Bracketology thread for the next few weeks.
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@BShark i was kidding, but i didn’t want you to get mad.
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@KUSTEVE It’s all good. I hate WSU ftr.
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Extra fun beating fellow blue bloods, though!
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TIMEOUT!!! Lets get by Penn and make it to the Sweet 16 before we start worrying about Duke or Sparty. S Hall, NC State, Clemson, Auburn, all good teams in our half. Just one flat shooting game and we are out, just like the last two years. Lets go one game at a time and move on, and soon we will be in San Antonio
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Great quote from Seth Greenberg on the top half of our region:
“You guys take the field…I’ll take Kansas>”
'bout damn time !
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BeddieKU23 said:
kjayhawks said:
I’m a little worried about a Duke or MSU match in the EE, those two teams may have the most talent in the field. But we’d have to get there first.
I think we say this every year and it’s overblown we crushed the same michigan st team last yr
This is not the same MSU as last year. Jackson is a beast…the other guys are better.
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Talking heads say Nova has the easiest bracket to the final four. Ours is the toughest. Imagine that.
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batenac 1.0, the all seeing one from the east only predicts KU games, and is at this very moment withdrawing the KU bracket from a mayonaisse jar and will get back with you if/when he can foresee clearly the future.
To reiterate, after the thermonuclear hot shooting of games 2 and 3 in the useless conference tourney, I have great trepidation about game 2 of the first weekend, despite strong reassurances of other swamis that the first weekend is a lock for KU. One can now be assured that at least one game in the coming potential three 2-game tournaments will see KU having more difficulty getting the trey ball to fall through the orange rim than an elephant dancing on one leg through the sphincter of a Tse Tse fly.
But, I must make clear, that as of this moment, batenac 1.0 has no clear vision beyond the trepidation of Game 2 of Weekend 1.
And most certainly no theorizin’.
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We’re in the champions classic bracket. Funny season. MSU 29-4 3 seed, we go 27-7 and get a 1 seed in the same region. I don’t like seeing Duke in our path. But we’ve had recent success against Duke too. Everyone here is saying it’s a good draw, my first take was it was tough, but I do like the path to the Elite 8.
And it’s really strange to not see Wisconsin’s name. One of the unlikeliest long tournament runs comes to an end. When their streak started in 1999 they had been dancing all of 4 seasons, winning it all once believe it or not. 3 final fours since, 1 title game, 10 sweet 16’s including the last five years. And all with very few bonafide stars.
Wisconsin and KU could have met in 2008 but upstart Davidson got hot behind some kid, I forget his name
and they nearly prevented us from winning it all that season.
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Meanwhile 22-10 and 13-5 in the league Nebraska stays home and 19-15 Alabama gets in. 8-10 in the weak SEC. I really can’t stand the preferential treatment given to the SEC. Bama losers of 6 of last 8 by the way and early season losers to Minnesota who was one of the two worst teams in the big 10.
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@wissox Nebraska only had 3 “quality wins” this year. While I think they got robbed from just the “eye test”, they went 3-9 in quadrant 1 and 2 games. Their noncon schedule was really weak as well, and they lost all of the ones that would have been good wins. Tough break, but it finally looks like Tim Miles might have some momentum in Lincoln. Return their 4 best players and a few young guys should get much better this offseason which will allow them to be a better and deeper next year. I think they will be a big surprise this time next year.
Bama played a tougher noncon schedule and had a lot more quality wins.
The Big 10 perception really hurt them this season. And the conference members did themselves no favors. Nobody played a tough noncon. And the teams that did either got demolished or made the tourney as a top 5 seed. Over half of the teams had noncon strength of schedules ranked in the 100s I believe. And they lost some really bad games.
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@Kcmatt7 So just play tough teams and lose to them and you’ll get in? Or play and beat easier teams and not get in? Nebraska beat the teams they were supposed to except Illinois. Bama’s record sucks. They’ve lost 6 of their last 8! They lost 15 games but the NCAA makes room for the populous south. It’s pretty sick. I’m not even going to talk about all the other SEC teams playing this week. Penn St. had a good case. 1 bad loss to Rider, and a bunch of tough losses to good teams and some good wins in the conference. Once the NCAA gets it in their minds that a league is good or bad it sets the tone. Wins get excused for the Big10 because it’s bad and losses get excused for the SEC because it’s good. Heck, OkSt should be in if Bama is in. OKState had quite a few good wins as we know.
