Re: College Basketball 2008-2009

[snoodmonger]

I picked NDSU as well, but they don't rely on the three that much, they're actually 240th in the country 3PA/FGA. Woodside takes the most, but the best part of his game might be going in and getting to the FT line. In his 60 point game vs Stephen F. Austin (13th in Pomeroy adjusted D) he went 2/6 from 3 and 30/35 from the line. Their defense will have a hard time w/ Aldrich of course, and that's probably why they will lose, but they looked like the best major upset candidate I could find.

 

Yeah, they shoot for a a high percentage, but they don't shoot a lot of threes. They also can't play defense, which is good for us. Still, they're better than TTech and Umass, two teams that beat us, and KU has had a bad habit of disappearing for stretches.

 

I don't think NDSU is a huge stretch for an upset special, especially since it's essentially a home game for them.

[Magnetic Curses]

You know, with the insulting snubs of mid majors this year (Creighton and/or St. Marys), I've taken the liberty of thinking of a good way to expand the tournament. In 2014, a new conference will get an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament: the Great West Conference. That brings the total number of auto bids up to 32. Since I doubt the NCAA would want to take away an at-large bid just like the last time a conference was added, changes will be made to the tournament anyways. Here is what I hope happens.

 

There are 32 automatic bids. These 32 bids are the winners of the conference tournament, with the exception of the Ivy League, which doesn't have a tournament. They get placed into the 64 team tournament.

 

The remaining 32 teams are determined by 32 at-large games, consisting of 64 teams. The regular season conference champions that did not win their conference tournament are automatically selected into these at-large games. The rest of the teams are purely at-large selections. A committee will select these at-large teams, and after the at-large games are played, will re-seed the remaining 64 teams. You can put the losing 32 teams into the NIT.

 

Does anybody see anything more unfair about this postseason than the current one? Any comments?

 

i like it. the more i think about it, the more i get po'd by the fact that a team can dominate their regular season and then have a bad game and be out of the dance. totally unfair, but you don't want to lessen the excitement of the conference tourney games. however, there needs to be some sort of exemption for ranked, major conference teams.

 

The conference champion would not have to play the at-large game, so there is still an incentive to win the conference tournament. For lower-level conference teams, it is a HUGE incentive.

 

no, i agree with you that it's more fair for mid-major conference teams, but it's absolutely unfair for ranked, major conference teams that shouldn't have to win a play-in game to get into the tourney.

[TruffleShuffle]

yeah it's a pretty bad idea for a team like UNC or Pitt or UConn to have to play one more game than the winner of the SWAC or MEAC to win a national championship.

[SouthSideRyan]

You know, with the insulting snubs of mid majors this year (Creighton and/or St. Marys), I've taken the liberty of thinking of a good way to expand the tournament. In 2014, a new conference will get an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament: the Great West Conference. That brings the total number of auto bids up to 32. Since I doubt the NCAA would want to take away an at-large bid just like the last time a conference was added, changes will be made to the tournament anyways. Here is what I hope happens.

 

There are 32 automatic bids. These 32 bids are the winners of the conference tournament, with the exception of the Ivy League, which doesn't have a tournament. They get placed into the 64 team tournament.

 

The remaining 32 teams are determined by 32 at-large games, consisting of 64 teams. The regular season conference champions that did not win their conference tournament are automatically selected into these at-large games. The rest of the teams are purely at-large selections. A committee will select these at-large teams, and after the at-large games are played, will re-seed the remaining 64 teams. You can put the losing 32 teams into the NIT.

 

Does anybody see anything more unfair about this postseason than the current one? Any comments?

 

I think it's a terrible idea to drag out the tournament even longer. Look at the teams that were on the bubble. We don't need more of them, even if it's not "officially" the tournament. You think that much has changed in the past 3 years?

[TruffleShuffle]

plus let's be realistic, these bubble teams really don't have a chance to win a championship. does anyone think that san diego st, st mary's, creighton, penn st or auburn could win six games in a row in the big dance? not on your life. the ceiling for any of those teams is probably a sweet 16 appearance, maybe elite eight if everything breaks right and they play out of their minds and they get easy matchups.

[CubbieBum]

plus let's be realistic, these bubble teams really don't have a chance to win a championship. does anyone think that san diego st, st mary's, creighton, penn st or auburn could win six games in a row in the big dance? not on your life. the ceiling for any of those teams is probably a sweet 16 appearance, maybe elite eight if everything breaks right and they play out of their minds and they get easy matchups.

 

Just getting in helps in recruiting and if you happen to pull off a couple upsets you become one of the stories of the tournament thus getting free national advertisement for the entire school.

[TruffleShuffle]

and if they're one of the last teams in lose in the first round, there's really no publicity at all. st. mary's was probably one of the last teams out, they've been discussed more than a team like wisconsin or michigan, and if they make the final four of the NIT they'll get publicity out of that too. so really, does it matter that much?

[Terp]

Just realized Gus Johnson is announcing Kansas - North Dakota State. I really hope that game is on tv in my area.

[Derwood]

I don't think the recruiting edge is THAT great for a Cinderella team. George Mason was in the Final Four a couple of years ago, and just got bounced in the first round of the NIT this year. It makes for a good story, but very few schools see sustained success from it (Gonzaga being the exception to the rule)

[Keener98]

If Mizzou drew any of the other 14 seeds, I think I'd have them losing. Same with Gonzaga and the 13s and Utah and the 12s. What an awful year for first round upsets.

