NCAA 2018 Sweet Sixteen/Elite Eight

[brevity]

Thursday, March 22

South Region (Atlanta)

(11) Loyola Chicago vs. (7) Nevada 7:07pm ET, CBS
(9) Kansas State vs. (5) Kentucky 9:37pm ET, CBS

West Region (Los Angeles)

(7) Texas A&M vs. (3) Michigan 7:37pm ET, TBS
(9) Florida State vs. (4) Gonzaga 10:07pm ET, TBS


Friday, March 23

Midwest Region (Omaha)

(5) Clemson vs. (1) Kansas 7:07pm ET, CBS
(11) Syracuse vs. (2) Duke 9:37pm ET, CBS

East Region (Boston)

(5) West Virginia vs. (1) Villanova 7:27pm ET, TBS
(3) Texas Tech vs. (2) Purdue 9:57pm ET, TBSu

[-jk]

Thursday, March 22

South Region (Atlanta)

(11) Loyola Chicago vs. (7) Nevada 7:07pm ET, CBS
(9) Kansas State vs. (5) Kentucky 9:37pm ET, CBS

West Region (Los Angeles)

(7) Texas A&M vs. (3) Michigan 7:37pm ET, TBS
(9) Florida State vs. (4) Gonzaga 10:07pm ET, TBS


Friday, March 23

Midwest Region (Omaha)

(5) Clemson vs. (1) Kansas 7:07pm ET, CBS
(11) Syracuse vs. (2) Duke 9:37pm ET, CBS

East Region (Boston)

(5) West Virginia vs. (1) Villanova 7:27pm ET, TBS
(3) Texas Tech vs. (2) Purdue 9:57pm ET, TBS

One of these days is not like the other!

-jk

[OldPhiKap]

Thursday, March 22

South Region (Atlanta)

(11) Loyola Chicago vs. (7) Nevada 7:07pm ET, CBS
(9) Kansas State vs. (5) Kentucky 9:37pm ET, CBS

West Region (Los Angeles)

(7) Texas A&M vs. (3) Michigan 7:37pm ET, TBS
(9) Florida State vs. (4) Gonzaga 10:07pm ET, TBS


Friday, March 23

Midwest Region (Omaha)

(5) Clemson vs. (1) Kansas 7:07pm ET, CBS
(11) Syracuse vs. (2) Duke 9:37pm ET, CBS

East Region (Boston)

(5) West Virginia vs. (1) Villanova 7:27pm ET, TBS
(3) Texas Tech vs. (2) Purdue 9:57pm ET, TBSu

Thanks for getting this in one single post, brevity. This is handy.

[luburch]

Trying to decide who to roll with in survivor. Waffling between Loyola and Gonzaga

[Turk]

Trying to decide who to roll with in survivor. Waffling between Loyola and Gonzaga

Gonzaga is boring without that big Polish sasquatch they had last year. Gotta roll with Gryffindor and Sister Jean!! How is this a hard choice?

[BD80]

Interesting Sweet 16.

More 5 seeds than any other seed. (no 12/5 "upsets" this year)

As many 7, 9, and 11 seeds as 1, 2, or 3 seeds.

One 4 seed.

[Dr. Rosenrosen]

Re: South Region... avg seed of 8 has to be by far the highest avg seed ever for a regional.

[Wander]

What great shape we're in. I wonder if we're heading towards a de facto championship game in the semi-final of the right side of the bracket.

Has there ever been a region where the 1, 2, 3, and 4 seed all miss the Sweet 16?

[uh_no]

What great shape we're in. I wonder if we're heading towards a de facto championship game in the semi-final of the right side of the bracket.

Has there ever been a region where the 1, 2, 3, and 4 seed all miss the Sweet 16?

asked myself the same question last night.

While it LOOKS that way, one can't underestimate the difficulty of beating lower seeded teams anymore.

Uconn '14
Butler '10/'11
UK '14
Sweden '80
USA '16

Kentucky and Michigan are still very dangerous teams. 538 gives UK ~ 1/3 chance of winning the title game should they get there. That's an underdog, for sure, but not huge odds.

[moonpie23]

UK can finally STFU about "the easiest cakewalk to the final four" for duke's 2015 title...Cheats too

[elvis14]

UK can finally STFU about "the easiest cakewalk to the final four" for duke's 2015 title...Cheats too

The irony is that UNCheat was gifted as easy a path as they could have this year...and blew it.

As for 2015: Utah, Gonzaga, MSU, Wisconsin

All 4 of those teams were pretty good that year but as we know, in this day and age rhetoric and BS can overcome facts.

