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Olympic Fan
03-06-2016, 02:09 PM
I always love the week before the NCAA selection as conferences play out their tournaments. For most of the minor conferences, the champion will make a quick NCAA exit, but just getting in the tournament is a thrill for these days and I love watching the passion of their tournament championship games.

So far, two teams are in the field:

Yale beat Columbia Saturday night to clinch the Ivy League title (and its first NCAA trip since 1962). The Bulldogs can send Tommy Amaker's Harvard team a big thank-you for that one. It looked like Yale and Princeton were headed for a tie in the one conference that doesn't have a postseason tournament and that would have required a one-game playoff to determine the champion. But Friday night, Amaker's team -- having a tough season -- upset Princeton and that opened the door for Yale. Another plus -- Duke beat Yale earlier this season, so that's at least one NCAA team on our resume!

Austin Peay upset UT-Martin in the finals of the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament. Austin Peay was .500 coming into the game and will enter the NCAA with an 18-17 record.

Three more teams will punch their tickets today and one of them has an interesting twist:

Stetson faces Florida Gulf Coast tonight at 7 in the finals of the Atlantic Sun Tournament. But Stetson is ineligible (due to low APR rates), so if they win, the NCAA bid goes to North Florida, the league's regular season champ. FGCU can only get the bid by winning the conference title.

UNCAsheville meets Winthrop in the Big South title game today at 2:30 p.m.

And Northern Iowa faces Evansville in the MVC title game at 2 p.m.

Sad news -- 12-19 Holy Cross absolutely killed 19-11 Army at West Point in the semifinals of the Patriot League Tournament to knock out the Cadets. That keeps Army (along with Northwestern and I think William & Mary) as the only teams that have been major college teams since the 1939 start of the NCAA Tournament that have never made the field.

91devil
03-06-2016, 02:24 PM
Sad news -- 12-19 Holy Cross absolutely killed 19-11 Army at West Point in the semifinals of the Patriot League Tournament to knock out the Cadets. That keeps Army (along with Northwestern and I think William & Mary) as the only teams that have been major college teams since the 1939 start of the NCAA Tournament that have never made the field.

"The Forgotten Five" - five schools that have been eligible for the NCAA Tournament every years since its inception, yet have never made the field.

Northwestern
Army
The Citadel
William & Mary
St. Francis (Brooklyn)

I'd say W&M (currently playing the CAA Semis) has the best chance of getting off of this list this year.

Bob Green
03-06-2016, 02:24 PM
And Northern Iowa faces Evansville in the MVC title game at 2 p.m.

I also enjoy watching the other conference tournaments and have the MVC Championship Game on my television right now. March Madness has begun!

Olympic Fan
03-06-2016, 02:32 PM
"The Forgotten Five" - five schools that have been eligible for the NCAA Tournament every years since its inception, yet have never made the field.

Northwestern
Army
The Citadel
William & Mary
St. Francis (Brooklyn)

I'd say W&M (currently playing the CAA Semis) has the best chance of getting off of this list this year.

Thanks for the correction ... although St. Francis has not been an NCAA team all that time -- they actually competed as an NAIA for several years in the 1950s -- they participated in the 1955 NAIA Tournament.

sagegrouse
03-06-2016, 03:19 PM
Sad news -- 12-19 Holy Cross absolutely killed 19-11 Army at West Point in the semifinals of the Patriot League Tournament to knock out the Cadets. That keeps Army (along with Northwestern and I think William & Mary) as the only teams that have been major college teams since the 1939 start of the NCAA Tournament that have never made the field.

In addition to these three, one can include The Citadel and St. Francis (Brooklyn). Feinstein is doing a series on these teams. Here's the intro:


There are 351 teams playing Division I basketball, 160 of which have been in the NCAA’s top tier since it was formed before the 1948-49 season. Of those original members, five — Army, The Citadel, Northwestern, St. Francis of Brooklyn and William and Mary — have never played in its signature event, the NCAA tournament.

brevity
03-06-2016, 05:40 PM
I always love the week before the NCAA selection as conferences play out their tournaments...

Not as much as Ken Pomeroy (http://kenpom.com/blog/index.php/weblog/entry/prelude_to_many_championships):


Conference tournament season is upon us and it is the best part of the basketball season. Oh, the NCAA tournament is pretty cool, too. It’s like when somebody says so-and-so is a “great coach, better person”. If you wanted to be a jerk you could rephrase that to say “really fantastic person, worse coach”. What I’m saying is that the NCAA tournament is great, but the conference tournaments are better. Here's why.

