NCAA Tournament discussion

[Bravesfan]

Mid majors playing each other in round 1 is the biggest anti-mid major myth in existence today. Complaining about Butler/ODU is simply wrong. Complaining about Utah St is very, very right, though.

Thank you. I agree with that. Besides, mid-majors playing each other guarantees at least one advancing closer to the Sweet Sixteen, and with 32 out of 68 non-BCS teams in the tourney, of course some are going to have to play each other in the first round.

Correct about Utah St, though they really did not play too many good teams this year, and that's an understatement. But as I stated above, it would not have killed the committee to seed them at least a 9 or 10 at the worst.

[braveatheart]

You really think they are a 9 or 10 seed? Do they not pass your eye test? You are as bad as the committee. You just don't get what the Pomeroy and Sagarin numbers mean.

They lost at BYU( top ten team in the country) by six points on the road and they lost at Georgetown on the road andthey lost a conference road game. Other than that they ran the table. They were 30- 3.

They won 25 of thier last 26 games including the a road bracket buster win at St. Mary's. I know St. Mary's didn't make the big dance but they should have. Or at least easily could have.

For you guys to defend the system is beyond me. I think Missouri State suspects there is bias. They have had it hit them right between thier eyes a couple of times now.

[braveatheart]

Thank you. I agree with that. Besides, mid-majors playing each other guarantees at least one advancing closer to the Sweet Sixteen, and with 32 out of 68 non-BCS teams in the tourney, of course some are going to have to play each other in the first round.

Correct about Utah St, though they really did not play too many good teams this year, and that's an understatement. But as I stated above, it would not have killed the committee to seed them at least a 9 or 10 at the worst.

How does Butler and Old Dominion playing each other in the first round gaurentee one will go to the sweet sixteen.

That doesn't make one bit of sense.

[braveatheart]

Mid majors playing each other in round 1 is the biggest anti-mid major myth in existence today. Complaining about Butler/ODU is simply wrong. Complaining about Utah St is very, very right, though.

I disagree, but I understand your point and don't want to debate it.

[Tulsa Brave]

How does Butler and Old Dominion playing each other in the first round gaurentee one will go to the sweet sixteen.

That doesn't make one bit of sense.

One of them has to win, don't they? That puts that one one step closer to the Sweet 16, doesn't it? Bravesfan said, and I quote, "Besides, mid-majors playing each other guarantees at least one advancing closer to the Sweet Sixteen".

3rd Round is closer to the Sweet 16 than the 2nd Round, so it makes perfect sense to me...

[Bravesfan]

You really think they are a 9 or 10 seed? Do they not pass your eye test? You are as bad as the committee. You just don't get what the Pomeroy and Sagarin numbers mean.

They lost at BYU( top ten team in the country) by six points and they lost at Georgetown and lost a conference road game. Other than that they ran the table. They were 30 and 3.

They won 25 of thier last 26 games including the a road bracket buster win at St. Mary's. I know St. Mary's didn't make the big dance but they should have. Or at least easily could have.

For you guys to defend the system is beyond me. I think Missouri State suspect there is bias. They have had it hit them right between thier eyes a couple of times now.

Well to clarify, I thought Missouri St and St. Mary's should have been in. And Harvard should have been given strong consideration as well.

I don't know where you think Utah St. should have been seeded, but you can't really put them in as a top 5 or 6 seed when they only played three good non-conference teams and lost to two of them. That's not enough of a resume to seed them high. That said though, I do think Missouri St should have been in with an even worse resume than Utah St, and Utah St. being a 9 or 10 (or even an would probably be fair for them.

My bigger gripes are with teams like Illinois getting a 9 seed, and seven teams coming out of the Big Ten in the first place. And even amongst BCS teams there were a lot of descrepencies as Colorado had a legitimate gripe being left out, and Missouri only getting an 11 seed.

I would not consider myself as bad as the committee. If I were running things I would have chosen Missouri St, Harvard, St. Mary's and maybe even Cleveland St, and probably would have raised the seeds of many of the mid-majors by at least one or two seeds. But I can't give Utah St, say a two seed without seeing them play more NCAA tourney caliber teams and beating a few of them. BYU did that. San Diego St did that. And both got rewarded. That's what Utah St and Missouri St need to do.