[uh_no]

UK can finally STFU about "the easiest cakewalk to the final four" for duke's 2015 title...Cheats too

eh. everyone always complains that everyone else's title run was "easy." Turns out if you play more tough teams, there's an increased chance you'll lose one of them...so you're more likely to find a champion among "top" teams who had an "easy" road to the title than a difficult one.

You can only beat whose in front of you. Worrying what anybody else says about who the 2015 team played...several years later...is kinda silly IMO. You might as well try to wrestle a pig.

[robed deity]

UK can finally STFU about "the easiest cakewalk to the final four" for duke's 2015 title...Cheats too

Looking at kenpom numbers, Duke faced #'s 2,7,8, and 15. Admittedly, these are post tournament. But if anything, that seems like a relatively tough road.

[COYS]

Looking at kenpom numbers, Duke faced #'s 2,7,8, and 15. Admittedly, these are post tournament. But if anything, that seems like a relatively tough road.

Yeah, the "easy" path to the title is a quick way for fans of other teams to try to diminish winning the NCAAT, which is difficult no matter who you are. I think people point to 2015 because Duke faced a team that generally hasn't gotten a lot of national media attention (Utah) and a team that, rightly or wrongly, had a reputation for flaming out in the tournament and is not from a major conference (Gonzaga). In reality, those two teams were excellent. Duke did catch a break by being on the opposite side of the bracket from Wiscy/Kentucky and therefore getting to play a Spartan team that was clearly not as good. But, hey, sometimes it happens like that.

People said the same thing about Duke's 2010 title run, which I think was even harder. Duke did get a little lucky by facing a Purdue team in the Sweet 16 that had lost its best player (Robbie Hummell) to knee injury. But other than that, Duke had a really tough road. I remember being nervous about facing California in the second round . . . a team that was 14th in KenPom, had a scary-good offense. That was a Sweet 16-level test that Duke passed with flying colors in the second round. Duke even had to play two de facto away games in that run, including beating Baylor in Houston and then beating Butler in Butler's hometown. While all the media attention was focused on a potential Duke-UK battle in the semi-final, people forgot that West Virginia had been just as good as Kentucky throughout most of the season even if the Mountaineers didn't have the same name recognition. Some might recall that there were many who thought WVU should've been given the #1 seed that went to Duke. The fact that Duke beat the crap out of California and WVU didn't mean that Duke's path was easy. It just meant that Duke was really good.

That said, Duke's path to the Elite Eight this year really is about as "easy" as we could have hoped. We had a reasonable 2/15 game. We faced one of the worst 7-seeds in the second round. And we will face the worst team remaining in the tournament in the Sweet 16. Nothing is given, of course. Duke really needs to take care of business. But I wouldn't sweat it when people who claim that Duke's path has been "easy," so far. It is, quite frankly, exactly as we fans would have designed it if we had been given a chance. Still gotta win the games on the court, though!

[Truth&Justise]

Yeah, the "easy" path to the title is a quick way for fans of other teams to try to diminish winning the NCAAT, which is difficult no matter who you are.

Yeah, it can make sense to complain about an "easy" path to a particular round, but it never makes sense to say that about the champion.

In any given year, maybe there's a team whose opening pod was full of over-seeded late-season collapsers, or maybe carnage in another part of the region made for an "easy" route to the final four. But once a team wins a championship? All that talk should go out the door. Everybody lost to somebody who lost to somebody who eventually lost to the champion. That's the beauty of the bracket. You think their route was easy? Well then, you should have beaten one of those "easy" teams.

[ns7]

Yeah, the "easy" path to the title is a quick way for fans of other teams to try to diminish winning the NCAAT, which is difficult no matter who you are. I think people point to 2015 because Duke faced a team that generally hasn't gotten a lot of national media attention (Utah) and a team that, rightly or wrongly, had a reputation for flaming out in the tournament and is not from a major conference (Gonzaga). In reality, those two teams were excellent. Duke did catch a break by being on the opposite side of the bracket from Wiscy/Kentucky and therefore getting to play a Spartan team that was clearly not as good. But, hey, sometimes it happens like that.

People said the same thing about Duke's 2010 title run, which I think was even harder. Duke did get a little lucky by facing a Purdue team in the Sweet 16 that had lost its best player (Robbie Hummell) to knee injury. But other than that, Duke had a really tough road. I remember being nervous about facing California in the second round . . . a team that was 14th in KenPom, had a scary-good offense. That was a Sweet 16-level test that Duke passed with flying colors in the second round. Duke even had to play two de facto away games in that run, including beating Baylor in Houston and then beating Butler in Butler's hometown. While all the media attention was focused on a potential Duke-UK battle in the semi-final, people forgot that West Virginia had been just as good as Kentucky throughout most of the season even if the Mountaineers didn't have the same name recognition. Some might recall that there were many who thought WVU should've been given the #1 seed that went to Duke. The fact that Duke beat the crap out of California and WVU didn't mean that Duke's path was easy. It just meant that Duke was really good.

