College Hoops 2015-16

We're getting down to it. Selection Sunday is now under two weeks away, and the cacophony of conference tournaments is about to start. Around here, there's not much drama about somebody not making it. Kentucky and Indiana are almost certainly in, it's just a matter of seeding for them. Louisville is, of course, out, due to the self imposed post season ban the school felt necessary due to the Katina Powell scandal. Haven't kept up as well with the other Kentuckiana schools, especially in the Hoosier state, but it's looking like slim pickings in the Commonwealth. The co-favorites for the OVC are Belmont and UT-Martin, but honestly, it looks wide open. Down year for my Racers as they lost their head coach Steve Prohm to Iowa State. Finished 16-13, but 5 of their last 7 conference games. Should be an interesting week in Nashville. Don't know who a favorite should be, a lot of equality this season and no dominant unbeaten heading into the post season like last season's Kentucky team. I'd say UNC and UVA are probably co-favorites but really, it's anybody's tournament. One thing I do know. It won't be as fun without the Cards. If they had gotten two bigs healthy (Mathiang and Mahmoud) by tournament time, they might have caused some problems for some folks. And Pitino is still the best NCAA tourney coach around, in my opinion, along with Coach K and Izzo. They know how to coax a team that may not be the best on paper through the intricacies of the 3 weekends that make up the tourney. But unless something bizarre happens, no Louisville. And that's too bad. They would have made it more fun...and watchable.

 

Last night's Hoosier victory in Iowa City puts them in line for possible 2 seed, maybe even a 1. Big, big victory for Indiana. Very big. Very huge. And the Big 10 tournament is in...Indianapolis.

 

Predictions later, but seeding rants first; To Jump's point above, I know there were upset at the buzzer in the Big 10 tourney but Indiana as a #5 seed, terrible call even though the committee set up a Kentucky-Indiana 2nd round matchup (total BS when the talking heads say they didn't do that or Texas-Texas A&M or Villanova-Temple on purpose..rriiggghhhttt ) Speaking of the Big Ten, Sparty won the tourney, finished 2nd in the league, and now is ranked #2 overall. How in the hell aren't they a #1 seed? No way they shouldn't be seeded above Virginia.

Biggest Omission: Monmouth. Of course they can't win it, but they did exactly what the committee says it rewards teams for and that is scheduling. They went and took hard road games, won them, but aren't rewarded. Why bother and do that if the committee is just concerned that piss poor underachieving teams like Vanderbilt and especially Syracuse get a bid.

 

There's a lot to talk about here, but from the expanded 2 hour bracket reveal disaster to the head scratching swing picks, there needs to be some serious talk about reforming the entire process. Let's start with ditching CBS. Yeah, I work at an NBC affiliate, but they've prostituted this even to the point where it's barely recognizable. I'm still wondering why the chair of the men's tournament committee is the AD from Oklahoma. Nothing against my fellow Fulhamokies but last time I checked, OU was a pointy ends football school. Bring back Tom Butters (if he's still with us) if you have to, but get SOMEBODY in charge who knows something about basketball. And Monmouth should have been included. And so should St. Bonaventure and San Diego State. And Michigan and Tulsa also didn't deserve bids. I hope NBC makes a serious (i.e., offers an OBSCENE amount of money) bid for the big dance when the contract comes up again (2024. I know). At this point, it's an ABC (Anybody But CBS) situation as far as I'm concerned.

 

Going with Kansas, Michigan State, North Carolina, all of whom I'm liking a lot and then the wild west where 4 teams have a legit chance (Oregon, Maryland, Texas A&M, and Oklahoma). Got Oklahoma, but pulling for your Aggies Mateo.

Cinderella team: Hawaii. They play Cal first and the Golden Bears are having a bad week. First an assistant coach gets fired for sexual harassment of a reporter, and now their leading scorer, point guard, and senior leader Tyrone Wallace broke his hand yesterday in practice. Even with Wallace Cal was going to have their hands (pun intended) full with an Hawaii team that beat tourney team Northern Iowa by 16, lost at Texas Tech by 8, and played Oklahoma even better by losing to the Sooners by only 3. Throw in their record of 27-5 and the Warriors playing on the west coast in Spokane might by this year's Sweet 16 surprise.

 

Wish I'd seen that sooner re Cal. I have them winning 2 games (thanks to the Terps track record in rd 2). Oh well.

I've got Kansas over (kiss of death) A&M & Sparty over Xavier with Kansas cutting down the nets.

1st rd upsets (10 or higher): VCU, Cuse, Wichita, N Iowa & Iona.

Quick note on the Sooners. The last team to reach a Final Four with a player averaging 25 ppg, Dennis Scott & GA Tech in 1990.

I don't get into all of the Selection Committee outrage, but I'm surprised more wasn't said of OU essentially playing at home as a 2 seed. Norman is pretty much a suburb of OKC. Of course, that's been known to backfire on teams. Sparty got jobbed of a 1 seed, but playing in Chicago as a 2 is probably preferable to Anaheim as a 1.

Fwiw, I still hate 68 teams. First four my ass, they're play-in games, period.

 

Totally concur with your last point Matt. If it's necessary to have play-in games it should only be for those 16 seeds. The 4 teams that play for the 11th seed have a HUGE advantage by getting to play a game before the rest of the field. Case in point is one of those two winning teams that got to play Tues/Wed. have gone on to win 2 days later 4 years in a row, and one of the big reasons is getting those first game jitters out of the way. In other words the NCAA in their greed to have 2 extra nights of tv coverage have given the last 4 at large teams invited a competitive advantage when they were borderline to begin with. Makes zero sense, but then again look who's in charge.

