Vegas Knows: We Got Screwed

[RuffRuff]

One thing to consider with Auburn, is that they are being shipped out to the opposite corner of the US & Spokane, for their first two rounds, then have to turn around Sunday and come into Boston for a Thursday game. They would go through two potential slogs with Yale and then SDSU. Not ideal. There is some material value in that setup, versus a couple light bus drives, staying in same time zone. Not sure if anyone recalls the Gonzaga hangover on our end earlier this year. It's one thing to muster up the energy to go out there and pull it together, but then to have to turn around and do it again isn't easy. Highs in Boston the next weekend in the 40s, so will be a nice shock to the sweet tea drinking types.

 

[Tenspro2002]

The upper right corner are us and our likely second weekend matchups.

The Committee didn't just ignore this weekend, they basically ignored the last month.

 

[RedStickHusky]

I don't think it was a conspiracy necessarily, but I think the Committee was extremely lazy to the point of negligence, ignoring the last two days of action, and the way it worked out was that all of the teams that were under-ranked are in our region.

If we were 3 overall, the bracket would make a lot more sense. I think they had it done for us being third and when they moved us to first they didn't change anything.

 

[AdamaNation]

Best thing we can do is pack the East Regional in Boston with UConn fans for those two games.

I was at MSG in 2014 for both games and we had such a huge homecourt advantage.

Need to do that again in Boston. It can really make the difference in a close matchup.

Yes. If I recall. Everyone sans st joes was a favorite to win in 14. Nova. ISU. MSU. UF. UK.

 

[HooperScooper]

'09 nat'l semi in the pontiac dome vs. mich st.

It was in Detroit at Ford Field (where the Lions currently play), not Pontiac. But your point is still the same. We've gotten screwed many times so this time we need to take advantage of Brooklyn and Boston.

 

[MTBingNinja]

The Committee claims Auburn is the 15th best team. The metrics say otherwise. I trust the people who have money on the line.

Auburn is actually the 7th most likely to win the championship, and the only reason they're not higher is because they have to go through us.

We are +105 (just shy of even money) to reach the Final Four. Auburn, our #4 seed, has the second best odds in our region at +380. Other 4-seeds are +900, +1300 (though the 5 seed is +800), and +550, even though their 1-seeds are weaker.

We actually have lower odds of making the Elite 8 (-160) than Purdue does (-170) despite being a considerably higher favorite to make the Final Four or win the championship.

Yes, I know, "they have to make it there first," but the odds tell us that our projected Sweet 16 matchup is the hardest of any 1-seed and likely an Elite 8 or Final Four caliber game.

We should have gotten Alabama and Auburn should have been considered the best 4 seed and gone West.

I’m worried about the strong possibility of playing Auburn, the metrics are strong

 

[bendm]

Auburn got hosed, not us.

and ISU

 

[Tenspro2002]

Auburn got hosed, not us.

Auburn and Iowa State fans are pissed.

 

[Tenspro2002]

If we were 3 overall, the bracket would make a lot more sense. I think they had it done for us being third and when they moved us to first they didn't change anything.

This is what I've been saying since 6:15 Sunday night.

 

[HuskyNan]

 

[tzznandrew]

The upper right corner are us and our likely second weekend matchups.

The Committee didn't just ignore this weekend, they basically ignored the last month.

Auburn is a 4 seed, and 4 seeds don't usually do what UConn did last season. Yale is about on par with Appalachian State, and San Diego State is better than any team Auburn has beaten except Alabama (who they split with). This is no guarantee they even make it to Boston.

As for Iowa State—they have a very difficult road to get to the Elite 8. Illinois, BYU, Drake, Wazzou all can beat them. South Dakota State would be the third best team they beat OOC behind VCU and Iowa.

This is a lot of fussing about teams who have a far more difficult road to get to Boston than we do. You would think last year's results would have made people stop worrying about the second weekend, but here we are again.

Brooklyn is a good draw. If a team beats us in Boston, tip our cap. But I'd bet money we're not playing Auburn and Iowa State.

 

[tzznandrew]

I’m worried about the strong possibility of playing Auburn, the metrics are strong

Auburn. Who is 3-7 in Q1. Who didn't beat Tennessee or Kentucky in conference, and whose best OOC win is Indiana.

We're crapping our pants about a team who basically ran the score up on a paper-tiger South Carolina team and a bunch of bums in the OOC. Let them beat Yale and San Diego State / UAB.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

The bracket was set and done, so we will play whatever is in front of us. But that did not changed the fact that that the Selection Committee royally screwed UConn. Earning the overall seed should be rewarded with the easiest bracket not the hardest bracket. It's as simple as that. Why?

