UConn a 1 seed

[Charliebball]

And they all have worse losses....

what's more important, a great win or a bad loss?

 

[BBallF]

I worry about the way we played and lost to the top three more than the fact that it happened. We need to get some help to be the #4 or #5 overall seed at this point but it is certainly not unrealistic. I like our chances if we are the #5 seed to get to the FF and then, who knows.

 

[uconnfan68]

Sixth seems like the highest possibility. The winners of each of the the Power Five Conferences should get the top 5 seeds, unless there are a slew of upsets between now and seeding time.

Bring back the dislike button. The “Power 5” should just leave the NCAA and become minor league teams.

 

[triaddukefan]

Not if my Blue Devils or if @Plebe Fighting Irish have anything to say about it!

If you have to rely on Duke or Notre Dame to help you out......

 

[willtalk]

I worry about the way we played and lost to the top three more than the fact that it happened. We need to get some help to be the #4 or #5 overall seed at this point but it is certainly not unrealistic. I like our chances if we are the #5 seed to get to the FF and then, who knows.

Your post pretty much sums up the entire argument. At this point in time, no team wants to face any of the top three teams. Although it can be reasonably argued that some of the other teams would match up better with those three and would actually do better against them than Uconn would in a repeat. The perspective that promotes the scenario that because Uconn only lost to those three teams, this makes them the fourth-best team in WCBBs seems to be a favorite on the Boneyard . This is a distorted self-interest driven rationale to justify the highest available remaining seed to avoid teams against which they have little chance. Every ranked team has the same desire to avoid difficult early matchups. Every team also has the right to expect to have an equal shot at getting a fair seeding. Any advantage for one usually comes at the expense of another.

Sure only those three teams have beaten Uconn. But what other team have they played that even had a chance to beat them? Depaul is the only real top 25 ranked team they have faced. Tenn has shown itself to not belong there. And Depaul's short line up was a tailor-made match up in that they did not have the height to take advantage of Uconn's weakness. Who, other than the "Three" has Uconn even played to justify the fact that they might be the fourth-best team and justified to get the last #1 seed. Other than Depaul, does getting soundly beaten by those three teams while not facing any other top 25 team, give any clue as to where they should be ranked in respect to the other teams? A fair objective assessment says no. The question remains as to what is more important. Not getting loses or not playing teams that can give you losses? Realistically, where Uconn will be seeded will still be influenced positively by the Uconn brand and less by their actual record.

Hoping that other top teams with tough remaining schedules get losses that will improve Uconns seeding chances is something that every team's fans would want. Every fan wants their team to have the best chance to advance in the playoffs. Nothing wrong with that. That is unless those fans believe that they are entitled to that higher seeding based on nothing but mental gymnastics.

 

[BBallF]

I agree that only by doing"mental gymnastics" can you get to the #1 seed fantasy for UConn at this point in time. DePaul is #13 and we are #5. What about #4 and then #s 6-12? Are we clearly, unmistakenly better than them right now? As you point out, we really have no empirical evidence for that. In past years the Ohio States, Cals or even Oklahomas of the world have been ranked and it was easy to be able to see the difference. This year we have a gutted ND, a down Vols, several unranked non-conference teams and 3 powerhouses to use as our basis to gauge the Big Dance. It's great to love your team. I do. But the only kind of love that should be blind is the kind that we are celebrating today, not the kind on the hardwood floor.

 

[mhshuskies]

It would have helped a lot if UConn had played and defeated a few teams ranked lower than #3 and higher than #25 (Tennessee). They did defeat one such team: DePaul. That's good, but a few more like that would help a lot.

Right now, a number of other teams can say that they have more quality wins on their resume than UConn, and that may cause them to get the last #1 seed.

But they all have losses to unranked teams.

 

[UConner]

If Louisville finishes higher than UCONN but is still a 2, they should get Fort Wayne over the Huskies.

Maryland right now is the clear leader for the last #1 seed unless UCLA beats Oregon tonight. Maryland has #3 RPI, #3 SOS, 9-4 vs Top 50 RPI teams. From an eye test perspective they're playing really well too. 10 straight wins, with 4 of them over top 15 RPI teams, and 6 against the top 50 RPI. Last night they absolutely throttled Iowa who is a solid team.

