2021 NCAA Men's Final Four (Gonzaga, Baylor, Houston, UCLA)

[Truth&Justise]

Part of the problem for Gonzaga is that they hadn't faced the same type of competition as faced by Baylor or the other top teams.

I don't think the gap in strength of schedule is as high as people imagine. Using KenPom as a rough estimate, Gonzaga played the 72nd toughest schedule last year, while Baylor played the 54th toughest.

But I know some folks don't like KenPom, so let's look at the NET. Entering the tournament, Gonzaga was 8-0 in Q1, 6-0 in Q2, 5-0 in Q3, and 7-0 in Q4.

By comparison, Baylor was 8-2 in Q1, 2-0 in Q2, 7-0 in Q3, and 5-0 in Q4. So Baylor had played 2 more Q1 games, but 4 fewer Q2 games.

None of this is a perfect comparison. But it illustrates that the strength of schedules were not too dissimilar for these teams. And when using that metric to evaluate these teams, it's worth keeping in mind that Gonzaga beat the hell out of most of the teams they did play--that's usually an indicator of quality. Not to mention there is value in consistently beating the teams you are expected to beat (how often do we bemoan a Duke loss to a "lesser" team??).

In sum, Gonzaga and Baylor were the best two teams this year, and it's fitting that they played for the title. Baylor played very well and they are now the champion. I don't think any more conclusions than that can be drawn from this one-game sample.

[jv001]

I don't think the gap in strength of schedule is as high as people imagine. Using KenPom as a rough estimate, Gonzaga played the 72nd toughest schedule last year, while Baylor played the 54th toughest.

But I know some folks don't like KenPom, so let's look at the NET. Entering the tournament, Gonzaga was 8-0 in Q1, 6-0 in Q2, 5-0 in Q3, and 7-0 in Q4.

By comparison, Baylor was 8-2 in Q1, 2-0 in Q2, 7-0 in Q3, and 5-0 in Q4. So Baylor had played 2 more Q1 games, but 4 fewer Q2 games.

None of this is a perfect comparison. But it illustrates that the strength of schedules were not too dissimilar for these teams. And when using that metric to evaluate these teams, it's worth keeping in mind that Gonzaga beat the hell out of most of the teams they did play--that's usually an indicator of quality. Not to mention there is value in consistently beating the teams you are expected to beat (how often do we bemoan a Duke loss to a "lesser" team??).

In sum, Gonzaga and Baylor were the best two teams this year, and it's fitting that they played for the title. Baylor played very well and they are now the champion. I don't think any more conclusions than that can be drawn from this one-game sample.

I agree. Baylor and the Zags were the two best teams I saw this year, even though I didn't watch as much college basketball. I think Grant Hill may have hit on something when he said that the Zags game against the Bruins may have taken something out of them. Grant said after the Blue Devils beat UNLV, they came out flat against Kansas in the championship game and Coach K had to light a fire under them. My words not his. I'm not taking anything away from Baylor because I thought they were the best team.

GoDuke!

[mattyoung18]

You guys hit on it mentally it had to be incredibly hard to be 100% ready.But physically Baylor just was a horrible match up for Gonzaga.Should of seen it coming when they hammered a really good Houston defense.