His entry is anti-Selection Committee, which I like. And I would add that most conference tournament action is televised by ESPN and other channels that have been there for college basketball all regular season, rather than CBS and Turner Sports, who are either catching up at the last minute or have been paying minimal attention as part of weekend custody.

But no. The NCAA Tournament works as a product that is a more exciting and unified experience than any or all conference tournaments. Does anyone fill out their own ACC Tournament bracket?

Olympic Fan
03-06-2016, 07:28 PM
Northern Iowa earned a bid with an awesome win over top-seeded Evansville.

NIU led by 17 early in the second half, but Evansville caught up and the two teams traded the lead back and fourth over the last four minutes.

Northern Iowa gets the ball 10 seconds left and a tie score. One of their kids launches a 17-foot jumper from just inside the top of the key -- the ball hits the rim, bounces straight into the air and as the buzzer sounds, it drops back through for the winning basket.

UNC Asheville also won, pilling away late to beat Winthrop.

Tuning in the Atlantic Sun finale now.

Tom B.
03-07-2016, 02:03 AM
Northern Iowa earned a bid with an awesome win over top-seeded Evansville.

NIU led by 17 early in the second half, but Evansville caught up and the two teams traded the lead back and fourth over the last four minutes.

Northern Iowa gets the ball 10 seconds left and a tie score. One of their kids launches a 17-foot jumper from just inside the top of the key -- the ball hits the rim, bounces straight into the air and as the buzzer sounds, it drops back through for the winning basket.

And we likely have our first "bid thief" of the conference tournament season. The #1 seed in the MVC was Wichita State, but Northern Iowa upset the Shockers in the MVC semifinals. Northern Iowa wasn't going to make the NCAA Tournament as an at-large team (#70 RPI, #79 KenPom), but now they'll get the MVC's automatic bid. Meanwhile, Wichita State still has a good shot at an at-large bid, despite the loss (#48 RPI, #11 KenPom). So the MVC will now get two teams into the NCAA Tournament, instead of just one -- meaning that there's now one less at-large bid for everyone else.

Incidentally, Northern Iowa's MVC championship saves UNC from having a loss to a non-Tournament team on its record. (With losses to Clemson, Syracuse, and Pitt, Duke will have at least one, and possibly as many as three, depending on how the bubble bursts.)

TexHawk
03-07-2016, 11:37 AM
And we likely have our first "bid thief" of the conference tournament season. The #1 seed in the MVC was Wichita State, but Northern Iowa upset the Shockers in the MVC semifinals. Northern Iowa wasn't going to make the NCAA Tournament as an at-large team (#70 RPI, #79 KenPom), but now they'll get the MVC's automatic bid. Meanwhile, Wichita State still has a good shot at an at-large bid, despite the loss (#48 RPI, #11 KenPom). So the MVC will now get two teams into the NCAA Tournament, instead of just one -- meaning that there's now one less at-large bid for everyone else.

Incidentally, Northern Iowa's MVC championship saves UNC from having a loss to a non-Tournament team on its record. (With losses to Clemson, Syracuse, and Pitt, Duke will have at least one, and possibly as many as three, depending on how the bubble bursts.)

I wouldn't say WSU is sitting comfortably. Only one Top 50 win (at home over Utah), and nothing else of note. They may be saved by the fact that Fred Van Fleet missed some of their November/December losses with an injury. But they also have to sit at home this week, while the committee gets to watch their bubble competitors. Bracketmatrix has them around a 9 (http://www.bracketmatrix.com/), but trending downward, and missing off of several.

AIRFORCEDUKIE
03-07-2016, 01:02 PM
Looking forward to watching Monmouth and Iona playing tonight in their conference championsip

Wander
03-07-2016, 01:48 PM
I wouldn't say WSU is sitting comfortably. Only one Top 50 win (at home over Utah), and nothing else of note. They may be saved by the fact that Fred Van Fleet missed some of their November/December losses with an injury. But they also have to sit at home this week, while the committee gets to watch their bubble competitors. Bracketmatrix has them around a 9 (http://www.bracketmatrix.com/), but trending downward, and missing off of several.