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By the way, CBS ranked all 68 teams and we were ranked 8th, MSU was 3, Duke was 2.
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@wissox @Kcmatt7 Nebraska got robbed IMO, when’s the last time a power 5 team had 13 conference wins and didn’t get in? While teams like Syracuse, Oklahoma, Texas and Arizona State all had finished 2 games below .500, Arizona State while playing in the weakest power 5 conference. I don’t like the idea of rewarding teams for wins in November and December because most teams get better as the year goes on, these teams got worse. Does anyone think we would lose to Washington or Arizona State if we played ether right now, I sure as heck don’t.
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wissox said:
By the way, CBS ranked all 68 teams and we were ranked 8th, MSU was 3, Duke was 2.
MSU as a 3 seed is a joke. Committee hated the B1G this year though.
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@BShark like I said earlier IMO, MSU and Dook are the most talented teams in the bracket. Doesn’t necessarily mean they are the best but it’s does looked like we got jobbed from the stand point that MSU, Dook are ranked in the top 5 in the latest AP and Coaches Poll. I personally feel like we get the toughest bracket about 80% of the time but there isn’t a easy road bye any stretch and if you’re the best you got beat the best.
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@kjayhawks I don’t understand how MSU isn’t a 2 seed but w/e.
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UK vs Arizona is the MOST INSANE 2nd round game since???
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@wissox Nebraska didn’t beat ANYONE but Michigan the entire year.
Nebraska did not earn a bid. They played the 291st ranked noncon schedule. Combined with the conference schedule, The 4 quality noncon games they played, they lost. The have only 1 win against teams that made the tournament.
Nebraska did not belong in the tournament and would have been crushed in the SEC this season. They earned nothing. They even got lucky enough that they didn’t have to see 3 of the top 4 teams twice. Instead they played Illinois, Rutgers, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Penn St. twice. So that conference record you are boasting about was very inflated.
Alabama is the better team with the better resume. They played the 29th noncon schedule, winning 3 of 5 quality games. They only played 2 quadrant 4 games all season long. They have 7 wins against tournament teams on the year.
The entire B10 learned a lesson this season. Playing dog crap schedules in the noncon and then coasting on a conference record just because you are in a P5 conference won’t fool the selection committee. MSU and Purdue are probably kicking themselves that they didn’t schedule 3 or 4 more good noncon games. Could have put them as a 1 seed easily.
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@BShark since UK and Indiana after Indiana won the B10 outright and still got a 5 seed lol.
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USC was the truly absurd snub. Best team I can remember to not get in.
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Every year there are teams that most of us think should be in and get snubbed and teams that do get in that most of us think should no be in.
I posted before that I would not be surprised to see Michigan State as a 3 or even a 4 seed. The NCAA has a set of rules it uses to seed teams and its record against quadrant 1 and 2 was not good, partly because the Big 10 was weak and marginally better than the PAC 12 that only got 3 teams in and two of them are in the play-in games in Dayton.
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I’d rather be KU than Duke. Duke’s gotta get through MSU (you can reverse the two if you’d like) just to play KU. KU’s path is pretty wide open to that point.
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I wonder: would tournament promotion and brand management be helped, or hindered, if UK beat UA early and made the UA/Stumpy “issue” disappear ASAP from “the narrative”?
There. I used “narrative” to try to be hip and hypermodern.
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Things to consider in the first round.
Missouri’s 2nd leading scorer was suspended for their opening round game. I don’t see how they win.
Miami’s Bruce Brown will miss the rest of the season and they are definitely on upset alert against Loyola Chicago
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Hawk8086 said:
BeddieKU23 said:
kjayhawks said:
I’m a little worried about a Duke or MSU match in the EE, those two teams may have the most talent in the field. But we’d have to get there first.
I think we say this every year and it’s overblown we crushed the same michigan st team last yr
This is not the same MSU as last year. Jackson is a beast…the other guys are better.
Have you watched Michigan St play?
If the answer is yes then explain what makes them that much different. You mentioned Jackson, yes he’s good, potentially Top 5 in the draft good. Can step out and make the 3 and has elite level rim protection ability. The other players who we spanked as freshman are sophomores. They have a few veterans with experience, Nairn, McQuaid, Goins who come off the bench. They rely heavily on 5 guys like we do. Winston has become a really good PG and has shot lights out from 3 all season long. I have watched them plenty. Its a lot of paper talent that hasn’t played up to its potential all season long IMO. We talk a lot about being battle tested, Michigan St is the opposite of battle tested. When they play teams as good as them they struggle. I would welcome playing them in the Elite 8.
