NCAA Basketball

[Jedi Master Carr]

Nobody has posted a thread on this yet, so hear is the first one. Big upset today. Georgetown takes out Duke, that is a shocker. I think it shows the Big East is the best conference this year (after that merger I thought it would be. It could get 8-10 schools into the NCAA tourney this year. Of course will any of them win it all I don't know. UConn, and Nova look like the best two teams in conference. With Pitt still strong (though they got beat by St. Johns today). Should be a interesting season ahead.

[CMJ]

The Big East probably is the toughest league top to bottom. Connecticut is probably the best team in the conference, but I'm not sure they're really the best in the nation. Not that it matters who's the best in late January. ;)

If Florida can hold on they'll probably be #1 on Monday.

[Jedi Master Carr]

Well Florida just lost so if UConn can hold on they will be #1. Crazy day biggest upset though was North Dakota state beating #13 Wisconsin. They should be embarrased losing to them.

[CMJ]

This thread fell off the face of the earth. But since we're into conference tournament time I decided to dredge it back up.

[Jedi Master Carr]

Cool I was about to yesterday but forgot. Duke lost again in a very good game against North Carolina. It looks like the top two teams now will be UConn and Vllanovia. Duke should get the third #1 seed, not sure about the 4th, probably between Memphis, Texas and Ohio State.

[CMJ]

I'm thinking Ohio State will get a #1 seed.

George Washington won it's 20th in a row today. You have to think they're gonna be a dangerous off the radar team. I'm sure they won't get a great seed, but don't be surprised if they make the Sweet 16 depending on their bracket.

[Jedi Master Carr]

Yeah GW is dangerous, they probably will get a 3. Memphis blew there #1 seed with their loss to AUB, they would have got it if they had won out.

[CMJ]

I actually doubt GW gets that high a seed, though they deserve it. Kind of reminds me of that year Gonzaga was like #7 in the country and ended up with like a 7 seed.

[Jedi Master Carr]

Yeah that could happen, I think Gonzaga will get a #3 seed though.

[CMJ]

Yes, because they've started to schedule really tough out of conference year after year AND they have a fairly good track record in the tournament

George Washington is likely to be seen as a flash in the pan by the selection committee. St Joseph's likely would've been way underseeded acouple years back too if they hadn't had the avalanche of positive press when they were chasing the perfect record.

[Jedi Master Carr]

Originally posted by CMJ
Yes, because they've started to schedule really tough out of conference year after year AND they have a fairly good track record in the tournament

George Washington is likely to be seen as a flash in the pan by the selection committee. St Joseph's likely would've been way underseeded acouple years back too if they hadn't had the avalanche of positive press when they were chasing the perfect record.

Yeah that is true. ST Joseph was helped out a lot that year.

[CMJ]

Connecticut went down to Syracuse yesterday, so they might have lost the #1 seed in the East. If Nova wins the Big East you'd have to think they'll get that region.

[Jedi Master Carr]

Well UConn will still get a #1 seed just not in the East, probably would be shipped out West (they won their first National Title out there so it doesn't bother me) right now it looks like the other two #1 seeds are Duke and Memphis (if they win C-USA), otherwise Texas or Ohio State could grab it.

[Ryan Pode]

And Wake Forest, last in the ACC, advances to the ACC tournament semi-final. The MVC is overrated.

[Jedi Master Carr]

ESPN thinks the MVC will get 5 bids, that would be incredible if that happened. The other big upset today was SC beating Tennessee. With the way this season has gone I think there might be a lot of upsets in the tourney.

[CMJ]

The Valley is always one of the best mid-Major conferences. Don't be surprised if they actually make alot of noise.

[Jedi Master Carr]

Originally posted by CMJ
The Valley is always one of the best mid-Major conferences. Don't be surprised if they actually make alot of noise.

That is true.

[Ryan Pode]

To me they seem like the guys in WOW or Diablo II that find the loopholes and exploit it. They know they are cheating the system and nobody likes them.

[Pierce Tondry]

Virginia went down to Carolina last night.

[Jedi Master Carr]

Well pitt beat nova last night so not sure what that means for the #1 seeds. I think Nova still gets one not sure who gets the one in the East region. Heck if Duke went down this weekend I bet the top 3 pretty much stays the same. I don't see Memphis becoming #1 regardless of what they do.

[Figrin D'an]

Still can't believe Syracuse won the Big East tourney. Amazing.



Originally posted by Ryan Pode
To me they seem like the guys in WOW or Diablo II that find the loopholes and exploit it. They know they are cheating the system and nobody likes them.


What?

[Jedi Master Carr]

Yeah they had an amazing four games and just about all of them were nailbitters, not sure what they will do in the NCAA tourney though.

[Ryan Pode]

The MVC is cheating almost. They play the weakest Big 10 teams on the road and their RPI goes up because the teams they played play great teams, while they play comparable teams on the road. Basically RPI is overrated. Brackets should be picked on a comparrison of Record, SoS, then the RPI-like formulas.

[CMJ]

That's how they ARE picked Ryan. :p

The ACC Championship game was just incredible.

[Nathanial K'cansce]

There have been a lot of good games in the conference tourney thus far. It's almost made me watch some of the games, or wish I had watched them!

My school went down in the semi-finals of the American East Tourney, but lost to our rivals who beat us in the finals last year. >_<

All I have to say, though, it go Orange! *waves banner*

If they play with the fire and intensity that they showed in upsetting 3 top 25 teams, including #1 UConn, then I think they have a chance to go deep. Also, McNamara must stay healthy, and not let his groin injury that has been plaguing him get any worse.

[Figrin D'an]

Originally posted by CMJ
That's how they ARE picked Ryan. :p



QFT.

The RPI has never been the primary factor in selecting teams. It is a factor, but is one of many.


I don't really see them playing a lot of the "weakest Big Ten teams", either. Look at the schedules for the teams in the MVC. They're playing teams like Illinois, Michigan State, Iowa, Indiana, and even from other major conferences, like LSU, Arkansas, Boston College. Yeah, there are some sub-par teams in there, but you can find those on any team's schedule.

The MVC will probably get 4 teams in. It could have been 5, but after some of the major conference tourney upsets, it's going to change some of the last teams to get in.

[CMJ]

The South(Atlanta) region looks really tough. The West(Oakland) doesn't look quite as strong as the South, but still loving some of those potential matchups.

The East looks relatively easy to me, but what do I know since the guys on CBS said it was the best one. :p

[Jedi Master Carr]

I agree the East looks easy as well comparred to the South and West. Also have to say Cincinnati got the shaft, how did Seton Hall get in over them? And Air Force, I don't think they belong in there.
Here is the bracket for those wanting to see it more.
http://sports-att.espn.go.com/ncb/ncaatourney06/bracket