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March Madness: Round 1/2 Official Thread
- Thread starter Cmdr. Solrak
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UtadaBarkley
Member
Seth C said:
Fixed. Bring on Washington.
Whew, that was a close one for my Dukies. I'm glad we got by Miss St, we didn't match up well with them at all. The rest of the bracket has cleaned itself out for us (especially with Michigan State next, a team we do match up well with). Really showed our weaknesses though (depth and interior presence).
On the rest of the ACC, UNC is looking scary good. Really playing up to their potential.
UConn was overrated (remind me what they accomplished during the year?), NC State just exposed them. Hodge is looking good though.
Wake was exposed for playing poor defense. Looking at the stats, they were ranked something like 90th in defense for the year. Finally came back to bite them when they couldn't stop an opposing team and were forced to foul - eventually they were playing the walk-on white boys. Not good in a 2 OT game.
Ga. Tech - fitting end to their rollercoaster season.
On the rest of the ACC, UNC is looking scary good. Really playing up to their potential.
UConn was overrated (remind me what they accomplished during the year?), NC State just exposed them. Hodge is looking good though.
Wake was exposed for playing poor defense. Looking at the stats, they were ranked something like 90th in defense for the year. Finally came back to bite them when they couldn't stop an opposing team and were forced to foul - eventually they were playing the walk-on white boys. Not good in a 2 OT game.
Ga. Tech - fitting end to their rollercoaster season.
Duck of Death
Member
Wisconsin played a Bucknell team that beat Kansas. Michigan State beat a Vermont team that beat Syracuse. If Bucknell and Vermont can beat those teams, then surely they were capable of beating Wisconsin and Michigan State.
Yet they didn't. Does that somehow take away from their accomplishments and demean the victories of Wisconsin and Michigan State?
Yet they didn't. Does that somehow take away from their accomplishments and demean the victories of Wisconsin and Michigan State?
Duck of Death said:
low seeded teams have motivation to win the first round. period.
they want to be those "bracket busters". no, their victories are in stone. hats off to them, no doubt. especially Bucknell.
...but the big 10 this year? jesus, arg. Keady shoulda left last year.
Duck of Death
Member
I am NOT convinced by the media that the Big 10 had such a bad year. The media has said that for the past FOUR years. How are these conferences being judged?
Duck of Death said:
mostly on early season performance, when teams from different conferences play eachother. With the exception of Illinois, the Big Ten got hammered this year in pre-conference play. Of course, the teams might've gotten better over the course of the year (most teams do), so at this point in the season it's mostly irrelevant.
And for the Big Ten, perenially losing the ACC / Big Ten challenge by considerable margins (picking up shit wins against Virginia and Florida State don't really count) has hurt them pretty much since it started roughly 4 years ago.
I was at the Wisconsin-Bucknell game, and I was not impressed by the Badgers at all. Bucknell had a legitimate chance to win, but they couldn't turn the pressure up after they took a one-point lead. The only reason they won was because of a size advantage.
Just because Bucknell beat Kansas, don't equate "beating Bucknell" to "beating Kansas". The NCAAs are all about consistency, something which KU certainly didn't have. If one or two more shots had fallen, Kansas would have played Wisconsin, and I would be surprised to see the Badgers win with their effort today.
Just because Bucknell beat Kansas, don't equate "beating Bucknell" to "beating Kansas". The NCAAs are all about consistency, something which KU certainly didn't have. If one or two more shots had fallen, Kansas would have played Wisconsin, and I would be surprised to see the Badgers win with their effort today.
The Badgers aren't a flashy team and aren't built to win games by the sexy 30 point margin talking heads want to consider to be a dominating win.
Kansas is a joke of a team. They fell apart at the end of the year. I wouldn't have been surprised if the Badgers beat them be 15+.
You can't control anyone you play besides your current opponent. It isn't Wisconsin's fault or Michigan State's their scheduled second round opponent choked in the first round. Besides, it is tough to win games when you are considered the superior team and the cinderalla team has nothing to lose.
Besides, Bucknell beat Pittsburg and Holy Cross back to back earlier this season. Those are two amazingly good quality wins in a row.
Kansas is a joke of a team. They fell apart at the end of the year. I wouldn't have been surprised if the Badgers beat them be 15+.