 

Worried about the Shockers, are we?

Also, these generic warm up shirts with the same slogan for every team depending on brand are annoying. Do better Nike, Adidas, etc.

 

I was indeed, but more because of the Shocker backcourt and Arizona's Achilles Heel of turning the ball over. Wichita's backcourt has started in 12 tourney games over 4 years (seems like Baker & VanVleet are 25 years old), while Arizona tried to plug a two-guard into the role of a point guard. Had Arizona losing to Miami in the next round anyways

I'm not sure why the media seemed shocked about Yale. The Ivy League champ (Harvard) has won game(s) the last few years.

Kicked myself for not pulling the trigger on Ark-Little Rock over PurDon't.

 

Yeah, I had Wichita beating you. Tough draw getting veteran teams in Wichita & Miami for a team that lost 4 starters.

I'm kicking myself for not going with my gut on 12 over 5 upsets. After none in 2 years I thought they might return with a vengeance but then failed to pick any.

If the Ivy League team surprised, Baylor shouldn't have. Scott Drew can recruit, but his in-game coaching is suspect.

Nervous/excited for the A&M & Terps games today. Both have the talent, but the Ags haven't been in the tournament in a while & Maryland has stunk away from home.

 

Two words: Middle Tennessee

 

Other than my bracket going to hell in a hand basket what a Friday! Great to be on the left coast because the final 3 games of the night where either a nail-biter (ND-Michigan), a Northern Iowa over Texas half-court heave buzzer beater (I know you were broken up by it Matt, even though I'm sure you guys would've love to beat them yourselves) , and a tying dunk buzzer loser (by literally .1 of a second, poor Cincinnati).

In order to have been perfect, besides all the coin flip games you would've had to also of had Middle Tennessee St, Ark-Little Rock, Yale, Hawaii, Northern Iowa, and Stephan F. Austin...March Madness is alive and well until the second week and what's left of the contenders rise up.

 

You're not alone on that bracket thing. I haven't missed too many, but my misses were bad...very bad. So I'm screwed in future rounds.

Good win for my Ags after a shaky start. I loved the UNI win, but they scare me more than Texas did. I think we'll be okay though. Maryland's win was less impressive. I won't be surprised if they lose to Hawaii. I'm no fan of Turgeon.

And props to SFA from my old neck of the woods (and where I took a semester's worth of classes once upon a time). I thought WV would be a problem b/c they're similar and more physical but SFA was smarter and better disciplined. There aren't words to express how much I'd love to see them bag Notre Dame.

Interesting note on Middle Tennessee: their coach, Kermit Davis, coached A&M for a year in the 90's. He landed us on probation & got himself banned for 2 years by the NCAA. So nice upset but...

 

I love the tournament but I get aggravated every time I see those stupid shirts they're requiring all the players to wear. Someone is making a lot of money from that deal and none of it is going to the players.

 

Not directly, but it does go to the school & can lead to better facilities, dorms, equipment, etc.

I do find it ironic when transfers are at an all time high in hoops, they chose "Always Reppin" as a slogan. Always = 6-8 months, I guess.

While I'm on my soapbox, I don't like going from 4 blocks of 4 games the 1st 2 days to this 1-1-3-3 setup. Without having multiple games to jump between (or a strong rooting interest) I'm reminded just how unwatchable college hoops is most of the time.

 

I'm not one to use this phrase, but OMG!!! Wow!!!

 

Ain't going to lie, I had switched it thinking it was over and didn't even notice the score in the upper corner until there was a second left and knew that couldn't be right. Congrats, one for the books.

 

Most unpredictable tournament ever. Glad that two former Murray State head coaches are still alive. Not too surprised by Kentucky's early exit. Bottom line...stop Murray and Ulis and you can beat them. Crean figured out how to do that. Unfortunately, all the early round upsets have cleared the way for the big boys to waltz (I'm afraid) to Houston. May go all chalk from here on. That means UNC, Kansas and (gulp) Duke. I know they're not the 1 seed, but I consider any Coach K team a threat, even as a lower seed, especially after last year. The only wild card for me is the midwest. They're very strong, but I'm not sold completely on Virginia, simply based on recent pedigree. I know that means nothing, but I feel experience counts the more you advance through the bracket. My heart says Iowa State, but my gut says Syracuse. But very proud of Billy Kennedy and Steve Prohm. Here's hoping the Racers get back in the big dance next season, because I KNOW they would have competed better than Austin Peay did. And KenPom supposedly already has Louisville No. 1 next season...if the NCAA doesn't put a bigger boot on their neck.

 

I never turned it off. I did leave the room & had to rewind to see the 2 buckets that cut it from 12 to 8. And I had already marked it as a miss on my bracket (something I didn't change until after 2OT). I texted a friend that this made what had been a brutal loss more palatable at that point. And then the pressure d started and it was a constant, out-loud refrain of, we can't pull this off, can we?!? Amazing!

I'm still giddy over the win. Feels like the Great Escape & beating Juventus at home all over again.

 

Oh, well.
Usually I'm interested in this tournament and follow it closely. This year; not at all .. which makes me sorta sad when I see hi-lites of amazing games right down to the wire. Sorry I missed it.

Starting to watch now, I feel, would be simply Pop-culture bandwagoning.