College Basketball Thread 2014-15

[Outlander]

Looking forward to the Horizon league championship tonight, really think Green Bay will win with Valparaiso having one of their best players hurt the game before. Would love to see Keifer Sykes in the tournament. Hard to believe that Green Bay has not been there in 19 years.

[brwrsfan]

Double posts are weak.

 

Also, let me briefly rant about my distaste for the 'play-in' among the 16-seeds. If you win your conference, you should get to go to the tourney (Dayton does not count). Let the mediocre bubble teams have play-in games if need be.

 

Agreed. The play in games are a joke, but if they insist on having them, it should all be for the final at large spots. Being a 16 seed is embarrassing enough for teams, but having to play a fellow 16 shouldn't happen.

[fondybrewfan]

In taking a closer look at UW vs. Villanova vs. Virginia I was surprised how well UW matches up against Virginia. If UW sweeps through the B10 tourney they could leapfrog both of them even if they both win out. That is more likely with Villanova because they can't really improve the resume anymore. UW will certainly jump either team if they happen to lose.

 

RPI

UW 4

Virginia 6

Villanova 3

 

SOS

UW 11

Virginia 22

Villanova 27

 

Top 50 record

UW 8-2 (Oklahoma at #15 RPI is best win - With Maryland at #9 as a possibility)

Virginia 8-2 (Maryland at #9 is best Win)

Villanova 11-1 (Georgetown at #19 in RPI is best win, won't improve on that in BE tourney)

 

UW also has 6 wins over teams in the 51-60 RPI rankings; if those teams (Indiana, Purdue, Illinois, UWGB) sneak into the Top 50 that will help as well.

[tmwiese55]

I think if we win out that we'll find a way to get a 1 seed. Either Villanova will lose or we'll leapfrog whichever ACC team loses in their tournament, almost for sure if its VA. Debatable if its Duke. It seems the general consensus out there is that we're the second best team, so any benefit of the doubt should go our way to avoid us getting stuck with Kentucky.

[fondybrewfan]

I am a big Marquette fan today. They played a solid game yesterday and would love them to knock of Villanova.

[tmwiese55]

I was thinking the same thing, Wisconsin is united today. I think they're going to get pasted though and not really give Nova a game.

[fondybrewfan]

UW also needs to cheer for Florida State against Virginia and NC State against Duke. NC State could happen but Florida State is pretty terrible. Losses by Arizona or Kansas wouldn't hurt either.

 

UW plays the winner of Illinois and Michigan today; I don't really have a preference in that game. UW should be able to beat both teams but Michigan did give them a pretty good fight in Ann Arbor.

[Funketown]

UVA may have the #1 locked up today with a win. It's worth remembering that they've been without Justin Anderson, who is their best or second best player, for the past ten games.

 

If I were the committee I'd just put Kansas (or the 8th team) in UK's bracket.

[fondybrewfan]

The most logical thing to do what put the worst 2 with Kentucky but the NCAA has never been logical.

 

If UW wins out and Virginia loses at some point; UW will very likely have a higher RPI, higher SOS, and more Top 50 wins. I think that would make it tough to keep them on the #1 line over Wisconsin. Pretty much the same exact thing can be said for Villanova.

 

FSU and Marquette are getting crushed right now.

[tmwiese55]

Yes if UVA loses at any spot that's our best shot for a 1. They'll have the same number of losses as us but two in the last two weeks. Yes the Anderson being hurt is relevant but it could be argued that it hurts their chances of a 1. Who knows how he'll be able to play when he comes back, appendectomy can really hit some people hard. Also, the same logic applies to UW, our only bad loss was with Frank and Tre out and we've had to play without tre for two months. Without that Rutgers loss we'd be guaranteed a #1 already.

 

I think it's a much tougher call if Duke loses. They'll only have one more loss than us, but with a H2H win on us and tons of great Ws in their pocket. coin flip in my opinion and I couldn't complain if they leave us at 2. Just have to hope the committee is logical and doesn't put a fringe 1 seed that ends up at 2 (UW, Duke, UVA, AZ) in Kentucky's bracket. That spot should be for Gonzaga, Kansas or Villanova.

[fondybrewfan]

Kind of an ugly start to the game but UW turned it on at the end of the half there. Winning by 5 despite pretty terrible 3 point shooting. They should be able to score at will inside against Michigan.

[LouisEly]

Marquette has replaced Noskowiak with a 6'5" 3/4-star SG from Minneapolis and a 3/4 star PG from Philadelphia. Now up to five commits for next year. Still two scholarships available.

 

Other than an unlikely commit from Diamond Stone, I think their best option for the remaining two schollies is to find the next Matt Carlino graduate transfer and/or next Jimmy Butler/Jae Crowder juco transfer.

[lcbj68c]

Where is Stone leaning?

[DuWayne Steurer]

Virginia loses. Duke loses. Now all Bucky can do is continue to win games and hope for the best.

