Bracketology Time
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We should also be thinking about possible 11, 12 and 13 seeds we don’t want to see. Vermont, St. Johns, Murray St., Temple, New Mexico St (though they wouldn’t do a rematch I don’t think).
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@HighEliteMajor I’d rather not get depressed. Ohio State or Clemson could be a 12 seed if we end up losing Thursday and we end up a 5 seed. I think we would lose to either team.
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If brackets are truly fair, the Big 12 should only get 6 or 7 teams in. There’s no reason that all three of Texas, Oklahoma and TCU should make the field. Similarly, both Clemson and NC State from the ACC should have some work to do to get into the tournament. I’d have similar questions for Minnesota, Ohio State and Indiana. Of those 8 major conference teams, I would argue that maybe 4 should make the field instead of all 8 (For me, it would be TCU, NC State and Minnesota only, but the committee probably picks more).
Being mediocre in a major conference should not get you into the tournament. Indiana is mediocre. So is Oklahoma. So is basically everyone in the PAC-12. If the PAC-12 wasn’t considered a major conference, they would only be sending their champ to the dance.
It’s time for the NCAA tournament to stop rewarding the mediocre teams in major conferences. I watched Murray State and Belmont on Saturday. Both of those teams looked like NCAA tournament teams (9 losses between them). And yet some major conference team with 13 losses will probably go to the tournament ahead of Belmont (the loser in the conf. title game). Mid majors and low majors only get two or three shots at good wins each year, usually on the road. Look at Oklahoma’s road record against potential tournament teams - lost at KU, Texas, K-State, Texas Tech, Iowa State, Baylor, won at TCU. Didn’t play another non-con road game against a potential tourney team. You can do this with almost every “bubble team” from a major conference and find almost no quality road wins. Why should Oklahoma get credit for going 1-5 against KU, K-State and Tech. NC State’s best conference win is either Clemson at home or Syracuse at home. If you gave Belmont home games with UNC, Virginia, and Virginia Tech and road games at Duke, Florida State, Louisville and UNC, they would do no worse than 0-7, which is exactly the mark that NC State posted in those games.
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approxinfinity said:
@jayballer73 hope not. I don’t want to see UVA.
you and me either one - - that would not be good.
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HighEliteMajor said:
We should also be thinking about possible 11, 12 and 13 seeds we don’t want to see. Vermont, St. Johns, Murray St., Temple, New Mexico St (though they wouldn’t do a rematch I don’t think).
Actually I think Ol Joey has us matched against Murray state if I remember right. - -ROCK CHALK ALL DAY LONG BABY
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BeddieKU23 said:
Earliest they’d meet is the Sweet 16. Virginia could always lose in the first round again as well.
Lol, they won’t. They didn’t shoot the 3 nearly as much last year as this year. Their pace of play has sped up, their scoring averages have increased, and they’ll have 3 long althetic two way players in Hunter, Diakete and Huff that they didn’t have last year.
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I agree I don’t see them leaving early this yr. They will be motivated to win those early round games. However if Self has a week to prepare for a team that’s his best chance and getting to play the underdog role…
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I see no chance Virginia goes home in the first round again. That was the law of averages finally kicking in, statically it should’ve already happened a few times before that. I did get pleasure in it not being us and after several experts said we could lose to Penn(highest rated 16 seed since 2013, whom we also faced). Murray State is a team I want no part of. Georgia State, Vermont and them are some teams that could be sleepers.
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kjayhawks said:
Murray State is a team I want no part of.
Worked out pretty well the last time we played them
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After seeing some upset again today to top seeds in some of the non power conferences. I don’t think TCU or TEXAS gets in and I honestly agree with it. I’ve stated several times how I’m not sold on this league but this new system was supposed to help some of those smaller teams and prevent an OU type deal from last year from being a OAD.
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Currently Lunardi has us as a 4 seed with Duke the 1 in the south. That’s something we would love to avoid. Let’s get a win tonight and get up to the 3 line!! Rock Chalk.
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Hmmm … in a year where we’re down. Maybe the chance to upset Duke could be the greatest opportunity of the season? Wouldn’t that be sweet?
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@HighEliteMajor I can’t think of many things better than ending Duke’s season two years in a row.
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I don’t think we should be lower than a 3 seed right now. If we win today we’re securely a 3 and arguably a 2.
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I think KU has to win tonight to have a chance at a 3 seed. They have zero shot at a 2.
Gonzaga, Virginia, Duke, UK, Sparty, UNC, Tennessee , and Michigan will be the top 8 seeds.