Wichita State is arguably the most difficult decision in the history of the selection committee. It's a perfect storm of everything that normally makes choices controversial: (1) lots of wins against a poor schedule, (2) injury factor possibly contributing to losses, (3) recent NCAA tournament history of being really good, and (4) huge differential between kenpom and other rankings. I have no idea what will happen.

Zmac32
03-07-2016, 01:53 PM
Looking forward to watching Monmouth and Iona playing tonight in their conference championsip

Agreed! Without checking the spread, would expect people to widely consider Monmouth the favorite tonight (w/ aid from the national spotlight all year). Could def. see AJ English and Co. playing spoiler...

AIRFORCEDUKIE
03-07-2016, 01:58 PM
Agreed! Without checking the spread, would expect people to widely consider Monmouth the favorite tonight (w/ aid from the national spotlight all year). Could def. see AJ English and Co. playing spoiler...

Yea AJ English is one of those guys who goes in the tournament and beats a good team by himself.

TexHawk
03-07-2016, 02:24 PM
Wichita State is arguably the most difficult decision in the history of the selection committee. It's a perfect storm of everything that normally makes choices controversial: (1) lots of wins against a poor schedule, (2) injury factor possibly contributing to losses, (3) recent NCAA tournament history of being really good, and (4) huge differential between kenpom and other rankings. I have no idea what will happen.

Bracketmatrix has updated this morning, they are now an aggregate 10. They are only showing up on 70 of the 86 brackets they survey. They really need teams like Temple, Michigan, Tulsa, St Mary's, Cincy to lose early in their conference tournaments. Really makes you wonder, as you say in (3) above, if they were just your average mid-major bubble team, would they have a chance at all?

wsb3
03-08-2016, 12:58 PM
Very happy to see UNCW back in the NCAA Tourney for the fifth time & first in ten years. Amazing turning around in two years from the Buzz Peterson debacle.

Tom B.
03-08-2016, 03:25 PM
Iona upset Monmouth last night to get the MAAC's automatic bid. Lots of discussion among the ESPN guys as to whether Monmouth deserves an at-large bid. They're #53 in the RPI (per Jerry Palm) and #66 in KenPom. J-will argued that they should get a bid; Sith Greenberg said no way.

devil84
03-08-2016, 05:40 PM
Does anyone fill out their own ACC Tournament bracket?

Yes. There's even a pool at work.

CDu
03-08-2016, 06:58 PM
Iona upset Monmouth last night to get the MAAC's automatic bid. Lots of discussion among the ESPN guys as to whether Monmouth deserves an at-large bid. They're #53 in the RPI (per Jerry Palm) and #66 in KenPom. J-will argued that they should get a bid; Sith Greenberg said no way.

Jay Bilas once made the following argument with respect to mid/low major at large candidates: would a major conference team with those losses even be considered for the tourney? Momnouth has losses to Iona (twice), Manhattan, Army, Canisius, Dayton, and USC. That resume would exclude a major conference team. So it should probably also exclude a low-major like Monmouth. If you play in a weak conference, you have to go darn near undefeated to make it as an at large, and I think they fall short of that. Sometimes the committee gives in to mid-major sympathy, but in this case I would argue that they shouldn't.

jv001
03-08-2016, 07:04 PM
Jay Bilas once made the following argument with respect to mid/low major at large candidates: would a major conference team with those losses even be considered for the tourney? Momnouth has losses to Iona (twice), Manhattan, Army, Canisius, Dayton, and USC. That resume would exclude a major conference team. So it should probably also exclude a low-major like Monmouth. If you play in a weak conference, you have to go darn near undefeated to make it as an at large, and I think they fall short of that. Sometimes the committee gives in to mid-major sympathy, but in this case I would argue that they shouldn't.

As I read your post, I could almost hear Jay speaking. I agree with your concept regarding mid/low major conference teams. I don't think major conference teams should be penalized and mid/low major conference teams not be penalized. They can always play a tougher non-conference schedule. GoDuke!

Wander
03-08-2016, 07:20 PM
Jay Bilas once made the following argument with respect to mid/low major at large candidates: would a major conference team with those losses even be considered for the tourney? Momnouth has losses to Iona (twice), Manhattan, Army, Canisius, Dayton, and USC. That resume would exclude a major conference team. So it should probably also exclude a low-major like Monmouth. If you play in a weak conference, you have to go darn near undefeated to make it as an at large, and I think they fall short of that. Sometimes the committee gives in to mid-major sympathy, but in this case I would argue that they shouldn't.

