Might as well start this absurd thread absurdly early...
Joe Lunatic Lunardi's latest bracketology has 11... 11!... ACC teams making the dance. And, get this, NC State (which has an upset of Arizona and only has good losses to Tennessee and N. Iowa) isn't even one of the 11 teams making it. In order, he has the following ACC teams in:
Duke - 1 seed
UNC - 2
Miami - 4
Virginia - 4
Fla St. - 5
Notre Dame - 5
Louisville - 7
Syracuse - 9
Va Tech - 10
Clemson - 11
BC - 12
I may be wrong, but I think he has BC in as the ACC champion because his play-in games are among #11 seeds and BC is a #12. So, it would seem that BC's placement is artificial. Still, 11 teams is quite impressive no matter what strange technicality you needed to make that happen.
-Jason "no way we get 11... but 9 or possibly even 10 seems quite doable at this point" Evans
Why are you wasting time here when you could be wasting it by listening to the latest episode of the DBR Podcast?
Although Virginia Tech may get in, Seth Greenberg is on the bubble as to whether he will be an in-studio analyst or not.
Bracketology - my least favorite subject in school.
I will wait a few more weeks before I embark on my yearly tirade about Joey Brackets and this farce. Need to build up more ire.
Hey, I'd happily do Bracketology as a sweet side gig if ESPN came calling.
Lunardi stumbled upon a job that gives him a small bit of fame and a paycheck, which supplements his main source of income, working St. Joseph's University.
I'm less concerned with Lunardi... my concern is how the selection committee makes its decisions.
I'm not gonna lie... I'm still pissed off about last year. There is NO WAY the Cheats deserved a #1 seed over us. No effing way. And then to put us in a position to have to play a home game against South Carolina in the 2nd round...
Still makes my blood boil when I think about it.
In a nutshell, Jason...did you have to do this to us?
As earlier said. Joey Brackets got a good gig going. More power to him and his bank account.
Why are you wasting time here when you could be wasting it by listening to the latest episode of the DBR Podcast?
What are we delusional about? That we should have winning ACC records? That our basketball teams should win an ACC title more than once every 30 years? That up until 25 years ago we were historically more significant than Duke and Carolinas equal? Oh wait I know...that we actually thought Carolina would get punished for their cheating ways.
As for getting into the NCAAT, I'm pretty sure we'll be adding some bad losses to our record during ACC play. I wouldn't be surprised if we made the dance, but I wouldn't make a bet in it.
As for ACC conspiracies...Swofford, nuff said...and you aren't paranoid if the refs really are always out to get you!
I can’t tell if you’re kidding, but many of your brethren truly believe when State takes the court or field, the refs are against them. If that’s what you believe, why pay attention to a game that’s already “fixed”? The UNC cheating is an entirely different discussion that we agree on.
All this will add up to is how can the NCAA get Hurley's sun devil into K's bracket?
The promos will be blared from the highest peaks in the land.
Nothing incites bodily violence quicker than a Duke fan turning in your direction and saying 'scoreboard.'
Part of why I somewhat buy in to the NC State delusional storyline is because of how Herb Sendek was treated. Yeah, I know he could not beat Duke or UNC (8-38 record against them), but the guy was run out of town after making 5 consecutive NCAA tourneys and had a winning record in ACC play in 4 of his final 5 season. The one year he didn't have a winning record in that span, his team still made the NCAA Sweet 16.
I get that there was a perception that his NC State teams were doomed to be good but never great and that merely making the Big Dance and never dancing for very long can really grate on a fan base, but he sure seemed like he was doing a better job than the respect that he got from fans. I'll say this, you would probably LOVE to have that level of failure back again, wouldn't you?
-Jason "it should also be noted that Herb's teams never felt all that interesting or exciting... still, winning counts for something" Evans
Why are you wasting time here when you could be wasting it by listening to the latest episode of the DBR Podcast?
Let me add one more piece to the puzzle why BC was a bad loss.
I assume we figured on being the #1 overall seed and choosing Boston over ATL as the regional. Both would be reasonable Duke crowds, but we would avoid UK in a quasi-home game in ATL. It's going to be really tough to get Boston as a #1 unless Villanova goes on a slide. We could repeat last year and be a #2 in the East, and we won't get the only other road P5 NCAA road game in history after last year. We could also lose the ACC top draw and give the ATL spot to UVA or (less likely) UNC.
We may draw Hurley's ASU squad as the Pac-12 champion out west. Be careful what you wish. I don't want to party like it's 2011 again where we are the unlucky East/Midwest #1 that gets shipped out.
It is waaaaaay too early to say what will or won't be difficult when it comes to seeding. I remember in mid-January, 2010, after Duke lost to NC State, many DBR posters said with conviction that it was then impossible for us to get a #1 seed, because Kansas, Texas, Kentucky, and (I think) Villanova were locked in. As it happened, Texas (#1 at the time) ended up an 8-seed. Villanova ended up the #2 in Duke's region.
Nothing is etched in stone at this point.