is 95% completed before league plays and even seeding within a league . Conference play determines who those teams are and where they get seeded . In December we pretty much knew the Big East had 4 for sure with the possibility of 1 more.
Early season OC play is huge.and OC games after Jan 1 have almost disappeared so your chances of moving up are always at the expense of a conference mate.
It’s simply math and that’s an only tad better than pure opinion . It doesn’t account for factors like team growth and various adjustments of new players so just because a Conference was good in December doesn’t necessarily mean it maintained that edge by March .
Thats why the tournament is so intriguing.
Let’s play the games and test the math vs reality .

 

[Superhuskies]

Someone had to sacrifice

Someone had to sacrifice for the SEC and B1G.

You mean, the old...hara-kiri ?????

 

[Doctor Hoop]

Memphis is done in first round. Can't believe we lost that game in Maui.