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rotogod00
04-13-2010, 04:45 PM
Duke is the #1 seed in the East (and the top overall seed). And as fate would have it, Carolina is the last team in the field.


http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/bracketology

Welcome2DaSlopes
04-13-2010, 04:46 PM
Unc is ranked 12, that's cool.

OldPhiKap
04-13-2010, 04:52 PM
Let me go ahead and say it:

Duke is the weakest of the #1 seeds, and our bracket is clearly the easiest. Yet another cakewalk dreamed up by CBS/NCAA/Illuminati/whomever.

uh_no
04-13-2010, 04:53 PM
ugh.....lets argue about potential matchups which won't happen anyway! yay

HaveFunExpectToWin
04-13-2010, 04:56 PM
I count 64 teams, I hope that part pans out.

jimsumner
04-13-2010, 04:56 PM
Maryland as a 5 seed! Bit of a reach, methinks.

SoCalDukeFan
04-13-2010, 05:03 PM
has way too much time on their hands.


SoCal

MChambers
04-13-2010, 05:13 PM
I can't see Clemson getting past Northern Iowa.

OldPhiKap
04-13-2010, 05:23 PM
UNC v. KY in the second round? Nah, they both get upended in the first.

tbyers11
04-13-2010, 05:42 PM
This (especially the matchups) has as about as much validity as if it were picked by a monkey throwing darts at a board with team names.

At least Joe Lunardi realizes it, per his Twitter: (http://twitter.com/ESPNLunardi/status/12051582842)
"Against my best judgment, we'll post a 65-team bracket for 2011 on Tuesday."

Still it is fun to talk about the seeds. Agreed that MD at 5 is way high and that UNC at 12 is probably way low. I'd guess a 9/10 for MD and about a 4/5 for UNC

Kdogg
04-13-2010, 06:00 PM
35-5? We are playing 40 games before the tournament? Is that even possible?

DukieTiger
04-13-2010, 06:08 PM
35-5? We are playing 40 games before the tournament? Is that even possible?

I think that's this year's record.

CDu
04-13-2010, 06:18 PM
This (especially the matchups) has as about as much validity as if it were picked by a monkey throwing darts at a board with team names.

At least Joe Lunardi realizes it, per his Twitter: (http://twitter.com/ESPNLunardi/status/12051582842)
"Against my best judgment, we'll post a 65-team bracket for 2011 on Tuesday."

Still it is fun to talk about the seeds. Agreed that MD at 5 is way high and that UNC at 12 is probably way low. I'd guess a 9/10 for MD and about a 4/5 for UNC

Yeah, Lunardi used to only do his bracketology right before the selection, when he had all the relevant information. He used to always make the point that the rankings are based on the body of work. Waiting until Selection week to do the Bracketology took the projecting of talent out of the equation a bit more.

I suspect that he chafed at the idea of doing this before March in the first place, but was pushed by ESPN to prepare Bracketology more often and earlier. This just muddied the clarity of what he was doing (i.e., is it a projection of what is going to happen or a reflection of what has happened?).

This is just purely projection, as there is literally no body of work for the 2010-2011 season. It's basically completely counter to his entire concept of Bracketology.

brevity
04-13-2010, 06:51 PM
The geography is interesting next year. Baylor will be competing with the rest of the Big 12 for one of two pods in Tulsa, and then could spend the rest of its tournament in state: regionals in San Antonio and the Final Four in Houston. And there's another regional in New Orleans just in case. Team of destiny? Wonder if something like that could influence Ekpe Udoh's ultimate decision (http://sports.espn.go.com/dallas/news/story?id=5082895).

Lunardi points out that the much maligned South Regional of 2010 stacks up well in 2011: 1 seeds Duke, Purdue, and Baylor; 4 seed Villanova; 5 seed Texas A&M; 6 seed Notre Dame; 7 seed California; 8 seed Utah State; 9 seed Old Dominion; 11 seed Richmond; 12 seed Louisville; 13 seed Siena; 14 seed Sam Houston State. (Only St. Mary's, Robert Morris, and Arkansas-Pine Bluff miss the cut.)