Now if the committee were to just base their selections on the "eye test", then why have them even look at all the other strength of schedule stats or quality wins? Even a bad Bradley team passed the eye test a few times this season. That doesn't mean they deserve to be in the NCAA Tournament.

[Bravesfan23]

it seems to me that every year, the 13-16 seeds are always mid- major teams.
You still see some mid major teams getting better seeds, but how often do you see a BCS school getting a high seed?

[electricmayhem]

Harvard wasn't close -- they just got a 6 seed in the NIT.

[AZ BU Fan]

Personally, some of the guaranteed NCAA spots for Conference Champion/Tourney teams one has never heard of before on the national scene seems to be a joke.

Are Va Tech, WSU, MSU really weaker than Alabama State, Texas San Antonio, Long Island University, Hampton, Oakland, Arkansas Little Rock, North Carolina Ashville, Morehead State, Boston University, St Peters, Wolford, Belemont, and UC Santa Barbara?

The NCAA Tourney selection is really about TV ratings, merchandise sales, hotel rooms, guaranting some wins for BCS schools in early rounds, and the NCAA avoiding anti trust lawsuits from smaller schools/conferences....

[Boiler]

The 8-9 seeds are the worst seeds in the bracket, stop worrying about who got those! Playing the #1 seed in the 2nd rd is a death sentence.

[SFP]

St. Mary's got hosed! They beat St. John and they get in!

Charles Barkley said it is hard for the good mid-majors to get quality games, especially at home and that is just not fair. I could say more but it will be just rehashing old news.

[Da Coach]

Missouri State with an RPI of 42 is on the outside looking in (again). Their SOS hurt them as well as their lack of quality wins. I believe that I heard the announcers during the MVC championship game last weekend say that the regular season MVC champion has made the NCAA tournament every year since 1993 - if that's true, this year ends a long streak for the MVC.

So for all the love Cuonzo Martin has gotten, he ends up not accomplishing anything more than Barry Hinson did (twice), as I predeicted. Missouri State was the highest RPI (42) for a team that did not get an at-large bid. But their RPI of 42 is not as good as Barry Hinson's was in 2006 (1 and 2007 (24). And as we've noted, if he doesn't get a better job offer now, which I doubt he will, it might be a while.

[tornado]

Missouri St = 3 seed in NIT
Miami = 2 seed in NIT

The NIT committee are a bunch of ****ing morons. I won't bother mincing words. They're *****s. A complete travesty.

2006, when Maryland didn't make the NCAA -- we saw outright how grovelling the NIT can be -- kissing up to Gary Williams, begging him to accept the NIT bid against his desires, and then seeding them #1 overall, giving them the weakest NIT opponent of the entire 32 teams, and giving them whatever date and time they wanted...plus a NATIONALLY televised game right before and as a lead-in to the battle for the Sweet Sixteen spots that BU eventually garnered...

only to see them get their butts kicked by Manhattan, in front of only a few hundred of their own fans who appeared to boycott the game and THEIR OWN TEAM when they were pouting about not getting into the NCAA --
Gary Williams endeared himself to all Bradley fans by trashing the inclusion of Bradley in the NCAA while his team embarrassed themselves in the NIT

[cpacmel]

So for all the love Cuonzo Martin has gotten, he ends up not accomplishing anything more than Barry Hinson did (twice), as I predeicted. Missouri State was the highest RPI (42) for a team that did not get an at-large bid.

Actually Harvard (RPI 35) and Cleveland State (RPI 41) had better RPI's than Missouri State (RPI 42) and didn't get at-large bids.

[TheAsianSensation]

2006, when Maryland didn't make the NCAA -- we saw outright how grovelling the NIT can be -- kissing up to Gary Williams, begging him to accept the NIT bid against his desires, and then seeding them #1 overall, giving them the weakest NIT opponent of the entire 32 teams, and giving them whatever date and time they wanted...plus a NATIONALLY televised game right before and as a lead-in to the battle for the Sweet Sixteen spots that BU eventually garnered...

only to see them get their butts kicked by Manhattan, in front of only a few hundred of their own fans who appeared to boycott the game and THEIR OWN TEAM when they were pouting about not getting into the NCAA --
Gary Williams endeared himself to all Bradley fans by trashing the inclusion of Bradley in the NCAA while his team embarrassed themselves in the NIT

Poor Gary Williams couldn't even get into this year's corrupt NIT. I told you not to worry this year about Maryland