Actually, Jay Bilas is on record as very strongly in favor of Monmouth getting in. Your argument applies to teams that don't have any wins against decent teams, but Monmouth is 5-1 against power conference teams (though one of them is Rutgers, so let's say 4-1). Those 4 wins aren't against top level teams exactly... but they are against decent teams, and anyway that's an argument for why they shouldn't be a high seed, not why they shouldn't be in the tournament. And all 4 of those wins are away from home.

I don't know that the Iona, Dayton, and USC losses are even worth mentioning. Those might all be tournament teams. Duke has multiple losses that are probably worse than USC and Dayton when you take into account the home/road factor (and yes, we have better wins than Monmouth obviously, which is why we'll be a much higher seed).

I think Monmouth should reasonably easily be in.

Wander
03-08-2016, 07:23 PM
They can always play a tougher non-conference schedule.

Monmouth DID play a very tough non-conference schedule and performed very well in it ("very well" is relative to the average at-large team).

subzero02
03-08-2016, 09:47 PM
Sabonis is flat out balling for Gonzaga right now... he has an array of post moves and he rarely misses.

duke4ever19
03-08-2016, 09:53 PM
Iona upset Monmouth last night to get the MAAC's automatic bid. Lots of discussion among the ESPN guys as to whether Monmouth deserves an at-large bid. They're #53 in the RPI (per Jerry Palm) and #66 in KenPom. J-will argued that they should get a bid; Sith Greenberg said no way.

Nice.

jv001
03-09-2016, 06:57 AM
Monmouth DID play a very tough non-conference schedule and performed very well in it ("very well" is relative to the average at-large team).

If they did very well in it, they probably deserve to play in the NCAAT. All I've seen of Monmouth is the antics of their bench players and that's bad on my part. GoDuke!

Tom B.
03-09-2016, 10:38 AM
Sabonis is flat out balling for Gonzaga right now... he has an array of post moves and he rarely misses.

So does Gonzaga's win constitute bid thievery? St. Mary's probably gets an at-large bid (RPI #36, KenPom #34), but Gonzaga (RPI #45, KenPom #26) might very well have made it as an at-large team either way. Joe Lunardi (yeah, I know) had Gonzaga as one of his "Last Four In" before they beat St. Mary's, FWIW.

Incidentally, while most of them won't cause any bid theivery, we've seen a lot of upset winners in the conference tournaments so far.




Conference
#1 Seed
Conference Champion (Seed)


Ohio Valley
Belmont
Austin Peay (#8)


Missouri Valley
Wichita State
Northern Iowa (#4)


Big South
High Point
UNC-Asheville (#4)


Atlantic Sun
North Florida
FGCU


Colonial Athletic Association
Hofstra
UNC-Wilmington (#2)


MAAC
Monmouth
Iona (#2)


Horizon League
Valparaiso
Green Bay (#4)


West Coast Conference
St. Mary's
Gonzaga (#2)


Northeast Conference
Wagner
Fairleigh Dickinson (#2)


Summit League
IPFW
South Dakota State (#2)


Patriot League
Bucknell
TBD -- will be either Lehigh (#2) or Holy Cross (#9)



The only conference whose #1 seed has won its conference tournament so far is the Southern Conference, where Chattanooga was the #1 seed.

SCMatt33
03-09-2016, 09:39 PM
So for all the crazy tournament results so far, the craziest probably just happened. Holy Cross upset Lehigh on the road to complete a 4 game run through the Patriot tourney. All four wins were on the road, after they had gone 0-9 during regular season conference road games. If that's not crazy enough, Holy Cross' coach is Bill Carmody, best known as the coach at Northwestern for 13 years before Chris Collins. It took him exactly 1 season to get Holy Cross to the big dance. Poor Northwestern.

Wander
03-09-2016, 09:43 PM
Incidentally, while most of them won't cause any bid theivery, we've seen a lot of upset winners in the conference tournaments so far.


