2024 March Madness
1951WheatiesPremium
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In all seriousness, there’s snubs and then there’s skullduggery. This year’s committee is guilty of the latter to such a degree that it feels like envelopes of cash were likely to have been involved when you see some of the decisions that were made on a sullen and stupefying St. Patrick’s Selection Sunday.
Historically, I follow college basketball pretty closely and usually have a decent handle on things. This year is no exception and without any doubt this tournament selection committee should be dismantled today. Yes, four teams won conference tournaments that in theory should not have done so and yes that makes things tougher for the group to set the bracket. Yet, as we wake up today, it seems like the committee chose to punish other conferences for it. A summary, per Andy Patton of USA Today:
“First, it was the Wolfpack of NC State, who became the second program ever to win five straight games in five days to win a conference championship, starting as the 10 seed in the ACC and mowing down five teams that all won a national championship this past decade in Louisville, Syracuse, Duke, Virginia, and North Carolina.
Then the Oregon Ducks knocked off Washington State in the final Pac-12 championship, resulting in Dana Altman’s team taking a bid.
Additionally, a pair of mid-major conferences had potential bid thieves as well. The AAC championship will be between UAB and Temple, while FAU could still earn an at-large bid despite losing in the semifinals. And finally the Atlantic 10 conference had a wild weekend where each of the top four seeds were upset on the same day, resulting in a championship battle between Duquesne and VCU, while a ranked Dayton team will likely earn an at-large bid giving the conference two teams in the big dance.“
(All Bolded teams are Dancing)
The conference who took the brunt of the punishment? The Big East - the first specifically basketball conference (as opposed to football) in the history of the NCAA - was wildly and egregiously overlooked in the 2024 bracket. While having a virtual wire to wire number one team in the country and defending champion in UConn, the conference received just a measly two additional at large bids. TWO! Creighton and Marquette and that’s the list. According to kenpom.com, St. John’s (25), Villanova (35), Providence (54), Xavier (56) and Seton Hall (62) could in theory ALL have earned a bid being well inside the top 70 teams in the country. Realistically, three of those teams should be in for a total of 6 teams. In the Big East resides three of the last seven national title trophies. Instead, we have the Mountain West conference that has six teams (seriously?!?!?), the ACC has five teams (where NC State rolled through that highly overrated conference) that still somehow saw a UNC (9) team seeming to have earned the number one overall seed despite not having even won their conference tournament and not even being the top ranked team in their conference (Duke, 8)!
St. John’s is arguably the hottest team in the country with a tournament tested coach, Villanova is a perennial bracket buster and while any other Big East team would probably be a sweet 16 threat, too, the Big East should have no less than five teams in and it’s nearly criminal to see just three bids for the Big East. And while I’m bothered by this conference’s being disrespected there were other major snubs, too - probably better described as mistakes - that included Wake Forest, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, Oklahoma, Indiana State, Utah and Iowa.
Lastly, if you’re not familiar with him yet, Ken Pomeroy has been putting out these college basketball rankings for the longest time and I have always used it as a guide to help me take down several bracket pools over the years. It is one of the best resources you will find on the internet:
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I used to follow college basketball very closely and truly enjoyed watching (on TV) conference tournaments and the NCAA national tournament (some times even in person). I would be familiar with multiple teams and their star players.
Not anymore.
About 15-20 years ago I lost interest, in large part because the sport has changed (with the best talent out of high school paying one year of college ball or skipping college all together).
I still will tune into the opening round of games to watch for upsets (though the difference in talent between the #1, #2, #15 and #16 seeded teams is much narrower now than in decades past, so much so that first and second round upsets are the norm; and the moniker "Cinderella Team" has lost its luster and appeal).
This year I do not think I have followed any college hoops team.
I’s got a college basketball question:
when I do watch college hoops I have a tendency or I’ve noticed I do eat a lot more while staring into the set, like yesterday I recorded an afternoon game and watched it later Sunday night…I had multiple slices of pizza, then potato chips, a few cookies, and 2 apples…
now when I watch college football; I’m like a mad scientist sitting quietly and not moving at all…just watching the laboratory process take affect…
Any ideas why??? and or How come???
Virginia getting in was certainly an interesting decision
Time to resurrect this thread:
Watching Michigan State finally getting the Ass-whooping they deserve by NC
"When they can't find anything wrong with you, they create it!"
I hate when a 14seed has to play an 11seed in the second round - but that's the way Cinderella bounces her slipper!
"When they can't find anything wrong with you, they create it!"
Gonzaga kicked some butt today - any haters now?
"When they can't find anything wrong with you, they create it!"
Go Oregon!
Have to imagine Calipari will be getting fired after the last 3 years
a tall glass of NyQuil sounds Perfect right about now....
Who the heck was that big guy in the middle for Arizona - looks like he could be in the WWE!
"When they can't find anything wrong with you, they create it!"
His buyout is $33m - he's going nowhere I would think.
NC State moves on - gotta love it.
"When they can't find anything wrong with you, they create it!"
They made 17 of their first 20 shots in the second half. Amazing.
Thats certainly more for college basketball but a blue blood program like Kentucky who is a basketball school in the last 4 years losing in the first round twice against high double digit seeds, missing the tournament one year, and losing in the second round the other year they want him fired. Its up to the AD and hes strongly considering it, this decision could ultimately cost the AD his job if he brings him back and it happens again
I'll be darn - Tennessee moves on!
