College Basketball Thread 2015-16

[brwrsfan]

Wisconsin won at Syracuse. While that's not marquee this year, they are comfortably inside the top 50 RPI. That's a solid road win. Also beat VCU on a neutral court (RPI around 55).

 

At this moment, they are projected as around a 10 seed. That's in relatively comfortably at the moment. If they beat Illinois, Minnesota and Michigan they should be in easily (a loss to Illinois or Minnesota and it gets dicey), but their SOS will be top 10 and they have enough quality wins to offset a couple of terrible losses. The bubble is quite bad this year and two teams certainly in (SMU and Louisville) aren't going to be.

 

Marquette on the other hand....better run the table at least. Just found too many ways to lose close games. So young but so much talent. With another year, they'd be dangerous but I highly highly doubt Ellenson returns.

[fondybrewfan]

CBS Sports has them as a 10 seed in the latest bracketology with Baylor in the 1st round, Miami in the 2nd round and Oregon/Texas in the 3rd round. I would take that bracket all day.

 

If they just beat Michigan, Illinois, and Minnesota they will get to 11-7 in BT and 19-12 overall going into the BTT. In all likelihood they should have a good matchup in that first round to get them to 20 wins. I would be shocked if they didn't get in with 20 wins considering the wins they have.

 

I don't want to say UW can go on a run in the tourney yet because a lot can happen in 3 weeks. They are shooting very well right now and a poor shooting night could lead to an early exit. But they are gaining in confidence every day and with no obviously dominant teams in college basketball this year you really never know.

[pacopete4]

I'm just looking for them to continue to stay hot and knock off Michigan State. They do that and things can get really interesting down the home stretch of games.

[brwrsfan]

Lunardi has them as a 9 seed against Colorado (Followed by Kansas). I hate the 8/9 area, but that puts the Badgers pretty safely in the tournament right now.

 

Still a long way to go, but if they win the games they should, they'll almost certainly be in.

 

As far as making a deep run, it's going to be depend on matchups. Yes, they can beat anyone, but they simply aren't as good and don't have the same talent they had the last two years (where the matchups quite frankly didn't matter). With this team, it's going to depend on their shooting, if they are making threes, they can be deadly.

[fondybrewfan]

Michigan State is playing pretty darn well of late; as optimistic as I can I just can't see them going into Breslin and knocking them off. Valentine is such a difficult match up. If UW keeps shooting well I guess you never know. They are much more likely to beat Purdue or Iowa on the road than MSU.

 

I would prefer they stay off the 8/9 line if I had the choice; but still there aren't any Kentucky, Duke, UW teams out there this year. Every team has warts.

[Funketown]

Wisconsin should be solidly on the right side of the bubble, looks like most brackets on bracketmatrix which have been updated have them an 8-10 seed. A reasonable projection would be 3-3 in the final six games which should put them in at 19-12.

 

If neither Stone's head slam or Grayson Allen's open-floor trip qualifies as a flagrant-2 I'm not sure what does.

 

I think this may be the year UVA makes a run in the tourney, based on nothing more than silly gut instinct.

[MrTPlush]

I agree they should be on the right side(I thought they were prior to the Maryland win), but they haven't got much love nationally. They could still find themselves missing out or bring right there on the bubble. I am surprised they aren't respected a little more. They have many solid wins from my perspective. Seems as though they are really weighted down by those bad losses.

[CheezWizHed]

That was a pretty solid win against Maryland despite the ref's best efforts to keep Maryland in it. The head slam as a flagrant-1 was a joke. Obviously intentional and dangerous in that its a blow to the head with the floor involved. But more than that, the fouls in the second half against Wisconsin was very ticky-tack while WI was getting clobbered at their end. It got worse as the game wore on. The "foul" against Koenig that gave Maryland 3 FT late in the game was a laugher. Koenig did an 'Ole to the left and the shooter flopped to get the foul called.

 

If they can play MI State and Iowa close and win the other games they should win, they could be very dangerous in the Big10 tourney. They beat Maryland once, almost twice. Played Iowa pretty close too. And they obviously have momentum after changing offenses. Being hot from the 3pt line has certainly helped. So hopefully that isn't a fluke.

[FVBrewerFan]

Big difference between being solidly in the Tourney, and solidly in if season ended TODAY. There's a long way to go, and if they lose a few games, out early in the Big 10 Tourney they could still be on the outside looking in. It's not like it would take a total collapse either. But they're in a good spot today, no doubt about it.

 

Marquette is disappointing. The demise of the Big East was greatly exaggerated, I'll say that. But even at that, seems like they should have more wins and be on the bubble at least. UWM, also very disappointing.

[Funketown]

Stone has been suspended for the Minnesota game. How very brave of Mark Turgeon to sit him out of a game against such a terrifying oponent (Kenpom #179).

[homer]

Wisconsin can't afford to look ahead. Being a fan with no impact on game performance allows me to do so.

[CheezWizHed]

Stone has been suspended for the Minnesota game. How very brave of Mark Turgeon to sit him out of a game against such a terrifying oponent (Kenpom #179).

 

At least Maryland is acknowledging what the refs couldn't.

 

Not to mention that the refs even called a technical on Wisconsin for "going after" Stone after he did that. Not that any WI player even came close to touching him (as others got between them immediately). But handing out offsetting technical fouls was insult to injury.