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They should be a 3-seed right now. Florida St and Kansas should be on the 3-line and LSU and Purdue should be on the 4-line. Purdue is a 3-seed ahead of Kansas. Kansas (23-8) has a better record than Purdue (23-9). Kansas has more Quad 1 wins and a better SOS (11 and 1, respectively) than Purdue (7 and 14, respectively). It’s an error to have Purdue ahead of Kansas right now. LSU played a weak non-conference. They lost to Florida St head-to-head. They lost to Oklahoma St by 13. They have a weaker SOS and fewer Quad 1 wins than Kansas. If Kansas wins today they are a lock for a 3-seed. I agree they probably won’t jump anyone as a 2-seed, but you could argue by the numbers that they deserve it.
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We could beat Duke without zion
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@KirkIsMyHinrich A big difference between Kansas and LSU and Purdue is that LSU and Purdue each won their regular conference titles. The SEC and B10 are very good leagues and you have to be a good team to win those leagues.
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The big 10 had 9 teams with losing records in conference play. What a great conference
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@Texas-Hawk-10 Purdue only had to play Michigan, Wisconsin, Maryland, and Iowa 1 time in conference play because of schedule imbalance. LSU got Alabama twice, Georgia twice, Florida twice, Arkansas twice, and Texas A&M twice. They only had to play Kentucky, Tennessee, Auburn, South Carolina, Mississippi St, and Ole Miss one time. In fact, LSU only had to play one ranked team on the road in conference play and that was at Kentucky. Regular season titles mean less in conferences where you see huge schedule imbalances like the Big 10 and SEC.
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BeddieKU23 said:
The big 10 had 9 teams with losing records in conference play. What a great conference
Not 9 teams and the top and middle of the B10 are still better than the top and middle of the B12 this year.
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Your right it was only 8. Not much of a Difference. We disagree about anything else
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@HighEliteMajor Who would guard zion? We have no one who could…ot their big guy for that matter. They would beat us by 30 I hate to say.
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@BeddieKU23, @Texas-Hawk-10 is just in an argumentative mood here lately. He just said how much better he thought the b10 was than the B12 tho hes been giving me shit about saying the b12 is weak.
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kjayhawks said:
@BeddieKU23, @Texas-Hawk-10 is just in an argumentative mood here lately. He just said how much better he thought the b10 was than the B12 tho hes been giving me shit about saying the b12 is weak.
When have I said the B12 is better than the B10 this season?
I’ve gotten called out for saying the B12 only deserves 5 bids this year and that OU and Texas shouldn’t have been anywhere near the bubble. I still don’t think OU or TCU really deserve bids this year.
In years past, I’ve argued the B12 is better, but the B12 is running 4th this year behind the ACC, B10, and SEC.
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@Texas-Hawk-10 short memory my friend. I said a few days ago I thought the B12 maybe after the first weekend and you gave shit about it.
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@kjayhawks How does me saying Texas Tech was the only B12 team I would pick to make a deep run the same as saying the B12 is a great league this year. The B12 was damn good last year sending 3 to the E8. This year outside of KU when healthy, the B12 was severely lacking in quality nonconference wins this year.
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@Fightsongwriter Come on, man … Villanova beat G’town in ‘85. Who was going to guard Ewing? And Zion is no Ewing. Duke is not invincible. We might beat Duke one out of ten times. But we’d only play them once. You’ve heard of upsets? Right? Duke lost a 2/15 deal once. We lost to freaking Northern Iowa
Hope! Faith! Even if it seems impossible.
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@HighEliteMajor You did not answer the question.
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@Texas-Hawk-10 ok, and I also said repeatedly that Tech “could” make a deep run. Just said I’m not expecting much from the conference. Then you referenced last year which I agree and haven’t disputed was a solid year for the B12. Heck Vermont could make a run, not even Sister Jean had Loyola to FF last year lol. Maybe I just took it the wrong way no biggie my friend.
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@Fightsongwriter No one on this team is capable of guarding Zion effectively. So I concede that point. We’d have to try to try to flash double him. Make him pass. Step in his lane. Push him from the basket. Team concept. Hope he gets 18 not 30. Great players also have off nights. Do I sound as stupid as I think I sound? Ok – it’s the NCAA tourney. Big upsets happen. That might be better.