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wissox said:
Meanwhile 22-10 and 13-5 in the league Nebraska stays home and 19-15 Alabama gets in. 8-10 in the weak SEC. I really can’t stand the preferential treatment given to the SEC. Bama losers of 6 of last 8 by the way and early season losers to Minnesota who was one of the two worst teams in the big 10.
Collin Sexton hype all week from ESPN put them in. Then they get blown out by Kentucky and still get in…
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Kcmatt7 said:
@wissox Nebraska only had 3 “quality wins” this year. While I think they got robbed from just the “eye test”, they went 3-9 in quadrant 1 and 2 games. Their noncon schedule was really weak as well, and they lost all of the ones that would have been good wins. Tough break, but it finally looks like Tim Miles might have some momentum in Lincoln. Return their 4 best players and a few young guys should get much better this offseason which will allow them to be a better and deeper next year. I think they will be a big surprise this time next year.
Bama played a tougher noncon schedule and had a lot more quality wins.
The Big 10 perception really hurt them this season. And the conference members did themselves no favors. Nobody played a tough noncon. And the teams that did either got demolished or made the tourney as a top 5 seed. Over half of the teams had noncon strength of schedules ranked in the 100s I believe. And they lost some really bad games.
Nebraska is in if they beat KU at home. That 1 point loss is the difference between the NIT and NCAA tourney
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BShark said:
UK vs Arizona is the MOST INSANE 2nd round game since???
Seems Kentucky gets a lot of 2nd round big games. Wichita St and Indiana in recent memory…
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BShark said:
USC was the truly absurd snub. Best team I can remember to not get in.
2nd in their conference and lost in the conference final. A true head-scratcher…
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I think they set us up against Penn in the first round, and Seton Hall in the 2nd round to try to get us to lose. The Sweet 16 match up might be the only reprieve we get until we have to face NBA talent in the Elite 8. Still, it’s much easier than Kentucky, or Virginia. Notice how easy UNC’s bracket is in comparison.
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I’ll get our bracket group going on ESPN at lunch.
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@Kcmatt7 They didn’t beat anyone but 13 Big 10 teams. I understand their resume is lacking big wins, but they beat the schedule placed in front of them. I don’t give a squat if Alabama beat so and so. They lost 15 times. They lost 6 of last 8. They’re an NIT team if there ever was one!
I was out til 9 last night so didn’t get to watch the selection show and hear all of the analysts. USC sounds like a major snub too. PAC10 weak, I guess, but they went 2-1 against the Big12 champs!
MSU is scary. I’ve seen them 3 or 4 times this year. They defend very well, block a lot of shots and can fill it up too.
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KUSTEVE said:
I think they set us up against Penn in the first round, and Seton Hall in the 2nd round to try to get us to lose. The Sweet 16 match up might be the only reprieve we get until we have to face NBA talent in the Elite 8. Still, it’s much easier than Kentucky, or Virginia. Notice how easy UNC’s bracket is in comparison.
I think TV eyeballs would be important to them so I don’t think they set us up to lose. Seton Hall might be attractive, but we are playing them in our home state don’t forget so that’s not exactly setting us up to lose.
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@wissox Seton Hall beat Texas Tech by 10 on a neutral court. They carry an RPI rating of 32, which is 12 spots lower than any other 8/9 seed. I think we can beat them, but I think this is a 5/6 seed hiding out on the 8 line.
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KUSTEVE said:
I think they set us up against Penn in the first round, and Seton Hall in the 2nd round to try to get us to lose. The Sweet 16 match up might be the only reprieve we get until we have to face NBA talent in the Elite 8. Still, it’s much easier than Kentucky, or Virginia. Notice how easy UNC’s bracket is in comparison.
It’s not that bad, lol.
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I think this bracket is perfect for KU. The first game is a gimme. The second game is extremely winnable. Both of the first two games are the type of teams KU feasts upon. The 4/5 seeds don’t pose a matchup problem for KU should be equal to a middle of the pack Big12 team. The elite eight game should be against a name brand opponent. KU always shows up against the big boys - may not win, but they will give effort. I think there is a very realistic chance to see KU in the final four.
