ND just brutally efficient offensively in the Big East tournament. If they could just play this way 7 more games after this I don't know who would stop them.
I just moved Georgia down a bit in my at-large rankings to account for that game. Michigan's been bumped down too for their showing thus far - I'll change that back if they come back and win, though.
Here are my lists for now. 1)Rank the next set of S-Curve teams from 1-16: 2) Rank the remaining 15 at-larges. In the case of bid theft by non-at-large candidates, the lowest in this list will get bumped off the board. 3) Rank the bottom 12 auto-bids from the remaining unplaced bids, the aggregate bottom 8 of which will go into the bottom of the S-Curve.
Notre Dame has roughly a 2:1 advantage among bracketology sites in terms of who picked them for a 1 seed over Duke. Pitt's loss muddles that a bit though, as both teams could potentially now pass the Panthers in the minds of the projectionists.
In news that interests no one but me, Ball State is in OT with Ohio, potentially about to win and move on to face Kent State in the semis tomorrow. ETA: And they do win. Kent clocked us in Muncie in the regular season, so I'm sure that'll be the end of it, but nice to get a win.
I look at that and honestly have no idea which is the low end and which is the high end. The numbers are just placeholders. There is no order whatsoever there.
1) Rank the following 12 teams in order for the next 8 spots on the S-Curve: 2) Rank the next 12 teams from auto bids/at-large for placement on the S-Curve. 3) Rank the top 12 teams in consideration for potential at-large pool placement. One will be placed for sure, the next 7-9 will be placed in potential spots barring bid theft (If Utah State is one of them, they are another potential auto bid from a conference). 4) Rank the bottom 16 teams in consideration for removal (there are more to remove than to place). 5) Rank the bottom 12 auto-bids (placeholder teams in parentheses for conferences not yet done with tournaments) for placement at the bottom of the S-Curve.
2nd biggest winning margin in the history of the Big East tournament. I'd rather play Marquette for their 4th game in 4 days than Louisville tomorrow night but the way ND is playing I'll take my chances with anybody.
Pitt is probably still a #1 seed - I'd certainly keep them as one - but the committee might do something different if ND and Duke were both to win their conference tourneys.
1) Top 12 teams under consideration to fill in at-large field 2) Bottom 12 teams under consideration to thin the consideration board. 3) Rank the following 14 teams in order. If you rep one of the teams, leave them out of your ranking, and it will be factored into the results (top 8 will go to S-Curve): 4) After those 14, rank the next 8 teams from among the at-large pool and the automatic bids (see first post).
Brey wins Coach of the Year and Hansbrough wins Player of the Year. 3rd time in 5 years that Brey gets Coach of the Year, which basically means he had the most underrated team in the preseason 3 times.
How does Kemba not win that award? I know Ben has been good, but Kemba is it for UConn. His scoring efficiency has been pretty atrocious in the Big East season, and if the end of our game with them was an indication, it's because he absolutely refuses to pass the ball half the time. In short, he's it for UConn because he makes sure that he's it for UConn. Also, they finished in 9th place.
It's ironic that the year I couldn't care less about individual awards for Notre Dame - I'm enjoying the team success too much - they have a good shot at cleaning up. Ben Hansbrough was the only unanimous first team all-Big East selection, which seems to be a dead giveaway that he's going to win Player of the Year. Mike Brey is probably going to win Coach of the Year for the 3rd time. I'd trade both those things if I could be guaranteed two wins in the conference tourney, no questions asked.
Leaving out ND since I'm a rep, I'd go with OSU, KU, Pitt and Duke as my top 4, with BYU, Purdue, Texas and Wisconsin the next 4. After that in some order are Syracuse, SDSU, Georgetown and UNC.
At the risk of sounding like a giant homer, it seems to me that there are 6 teams left with a shot at a 1 seed. Ohio State, KU, Pitt and Duke are probably the 1s right now in that order. And the other two in contention are Notre Dame and Texas pending the results of conference tourneys. ND could get a 1 but it would probably take a Big East tournament title unless Duke or Pitt craps out early. Texas I feel is a long shot, but still in the discussion if they win the Big 12 tourney. Purdue could be included as a super-long shot but after that brutal loss I'd think mass carnage in the conference tourneys for the other potential 1s would be the only way they get in. Thoughts? BYU or SDSU still in the discussion for a 1 and I'm not giving them enough credit?
Kemba Walker is a tremendous player, but he simply will not let anyone else win the game. He got them the lead, and then he blew it. ND goes 14-4 in the league and can win the Big East if Pitt goes down - which is unlikely, but who knows.
As opposed to the awesome weeks 15 and 16 right now where the good teams totally don't do that! There will be more games like that now, though. Ironic considering Goodell practically crapped a brick trying to stop that from happening by hastily shoving all division games in Week 17.