If the Hunter injury rumors are true, and I’m pretty sure they are, you can probably get a little more confident in a flameout.
Virginia
Cincinnati
Tennessee
Arizona
Kentucky
Miami (FL)
Nevada
Creighton
Kansas St.
Texas
Loyola (Chi)
Davidson
Buffalo
Wright St.
Ga State/UMBC
Wichita State's and Gonzaga's schedules are nowhere near the difficult of Arizona's and Kentucky's. So yeah, you sort of have to go down the road of "Gonzaga/WSU are not in P5 conferences".
Gonzaga has won 14 straight since January 20, and the only top 100 ken pom of that entire bunch were BYU 3 times and beating St. Mary's once. Neither of those are even tournament teams. Gonzaga is benefitting from beating Ohio State, Texas, and Creighton in the OOC schedule. Those are their only 3 wins of the year against tournament teams and none of them were true road games (and Ohio State and Texas were not very good in the OOC season).
Wichita State did have a very nice win against Cincinnati, but their schedule was also much easier than Kentucky's or Arizona's. And Arizona had a better record than Wichita State against a much harder schedule.
Just don't think that Wichita State/Gonzaga are comparable to Arizona, sorry. In any event, I would agree that those two teams are the rest of the best 4/5 seeds. And Auburn, Clemson, Ohio State, and West Virginia are pretty much garbage compared to Kentucky/Arizona at this point. I realize that WVU beat us, but they got a very friendly whistle at their place, we were cold, and they were hot, they have gone on a slide since then, and I would absolutely love to play that team again. Zona/UK, I think we can beat them if we play well, but they are the clear 2 best teams of all the 8 teams on the 4/5 lines.
And Vegas agrees with me, for the most part (they have Gonzaga and UK tied). Here are the odds for all the 4/5 seeds to win it all:
Arizona - 12-1
Kentucky - 28-1
Gonzaga - 28-1
WVU - 40-1
Wich. St. - 45-1
Auburn - 65-1
Ohio State 80-1
Clemson 200-1
You guys can talk about their November wins/losses and advanced metrics all you want, but you're ignoring the obvious staring you in the face. We were supposed to get the easiest 4th seed and perhaps the hardest 5th seed. Not the two best teams out of that 8 team group who were both preseason top 5 teams with multiple lottery picks including the obvious #1 overall pick in the NBA draft this spring who has been absolutely on fire.
And if the committee isn't trying to judge based on how GOOD THE TEAMS ACTUALLY ARE NOW (i.e., how the teams have been playing recently and taking into account injuries and returns from suspensions/injuries), then the entire thing may as well be picked by a computer. If that were the case, at least I could be very confident that even if the brackets didn't always end up "fair" it was just because of luck and not because there were a bunch of lobbyists behind the scenes for certain teams rigging it in an attempt to benefit certain teams and hurt others.
Last edited by dtl5g; 03-13-2018 at 04:26 PM.
If the Hunter injury rumors are true, and I’m pretty sure they are, you can probably get a little more confident in a flameout.
Wrist surgery, out for tournament.
If you lock yourself into a ten game trend, or any number of games, then perhaps none. Again, that's being overly formulaic and being afraid of any subjectivity. But a deeper dive into your points:
Kentucky is 7-2 in the last 9, and dominant in their last 3. The tenth game back was at Auburn, before Auburn's injury problems, and part of a 1-3 late middle season slump that is clearly over now. Considering their competition, their last ten is much more impressive than Wichita's last ten. Their last 3, far far more impressive than Wichita's last 3,when Wichita lost 2 of 3. And remember, Wichita is seeded ahead of them. No contest.
Arizona is 8-1 in their last 9 as well, the only loss being at Oregon, in the Sean Miller suspension game. In other words, post suspension issues, Zona is 5-0 and won all games by double digits. There is every reason to believe that Zona's season "re set" at that point.
Gonzaga is seeded a 3 and UK a 5, so it's not even a valid comparison. Their schedule is comparatively weak also. And if you want to say they're under seeded a bit at the 3, that's certainly reasonable. And by the way, since you brought up the Zags and the Shockers, if Zona and UK were 3/4 instead of 4/5, we wouldn't be having this discussion.
And I'll guarantee you this...every Wahoo on here, or anywhere, would trade Wichita and Zag for UK and Zona right now, even up. Are they all crazy?
Without Hunter, assuming that news is true, we should be an underdog against either Kentucky or Arizona. Not positive Vegas will view it that way, but the smart money would be on UK/Zona if it's a pick 'em. Feel free to make a few bucks off our pain.
This blows.
Confirmed: http://www.virginiasports.com/sports...031318aad.html
Anderson had a broken finger, I believe, and an appendectomy. And Anthony Gill sprained his ankle during the first Michigan State loss.
[redacted] UVA is cursed.
Last edited by JBDuke; 03-13-2018 at 05:43 PM.
When exactly in the ACC Tournament did Hunter sustain the broken wrist? I am pretty sure he played vs UNC but cannot remember if he left the game due to an injury? I don't remember that's for sure.
This hurts UVa tremendously but don't count them out from making a final four or winning it all, still. Arizona and Kentucky aren't world beaters and neither is Cincinatti or Tennessee. Their starting 5 still can defend and Hall, Jerome, and Guy will give any defense fits with their methodical offense. Tony Bennett will come up with a contingency plan. Maybe Jay Huff will get some more minutes. Diakite is also more than capable of shouldering some more minutes. And Salt and Wilkins still can defend the paint better than anyone in the country. This hurts UVa bad but it isn't the end of the world.
I wish I could agree with you. We could much easier withstand the loss of Guy than the loss of Hunter, IMO. At this point we just have to imagine that we are the #5 seed and Arizona is the #1 seed and hope for the best. Any given game we probably have a chance, but it will be very tough to beat a bunch of good teams in a row. We have a huge hole in the defense now, that is for sure. Jay Huff is not the answer. The answer is more Salt and more Diakite and maybe let Anthony eat up some guard minutes and play Hall some at the 4. None of these are very good answers.
Sorry, man. It just flat out stinks for UVa. If Bennett can overcome this injury and still get this team to a final four (not likely now), he gets even more respect in my book. And I didn't think I could respect him anymore. Keep the faith though, brother. Crazier things have happened. Survive and advance.
So you're saying that a team that loses a key player in the semifinals of their conference tournament can't still make a Final Four run?
Sure they can. It happened last year.
DeAndre Hunter is out for the Tournament.
http://www.virginiasports.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/031318aad.html
Update: Oops, I see this is already being discussed in the South Region thread. My bad.
That is a huge loss, and has a huge impact on their team in a lot ways. He scored at a decent clip (in such a slow offense) and is a versatile defender.
What are the chances they let him play with a cast on, just for his defense, should they reach the Final 4?