That said, Duke's path to the Elite Eight this year really is about as "easy" as we could have hoped. We had a reasonable 2/15 game. We faced one of the worst 7-seeds in the second round. And we will face the worst team remaining in the tournament in the Sweet 16. Nothing is given, of course. Duke really needs to take care of business. But I wouldn't sweat it when people who claim that Duke's path has been "easy," so far. It is, quite frankly, exactly as we fans would have designed it if we had been given a chance. Still gotta win the games on the court, though!

These are great points.

Here are some numbers on 2010 and 2015 by the Bart Torvik ranks of the teams we played
2010: 233, 14, 12, 8, 6, 15
2015: 188, 30, 7, 8, 13, 3

If anyone tells you that Duke had an easy path in 2010, you can tell them that Duke beat 5 top 15 teams in the tournament that year.

For comparison, here is UNC's path last year
2017: 218, 35, 25, 7, 12, 1

They did play Gonzaga in the championship, so they earned it in the end, but their path to the championship was likely one of the easier roads to a final.

[CDu]

These are great points.

Here are some numbers on 2010 and 2015 by the Bart Torvik ranks of the teams we played
2010: 233, 14, 12, 8, 6, 15
2015: 188, 30, 7, 8, 13, 3

If anyone tells you that Duke had an easy path in 2010, you can tell them that Duke beat 5 top 15 teams in the tournament that year.

For comparison, here is UNC's path last year
2017: 218, 35, 25, 7, 12, 1

They did play Gonzaga in the championship, so they earned it in the end, but their path to the championship was likely one of the easier roads to a final.

To be fair, one of those top-15 teams in 2010 was a shell of itself in the tourney. Purdue had just lost its best player for the year before the tournament. But, yeah, we played Baylor in Houston and Butler in Indianapolis. And West Virginia (though their best player tore his ACL in our game) and Cal. It wasn’t an easy schedule. It was easier than it could have been, but not easy.

[phaedrus]

To be fair, one of those top-15 teams in 2010 was a shell of itself in the tourney. Purdue had just lost its best player for the year before the tournament. But, yeah, we played Baylor in Houston and Butler in Indianapolis. And West Virginia (though their best player tore his ACL in our game) and Cal. It wasn’t an easy schedule. It was easier than it could have been, but not easy.

As I recall, though, Hummel’s injury was accounted for in Purdue’s seed. While they had the resume of a 2 or 3, they ended up with a 4 or 5 - meaning that we faced them earlier in the tournament than we otherwise would have.

[UrinalCake]

And West Virginia (though their best player tore his ACL in our game)

My (somewhat fuzzy) memory tells me that the injury happened with only three or four minutes left in the game and Duke winning by almost 10. So it is likely we would have won anyways. I remember Zoubek came over and drew a charge, the WVU player got hurt, and Bob Huggins yelled something like "they get every call!" I also remember the player's last name was Butler, which was notable because our next game was against Butler the team.

Funny that I can recall all of these details, yet I can't remember what I had for lunch yesterday

[COYS]

My (somewhat fuzzy) memory tells me that the injury happened with only three or four minutes left in the game and Duke winning by almost 10. So it is likely we would have won anyways. I remember Zoubek came over and drew a charge, the WVU player got hurt, and Bob Huggins yelled something like "they get every call!" I also remember the player's last name was Butler, which was notable because our next game was against Butler the team.

Funny that I can recall all of these details, yet I can't remember what I had for lunch yesterday

I think that Duke was winning by something more like 20 at the time. The injury was extremely unfortunate, but it in no way affected the outcome. That game had been decided long before. Duke was completely unstoppable that game. I think it’s safe to say that it was the second best game that Duke played that entire season (nothing beats 82-50 and while the beat down of Maryland in Cameron and the emergence of Zoubek was fun, the stakes just weren’t as high). No one would’ve beaten us that day.

Also, I definitey recall that the committee had taken Robbie Hummel’s injury into account when seeding Purdue at 4. That team still had some talent. I won’t lie and say it was the most difficult Sweet 16 test, ever, but it was an appropriately tough draw for a 1 seed in the Sweet 16 and hardly a gimme.