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HighEliteMajor said:
@Fightsongwriter No one on this team is capable of guarding Zion effectively. So I concede that point. We’d have to try to try to flash double him. Make him pass. Step in his lane. Push him from the basket. Team concept. Hope he gets 18 not 30. Great players also have off nights. Do I sound as stupid as I think I sound? Ok – it’s the NCAA tourney. Big upsets happen. That might be better.
only thing is ok - we can flash double down low - -what about when he takes you out on the floor - -he can hit the outside J too dribbles like a point guard. - using a Ewing – Williamson comparison isn’t that close - -totally type of player.
You would never see Ewing take the ball out as far in the open space - ball handling skills - -Zion runs circles around Ewing with ball handling skills - the things that Zion can do - is crazy complete all around player. - -Ewing played a lot more inside - -sur he could step out some and hit the J - but Zion is just a much better complete overall skilledplayer
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If Self goes to Chicago, who is your #1 target ?
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Will Wade
Maybe a really good attorney? At least for the next few years.
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I’ve seen two final brackets from People that have KU as the 4 in the MW with UNC as the 1. Boy would Roy bitch and moan about that.
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Woodrow said:
I’ve seen two final brackets from People that have KU as the 4 in the MW with UNC as the 1. Boy would Roy bitch and moan about that.
Ya I saw us as a 4 in the Midwest playing St Louis that’s insane -the Other I saw I think it was in the East as a 4
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WHOA! Lunardi got 23% right this year. Including all four obvious #1s. (minus those #1s he was a whopping 18.75% correct. Give him a bonus, ESPN, or hire a random fan off the street who could probably predict a more accurate bracket.
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Brain of a KSU fan
Alternative look
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Also note, Lunardi picked (at best) 1 of 32 first round matchups if NC Central gets past Iona. That’s useless. This guy should be selling used cars.
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@DanR at least they could find a good lookin guy! Maybe an ex coach or past player, anyone besides him! Was he a coach?
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@Crimsonorblue22 Hey, I ain’t sayin’ anything about the way he looks. In fact, I’ll give him some serious props for getting his ugly ass mug on TV from January to March.
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Just FYI “bracketologist” are graded on how many teams out of the 68 they get right and if they get them within 1 seed line.
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So does he have a bracketology degree?
what did qualify him? I’m serious.
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@Woodrow what is considered good for that? I figured him to be at about 64%
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http://bracketmatrix.com/rankings.html
This is a link ranking bracketologists over the past 3 years. Lunardi is not good, but he’s better than Jerry Palm at CBS.
As far as mainstream media figures go, Brad Evans at Yahoo is the best, but he’s not even top 30.
Lunardi isn’t even the best at ESPN as that honor goes to Jeff Borzello who was ranked 34th.
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Lunardi is 63% for seeding. (cough big deal) O% for first round matchups.
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@Texas-Hawk-10 thanks for that link. I was curious about how other people graded the prognosticators. I’m basing my opinions about how often I saw Lunardi (and his followers/ESPN) discussing possible first and second round matchups–in February. I know there’s nothing else to talk about except Zion’s breakfast, but…
Using the final results from past matrices, each site was graded based on a scoring system made by Paymon at PHSports. This rubric awards 3 points for each team correctly picked, 3 points for each team correctly seeded, and 1 point for each team not seeded correctly but within one seed line. With 68 teams, a perfect score is 408. The variance section of the data table below lists the absolute deviation between each score and the mean for that particular year. Thus, a 10 point variance means that site’s bracket scored 10 points higher than the average bracket that year.
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@DanR Unfortunately, Zion has been having other teams for breakfast, so ESPN’s review will continue.
For all of our whining about their focus on Zion, he is one of the most amazing college players I have ever seen. Let’s face it: We gripe so much that, if he were at KU, and if they gave him the same level of attention as they do now, we would probably still complain that ESPN was not giving us our due.
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@mayjay The thing is, if he were at KU, he wouldn’t be getting this much attention. It wouldn’t be the non-stop Zion-fest. I’m not a great complainer on this topic when I see ESPN promote the ACC so vigorously. I understand that ESPN is a money making venture, so they gear their marketing to what might be most attractive to the bigger markets. Middle America is not the bigger markets.
But the Zion-fest, the focus on one player, is out of control.
A great example was Michael Beasley. He was a better college player than Zion. He absolutely dominated. There wasn’t 1/4 of this crap we see on ESPN now.
And I don’t think the point is that Zion is or isn’t “amazing.” We all agree that he is amazing. But what appears to be the singular focus on one player is ridiculous. Men’s CBB is much more than Zion Williamson, or any one player.
I just turn the channel.
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@BeddieKU23 “We could beat Duke without Zion”
Says every team in the country. Lol.
