2008 Bracketology Discussion

[MD Buckeye]

After being down by as much as 17 in the 2nd half, Baylor has battled back and is heading to OT tied at 65.

 

[JohnnyCockfight]

After being down by as much as 17 in the 2nd half, Baylor has battled back and is heading to OT tied at 65.

And Big 12 last place finisher Colorado beats Baylor by 7 in double overtime, 91-84. Did anyone even consider the possibility of Baylor losing this game?

More importantly, did Baylor just play themselves onto the outside of the bubble?

 

[buckeyesin07]

I've gotta believe that WVU is in the dance now for sure with its upset of UConn.

Baylor's loss is a bad one (Colorado's record coming into the game was 10-19), but I doubt it will be enough to keep them out of the dance--they had an RPI of 33 and a SOS of 29 heading into today's game.

 

[Bernini]

Baylor is a virtual lock for the NCAA tourney regardless. Pretty high RPI. Solid overall record at 20-10 or 21-10. Baylor over Notre Dame on a neutral court and @ TAMU were pretty nice wins. 9-6 road/neutral record is pretty good. They're in.

West Virginia further solidified their position today.

As it stands, the Big East is receiving 7 bids to the tournament, politics aside. Villanova losing might benefit Ohio State, but only if the Buckeyes beat at least MSU, and maybe Wisconsin. Nova is 3-6 against the RPI top 50 v. OSU who is 2-9. 8-9 road/neutral record v. 5-9 for the Buckeyes. 1 less overall loss than OSU in a little big tougher conference (projected after conference tourney results). I think they have a slight edge at least over OSU today, once again politics aside.

 

[buckeyeinfla]

i dont put nova in

 

[keeganbrick]

Nova edge over tOSU right now and Baylor a lock?? Here is what you left out in discussing Nova/tOSU

Nova -
(before todays loss)

RPI - 50
SOS - 54

Best OOC win @ George Mason. Conference play they beat Pitt/Uconn at home.

tOSU -

RPI - 48
SOS - 17

OOC wins - Syracuse (MSG), Florida. Conference play beat Purdue/Mich State at home.

Yes, Nova plays in a better conference but they have nothing to show from it. I don't know how Baylor could be a lock now after losing to the last place team in the opening round of Big 12 tourney.

 

[Steve19]

Villanova losing might benefit Ohio State, but only if the Buckeyes beat at least MSU, and maybe Wisconsin. Nova is 3-6 against the RPI top 50 v. OSU who is 2-9. 8-9 road/neutral record v. 5-9 for the Buckeyes. 1 less overall loss than OSU in a little big tougher conference (projected after conference tourney results). I think they have a slight edge at least over OSU today, once again politics aside.

Can't agree that two wins are necessary to beat 'Nova in. They are ranked behind Ohio State in RPI. They were blown out by Georgetown tonight. The win over UConn looks a lot less impressive after UConn lost to WVa tonight.

After the MSU game, OSU will have played a SOS ranked about 15th versus Villanova 47th (right now its 21 vs 51!). If they win and play Wisconsin, Ohio State will have an SOS well inside the top 15.

'Nova is 1-4 against top 20 RPI teams. Ohio State is 1-6. If they beat MSU, they will be 2-6.

So, possibly we can agree that Ohio State has to beat MSU to get into the Dance. But, I don't think 'Nova is in.

 

[shetuck]

Sporting News: Commissioner thinks Big Ten could get 5 teams into NCAA tourney

Commissioner thinks Big Ten could get 5 teams into NCAA tourney

Posted: March 13, 2008

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) -- Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany will let the NCAA tournament selection committee do its work this weekend.

... Ohio State has a strong case to become the fifth Big Ten team in the field.

Delany was making that case himself during the first-round games at the Big Ten tournament.

"I think we have four in and I think Ohio State has done enough to get in," Delany said. "I've compared their credentials to others and they've got the 18th best strength of schedule. They've played the top four teams in our league twice and they've played 20 games against the top 50 and won nine. I think they've accomplished quite a bit."

[...]

"I would not go so far as to say they're in, but I really want to see them up on the board and see what they can accomplish against others," Delany said. "Hopefully, they will get that consideration."

 

[Gatorubet]

Well, we choked our way to an 80-69 loss to Bama in the SEC Tourney, so you won't have the Gators around the bubble to worry about:(.

Which now frees me up to root for you again.

 

[fourteenandoh]

Well, we choked our way to an 80-69 loss to Bama in the SEC Tourney, so you won't have the Gators around the bubble to worry about:(.

Which now frees me up to root for you again.

sweet

 

[OHSportsFan]

Oregon lost. They're done

UNLV just went up by one with 3.4 seconds left on and AND1 bucket and FT.

UNLV wins.

UMASS loses. Nice.

 

[OHSportsFan]

Teams I'm rooting hardest against are Villanova, UD, Baylor, UMass, Oregon, UNLV, Arizona, and Ole Miss.

Got the ones in bold. UNLV won.

Ole Miss is losing to Georgia at the half.

Arizona tips off in about 20.

Pretty good day for the Buckeyes, but as everyone has said, they have to handle business tomorrow.

 

[keeganbrick]

Oregon lost. They're done

UNLV just went up by one with 3.4 seconds left on and AND1 bucket and FT.

UNLV wins.

UMASS loses. Nice.

Add an Oregon loss on top of that.

Maryland is tied with BC with 10 min left

Ole Miss is losing by 4 at half to Georgia.

Only bad thing is Texas A&M is up 46-37 over Iowa State with 6 minutes to go

 

[OHSportsFan]

aTm wins. Maryland loses.

Georgia up 2, with 9 minutes to play.

 

[HailToMichigan]

ACC gets a blow job from the committee every year- which goes in their favor as well.

As they should. The ACC always has an extremely strong out-of-conference record and almost always beats comparable teams in competing major conferences. From the bottom up....

Boston College beat Michigan and Rhode Island.
NC State beat Villanova and Cincinnati.
Virginia beat Arizona.
Georgia Tech beat Notre Dame.
Florida State beat Florida and Minnesota.
Miami beat Miss. State.
Clemson beat Miss. State and Purdue.
Duke beat Wisconsin.

Left off only a few teams. UNC beat nearly everyone they played but their marquee wins lost some luster as the season went on. But the point is....that list is a great cross section of teams out of the Big Ten, SEC, Pac-10, and Big East, and the A-10 as well (a major in my book.) The ACC suffered very, very few bad losses and nearly every out-of-conference loss was simply to a better team (UVA losing to Xavier for example.) All the love for the ACC is well deserved. Obviously I have my biases, but I'm convinced that UVA (ACC 10th seed) is about a 6 or 7 seed in the other major conferences. I'd take 3rd seed Clemson over anybody at all in the Big Ten.