[fondybrewfan]

Thomas must have said a magic word to get the T because he didn't get anywhere near Stone. Somehow saying the magic words = slamming a face into the court. Whatever. If the Badgers would have lost because of that 1 point or if Stone went off in the 2nd half I would have been more upset.

 

Badgers are universally in the 9-10 range right now; so long as they are at least competitive against MSU I don't see them somehow falling out again. Then beating Illinois will definitely keep them on the right side of the bubble.

 

Iowa hasn't been all that impressive of late; I am liking the Badgers chances of going in there and stealing that game more and more. Not saying they will but Iowa isn't as good as their record IMO. They are a jump shooting team, just like UW, catch them on a cold night and you never know.

[pacopete4]

Iowa losing to Penn State opening the door a sliver for the Badgers. Have to knock off Mich state tomorrow and then it's game on!

[brwrsfan]

I'll be surprised if the Badgers can pull out a win tomorrow. Tough place to play and unlike Maryland, MSU is playing really, really well right now. Got pretty lucky to beat them last time (if I recall, down 4 with 30 seconds left and won).

 

A win almost certainly locks in a tournament birth, but as long as they don't get completely blown out, I'll be fine with that.

[Funketown]

UNC could be a pretty short-lived tourney team if they can't get their outside shooting figured out. No idea why they were even shooting 3's rather than pounding it inside to Brice Johnson tonight, but 1-13 on what were decent looks is brutal. They're shooting 28% from beyond the arc in ACC play. Last year, pretty much the same team (one year younger) shot 37% in ACC play.

 

Ol' Roy better have some voodoo magic in one of them plaid jackets.

[fondybrewfan]

I don't think there is a team in the nation that would surprise me if they lost in the round of 32. The top is so incredibly average this year.

 

I will be shocked if UW can go into MSU and win tonight but they should beat the 9.5 point spread. Wisconsin has been playing great but Valentine can single handily win games for MSU; if he is hitting his shots forget about it.

[DuWayne Steurer]

I don't think there is a team in the nation that would surprise me if they lost in the round of 32. The top is so incredibly average this year.

 

I will be shocked if UW can go into MSU and win tonight but they should beat the 9.5 point spread. Wisconsin has been playing great but Valentine can single handily win games for MSU; if he is hitting his shots forget about it.

 

 

It's so weird. Last year was top-heavy. Other than Michigan State (but who's REALLY surprised when they get to a final four.....really?) there were nothing but cream of the crop heavyweights left standing at the end. It was going to be Kentucky, UW, Duke...... or nobody.

 

This year, there's probably 20 or so teams that you can legitimately say "they have a good/decent chance to make a deep run in this tourney".

 

Field is wide open this year. Anyone can make a run.

[heresrobin]

RoCo, I think I'd throw Arizona into that group last year too. I think Arizona, WI, UK, and Duke from last year would all be clear-cut #1s this year.

[brwrsfan]

I don't think there is a team in the nation that would surprise me if they lost in the round of 32. The top is so incredibly average this year.

 

I will be shocked if UW can go into MSU and win tonight but they should beat the 9.5 point spread. Wisconsin has been playing great but Valentine can single handily win games for MSU; if he is hitting his shots forget about it.

 

 

It's so weird. Last year was top-heavy. Other than Michigan State (but who's REALLY surprised when they get to a final four.....really?) there were nothing but cream of the crop heavyweights left standing at the end. It was going to be Kentucky, UW, Duke...... or nobody.

 

This year, there's probably 20 or so teams that you can legitimately say "they have a good/decent chance to make a deep run in this tourney".

 

Field is wide open this year. Anyone can make a run.

 

Hard to complain since the Badgers were oh so close to a national title last year, but can you imagine if those guys were one class later and we had that roster this season?? Man...

[MrTPlush]

I think it really drops off after Villanova, Kansas, and to an extent Oklahoma. All three off those teams have showed they can beat top tier teams and not have bad losses. The former two squads no team wants to play come March. Both of those teams should be popular Final 4 picks, but outside of that I wouldn't bet on a single team. Oklahoma is scary themselves, but have looked vulnerable lately.

 

Should be a year full of upsets in the early rounds...more than usual if you ask me.

[fondybrewfan]

Villanova is probably going to be the overall #1; but I have come away unimpressed every time I watch them. They haven't been challenged to much in the BE though. Kansas is solid but I wouldn't bet the farm on them. OK has a really good team and if they are hitting there shots they are the best team in the country. But they are in a slump right now.

 

Arizona is pretty solid again and you have the normal blue bloods in the ACC doing there thing. Michigan State is probably my favorite team in the B10 as far as tourney hopes go.

[rwa12]

The up for grab years typically come down to the coaching elite, IMO. These are the years that the Izzo, Calhoun, Coach K type teams steal a championship. Michigan State is always terrifying in the tourney, let alone when it is wide open. I don't think they will, but a Boeheim led Syracuse team is not one anyone wants to see in March either. When the talent is relatively equal, coaching matters.

[superfly]

Bucky laying a bit fat egg tonight. Hopefully my patented touch of complaining and then teams turning it around will reverse jinx it and they'll come back to win.

[pitchleague]

Nice job, Minnesota.