NCAAT

[Jaybird]

If Michigan State gets a place at the table, and most mocks include them, they're the best example I can think of of how the Big East looks like it's going to get thrown down a couple flights of stairs.

Mich St is 4-10 against the tournament field. Their four wins were admittedly an impressive blowout of then-unbeaten Baylor in a semi-home game (Detroit) and then three homies: Oakland, Illinois by a few, and Northwestern in a nail biter. That's it. They finished at 10-10 in the B10, tied for 6th with two teams that are going nowhere, but they feasted on the conference dregs, the Michigans, Penn States, Marylands and so on.

Their season is practically the definition of mediocre. They've accomplished next to nothing. They're hanging their hat almost entirely on that Baylor W. The only way they should be allowed anywhere near the tournament this year is if they buy tickets. And yet, incomprehensibly, they sit at 24 in the NET. I read an explanation from somebody yesterday for including them in his brackets who said, they're in everybody else's brackets. So, apparently, they're in brackets because they're in all the other brackets. It's messed up, man. (Now, if they're left out, which will happen if there's a God, then never mind the rant).

[GWJay]

If Michigan State gets a place at the table, and most mocks include them, they're the best example I can think of of how the Big East looks like it's going to get thrown down a couple flights of stairs.

Mich St is 4-10 against the tournament field. Their four wins were admittedly an impressive blowout of then-unbeaten Baylor in a semi-home game (Detroit) and then three homies: Oakland, Illinois by a few, and Northwestern in a nail biter. That's it. They finished at 10-10 in the B10, tied for 6th with two teams that are going nowhere, but they feasted on the conference dregs, the Michigans, Penn States, Marylands and so on.

Their season is practically the definition of mediocre. They've accomplished next to nothing. They're hanging their hat almost entirely on that Baylor W. The only way they should be allowed anywhere near the tournament this year is if they buy tickets. And yet, incomprehensibly, they sit at 24 in the NET. I read an explanation from somebody yesterday for including them in his brackets who said, they're in everybody else's brackets. So, apparently, they're in brackets because they're in all the other brackets. It's messed up, man. (Now, if they're left out, which will happen if there's a God, then never mind the rant).

NET is for many reasons a flawed metric, but seems as though as usual it will be important. We are likely on our way to a first in this year's bracket though, at least with respect to bracket making in a post RPI world. If MSU or Indiana State were left out, it would be the first time a team with a top 30 NET was not included in the field. I think I speak for most when I say I would much rather that history be made with MSU getting left out rather than ISU.

[Alphawalt]

I do not think it is worthy of 9 teams to the BE 4 though.

Will be a bit of a surprise if the BE gets four.

I think BE will have 4 teams - St. John’s deserves to be in. They had a good finish performance last month, have 20 wins, winning record in the conference, ranked 25 in KenPom and 32 in NET ranking. Those type of numbers are hard to keep them out.

[GWJay]

Don't think Auburn jumps us on the 3 line even with a win here, but will be slightly nervous if they pull this out and Illinois gets by Wisconsin. We should be squarely ahead of Duke even in that situation, but could see the committee giving that brand a nod over us for some reason.

Would actually like to draw Florida in the 3/6 as their 7 footer unfortunately went down with an injury today and they now look pretty vulnerable at the 5.

Edit: I think we ultimately get matched up with Utah State in the 3/6 pod due to the story line involved.

Even if Auburn wins, they would only have 3 Q1 wins. Would be pretty bold to argue their complete resume trumps Creighton's. But the Committee always has a few head-scratchers each year.

A representative of the Committee was interviewed by Katz yesterday morning and indicated that the committee had already seeded the top four lines as of yesterday morning. I think Creighton was locked into a three and doubt anything that happens today in any game will change that.

The committee also repeatedly stresses that they don't do seedings or matchups based on storylines. On the one hand it's impossible to avoid it looking that way sometimes because the teams in the tourney simply have enough "connections" that it is bound to happen sometimes, but on the other hand if they made that a part of the process it would be really increasingly difficult to put the bracket together. Not sure who to believe there, but that's the committee's consistent line about it.

I was probably half joking about the USU story line being a matchup, but think it is the most likely outcome if we are put into the West region.

As for the seed lines, I think Creighton is locked as a 3 as well given Duke's exit in the ACC to lowly NCST. I think Auburn jumps Duke onto the 3 line though. Metrics love them even without the amount of Q1 wins you'd typically expect from a 3 liner.

Number 4 in the NET, number 5 on Kenpom, number 5 T-rank

[DC_JAY]

If Michigan State gets a place at the table, and most mocks include them, they're the best example I can think of of how the Big East looks like it's going to get thrown down a couple flights of stairs.

Mich St is 4-10 against the tournament field. Their four wins were admittedly an impressive blowout of then-unbeaten Baylor in a semi-home game (Detroit) and then three homies: Oakland, Illinois by a few, and Northwestern in a nail biter. That's it. They finished at 10-10 in the B10, tied for 6th with two teams that are going nowhere, but they feasted on the conference dregs, the Michigans, Penn States, Marylands and so on.