[brwrsfan]

Duke and UVA both go down, albeit to ranked teams. Villanova barely escaped (again). The Badgers do have a real shot at a one seed at this point. On paper, our resume is just as good as both of them, if not slightly better.

 

BUT, it all rides on us actually beating Purdue tomorrow. That's another quality top 100 win to add onto the resume and a chance to make a statement. Lose and we're likely locked into a two seed.

 

It would also probably help us if Kansas loses and ND moves up to the 2 line. ND is a LOT closer to Cleveland than we are. At the same time, Syracuse isn't much further from Madison...anything to help us avoid KY.

[DHonks]

keep in mind that while Virginia lost, it was practically a road game in a hostile crowd rather than a neutral court affair.

[PeaveyFury]

I think both Duke and Virginia losing may have changed the debate between which 2 of UVA/Villanova/Wisconsin get the remaining ones to which ACC team should get a one.

 

Villanova losing to Xavier would still help Wisconsin a ton, though.

[Funketown]

I suspect Duke will fall off the top line, and Virginia will remain on the top line. You can make a solid argument for any three of {Virginia, Wisconsin, Villanova, Arizona} as the last #1 seed. It's difficult to know what they'll get out of Justin Anderson in a week; he looked pretty much useless in the ACCT, it wouldn't surprise me if they give him the first game off and use him sparingly (if at all) in the second in hopes of having him healthy for the Sweet 16.

 

I hadn't seen a team give Okafor that much room all season, and in retrospect I wonder why that hasn't been done more often (I think I counted 3-5 open looks beyond the arc in the entire game for Duke). They also employed a bit of hack-a-shaq late in the game, not at all a bad idea for a guy who shoots ~67% from the floor but barely 50% from the line. He also looked indifferent defensively at times (along with Winslow).

[BrewBalls]

Looks like the Duke and Virgina losses helped Wisconsin in the eyes of some.

http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/eye-on-college-basketball/25106934/bracketology-wisconsin-a-no-1-seed-after-rough-night-for-duke-uva

[DuWayne Steurer]

Man.....I really really really really really don't want to end up in Kentucky's bracket. I know that everyone says "You have to beat them sooner or later, so whether it's in the elite 8 or the title game, what does it matter?"

 

It does matter. Making it to the Final Four is a big deal. Cutting down the nets after a regional final victory is a big deal. And I'd love to see the Badgers be able to do that again. Not having to play Kentucky in a regional final makes that a much more likely possibility.

[brwrsfan]

The longer you can avoid them also gives other teams chances to beat them as well.

 

The first half slow starts are concerning but man when this team turns it on....wow.

[BrewBalls]

Getting Jackson back will make our bench deeper and provide them with another scoring option. It would be nice to play a 16th seed in his first game back and allow him to get into a rhythm before playing a better team in the 2nd round to even the sweet sixteen.

[DKM4Boston]

Now that Wisconsin handily beat Purdue, I don't think there is any doubt they are a 1 seed. Even if they lose to Michigan State...mathematically, they are far ahead of the 2 ACC teams...that's even counting the horrible loss to Rutgers..they overcame that loss, and then some. All the 'experts' can continue to show their ACC love, but I think they are wrong. Sure, Badgers lost to Duke, but Duke didn't win their conference and didn't make their conference final. Plus that loss was months ago. Virginia...meh. If they were a true 1 seed, they would have made their conference championship game.

 

So, by my calculations, neither UVA OR Duke are 1 seeds. It goes Kentucky, Villanova, Wisconsin, Arizona. #2 line is Kansas (if they beat Iowa State), UVA, Duke and Gonzaga. If Kansas loses, they drop below Duke on the #2 line.

 

That's my rant on the subject.

[DHonks]

DKM4Boston, interesting thoughts. I can definitely justify Wisconsin as a #1 with their past performance, star players, and blowouts. Duke had a harder strength of schedule, with Virginia slightly behind Wisconsin. I can't help but wonder if the committee will punish Wisconsin because of the Big Ten's down year.

 

You have Kansas listed as a possible 2-seed (you're not alone). I can't fathom that. I know that I'll be taking whoever they play when in Vegas this week. They're a team that's young and shown a lot of vulnerability this year. The benefit from them is they're truly battle-tested by playing a rough Big 12 schedule. Virginia has to be a 1, don't they? Arizona played in a weak Pac-12. The positive is they did beat Utah twice, which is incredible since Utah plays great defense.

 

I really hope Lunardi is right and the MVC teams are 4/5 seeds. Same for Utah. Those could be 3 easy games to load up with my money in Vegas. All play very good defense and are fundamentally sound. If they get a line of -8 to -12, EASY MONEY!!

[DuWayne Steurer]

Was Notre Dame's impressive ACC tourney run enough to move them to the 2 line? Kansas is 7 - 5 in their last 12 games. I know the Big 12 is a great conference, but so is the ACC, and Kansas has 8 losses, and they blew a huge lead yesterday. Notre Dame went through Duke and UNC to win a conference tourney.