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KUSTEVE said:
@wissox Seton Hall beat Texas Tech by 10 on a neutral court. They carry an RPI rating of 32, which is 12 spots lower than any other 8/9 seed. I think we can beat them, but I think this is a 5/6 seed hiding out on the 8 line.
every game will be a fight. Seton Hall is a bit better than NC State, in my opinion. They should have beat Nova a couple weeks ago but some poor play at the end cost them. If we aren’t careful, we won’t make it out of the first weekend.
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@wissox they didn’t beat the schedule placed in front of them. They got a lucky draw, and played a weak noncon. Can only blame themselves. They know the conference schedule, and they knew the conference would be weak.
USC was 100% a major snub though. Deserved to be in more than a lot of teams. Especially Syracuse. Nebraska deserved to be in more than Syracuse.
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And then there is this:
"After hitting the biggest Final Four jumper since Keith Smart’s in 1987, Mario Chalmers summoned his mother, Almarie, down from the Alamodome stands to courtside. The unflappable Kansas Jayhawk wrapped both arms around her, laid his head on her shoulder and bawled like a baby.
She pumped her left arm. He wouldn’t let go.
“We did it, Mom,” Chalmers said between sobs.
“A dream come true,” Almarie said later, her own eyes glistening. “A prayer answered. We’ve been waiting on this moment since he was 2.”
This moment – this Shining Moment – was almost preordained four years earlier, when Mario went to the Final Four in this same building with his dad, current Kansas director of basketball operations Ronnie Chalmers. They watched Connecticut beat Georgia Tech for the title, and Ronnie remembers one spectacular play from that game when he jumped to his feet but Mario remained in his chair.
“What’s wrong?” Ronnie asked his son.
“I’m thinking,” Mario said.
“What are you thinking about?”
“One day,” Mario said, “I’m going to be out there winning the national championship.”
Mario’s quote didn’t include “…if we get an easy draw” after the word “championship”.
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The positive for Seton Hall and potential issue if we play them in the 2nd round is senior leadership. Delgado, Rodriguez & Carrington have been through a ton of battles. They played very well in non-conference play and lost some close games in conference. They had a golden opportunity to beat Villanova weeks back and blew that! I don’t think Seton Hall is coming in with momentum which would be a key to being scared against a 8/9 seed.
They have a big advantage over NC St in experience. I see Seton Hall as a likely winner because I tend to favor experience. If it comes down to guard play I would favor NC St maybe a little more. They have a better PG then Seton Hall who really doesn’t have a true point and style of play for NC St might be something that catches Seton Hall off guard. The battle between Delgado and Yurtseven could be fantastic.
If I’m rooting for anyone I’m rooting for NC St. Is anyone really scared of Allerick Freeman who used to play for Baylor? Yurtseven might have 30 but who cares we do a good job of limiting others. The health of Doke by Saturday will be important to see.
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@BeddieKU23 I hope Doke doesn’t play Thursday. But we will need him Saturday. If the D stays active like it has been, I would love to play NC State. Not sure they can actually keep us from scoring, but if we can keep them from scoring that is an easy win.
I would take SHU in that matchup though.
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Kcmatt7 said:
@BeddieKU23 I hope Doke doesn’t play Thursday. But we will need him Saturday. If the D stays active like it has been, I would love to play NC State. Not sure they can actually keep us from scoring, but if we can keep them from scoring that is an easy win.
I would take SHU in that matchup though.
I hope Doke plays some Thursday just to get back into running on the knee and mentally being okay running and jumping.
If he’s not going to play Thursday but Saturday I don’t know what to think honestly.
It was impressive seeing Silvio step up and how he was able to impact the game rebounding and being around the rim. Both of those things seemed to be important. I thought our guards were able to create more instead of knowing the ball needs to go to Doke for an ISO. Am I crazy there? If we missed a shot Silvio or Mitch was there for a tip in. How many tip ins does Doke have on the season? I can’t remember many at all honestly. The offense just seemed to click. Our defense suffered without Doke but the offense seemed even better… Kenpom moved us up 3 spots on offensive after the weekend…
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@BeddieKU23 Agreed. It is at least in the back of their minds when they catch the ball that it needs to go in to Doke. Instead, over the weekend, they caught the ball ready to attack.
We really do need to play outside in. Let our guards try to get free for the first 20 seconds of clock. If they can’t shake the D, THEN you throw it in to Doke and let the big man work for 10 seconds. But we definitely need to keep the guards in 100% attack mode.