Their season is practically the definition of mediocre. They've accomplished next to nothing. They're hanging their hat almost entirely on that Baylor W. The only way they should be allowed anywhere near the tournament this year is if they buy tickets. And yet, incomprehensibly, they sit at 24 in the NET. I read an explanation from somebody yesterday for including them in his brackets who said, they're in everybody else's brackets. So, apparently, they're in brackets because they're in all the other brackets. It's messed up, man. (Now, if they're left out, which will happen if there's a God, then never mind the rant).

+1. Same for Oklahoma

[Alphawalt]

If Michigan State gets a place at the table, and most mocks include them, they're the best example I can think of of how the Big East looks like it's going to get thrown down a couple flights of stairs.

Mich St is 4-10 against the tournament field. Their four wins were admittedly an impressive blowout of then-unbeaten Baylor in a semi-home game (Detroit) and then three homies: Oakland, Illinois by a few, and Northwestern in a nail biter. That's it. They finished at 10-10 in the B10, tied for 6th with two teams that are going nowhere, but they feasted on the conference dregs, the Michigans, Penn States, Marylands and so on.

Their season is practically the definition of mediocre. They've accomplished next to nothing. They're hanging their hat almost entirely on that Baylor W. The only way they should be allowed anywhere near the tournament this year is if they buy tickets. And yet, incomprehensibly, they sit at 24 in the NET. I read an explanation from somebody yesterday for including them in his brackets who said, they're in everybody else's brackets. So, apparently, they're in brackets because they're in all the other brackets. It's messed up, man. (Now, if they're left out, which will happen if there's a God, then never mind the rant).

Michigan St. gets in over say Indiana St. for the same reason we got screwed in 2009 with a 26-7 record and Arizona got in with a 19-13 record not winning their tournament and had a 9-9 conference record and only one game non-conference against a top 25 team, Gonzaga. The rest of their non-conference record was weak (only an unranked Kansas team at home). Despite the committee saying they don’t look at past glory, they seem to let the Michigan States of this world get in over more deserving teams. I will never forget the bad taste of not getting a bid in 2009. I don’t give a damn about saying we were in MVC at that time, we SHOULD have gotten a bid.

[JayPharmAlum]

If Michigan State gets a place at the table, and most mocks include them, they're the best example I can think of of how the Big East looks like it's going to get thrown down a couple flights of stairs.

Mich St is 4-10 against the tournament field. Their four wins were admittedly an impressive blowout of then-unbeaten Baylor in a semi-home game (Detroit) and then three homies: Oakland, Illinois by a few, and Northwestern in a nail biter. That's it. They finished at 10-10 in the B10, tied for 6th with two teams that are going nowhere, but they feasted on the conference dregs, the Michigans, Penn States, Marylands and so on.

Their season is practically the definition of mediocre. They've accomplished next to nothing. They're hanging their hat almost entirely on that Baylor W. The only way they should be allowed anywhere near the tournament this year is if they buy tickets. And yet, incomprehensibly, they sit at 24 in the NET. I read an explanation from somebody yesterday for including them in his brackets who said, they're in everybody else's brackets. So, apparently, they're in brackets because they're in all the other brackets. It's messed up, man. (Now, if they're left out, which will happen if there's a God, then never mind the rant).

Michigan St. gets in over say Indiana St. for the same reason we got screwed in 2009 with a 26-7 record and Arizona got in with a 19-13 record not winning their tournament and had a 9-9 conference record and only one game non-conference against a top 25 team, Gonzaga. The rest of their non-conference record was weak (only an unranked Kansas team at home). Despite the committee saying they don’t look at past glory, they seem to let the Michigan States of this world get in over more deserving teams. I will never forget the bad taste of not getting a bid in 2009. I don’t give a damn about saying we were in MVC at that time, we SHOULD have gotten a bid.

Fwiw Michigan St beat Indiana St this year.

[Alphawalt]

Another reason I would not let Michigan State in is they were the biggest chokers this year. They were ranked #4 preseason and had a 19-14 record!

[BenningtonBluejay]

I want no part of Terrence Shannon Jr in the tourney. BALLER

[OKBluejay]

This is probably a good year to have a bunch of bid stealers, because the bubble teams seem especially mediocre this season. I won't feel too sorry for the ones that don't make it, and that includes the Big East candidates. To me, it seems like Providence has the best overall resume of the Big East bubble teams, with no bad losses, 6 Q1 wins, Ws over Wisconsin, Marquette, CU (twice). But a couple of those wins came when they still had Bryce Hopkins, they only finished 10-10 in the conference, and their metrics are not great. Villanova has the best collection of non-conference wins among the BE bubble teams, but they also have the worst losses, and too many losses overall. Seton Hall had the best conference season of the BE bubble teams, obviously, but their "best" non-conference win (based on KenPom) was against Missouri, who ended going winless in the SEC. St. John's finished strong, but their only W against a team likely to make the tourney was against CU.

Of course, Mich St., OU, Texas A&M, Colorado, Virginia, and even most of the teams projected as 8/9 seeds look equally mediocre. Even the resumes of Dayton and FAU, who were recently considered locks to make it, look kind of shaky now. Maybe the mediocre sameness of all the major-conference bubble teams will allow Indiana St. to sneak in somehow.