LSanders
04-13-2010, 07:35 PM
Let me go ahead and say it:

Duke is the weakest of the #1 seeds, and our bracket is clearly the easiest. Yet another cakewalk dreamed up by CBS/NCAA/Illuminati/whomever.

Yes ... I, too, have long been suspicious of the Illuminati's role in March madness. Glad to see another enlightened point of view!! :eek:

yancem
04-13-2010, 07:39 PM
First off, I find this exercise absurd at best. There are still 5-7 McD aa's that haven't even chosen a school yet. Not to mention we don't have an accurate list of who is leaving via the nba route.

Secondly, since he has embarked on this flight of fancy, I have to ask, how in the world is KY supposed to earn a 4 seed when as of right now they only have 4-5 scholarship players for next season? I'm sure that they will pick up a couple of the aforementioned McD's but unless they pick up Knight/Selby, Leslie Jones and Lamb, I would think that a 4 seed next to impossible.

Lastly, Duke, Georgetown, Kansas, Syracuse as the top 4 seeds in one region:eek: Add Wisconsin, Tennessee, Gonzaga and Cornell to the mix and I don't want to hear anything about weak bracket!

LSanders
04-13-2010, 07:40 PM
I'd guess a 9/10 for MD and about a 4/5 for UNC


You're really harshin' my mellow, Dude! If the Holes escape the CBI next year, I'm hopin' they earn a spot in the play-in game!!

cptnflash
04-13-2010, 08:12 PM
You're really harshin' my mellow, Dude! If the Holes escape the CBI next year, I'm hopin' they earn a spot in the play-in game!!

No way the Heels are anywhere near as bad next year as they were this year. I agree with Doug Gottlieb, they could be a national title contender. I'm not sure what Lunardi is smoking but apparently it's pretty good stuff if he thinks they're a 12 seed.

tele
04-13-2010, 10:02 PM
Let me go ahead and say it:

Duke is the weakest of the #1 seeds, and our bracket is clearly the easiest. Yet another cakewalk dreamed up by CBS/NCAA/Illuminati/whomever.

and don't forget that shadowy cabal of dubious referees!

El_Diablo
04-13-2010, 10:31 PM
In 2011 we will all have flying cars and eat our meals in pill form.

left_hook_lacey
04-14-2010, 07:57 AM
I count 64 teams, I hope that part pans out.

Me too. Any more than 64 teams ruins it for me honestly.

ElSid
04-14-2010, 02:13 PM
there are already 287 comments on it on espn.com. and here we are discussing it. i think writing about the next season at this point is worthwhile and fun, but bracketology is just absurd. that said. i looked at it.

carolina will be pretty good. i'm not sure about guard play yet but harrison barnes is no fluke and has a great attitude. they won't let it happen again. sort of depends how good bullock is, i think.

left_hook_lacey
04-14-2010, 03:54 PM
there are already 287 comments on it on espn.com. and here we are discussing it. i think writing about the next season at this point is worthwhile and fun, but bracketology is just absurd. that said. i looked at it.

carolina will be pretty good. i'm not sure about guard play yet but harrison barnes is no fluke and has a great attitude. they won't let it happen again. sort of depends how good bullock is, i think.

I agree. I think this season has some of the "experts" a little shell-shocked and reluctant to have UNC finishing very high, especially now with Davis leaving. But regardless, I think the same issues that they struggled with last year are still the show-stoppers this year. What kind of guard play will they have? If Drew continues to improve, as it seems he did towards the end of the season, and Bullock/Marshall are as good as advertised(and I think they are) then they might be able to make some noise. But if Drew hasn't progressed any, and the frosh have a huge learning curve, UNC will be in for another bumpy season. The Wear Twins, Henson, and Zeller are solid players, but they have to have good guards around them to be effective.

CDu
04-14-2010, 04:06 PM
I agree. I think this season has some of the "experts" a little shell-shocked and reluctant to have UNC finishing very high, especially now with Davis leaving. But regardless, I think the same issues that they struggled with last year are still the show-stoppers this year. What kind of guard play will they have? If Drew continues to improve, as it seems he did towards the end of the season, and Bullock/Marshall are as good as advertised(and I think they are) then they might be able to make some noise. But if Drew hasn't progressed any, and the frosh have a huge learning curve, UNC will be in for another bumpy season. The Wear Twins, Henson, and Zeller are solid players, but they have to have good guards around them to be effective.