You can't control anyone you play besides your current opponent. It isn't Wisconsin's fault or Michigan State's their scheduled second round opponent choked in the first round. Besides, it is tough to win games when you are considered the superior team and the cinderalla team has nothing to lose.
Besides, Bucknell beat Pittsburg and Holy Cross back to back earlier this season. Those are two amazingly good quality wins in a row.
Outdoor Miner
Member
Eminem said:
You really think the Illini are nothing but 3's?
For the record, they've gone 8-33 on 3 ptr's in the tournament and they seem fine to me.
*shrug*
From my observations, they are actually more LETHAL when they stop throwing up 3's and focus on passing and picks. Coming off the Nevada victory, I think they realize this too.
The Big 10 has had a weak year, I think Illinois is the only team capable of making the Final Four. Now having said that, I also think MSU and Wisconsin are VERY capable of beating Duke and NC State next week.
Duck of Death said:
Number of national championships.
Number of final four representatives.
Number of teams that make the tourney/how many of those teams make sweet sixteen
Number of high seeded/strong teams
Conference RPI
For big 10,
0 national champs last 3 years
1 final four team last 3 years
13 tourney teams last 3 years, 5 sweet sixteens
Higest seed for big 10 team last 3 years, only a 4 seed
Overall RPI for big 10 conference last 3 years, 6,5,6
As you can see, big 10 has done well in only one category last 3 years, and that is sweet sixteen appearances per # of tourney teams. Everything else is weak.
This year is different. Big 10 has a dominant team, and are also doing well in sweet sixteen appearances. If no big 10 team makes the final four, then yes, it is still a weak year for the big 10, even with 3 sweet sixteen appearances.
I'm not saying the Big Ten is stronger than the ACC, but I got sick of hearing how strong the Big East as the two best teams in the conference choked in the first two rounds.
I'd say the ACC is above all the other conferences but the Big Ten hovers around the rest. Not as bad as the media wanted to make them out to be. But then the media has east coast bias anyway.
I'd say the ACC is above all the other conferences but the Big Ten hovers around the rest. Not as bad as the media wanted to make them out to be. But then the media has east coast bias anyway.
Mrbob said:
Plus the big ten plays an ugly brand of basketball that is generally not very fun to watch. Say what you want, the media loves the high scoring teams, like Wake, regardless of how much defense they play. The best teams in the Big Ten are renowned for playing great D and wins are generally low-scoring slugfests. That also equates to winnig games you're supposed to win (see - Wisconsin / Michigan State).
Mudwhistle
Member
Code:
arg, the big 10 did suck something foul this year. mich st. is still a joke. they're awful.Michigan State is awful?? I mean, this squad isn't one of Izzo's finest, but they're still a pretty elite basketball program. A 24-6 record and a spot in the sweet sixteen is nothing to laugh at. It doesn't matter who they beat to get there... ask Syracuse and Wake how easy it is to make it to the second week.
I think they're gonna surprise some people this week against Duke. If Duke plays like they did against Miss St and Farleigh-Dickenson, they're gonna be in trouble.
Mrbob said:
I don't think too many people were advocating the big east as having the best teams in the country, they were saying that the big east was the deepest league in terms of number of quality teams. Villanova/WVU advancing in tough second round matchups sort of show this, lot of good teams in big east, but top teams are not exceptional.
As far as big 10 hovering around the rest, well, regular season performance and RPI ratings indicate the big 10 as the 6th best conference, yet they still got 5/11 teams in the ncaa tourney, and 3 advanced to sweet sixteen. So regular season performance big 10 was weak, but like I said, post season makes up for a poor performance. If Illinois wins it all this year, big 10 will have had a very great year.
But the fact remains, the last 3 years big 10 was a very weak conference, and a lot of times success in tourney is what you need to get rid of some of the "weak" talk for the last 3 years. Sort of like the big east before Cuse/Uconn won the championship, they were a weaker league, but winning the title 2 years straight changes a conference perception.
That was my plan. I hate stickies, and think they stick around (no pun intended) for far too long. I'm not sure how much action the thread will get until Thursday, so I figured starting another one would be a good idea.Nerevar said:
Then again, someone has a sticky for a whole soccer season, so whatever you guys want.
Cmdr. Solrak
Member
Jinx has got the right idea....that way, we won't have to look through so many pages. 
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