Yes, the bracket was set and done too far in advance and yes, we will face what is in front of us.

I don't believe that we were screwed, as there really isn't anyone they could put in our path that would screw us. I'm not saying the selection committee wasn't trying their best to screw us but unless they could put an NBA team in our bracket (they couldn't) their options were limited.

 

[willie99]

I agree

1) bring it on, who cares, we're the best

2) The committee members are idiots, arguably the worst ever

3) Of course Vegas knows best, they're livelihood depends on it. They're anything but nerd central

 

[AllHusky]

I’m worried about the strong possibility of playing Auburn, the metrics are strong

Ye Gods, get with the program and quit worrying!!

 

[superjohn]

Auburn and Iowa State fans are pissed.

They have every right to be. They both got screwed.

 

[Scrutineer]

I figured out how UConn got screwed.

Two committee members made nonsensical comments about the reasons for the makeup of the brackets, distance and differing opinions of use of metrics, but I think it all came down to them simply not wanting to undo the draft brackets they had prepared earlier in the week.

It all came down to the amount of work it would take to reseed all the brackets to accommodate changes necessitated by the five bracket busters. They even mentioned there were five this year while only a total of three the previous two years.

So they took the easy way out.

They kept the brackets as they had been set wherein UConn wasn't the overall #1 seed and thus had harder matchups (like Auburn, Illinois and Iowa State) and shoehorned in all the MWC teams into seedings many think are way too low.

Voila. UConn and the other #1's still have the same teams in their brackets and all the MWC teams fill out the 10 and 11 lines (or wherever they are).

 

[Chief00]

I have always thought Vegas should choose the brackets.

I would prefer that over the current lazy clowns. And let’s not forget, who put them in position.

 

[Edward Sargent]

Auburn is a 4 seed, and 4 seeds don't usually do what UConn did last season. Yale is about on par with Appalachian State, and San Diego State is better than any team Auburn has beaten except Alabama (who they split with). This is no guarantee they even make it to Boston.

As for Iowa State—they have a very difficult road to get to the Elite 8. Illinois, BYU, Drake, Wazzou all can beat them. South Dakota State would be the third best team they beat OOC behind VCU and Iowa.

This is a lot of fussing about teams who have a far more difficult road to get to Boston than we do. You would think last year's results would have made people stop worrying about the second weekend, but here we are again.

Brooklyn is a good draw. If a team beats us in Boston, tip our cap. But I'd bet money we're not playing Auburn and Iowa State.

Yeah I think the committee figured ok you are getting home games in Brooklyn and Boston so we are going to make this fun for the rest of th country!

 

[Dibbie]

Kansas, who lost their last 2 games by 50 points, is a 4 seed and will be playing without McCullers. Most teams get dinged when their best players go down

 

[XLCenterFan]

I have always thought Vegas should choose the brackets.

Absolutely

 

[StllH8L8ner]

Yeah I think the committee figured ok you are getting home games in Brooklyn and Boston so we are going to make this fun for the rest of th country!

I agree with this. People get really salty that we are the most popular college team in NYC.

 

[Chief00]

Yeah I think the committee figured ok you are getting home games in Brooklyn and Boston so we are going to make this fun for the rest of th country!

Seriously, I think you are giving them way too much credit - and that’s never been a standard selection criteria. If true, that’s a really bad thing because they broke every guardrail they are suppose to use to be fair to all teams. What a disaster!

 

[LStudfellow]

Everyone keeps talking about Auburn and Iowa St. as our biggest obstacles.

No. It is Illinois that we should be the most concerned about. They have the guy who is arguably playing like the best guard in the country right now (Terrence Shannon Jr.), who scored 28, 40 and 36 in their there Big 10 Tournament games and some very nice complimentary pieces. They are 9-2 since losing at Michigan St. on February 10th when they were 17-6 and just won the Big 10 Tournament. It took Shannon Jr. time to round back into playing at a high level after his 6-game suspension at the start of the year, but that has obviously happened. He looked virtually unstoppable this last weekend. And we know better than most what having the best guard in the tournament can do... it can equate to championships, as it has done for us twice.

The Fighting Illini will prove to be our biggest obstacle to getting out of the East Region, not Auburn or Iowa St. They will beat Iowa St. in the Sweet 16 and set up a Final 4-type game in the Elite 8.

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

I have always thought Vegas should choose the brackets.

That'd be if NET stood for

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