Agreed. I don't think they are a top-10 team unless they get better PG play and/or they get a lot from the Freshmen wings (or McDonald emerges). That said, I do think that they'll get better PG play (how much is a question) and I do think that the wing scoring will be much improved.

There's definitely reason for hope down the road. I'd rather be in our shoes right now, but I'd be very surprised if UNC wasn't a Top-25 team next season.

Duvall
04-14-2010, 04:21 PM
96-team Bracketology (http://sports.espn.go.com/ncaa/bracket?id=5071629).

12 ACC teams in, which would make for a real interesting regular season.

El_Diablo
04-14-2010, 04:27 PM
Why stop at 96 teams?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cxyPeME9TbI

tbyers11
04-14-2010, 04:32 PM
96-team Bracketology (http://sports.espn.go.com/ncaa/bracket?id=5071629).

12 ACC teams in, which would make for a real interesting regular season.

Taking a quick look at that 96 team bracket, the first thing that jumps out at me is the lack of a "walkover" game for the 1 and 2 seeds in the round of 64 (formerly the first round). Sure, 4 #2 seeds have beaten 15s and there is an occasional 16 seed that scares a 1 seed (Princeton/Georgetown, Western Carolina/Purdue) but 90% of the time those games are no-doubters early in the 2nd half.

If this format holds true, a #1 seed Duke's first tourney game against the likes of Alabama, Iowa St, URI or St John's would definitely not be a super easy game.

CrazieDUMB
04-14-2010, 04:44 PM
The one thing that really bothers me about this is how a 96 team bracket pool would work out. I feel like if you have to fill it out beforehand, there would be so many upsets and variables that it would be a total shot in the dark and wouldn't be fun to follow. On the other hand, can you really get everyone to pick a bracket after the first round of games? Seems stupid to me. Sigh.

kong123
04-14-2010, 04:50 PM
Agreed. I don't think they are a top-10 team unless they get better PG play and/or they get a lot from the Freshmen wings (or McDonald emerges). That said, I do think that they'll get better PG play (how much is a question) and I do think that the wing scoring will be much improved.

There's definitely reason for hope down the road. I'd rather be in our shoes right now, but I'd be very surprised if UNC wasn't a Top-25 team next season.

Hopefully, the expectations for next years UNC team will be reasonable. Then, if we exceed them, everyone will be happy. For example, this years Duke team.

I have a feeling that a sense of urgency will infuse next years team. Players will work harder in the off-season and great improvement will be evident come fall. Also, it would be nice if Drew stayed in Chapel Hill this summer to bond with his new teammates. Creating a bit of chemistry will be key to their success.

What will be exciting is seeing both UNC and Duke hitting on all cylinders again, at the same time. It has been a few years since both teams were capable of winning the title in the same season. We have had good battles for the ACC regular season championship, but our teams haven't both gone deep in the same NCAA tourney in a few years. I used to love those #1 vs #2 match-up's in early February on a Wednesday night. For a real fan of either team, there is nothing like the intensity leading up to that first game!

OldPhiKap
04-14-2010, 04:57 PM
Let's see -- the NCAA can expand the basketball field to 96 teams. Yet, they can't find a way to have a football playoff.

I am very much against the 96-team field, but if they do that in conjunction with scrapping the B(ull)CS in football to have a limited play-off I could live with it.

1. New Year's games, have one BCS bowl between #1 and #4, and another between #2 and #3.

2. Superbowl Saturday, have the winners play for the NC.

(I would rather argue about who got left out at #5 than #3).

MarkD83
04-14-2010, 10:44 PM
UNC v. KY in the second round? Nah, they both get upended in the first.

of the NIT

COYS
04-15-2010, 01:06 AM
Agreed. I don't think they are a top-10 team unless they get better PG play and/or they get a lot from the Freshmen wings (or McDonald emerges). That said, I do think that they'll get better PG play (how much is a question) and I do think that the wing scoring will be much improved.

There's definitely reason for hope down the road. I'd rather be in our shoes right now, but I'd be very surprised if UNC wasn't a Top-25 team next season.

