NCAA tournament thread

[RXB]

Conference championship week is here: my favourite week of college bb thanks to lots of important action and also figuring out who will make it, who won't and the seedings.

Michigan kicks off the day with a huge must-win over Indiana, hitting the winning shot with less than a second left on the clock. I had Michigan as a Bubble-Out team beforehand; this might move them into one of the final at-large spots.

[RXB]

"Epic" is the only word to describe this Cincinnati-UConn game.

[rastajenk]

I wonder if March Madness has peaked. Using myself as a small sample size , this used to be one of the most anticipated weekends of the year, but this year I didn't watch 30 minutes total of Championship Week (but I did catch the last two OT's of UC-UConn), and not because I was too busy. I realize a big part of that is age and changing priorities. But what's everyone else's excuse? Few views and no follow-ups in this thread. Seems strange to me for some reason.

Maybe next Thursday/Friday will turn it around. Doing some brackets and having a rooting interest might have a restorative effect. I hope so.

[horses4courses]

I've never been much of a hoops fan, pro or college.
However, the NCAA tournament is one of the best
times to be in a Nevada sports book.

Electric atmosphere

[RXB]

Not surprisingly, CBS' elongated selection show is a colossal waste of time. 35 minutes since it started and they've shown one of the four regions.

[barahona44]

Originally Posted by RXB

Not surprisingly, CBS' elongated selection show is a colossal waste of time. 35 minutes since it started and they've shown one of the four regions.

Didn't it used to be only a half hour?Like everything else that becomes popular, it gets expanded and elongated to the point of negative returns.

[Tall One]

Originally Posted by RXB

Not surprisingly, CBS' elongated selection show is a colossal waste of time. 35 minutes since it started and they've shown one of the four regions.

Which is why the last two brackets got leaked.

UK gets screwed...nothing to see here, but, I like my team.

[RXB]

UNC-Wilmington gave it a good try against overrated Duke. Got no favours from the officials.

[azeri98]

There is a great trend in betting March Madness, just take the teams with tourney pedigree against teams without it. Already UCONN beats Colorado and Butler beats Texas Tech, they both covered by the way.

[Tall One]

Originally Posted by RXB

UNC-Wilmington gave it a good try against overrated Duke. Got no favours from the officials.

Duke shot 43 free throws...

Azeri, while Purdue's NCAA success is limited, their tourney experience is not. Little Rock had better athletes than they did, and it showed. Baylor is a stupid bunch, and deserved to lose to the nerds.

That said, UK was -15 last I bothered checking earlier. I'm nervous as all get out, but I believe they'll cover that.

[Valuist]

The worst seeding of all was Wichita State at 11. The were 12th in the Kenpom.com rankings before the Vandy game, and are ranked #1 in defensive efficiency. I think Miami is in trouble.

[RXB]

I've followed the selection/seeding process quite closely in the past six years and my opinion watching it all unfold last Sunday was that this year's committee did the poorest job in that time span. In particular the Pac-12 was almost completely overseeded IMO. Here's the seed lines where I had those teams belonging on merit, and where they actually got seeded (in parentheses):

Oregon 2 (1)
Utah 5 (3)
Cal 6 (4)
Arizona 6 (6)
Colorado 10 (8)
USC 10 (8)
Oregon St 11 play-in (7)

Arizona was the only Pac-12 team that I had on the same seed line-- and they still got bounced in uncompetitive fashion by play-in team Wichita St which Valuist noted was a terribly underseeded squad. Oregon St as a #7 is one of the most bizarre seeds ever, regardless of what happens today against VCU.

It seemed like the committee only valued the play of eight conferences and ignored everyone else.

[RXB]

And in particular, I think two teams got truly jobbed by not getting selected: St. Mary's and Valparaiso. The former was a popular pick in brackets, the other wasn't at all (but I really feel that they deserved a spot).

And I wouldn't have had either in a play-in game; they deserved full inclusion in my view.

[azeri98]

Originally Posted by RXB

I've followed the selection/seeding process quite closely in the past six years and my opinion watching it all unfold last Sunday was that this year's committee did the poorest job in that time span. In particular the Pac-12 was almost completely overseeded IMO. Here's the seed lines where I had those teams belonging on merit, and where they actually got seeded (in parentheses):

Oregon 2 (1)
Utah 5 (3)
Cal 6 (4)
Arizona 6 (6)
Colorado 10 (8)
USC 10 (8)
Oregon St 11 play-in (7)

Arizona was the only Pac-12 team that I had on the same seed line-- and they still got bounced in uncompetitive fashion by play-in team Wichita St which Valuist noted was a terribly underseeded squad. Oregon St as a #7 is one of the most bizarre seeds ever, regardless of what happens today against VCU.

It seemed like the committee only valued the play of eight conferences and ignored everyone else.

The Pac 12 bent over like a new guy in prison, they all lost except for Utah and probably Oregon

[RXB]

Goodbye Michigan St, goodbye West Virginia.