UCONN is #8 RPI, #5 SOS, and 5-3 vs. Top 50 RPI teams. Their top 50 wins are against #19, #26, #45, #47 and #49. If the teams in the 40s falter, they'll drop to 2-3 against RPI top 50 teams.

Louisville is #5 RPI, #18 SOS and overall not as strong, but the committee may take Balogun's short absence into consideration and not penalize Louisville as much for those 2 losses. With her they are 22-1.

I think it's a long shot for UCONN to get a 1 this year. Quite frankly, they don't have any strong wins and and imbalanced OOC scheduling will hurt their chances. At the end of the day though, the #1 seed just doesn't matter. All comes down to if they get Fort Wayne or if they have to play a road game against one of the big 3 to get to the Final Four.

NC State two straight losses Miss State whipped by Kentucky So who is your pick for the 4th 1 seed?

 

[bballnut90]

NC State two straight loses Miss State whipped by Kentucky So who is your pick for the 4th 1 seed?

Still the same, Maryland.

 

[ochoopsfan]

I think the theme of UConn remaining season is avoiding the Oregon, South Carolina and Baylor brackets at any cost.

This is the theme of every team, not just UCONN.

 

[cockhrnleghrn]

Don't think this matters much for UCONN. There is no longer an Albany region so UCONN fan support will almost guaranteed to be less than in the past few years. The weakest #1 will get matched up with the strongest #2. UCONN is mostly likely one of these. Assuming the brackets hold UCONN will have to beat a very good team to get to the FF. That very good team could be Louisville, NC State, or Maryland or Oregon State which is entirely doable for UCONN.

I can't see Oregon State getting a 2 seed at this point and they may not even get a 3.

 

[Topdawg]

The three teams seeded near 5/6, Miss St, NC St, and UCLA have all lost this week. Under normal course of events, that would put us back into #4 in both polls. Also, we are expected to finish the season with no more losses. The others still have games in their tournaments that they might lose. Then again, this year is not normal so it is hard to predict where we land. I do hope the selection committee looks at losses as well as wins.

 

[triaddukefan]

NC State two straight loses Miss State whipped by Kentucky So who is your pick for the 4th 1 seed?

I'm not bbnut90, but Maryland or Louisville are jocking for the first seed in Fort Wayne as of now. I dont see Louisville losing again the rest of the regular season...... Maryland probably will win out in the regular season.... probably lose to Northwestern in the Big 10 Final. They still might get the #2 in fort wayne. Then you could have Stanford going to Greenville...... UCLA going to Dallas.... and Uconn ending up in Portland.

 

[UConner]

I'm not bbnut90, but Maryland or Louisville are jocking for the first seed in Fort Wayne as of now. I dont see Louisville losing again the rest of the regular season...... Maryland probably will win out in the regular season.... probably lose to Northwestern in the Big 10 Final. They still might get the #2 in fort wayne. Then you could have Stanford going to Greenville...... UCLA going to Dallas.... and Uconn ending up in Portland.

Maryland 2 bad losses Louisville 3 bad losses Believe what you want All the teams after the 4th have flaws

 

[triaddukefan]

Maryland 2 bad losses Louisville 3 bad losses Believe what you want All the teams after the 4th have flaws

I thought the committee looked at quality wins.....besides.... Maryland's bad losses are to teams higher on the totem pole than UConn's best wins.

 

[Plebe]

I'm not bbnut90, but Maryland or Louisville are jocking for the first seed in Fort Wayne as of now. I dont see Louisville losing again the rest of the regular season...... Maryland probably will win out in the regular season.... probably lose to Northwestern in the Big 10 Final. They still might get the #2 in fort wayne. Then you could have Stanford going to Greenville...... UCLA going to Dallas.... and Uconn ending up in Portland.

Maryland definitely has the inside track on the 1 seed in Ft. Wayne imho. They have a ridiculous number of quality wins, a very strong SOS, and they are peaking.

From there, a big wild card is whether the committee will discount Louisville's losses to Syracuse and FSU because of Balogun's absence. And even if Louisville is not the top 2 seed, they may get sent to Ft. Wayne due to geography.

Stanford and UCLA are still in the running for a high 2 seed as well. One of them could easily end up in FW.

 

[Alydar]

Love and support the Bravado but.... the reality is quite different. Every other ranked team in a P5 conference has an opportunity to increase or solidly its seeding by playing well in the upcoming conference tournaments. By being in the AAC UCONN has no such opportunity. Next season in the renewed BE UCONN’ WBB opportunity to elavate in the seeding via conference play only increases marginally.

