2011 Bracketology

[left_hook_lacey]

I count 64 teams, I hope that part pans out.

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

[ElSid]

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]

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]

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]

96-team Bracketology.

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

[El_Diablo]

Why stop at 96 teams?

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

[tbyers11]

96-team Bracketology.

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]

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]

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]

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]

UNC v. KY in the second round? Nah, they both get upended in the first.

of the NIT

[COYS]

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]

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]

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]

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]

10 teams from the big east....

That's almost half the conference, right?

[Dr. Rosenrosen]

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]

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]

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]

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.