bukie

Do conference tournament start next week, or are we still another week out?

Well, I know who I want with the third pick, so as long as you don't take him, my head won't explode.

1998?

And for the Reds, those anchors are all Dusty Baker.

Stupid thing to say to expect the Bulls to have somehow acquired a player better than Noah/Deng this trade deadline. The only potential trade they could have made to improve would be to add JJ. Any other deals the Bulls would have made the team worse, not better, for the sake of the tax.

The only ones I know for sure right now are Paniagua and Soler for the Cubs. EDIT: And Puig and everyone signed here

And Wisconsin. Along with decent wins against Memphis and Stanford, two other potential bubble teams. They should win 3 of their last 4, and that'll make things safe for them.

Also strength of schedule gaming is why I prefer margin based ratings. More predictive of future success.

There is definitely a difference between a ~150 rated team and a ~300 rated team. Saying the strength of schedule is skewed because Crean schedules poorly isn't a reflection on the strength of schedule numbers. EDIT: Florida is rated higher in Pomeroy's ratings because they've been posting completely insane efficiency numbers in the SEC this season. Just crazy.

Wish it was in Indianapolis this year so I could go. There are eight teams that could win it without me being totally shocked. I'm expecting at least one big upset on Friday. Any team winning Friday wouldn't be a big upset. I'm expecting at least one big upset Thursday between Purdue/NW/Nebraska/PSU.

The other hot rumor is Georgia Tech for the Atlanta market.

Seabrook is out tonight. Listed day-to-day.

You're in at 10-8 regardless of the BTT. They're out at 10-8 with a loss to PSU in the BTT.

@ChristinaKahrl Kudos to #Cubs: Best cure for irrational Campana worship among the masses = make him somebody else's problem, eliminate threat of another AB

It wasn't worthy of a facebook status update for them.

Those Facebook comments are the real answer to why Kaplan has such an important media position in Chicago.

Even living in St. Louis with the Mizzou presence I haven't really paid much attention. Who even has a shot besides FL? Mizzou, Kentucky, and Ole Miss? See 3 posts up...Kentucky, Mizzou, Ole Miss, Arkansas and Alabama have at least outside shots for at-large bids.

@JulieDiCaro The #Cubs got two upright, non-injured pitchers for Campana. Time to drag Theo out of his office and weigh him against a duck. #Witch

I think the committee would love themselves an undefeated conference champion that lost in the tourney, which would likely be the case with Akron. Either way, they're the only bubble-worthy consideration for the MAC, so it's good for the bubble teams if Akron isn't one of them. I think it'd be hilarious, though, if the SEC ends up being a one-bid league.

Quick current look at the "bubble"... According to TeamRankings (criticize the authenticity of their numbers all you want, but the exact numbers aren't really relevant to the discussion), there are 40 teams that have at least an 80% chance of making the tournament at this juncture: Miami (FL), Florida, Indiana, Duke, Kansas, Syracuse, Louisville, Arizona, Gonzaga, Michigan St, Michigan, Georgetown, New Mexico, Pittsburgh, Wisconsin, Marquette, Kansas St, Colorado St, Oklahoma St, Minnesota, Memphis, Oregon, Ohio State, Middle Tenn, UCLA, VCU, NC State, Illinois, Colorado, UNLV, Belmont, Butler, Oklahoma, Wichita St, Cincinnati, St Marys, San Diego St, LA Tech, N Carolina, Akron Those schools represent a total of 15 conferences (ACC, SEC, B1G, Big 12, Big East, Pac 12, WCC, MWC, C-USA, Sun Belt, A-10, OVC, MVC, WAC, MAC). So as many as 12 at-large bids are still largely up for grabs among the remaining bubble teams, which include: Creighton, Southern Miss, St. Louis, La Salle, Notre Dame, Kentucky, Missouri, Mississippi, California, Virginia, Iowa State, Baylor, Villanova, Alabama, Boise State, Maryland, Arizona State, St. John's, Temple, Arkansas, Iowa So, the conference tourneys of great interest for bubble teams (potential bid stealers) are in the SEC (no, seriously, root for Florida), C-USA (Memphis), Sun Belt (Middle Tennessee), OVC (Belmont), MVC (Wichita State), WAC (Louisiana Tech) and MAC (Akron)

And I say that fully expecting Illinois to lay a giant egg this week at home vs. Penn State. Because it's happened a lot recently, since Illinois is 3-6 in their last 9 against Penn State.

1. Indiana - 1 seed 2. Michigan - 1 seed 3. Michigan State - 2 seed 4. Wisconsin - 3 seed 5. Ohio State - 5 seed 6. Minnesota - 6 seed 7. Illinois - 6 seed 8. Iowa - 10 seed | | | | | | V 9. Purdue 10. Northwestern | | | | | | | V 11. Nebraska | | | | | | | | | | | | V 12. Penn State

Dumb question, but does Wisconsin's style of play have to do this? It's not so much their style of play, as it is their penchant to never take the foot off the gas when they clearly outmatch a team.

B1G now has 8 teams in the top 30 of the Pomeroy ratings, with 3 in the top 10 (Wisconsin will never go away) and 6 in the top 20.

Illinois has also now scored and allowed 853 points in Big Ten play.