Tell me how the B12 tournament helps Baylor? They are the only ranked team. Their SOS is 40! They have played 2 top 15 teams and their record in those games is 1-1. And yet they are considered a lock for a 1 seed. That is strictly a subjective 1 seed based on perception with little analytic justification.
And I'm not trying to tout UConn's seed. They'll be whatever they get. But anyone who thinks seeding is done using analytics and on a consistent case to case basis is wrong. For every case Creme makes for a team there are ways to see it. Today he said that if they lost to USF UConn would be a 3 seed. Well, NCSt lost to an unranked GTech team AT HOME after losing at home to Louisville. They also lost to UNC. They have 3 losses, just like UConn but 2 of them were to unranked teams while UConn's losses were to the top 3 teams. Now Nc St had a win vs No 10 MD to UConn's win over No 13 DePaul but not so different. Let's see where Charlie puts them.

 

[Alydar]

If things hold where they are, the Pac 12 will have several 2-3-4 seeds. Because the committee has stated that they do not like putting high seeds from the same conference in the same regional, believe the likely destination for UConn is Portland if they are not a #1.

The PAC12 will have 4 1-4 seeds, maybe 5 tops. One for each region and maybe one region with 2. If the 5th one is Oregon St wouldn't it be fairest to let them stay in the west? Or we could see Stanford as a 1 seed in FW, or maybe MD. If it's Ariz then Dallas is the closest regional. And in any case there is room in FW for UConn as a 2 or a 3.
What I can guarrantee is the the committee chair will give a 2 minute interview after the reveal, give a different BS rational for several seeds and ESPN will thank her for her time.

 

[Brad Palmer]

It's simple kids (at least under this scenario): If Maryland and Louisville win their respective league tournaments, they get the fourth 1 seed and the top 2 seed (#4 & 5 overall) in Fort Wayne. This puts UConn as the second 2 seed (#6 overall) and puts them on the road against one of The Big 3.

Now if Maryland or Louisville do not win their league tournaments...we're in muuuccchhh better shape.

 

[UConner]

Tell me how the B12 tournament helps Baylor? They are the only ranked team. Their SOS is 40! They have played 2 top 15 teams and their record in those games is 1-1. And yet they are considered a lock for a 1 seed. That is strictly a subjective 1 seed based on perception with little analytic justification.
And I'm not trying to tout UConn's seed. They'll be whatever they get. But anyone who thinks seeding is done using analytics and on a consistent case to case basis is wrong. For every case Creme makes for a team there are ways to see it. Today he said that if they lost to USF UConn would be a 3 seed. Well, NCSt lost to an unranked GTech team AT HOME after losing at home to Louisville. They also lost to UNC. They have 3 losses, just like UConn but 2 of them were to unranked teams while UConn's losses were to the top 3 teams. Now Nc St had a win vs No 10 MD to UConn's win over No 13 DePaul but not so different. Let's see where Charlie puts them.

If Creme was a good sports journalist he wouldn't have to bracket WNCAA teams But hey I guess somebody has to do it

 

[bballnut90]

Maryland 2 bad losses Louisville 3 bad losses Believe what you want All the teams after the 4th have flaws

Maryland has FAR better wins though and none of their losses are that bad. UCONN has 1 good win on the year.

 

[bballnut90]

It's simple kids (at least under this scenario): If Maryland and Louisville win their respective league tournaments, they get the fourth 1 seed and the top 2 seed (#4 & 5 overall) in Fort Wayne. This puts UConn as the second 2 seed (#6 overall) and puts them on the road against one of The Big 3.

Now if Maryland or Louisville do not win their league tournaments...we're in muuuccchhh better shape.

That's how I see it right now. There might be some leeway since MD has a really strong SOS and RPI, and Louisville is a 1 loss team with Balogun in the lineup, plus their loss to Ohio State isnt looking nearly as bad now. No idea how much the committee penalizes them for their Syracuse loss since EB was out. It may take these two getting a bad loss to fall below UCONN for seeding even though the Huskies will be above them in the polls.

 

[cbraarj]

P5 in this context simply means the big schools playing in big conferences with big athletic department budgets and generally the best athletes and overall competition.

For football because football pays for all those other sports at their schools. P5 was made because those 5 conferences were going to break apart from the NCAA to establish their own association for Football!