"When they can't find anything wrong with you, they create it!"
Damn - Colorado couldn't buy a basket this afternoon!
"When they can't find anything wrong with you, they create it!"
Purdue kicking some butt in the first half.
"When they can't find anything wrong with you, they create it!"
Damn, Purdue wins by 39! 106-67
"When they can't find anything wrong with you, they create it!"
Will Grand Canyon beat Bama?
GC this year's Cinderella team?
Another blowout in progress - James Madison - 38, Duke - 60 2nd half 12:00 left
"When they can't find anything wrong with you, they create it!"
I hope so!
"When they can't find anything wrong with you, they create it!"
NC State is probably the best chance of one, they had to win 5 games in 5 days to win the ACC tournament to even get into the tournament
Yale maybe beats San Diego State but then Uconn probably runs over them the next round
Texas A&M would be the other option but they have to go through Houston and then Duke which is a brutal path.
Ballo. He went with Tommy Loyd from Gonzaga to AZ
Martin
A&M gave Houston a run for their money, GC folded like a cheap tent, same as JM against Duke
I gave up trying to find a Cinderella team, I almost bet JM then GC but decided to just stay away
Speaking of NC State. They have luck on their side, if you watched the end of regulation against Oakland they clearly gave one to NC State, Oakland passed the ball to set up for a last second shot and NC State cover guy had the ball literally bend back his pinky and went out of bounds but the refs didn't call it.
I didnt think JM had a chance against Duke. That Wisconsin game they won was just really bad basketball for a while where is Wisconsin played better should have gotten a big lead early.
I dont hate NC States chances against Marquette but theyre really the last thing you could call a Cinderella. Clemson was a 6 seed and thats not Cinderella to me even though they can be really good or really bad any given day. I fully expect Arizona to beat them and the rest are all top match ups
The officiating has been bad in all the games both ways. Theres been some really terrible calls like the Northwestern game where they were given the ball when they were the only ones that touched an inbound pass and knocked it out of bounds, a foul called in another game on a clean block from behind etc.
These replays take way to long too. Have someone in the booth just do it and tell them like the XFL did. They arent seeing minute details on that tiny screen theyre looking at down on the court at the scorers table.
Better yet, skip the replays altogether!
One “challenge” per half.
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I was lead to believe, in all the sports that have replay, it was for obvious mistakes. If they need to watch the same play 20 times from different angles and use super slow motion, then it was not an obvious miss call.
I'm okay with the replays and challenges, I just wish we could get rid of the pageantry of it. The broadcasts put it and generally have a definitely answer and view in about 15 to 20 seconds. The XFL had very quick ones as well. Theres just no reason these things should be taking 2 or 3 minutes every time especially in basketball
The rules in every league are convoluted and stupid; things that are clear on replay can be deemed ‘not reviewable’ and more often than ‘never’ replay does not produce the correct call anyway.
Other than getting the time correct, it serves little to no purpose. Hence, a challenge system so you’ve got one per half in your pocket on any egregious game altering mistake would be my choice.
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The big problem with replay in all sports is that the officials that got the call wrong are involved in the process. Replay officials should be their own entity that dont ever work games on the court/field/ice and just tell the officials what the replay ruling is. I wouldnt even let them communicate with the officials and just have them announce it themselves over the PA system or relay it to the announcers to do so
Houston - Duke and Purdue - Gonzaga should be interesting matchups.
"When they can't find anything wrong with you, they create it!"
Arizona flops out.........
"When they can't find anything wrong with you, they create it!"
noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
No "D" in "ARIZONA" at the end of the game.
"When they can't find anything wrong with you, they create it!"
no "O" in the last 10 minutes either
Clemson played a pretty great game, too.
They deserve some credit as they’re proving to be a darn good basketball team.
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yes they do. their D kept az fighting for shots in those last 10 minutes.
Alabama - UNC was a barn burner in the first half. Second half nobody can buy a basket.
"When they can't find anything wrong with you, they create it!"
North Carolina losing was surprising, I thought they were going to to the final 4
Same with AZ
Arizona was a big surprise. Theyre getting a reputation for choking in the tournament.
Bama can beat anyone on any day if theyre shooting well. I really think itd be funny if Saban and Dabo showed up to the Bama Clemson game next round and started trying to coach from the stands
Quite an NC State game so far.......
"When they can't find anything wrong with you, they create it!"
NC State moves on - excellent!
"When they can't find anything wrong with you, they create it!"
Who does Purdue play on Sunday?
Terry Bradshaw was AMAZING!!
Ignore list -Basebal21
Creighton/Tennessee
"When they can't find anything wrong with you, they create it!"
1/2 time break...
My orange guys need to...Get It In Gear...🏀🏀🏀
You would have thought that the ridiculous officiating that Edey and Perdue have benefited from all year would have stopped by this point of the tournament but I guess not. Basically every coach has complained about it all year in multiple conferences
There's been horrible officiating in every sport this year - even the guys that look at the replays keep getting it wrong.
"When they can't find anything wrong with you, they create it!"
What a great NC State game!
"When they can't find anything wrong with you, they create it!"