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NCAA Bracket

As usual, some of the last teams in the tournament are questionable choices.
Arizona State gets in. They tied for 8th in the Pac-12, which Joe Lunardi of ESPN projected would only get 3 teams in the tournament-
http://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/bracketology

AZ State was 8-10 in the Pac-12, had an RPI of 66, and were 3-4 against Top 50 teams, and just 4-6 in their final 10 games!

Syracuse was also one of the final teams in. They must have some dirty pictures of the selection committee, because this one was not forseen by anyone. Syracuse was projected out by Lunardi, and in fact, they were not even in his First Four Out. Syracuse was Lunardi's 7th team out!
http://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/bracketology

Syracuse finished TIED FOR 10th in the ACC! They were 8-10 in the ACC.

A lot of people did not think Oklahoma (8-10 in the Big 12, and just 2-8 in their last 10 games) deserved a bid, but not only did they get a bid, they got the gift of a #10 seed.
 
Arizona State, 11 losses
St. Bonaventure
Syracuse, 13 losses and 8-10 in conference
UCLA, 11 losses
Alabama, 15 losses
Butler, 13 losses
Mizzou, 12 losses
Oklahoma, 13 losses
Texas, 14 losses, RPI>50
.....all got at-large bids

Nevada, Rhode island and St. Bonaventure are the only non-power conference teams to get an at large bid -- MTSU with a 33 RPI and just 7 losses, St. Mary's 28-5, Vermont 26-7 all go NIT



No midmajor with an RPI of over 24 got in but multiple big schools with RPI's of even up to the 60's got in (AZ State- 66, NC State- 64, VaTech- 61)

a real stumper is USC, RPI 34, record of 23-11, played all the way to the Pac-12 TITLE game...and got SNUBBED!
 
I think Loyola got a pretty good matchup, considering their seed of #11. Miami is a very good team, but they seem to underwhelm at times. Their RPI is #28, but their Kenpom is #36. Many of their wins are by small margins, and they have trouble putting teams away. So if Loyola can hang close to them, and their shots are falling, who knows. However, in reality, I would not put any money on Loyola winning.
 
This is interesting. Here is the complete NCAA seeding list for all 68 teams-
https://twitter.com/marchmadness/status/972974828956389376

Every at-large team in the tournament is seeded higher than Loyola, and every team seeded lower is an automatic bid winner. That means Loyola would not have gotten an at-large bid if they had not won the MVC Tournament. No matter what would have happened last weekend in St. Louis, the MVC was destined to be a 1-bid league. Sad.

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ESPN's review of all 68 teams-
http://www.espn.com/mens-college-ba...every-march-madness-team-2018-ncaa-tournament

NCAA winners and loser-
http://www.espn.com/mens-college-ba...726585/ncaa-tournament-bracket-winners-losers


FBI-connected teams
Maybe this is a conspiracy theory, but three of the biggest teams left out of the field -- Louisville, Oklahoma State and USC -- were connected to the FBI investigation in September. Take it a step further, and one could make the case Arizona and/or Auburn are seeded lower than expected. Maybe it was purely based on credentials, but it's certainly something to think about.

Biggest losers
Mid-majors
Middle Tennessee and Saint Mary's were bounced earlier than expected from their conference tournaments, and it cost them. Middle Tennessee, after starting 24-5 in the regular season, lost its season finale at home to Marshall and then was bounced in the Conference USA tournament by Southern Miss in overtime. Meanwhile, Saint Mary's pinned its entire at-large resume on a win at Gonzaga after losing in the West Coast Conference semifinals to BYU. It wasn't enough for the Gaels. The committee did not buy into these gaudy-but-mostly-empty records.
 
I know they say they don't consider the conference RPI when selecting teams, but...
The Missouri Valley is the highest ranked conference to get only 1 team in the NCAA Tournament. And there are multiple conferences ranked lower than the MVC that have multiple teams that received bids (MWC, A-10).
 
Da Coach said:
Every at-large team in the tournament is seeded higher than Loyola, and every team seeded lower is an automatic bid winner. That means Loyola would not have gotten an at-large bid if they had not won the MVC Tournament. No matter what would have happened last weekend in St. Louis, the MVC was destined to be a 1-bid league. Sad.
Click to expand...

Sad but true - I was TRYING to tell you guys... :roll: :wink:
 
There are 32 conference auto bids - 7 are "Power Conferences" and 25 are midmajor (counting ACC, Big East, SEC, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12, AAC)

There are 32 at-large bids - only three are midmajors (St. Bonaventure, Rhode Island, Nevada) the rest are the big conferences.

So midmajors get 25 autobids but just 3 at-large
Power conferences get 7 autobids plus 29 at-large...
The "Committee" thinks 29 of the best 32 teams in the nation that didn't win their conference are their big boys - sure...
Loyola whupped Florida, St. Louis whupped Virginia Tech, UMass whupped Providence, even Illinois trounced Missouri!!


and don't tell me that behind closed door that the selection guys talk about what players and matchups will get ratings - even tho the teams may not beloing in the NCAA.
Of course, they want bobby Hurley, of course they want Trae Young, of course they want Syracuse & UCLA, of course they want Collin Sexton, and Michael porter, and Shaka Smart and Bob Huggins..even if their teams are less worthy than St. Mary's, USC or Nebraska - very worthy teams...
 
Some potential boost for teams playing closer to home than the opponent....

St Bonnie's and Syracuse both might benefit in their play-in games in Dayton.

URI in Pittsburgh (vs Okla)
Houston in Wichita (vs San Diego St)
Butler in Detroit (vs Arkansas)
NM St maybe in San Diego (vs Clemson)
Syracuse again (if the win in opening round) as they would play in Detroit (vs TCU)

St F Austin vs Texas Tech will have large crowd for both as they are in Dallas.

Michigan State in Detroit is a huge boost.
UNC in Charlotte is huge boost.
 
What exactly are the requirements to belong to the NCAA? Cost? Should schools expect to be treated evenly for tournament play? Now we know they aren't when violations occur. Could the "mid major" schools have a case legally they are being colluded against?
 
I am hoping we are starting to see what will happen to schools that break the rules. Coaches are paying the players so they can get the players that will get them to the NCAA tournament. If you ban them from the Tournament then you take away that reward but they need to ban them for several years. Are we seeing that with Louisville being ignored? I hope so. I hope the NCAA has the guts to follow thru and not give in to the Corrupt 6. As the author of the article in the Urinal Star says, " Something needs to change in college basketball"
 
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