2009 NCAA Men's Hoops Tourney

[JJHardy7]

Having 4 Big East teams in the Elite Eight and 2 in the Final Four validates the idea that the Big East was a superior conference this season. Doesn't rooting for all the other teams to lose sort of undermine the success Marquette had?

 

I think that could be an 'excuse' for losing or justifying a season. Marquette had a good team regardless of the conference they were in. I guess it's more SEC related. Down here during football you're either A) happy because your team is awesome or B) are happy because your team is playing 'the best teams in the country'. There was a little office debate last week with an exec and another guy. SEC guy goes on and on about how the Big Ten stinks and the SEC is king and such. Well, in bowl games since 2000 the Big Ten has a winning record against the SEC. SEC guy went on to mention that Auburn and Georgia are better than the Big Ten (they have winning records in bowl games against the Big Ten). It was sad.

 

There are a number of reasons --

 

This is directed at you FTJ...it'd be different if it was a mid-major team. The Big Ten was the highest rated conference (at least towards the end of the year...not sure if they still are) for basketball this year. People are familiar with that conference. It's not a bad thing that a team from a conference moves on, but in SEC country there are excuses. LSU is good because they played UNC close or so they say. Whatever SEC team is doing the best is supported by all fans from the conference. I'm not saying this is the case here, but I work with guys that went to SEC schools and their second favorite team is whoever is the best team besides their school. I guess I'm more indifferent with certain teams from conferences of teams I like. I personally have the feeling I'd have rather seen MSU lose because I think they might get crushed (I hope I'm wrong because I can't stand UConn).

[homer]

"The Big Ten was the highest rated conference (at least towards the end of the year...not sure if they still are) for basketball this year"

 

Where did you get this from?

[fondybrewfan]

Gus Johnson is the greatest TV announcer in history. Something abnout his style makes his games very entertaining to watch.

 

Every year I participate in an uaction draft for the NCAA pool. Typically the farther you get into the tourney the more money you can make. I have both Michigan State and Uconn in the FInal 4 so I am guaranteed at least a runner-up finish. Needless to say I had a very good weekend.

[Fatter than Joey]

Where did you get this from?

 

www.stuffIjustmadeup.com

 

I am directing this at Gus Johnson.

[bjkrautk]

Ty Lawson's foot is going to single-handedly cost me an opportunity to win any pools this year. (Go Villanova!)

[JJHardy7]

Where did you get this from?

 

RPI indexes. It's been on ESPN and such the past few weeks. I did a quick search:

 

http://www.realtimerpi.com/rpi_conf_Men.html

 

Looks like they've slipped to #2 in this particular ranking.

[homer]

I thought they were #2 most of the season. KenPom had them at like 4th.

[MJLiverock]

The Big East clearly has a lot of talented teams at the top but the conference strenght gets a little diluted by the sheer size of the conference. Louisville may have won the regular season title but they only played Villanova, Pitt, Uconn, Syracuse, Marquette 1 time each, but they get S. Florida 2x? For the great teams at the top there are some dreadful teams at the bottom, S. Florida, DePaul, St. Johns, Rutgers. Looking at the Strenght of Schedule for the RPI stuff the Big East teams don't rank much better than the Big 10 Teams because the B10 teams play most of the teams 2x. So yes Louisville had 5 tough games versus the top teams but only one time each. I remember a few years ago when WI didn't play MSU 2x just like this year and everyone wanted to discount their B10 seeding because of it but no one seems to mention it with the Big East. UConn and PItt played each other 2x compared to the Louisville 2x playing of S. Florida.

 

To me the Big East is just too big of a conference, a lot of attention is paid to the top teams but their schedule isn't really any tougher because they only play each other 1x. Out of 16 teams of course there are going to be a lot of good teams, but there are also a lot of bottom feeders as well.

Minnesota played Louisville and WI played Uconn as many times as most of the Big East conference did.

 

It would be like the B10 adding Kansas, Oklahoma, and Memphis along with Northern Illinois and Indiana State to get to 16 teams.

