NCAAT discussion thread..Upsets? Seeding? Teams to watch?

[Dr. FLK]

I'm taking Utah State.

Seriously.

Why do people like Utah State? They didn't beat anyone, did they? What am I missing?

[beaner]

Don't the recruiting violations. If Calipari reaches the final four this year, what are the odds that he eventually vacates it?

Good point, John Wall and DeMarcus Cousins should be good for 4 violations each...They do have an easy road to the Final Four..Crazy how difficult Kansas' bracket is, and how "easy" Kentucky's and Duke's seem.

I can make a case for KU/Ohio State, and Georgetown winning it all.

[Pedro Cerrano]

Don't the recruiting violations. If Calipari reaches the final four this year, what are the odds that he eventually vacates it?

What would have happened that year if Memphis beat Kansas? Would Kansas have become the ex post facto champion?

[Pedro Cerrano]

Good point, John Wall and DeMarcus Cousins should be good for 4 violations each...They do have an easy road to the Final Four..Crazy how difficult Kansas' bracket is, and how "easy" Kentucky's and Duke's seem.

I can make a case for KU/Ohio State, and Georgetown winning it all.

So I guess you don't believe Maryland is a Final Four team anymore?

[Sports Guy]

Why do people like Utah State? They didn't beat anyone, did they? What am I missing?

Best 3 point shooting team in the country..If they can get hot from 3, watch out.

I think they have 3 guys that shoot 40% or better from 3.

[Dr. FLK]

Good point, John Wall and DeMarcus Cousins should be good for 4 violations each...They do have an easy road to the Final Four..Crazy how difficult Kansas' bracket is, and how "easy" Kentucky's and Duke's seem.

I can make a case for KU/Ohio State, and Georgetown winning it all.

Don't tell anyone, but I took John Wall's SAT.

[beaner]

So I guess you don't believe Maryland is a Final Four team anymore?

That bracket is TORTURE..It's a shame for them, because I could see them being a contender in any other bracket as the #4.

[beaner]

Why do people like Utah State? They didn't beat anyone, did they? What am I missing?

They beat BYU, New Mexico State, UCSB from the tourney..and Wichita State and Nevada, two prety good teams who made the NIT.

[ccbird]

Best 3 point shooting team in the country..If they can get hot from 3, watch out.

I think they have 3 guys that shoot 40% or better from 3.

Which is the exact reason why I wouldn't have them going that far. You live by the 3, you die by the 3. I don't think they'll get by A&M but if they do they would have a good chance against Sienna or Purdue. They won't beat Duke/Louisville in the Sweet 16 though.

[ccbird]

Interesting thing I heard about Duke last night. Since their National Championship in '01 they haven't beat a team higher than a 5 seed in the tournament. I guess it makes sense considering they have only made it past the Sweet 16 once since '01 but it just kinda made me do a double take. For an elite program, one that I think everybody still considers top 2 or 3 nationally, to go 8 years without beating a top 4 seed in the NCAA tourny is extremely disappointing.

[square634]

There's a lot of Cornell love in this thread, and I like to see that since I'm an Ivy League sports reporter. However, they got a bit shafted with the seeding (I thought they should have been a 10/11 seed. If they had finished off Kansas in that great game, they could have been even higher). Admittedly, the one Cornell game I saw in person was the horrific loss to Penn, its worst of the season by far. In that game, I thought Jeff Foote played soft and was absolutely atrocious, but I thought he played excellently in that game against Kansas. Ryan Wittman, Louis Dale, and Wroblewski will get theirs, but I think Foote is the X factor for them because without his 7-foot presence in the middle, other teams would have a size advantage.

While I think the Big Red are really good, and while I really want to see an Ivy League team advance in the tournament, I think Temple is better. As a Penn student, there are so many potential storylines in that game, between the Ivy connection and Fran Dunphy. In short, I was primed to take Cornell as a dark horse team, until I saw the bracket.

[ccbird]

There's a lot of Cornell love in this thread, and I like to see that since I'm an Ivy League sports reporter. However, they got a bit shafted with the seeding (I thought they should have been a 10/11 seed. If they had finished off Kansas in that great game, they could have been even higher). Admittedly, the one Cornell game I saw in person was the horrific loss to Penn, its worst of the season by far. In that game, I thought Jeff Foote played soft and was absolutely atrocious, but I thought he played excellently in that game against Kansas. Ryan Wittman, Louis Dale, and Wroblewski will get theirs, but I think Foote is the X factor for them because without his 7-foot presence in the middle, other teams would have a size advantage.

While I think the Big Red are really good, and while I really want to see an Ivy League team advance in the tournament, I think Temple is better. As a Penn student, there are so many potential storylines in that game, between the Ivy connection and Fran Dunphy. In short, I was primed to take Cornell as a dark horse team, until I saw the bracket.

Yeah, an underseeded Temple team is a bad matchup for Cornell. I do think it'll be a good game but I'm taking Temple. I think Temple has a legit chance of knocking off Kentucky to get to the Elite 8, possibly even Final Four.

[ccbird]

So I guess you don't believe Maryland is a Final Four team anymore?

That bracket is TORTURE..It's a shame for them, because I could see them being a contender in any other bracket as the #4.

I see you've come to your senses. You're only a couple months behind me.

[Sports Guy]

Interesting thing I heard about Duke last night. Since their National Championship in '01 they haven't beat a team higher than a 5 seed in the tournament. I guess it makes sense considering they have only made it past the Sweet 16 once since '01 but it just kinda made me do a double take. For an elite program, one that I think everybody still considers top 2 or 3 nationally, to go 8 years without beating a top 4 seed in the NCAA tourny is extremely disappointing.

Yea, they have been talking about this for a few years now.

The funny thing is, the way I have my bracket, I have them getting to the final 4 and only having to beat one team higher than a 5 seed(have them beating Louisville and Siena).

They have had some bad matchups for them over the last several years with the way their team was constructed...Teams like Mich St, LSU and Nova immediately come to mind...Even VCU had Maynor and Duke just didn't have anyone to stay with him.

[mweb]

The funny thing is, the #2 #1 seed, Kentucky, got the next hardest road.

What is the point of being the #1 overall seed then?

WV was the best 2 sed according to the committee but they try not to pair them with another big East school, so WV should have been with Duke, OSU with Cuse, KSU with Kent and Nova with Kansas.

In other words, the worst #2, the worst #3, etc...they should be paired with Kansas unless its a conference opponent...Of course, then the travel schedule has to be considered and that hurts things as well but it should be harder for the #1 overall seed.

Yeah, it doesn't make much sense. The two lowest 1 seeds got the easiest paths; just dumb.