Great observation. Watching the championship games of the smaller conferences is personally one of my favorite parts of the year, but if I was in charge of one of these smaller conferences, I would put serious thought into going the route of the Ivy League and getting rid of the conference tournaments.

killerleft
03-10-2016, 12:03 AM
Jay Bilas once made the following argument with respect to mid/low major at large candidates: would a major conference team with those losses even be considered for the tourney? Momnouth has losses to Iona (twice), Manhattan, Army, Canisius, Dayton, and USC. That resume would exclude a major conference team. So it should probably also exclude a low-major like Monmouth. If you play in a weak conference, you have to go darn near undefeated to make it as an at large, and I think they fall short of that. Sometimes the committee gives in to mid-major sympathy, but in this case I would argue that they shouldn't.

No Monmouth. Maybe let the bench perform at halftime in an NIT game.:)

Wander
03-11-2016, 10:06 AM
The Big East, ACC, and Pac-12 all have their top 4 seeds in the semi-finals. The Big 12 has seeds 1, 2, 3, and 5. Is this a hint that the season isn't quite as volatile as advertised, and the tournament won't feature as many upsets as predicted? Maybe just small sample size.

Tom B.
03-11-2016, 05:15 PM
Anyone else watching UConn vs. Cincinnati? Bananas.

Game is tied at the end of regulation, and goes to OT. Then a second OT. Then a third.

Cinci dude hits a three-pointer with 0.8 seconds left in the third OT to put Cinci up by three. Game over, right? Nope. UConn plays the ball inbounds right away, and the UConn dude banks in a three-quarter court shot to force a fourth overtime.

UConn now up by five late in the 4th OT, and it looks like they're going to hang on.

Doria
03-11-2016, 07:01 PM
Anyone else watching UConn vs. Cincinnati? Bananas.

Game is tied at the end of regulation, and goes to OT. Then a second OT. Then a third.

Cinci dude hits a three-pointer with 0.8 seconds left in the third OT to put Cinci up by three. Game over, right? Nope. UConn plays the ball inbounds right away, and the UConn dude banks in a three-quarter court shot to force a fourth overtime.

UConn now up by five late in the 4th OT, and it looks like they're going to hang on.

Yeah, totally nuts. That was a great game.

uh_no
03-11-2016, 07:24 PM
Yeah, totally nuts. That was a great game.

whoooooooooo

Wander
03-12-2016, 02:35 PM
Does LSU even deserve to make the NIT? What a pathetic team.

dukelifer
03-12-2016, 02:47 PM
Does LSU even deserve to make the NIT? What a pathetic team.

If Simmons can't make a college team better- not convinced he can do it in the NBA. What is happening now is very bad. Texas A&M is not even trying and they are still increasing the score.

diablesseblu
03-12-2016, 02:50 PM
Does LSU even deserve to make the NIT? What a pathetic team.

Am sure Alleva's not having a good day. After this "effort" (or lack thereof), I would not allow this team to accept an NIT bid.

duke4ever19
03-12-2016, 05:06 PM
Does LSU even deserve to make the NIT? What a pathetic team.

The Ingram vs. Simmons debate just got a bit more interesting. 10 pts and four fouls in what is probably his last game (barring the NIT) did him no favors.

Sure Simmons has put up good numbers this season with scrubs, but that also might be part of the reason he has those numbers.

weezie
03-12-2016, 06:32 PM
Does LSU even deserve to make the NIT? What a pathetic team.

What about the other tournament, the CIT? That's about where they should be anyway.

Wander
03-12-2016, 08:33 PM
One last fun stat on the subject: apparently LSU had the lowest point total of any Division 1 team this season. With the (probable) #1 NBA draft pick! Unreal. LSU coach needs to be fired on the spot.

uh_no
03-12-2016, 08:35 PM
One last fun stat on the subject: apparently LSU had the lowest point total of any Division 1 team this season. With the (probable) #1 NBA draft pick! Unreal. LSU coach needs to be fired on the spot.

i supposed it may have been among the lowest adjusted outputs...

dragoneye776
03-12-2016, 09:46 PM
One last fun stat on the subject: apparently LSU had the lowest point total of any Division 1 team this season. With the (probable) #1 NBA draft pick! Unreal. LSU coach needs to be fired on the spot.

So according to ESPN they average 80.1 points a game, good for 28th in the country.
http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/team/_/id/99/lsu-tigers

If you are talking about the 38 points, I think there are several D1 teams with less than 38. One of them is linked here http://espn.go.com/ncb/recap?gameId=400843782