[heresrobin]

Useless observation:

 

None of the Final 4 teams even made it to their own respective conference tournament final.

(Although, if UNC had Lawson, it would have obviously been a different story)

 

Nonetheless, that's got to be pretty rare.

[JJHardy7]

I thought they were #2 most of the season. KenPom had them at like 4th.

 

I believe they were #1 for a stretch right towards the end of the season/before conference tourneys. The Big 10 may not have the 'elite' teams this year (minus MSU), but from top to bottom they were pretty strong.

 

Louisville may have won the regular season title but they only played Villanova, Pitt, Uconn, Syracuse, Marquette 1 time each, but they get S. Florida 2x? For the great teams at the top there are some dreadful teams at the bottom, S. Florida, DePaul, St. Johns, Rutgers. Looking at the Strenght of Schedule for the RPI stuff the Big East teams don't rank much better than the Big 10 Teams because the B10 teams play most of the teams 2x.

 

That's the good and the bad of the Big East. I agree it's too big, but I also think they need to fix their schedule issues. Take a look at Louisville's schedule and also where the games were played. They lucked out in a big way this year. I'm not a huge Big East fan due to the points you have above. They have some pretty bad teams in that conference. I'm not saying their tops teams are bad. I am saying their records are a bit inflated based on the bottom portion of their schedule. You can add 'dreadful' to Georgetown and Notre Dame at times this year. If they went down to 10 teams, that conference would be stacked...and it wouldn't be as good RPI wise because they would beat each other up in terms of record.

 

None of the Final 4 teams even made it to their own respective conference tournament final.

(Although, if UNC had Lawson, it would have obviously been a different story)

 

Nonetheless, that's got to be pretty rare.

 

I don't know how rare it is, but I do know that no team that has lost its first conference tourney game has ever won the championship. I'd have to look it up, but did any of the final four teams lose their first game? I know MSU lost to Ohio State (IIRC), but I think the other three all won their first tourney game.

[heresrobin]

Michigan St. won 1 game - Minnesota

North Carolina won 1 game - Virgina Tech

Villanova won 1 game - Marquette

Connecticut won 0 games - I believe their first and only game in the Big East tournament was that epic 6 OT loss to Syracuse

[heresrobin]

JJHardy7, the streak continues: no team that has lost its first conference tourney game (like UConn this year) has ever won the championship.

Impressive tourny run for Michigan St. Beating Kansas, Louisville, and UConn in consecutive games is incredible. And just absolutely knocking out Louisville and UConn about midway through the 2nd half of both games.

[PeaveyFury]

Really, if MSU wins the title and goes through Louisville, UCONN, and North Carolina in succession, that's about as tough a gauntlet to run through as there is.

[Glennron]

Yeah, I think Arizona still might be the only team to beat three #1 seeds in a tournament so it'd be pretty amazing if MSU does it. With that being said though, I'd be surprised to see Carolina lose.

[RU Rah Rah]

MSU is going to need to play semi-'85 Villanova-esque to beat UNC, but you never know -- there are going to be a lot of Sparty fans there tomorrow night, and that should help.

[hawing]

Imagine a scenario where the lesser of two evils is rooting for Tom Izzo. I guess I'm there.

[Mike Felder]

Hooray for UConn going down! I can't think of a college coach that I like less than Jim Calhoun. Between him, the illegal recruiting allegations, and things like the AJ Price laptop situation, I've got some serious UConn dislike going on.

 

And hawing, you're right. Rooting for Michigan State is most certainly the lesser of two evils. I imagine a lot of the country outside of North Carolina will be rooting for them tomorrow night.

[AmyintheSouth]

Aw. Well, I'm putting on my Carolina alum glasses and rooting hard for Tyler Hansbrough and Danny Green and all the other other seniors to get their championship. So nervous!

[brwrsfan]

Big Ten country or not, UNC has always been my second favorite team...I'll be cheering for them pretty hardcore tonight.