 

the only upset anyone has in the first round is a team that lost by 30 to murray state beating illinois.

 

I really don't see it happening with WKU's tallest player being 6'9. Mike and Mike should have huge games.

 

well, i'd say that 90% of everyone who has done a bracket has westen kentucky winning, regardless of the fact that they lost to florida international.

 

i don't care a whole lot, but it's annoying seeing everyone who has wku beaming about it like they're some sort of genius because they saw jay bilas pick them. i hope the team reacts to it and runs up the score.

 

chester is a major loss on the defensive end, though.

 

It's about WKU' three point shooting sure, if there on, they'll be in the game and tough to beat but, no one has mentioned how a reliance on three can shoot you out of a game as well.

 

I to am thinking the Illini are going to post up Mike and Mike, the only thing WKU will able to do is push them off the block. Give me Mike and Mike baby hooks and three foot jumpers over three pointers any day.

 

Also Illinois is one of the top teams in the country when it comes to 3 pt defense. Illinois will win this game and it wont be really that close.

[SouthSideRyan]

Just realized Gus Johnson is announcing Kansas - North Dakota State. I really hope that game is on tv in my area.

 

Sorry Snood.

 

(Not really, burn in hell Jayhawks)

[bukie]

Yeah, part of the reason I was so excited when I saw Illinois' draw (other than they got a 5 seed when they are probably a 6-7 without Frazier) was that their opponent was both overseeded and a terrific matchup for them that plays right into their strengths.

 

Most experts that are picking Western Kentucky are giving reasons like "well they won 2 games last year" or "Illinois is shorthanded and overseeded" or "the Big Ten is so bad they barely deserve 4 bids" (even Bilas and Lunardi, who I normally respect).

[Butterscup1679666578]

(Not really, burn in hell Jayhawks)

 

Amen

[mul21]

Would the opening games for the non-conference tourney winning high seeds really be that tough? The way this is laid out, you still have the SWAC regular season champ in and playing a highly seeded team (UNC for instance this year). That 1st game would have at least 8-10 teams from minor conferences who just aren't that good compared to the high level teams. You could have those games on Tuesday just like the play in game is now and then just schedule all those teams to play Friday so they have adequate time to travel/prepare.

[dew1679666265]

This may have been posted elsewhere, but I haven't seen it.

 

North Carolina coach Roy Williams said Wednesday there is a "huge, huge probability Ty Lawson will not play" in Thursday's NCAA tournament opening round game against Radford because of the injury to Lawson's right big toe.

 

Lawson said he thinks he might be able to play Saturday because the last three days of rest have been a "big turnaround." The latest he said he might return is next Saturday.

"I'm pretty sure I'm going to play this week," Lawson said. "Hopefully, I want to."

[Keener98]

I see no reason at all to play Lawson against Radford. They can beat that team starting their entire bench more than likely, so give Lawson a few more days to heal, and let him play Saturday.

[dew1679666265]

I see no reason at all to play Lawson against Radford. They can beat that team starting their entire bench more than likely, so give Lawson a few more days to heal, and let him play Saturday.

 

If that's all it is, then this isn't a story. My thought was that if he wasn't healthy enough to play now, how healthy will he be for later games?

 

I agree the safest thing to do is to not play Lawson against Radford, though.

[Prior4CyYoung]

I would not worry about UNC at the start. What worries me is if Lawson wont be a 100% for the sweet 16 and elite 8 games. I have no doubt he will actually play in those games but if hes not 100% they might be in trouble.

[dew1679666265]

I would not worry about UNC at the start. What worries me is if Lawson wont be a 100% for the sweet 16 and elite 8 games. I have no doubt he will actually play in those games but if hes not 100% they might be in trouble.

 

Yeah, I'm not necessarily worried about them right now, but the fact that he's still injured might raise some flags to watch his progression.

 

Williams holding him out tomorrow night may be all he needs, but it's worth watching, I think.

[hawkeyecub]

The deeper I get into this, the more clouded it becomes. I keep talking myself into Arizona State and Clemson in the Sweet 16. I like the WVU/Kansas and UCLA/Villanova winners to get to the Elite 8, I just think those games are a bit of a toss-up. I think Purdue could get to the Elite 8. I don't like Louisville's guard play but I don't see anyone challenging them until the Elite 8 and I don't trust WVU/Kansas.

 

Ugh.

[Slugger_16]

My work is doing a March Madness thing where we got to draw a team, and if that's the team that wins it, we get to have our lunch off campus for a day. I drew Western Kentucky. Go WKU.

[CubInOK]

Does anyone know where I can find coverage maps for the first round?

[Illini Iceman]

Does anyone know where I can find coverage maps for the first round?

 

Not sure what you mean by coverage maps but if this bracket is crazy it has so much information.

 

http://www.czabe.com/images/2009_NCAA_Basketball_Tournament_GARGANTUBRACKET11X8.pdf

[Derwood]

he means maps showing which areas get which games

[Illini Iceman]

he means maps showing which areas get which games

 

OK - well that is the one thing that bracket doesn't have then!!