 

[caseyb7]

Coach Andy Landers commented on the SC post game that Connecticut's problem is that other quality teams can play them 5 on 3, or on good days, 5 on 4 because not all starters contribute.

Sobering, but we all see it game after game with several starters notching ZERO points in full game tryouts.

With UConn looking beatable in several weak Conference games the eventual ranking doesn't matter as we struggle with everyone and on any given day can lose to a lesser opponent.

Even the Conference Tournament will be dicey and the added adrenaline of March Madness could potentially boost a 1st or 2nd round under-dog to over-perform and upset UConn. Not a hard coaching sell because all the players know UConn is vulnerable, just depends on the right day and right combination of 3s and foul calling.

 

[eebmg]

Coach Andy Landers commented on the SC post game that Connecticut's problem is that other quality teams can play them 5 on 3, or on good days, 5 on 4 because not all starters contribute.

Sobering, but we all see it game after game with several starters notching ZERO points in full game tryouts.

With UConn looking beatable in several weak Conference games the eventual ranking doesn't matter as we struggle with everyone and on any given day can lose to a lesser opponent.

Even the Conference Tournament will be dicey and the added adrenaline of March Madness could potentially boost a 1st or 2nd round under-dog to over-perform and upset UConn. Not a hard coaching sell because all the players know UConn is vulnerable, just depends on the right day and right combination of 3s and foul calling.

Not going to try and prove it, but I think other than the top 3 teams, all other teams can say the same thing regarding having some weakness in the starting lineup (although MD is looking real real good)

And for UConn, for CW, it is all mental and I think she will get her mind right and become the offensive threat we have seen in spurts and with careful planning by the coaching staff to address a specific opponent, we can combine the skill sets of Anna, Aubrey and Kyla to get the contributions we need. All I ask is that we do not lose to an inferior opponent and we compete against a superior opponent as we wait for reinforcements.

 

[JellyBean]

I hope not.

 

[CocoHusky]

Tell me how the B12 tournament helps Baylor? They are the only ranked team. Their SOS is 40! They have played 2 top 15 teams and their record in those games is 1-1. And yet they are considered a lock for a 1 seed. That is strictly a subjective 1 seed based on perception with little analytic justification.
And I'm not trying to tout UConn's seed. They'll be whatever they get. But anyone who thinks seeding is done using analytics and on a consistent case to case basis is wrong. For every case Creme makes for a team there are ways to see it. Today he said that if they lost to USF UConn would be a 3 seed. Well, NCSt lost to an unranked GTech team AT HOME after losing at home to Louisville. They also lost to UNC. They have 3 losses, just like UConn but 2 of them were to unranked teams while UConn's losses were to the top 3 teams. Now Nc St had a win vs No 10 MD to UConn's win over No 13 DePaul but not so different. Let's see where Charlie puts them.

You are being ridiculously obtuse. The Big 12 tournament will feature 5-6 teams that are expected to make the NCAA tournament. Baylor will have an opportunity to beat one of those team and “solidify” a #1 seeding. The AAC is expected to be a 1 bid conference. Even the Missouri Valley conference is expected to produce 3 tournament teams. There is nothing subjective about this-them are just facts! Conference matters and the AAC does not and has never helped UCONN WBB. UCONN’s exit from this conference if anything has been too slow.

 

[Drumguy]

What a ridiculous reaction. Those five conferences lead the Massey power ratings in women’s basketball and it’s a lot easier to say Power Five then to list them separately. Everyone knows what I meant; save your pet peeve-itis for something really important.

Do you not understand the word peeve? Meaning its not a big deal, just annoying, like your response.

 

[billybud]

Really do not understand ratings like NET...

But NET currently has UConn #7....

Behind Oregon, South Carolina, Maryland, Mizzou State, Baylor, and Louisville...

How does this ranking square with seed assignments?

At all ? Some?

(I noticed that Realtime RPI has the same order)

 

[Boreifs]

Do you not understand the word peeve? Meaning its not a big deal, just annoying, like your response.

That’s your second explanation. The first one used the word “offended”, which is a big deal and is much more than annoying. Perhaps you should also understand that “should” is a word with several interpretations. I could have used the word “must”, which would have rightfully drawn your ire, but I didn’t.
By the way, I am trombone guy, and have great respect for percussion.