Honestly, they just need to hold on to the ball. They'll have enough scorers to be good as long as the primary ball handlers can hang on to the ball. That alone would boost their middling offensive and defensive efficiency from this past season by reducing the number of empty possessions while simultaneously decreasing the number of chances for the opposing team. I definitely expect to see them higher than a 12 seed, though. If K were coaching the team, I'd expect a rebound like Duke had in 2007-2008. K altered our offensive and defensive schemes to get the best players on the floor as much as possible. We'll see if Roy has the ability to switch things around to put Drew and Marshall in positions to succeed. If he does, Barnes, Strickland, Bullock, Zeller, Henson plus whoever plays out of the upperclassmen guards and the wears should be able to put some points on the board.

tele
04-15-2010, 01:22 AM
Why stop at 96 teams?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cxyPeME9TbI

With all the early entrants to the NBA draft, the NCAA may also want to consider expanding to include NBA teams that don't make the NBA playoffs.

rotogod00
01-03-2011, 06:41 PM
Everyone's gonna say "it's way too early", however at least it's much more current than the one when I first opened this thread:

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/bracketology

We're still a #1 seed (obviously), in a bracket with Purdue (2), Georgetown (3), and Texas (4).

UNC's a 9 in case you're interested

uh_no
01-03-2011, 07:52 PM
Everyone's gonna say "it's way too early", however at least it's much more current than the one when I first opened this thread:

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/bracketology

We're still a #1 seed (obviously), in a bracket with Purdue (2), Georgetown (3), and Texas (4).

UNC's a 9 in case you're interested

10 teams from the big east.....

Duvall
01-03-2011, 07:55 PM
10 teams from the big east.....

That's almost half the conference, right?

Dr. Rosenrosen
01-03-2011, 08:00 PM
That's almost half the conference, right?

that's 10 of 16... kinda silly to predict that many. they have to start beating each other up a little. of course that will likely result in a shuffling of spots in the top 25 for big east teams while acc teams beating on each other will just reinforce how bad the conference is.

gam7
01-03-2011, 09:58 PM
Everyone's gonna say "it's way too early", however at least it's much more current than the one when I first opened this thread:

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/bracketology

We're still a #1 seed (obviously), in a bracket with Purdue (2), Georgetown (3), and Texas (4).

UNC's a 9 in case you're interested

I think we would have to be pretty happy if this ended up being our bracket. Kansas's bracket here looks brutal to me with Pitt, SDSU, Illinois, Washington, Louisville, Butler.

uh_no
01-03-2011, 10:21 PM
that's 10 of 16... kinda silly to predict that many. they have to start beating each other up a little. of course that will likely result in a shuffling of spots in the top 25 for big east teams while acc teams beating on each other will just reinforce how bad the conference is.

Kinda silly to say at this point...the big east proved their supremacy in OOC play...uconn waxed the floor with UK, but was taken to overtime by USF....that says to me...USF is a good team....I'd say the same about any team in the ACC that took duke to the wire....miami showed they are a very good team with their game despite their loss....now if they went out and got wrecked by GT, I'd say that shows that they are really weak, and its bad for the conference.....idk....you can't really tell how strong a conference is from conference play....its only that in conjunction with the OOC matchups that allow you to get a big picture

El_Diablo
01-03-2011, 11:32 PM
Kinda silly to say at this point...the big east proved their supremacy in OOC play...uconn waxed the floor with UK, but was taken to overtime by USF....that says to me...USF is a good team....I'd say the same about any team in the ACC that took duke to the wire....miami showed they are a very good team with their game despite their loss....now if they went out and got wrecked by GT, I'd say that shows that they are really weak, and its bad for the conference.....idk....you can't really tell how strong a conference is from conference play....its only that in conjunction with the OOC matchups that allow you to get a big picture

Or that the UConnvicts are just inconsistent. Unless you think New Hampshire is a good team too?

USF is 6-9. Their best win is a one-point victory against #91 VCU, at home, in OT. And they've lost to JMU, Kent State, and FAU. They shoot 29% from three-point-land. They turn the ball over on 26% of their possessions (#337 in the nation). USF may have played the UConnvicts close, but they're not really a good team.