Bear Down Wildcats

Beachcat97 wrote:So if Duke gets a #1 over us, is it because they had better wins? Because that seems like the only possible rationale.

Beachcat97 wrote:So this is likely going to be the rationale if Duke gets the #1. Our losses suck. Duke's were more respectable. I guess I can live with that as long as we're in the West region, and don't have to play UK or Wisconsin until the FF. Give me Nova or Duke.

Harvey Specter wrote:I do not think there is any way KU is a 2 seed. Notre Dame replaced them on the 2 line tonight, and either them or Gonzaga should be placed in UK's bracket.

Duke does not deserve a 1 seed, but they will probably get it. They played in a brutal conference (that legitimately deserves 3 of the top 8 seeds), but not winning either the regular season OR the conference tourney (and having arguably the worst loss of the season among any 1-seed contenders) does not warrant the only 1 seed from the ACC. UVa deserves a 1, assuming that Justin Anderson is good to go - Duke does not.

If we are a 2, so be it. Give us Nova in the West.

Assuming we do not get screwed in the draw, I believe we are more likely to lose in the first weekend than we are the second. And I do not expect either to happen.

Rotation-wise, 1-9 this is the best team we have ever had, and that is saying something. I truly do not believe we have ever had a team that would beat this team in a seven game series, unfortunately, in a one and done format, anything can happen. This team plays to its potential and there is only one team that CAN beat us.

VoltronX wrote:

Harvey Specter wrote:I do not think there is any way KU is a 2 seed. Notre Dame replaced them on the 2 line tonight, and either them or Gonzaga should be placed in UK's bracket.

Duke does not deserve a 1 seed, but they will probably get it. They played in a brutal conference (that legitimately deserves 3 of the top 8 seeds), but not winning either the regular season OR the conference tourney (and having arguably the worst loss of the season among any 1-seed contenders) does not warrant the only 1 seed from the ACC. UVa deserves a 1, assuming that Justin Anderson is good to go - Duke does not.

If we are a 2, so be it. Give us Nova in the West.

Assuming we do not get screwed in the draw, I believe we are more likely to lose in the first weekend than we are the second. And I do not expect either to happen.

Rotation-wise, 1-9 this is the best team we have ever had, and that is saying something. I truly do not believe we have ever had a team that would beat this team in a seven game series, unfortunately, in a one and done format, anything can happen. This team plays to its potential and there is only one team that CAN beat us.

Except the 2001 team... Which severely underperformed... but was loaded up the arse with NBA talent..

dirtbags wrote: or, maybe they'll simply appreciate the regional elegance of: [west - Arizona], [midwest - wisconsin], [south - kentucky], [east - villanova] as the top seeds - underscoring proximity & placement, as PoM mentioned

CalStateTempe wrote:Its going to be a long time to 7pm

It all sounds so melodramatic, doesn't it? It's only a basketball tournament, one where just 20 percent of the teams that play can compete, and only 10 percent earn at-large bids. The odds are so wildly stacked against every coach, the ones who make it ought to be more shocked that they got in than the ones that don't.

But that's not how this works. Fair or unfair, the reality is college basketball success equals NCAA tournament bid. It's a formula as universally accepted as 1+1=2.

To make it as a player is to validate your season. To be left off, is to fail.

And to make it as a coach is the difference between an extension and a pink slip.

"In coaching the two worst things you can go through is the rejection of the tournament and being fired,'' Hinson said.

Not making it, of course, would be difficult even in anonymity, but the misery is in direct proportion to the publicity.

Once a cottage industry, bracket prognostication is now a full-on obsession. Starting in about mid-February, quality wins and quality losses become part of the lexicon, giving way to on the bubble, off the bubble and so on.

By the time Selection Sunday nears, predicting the bracket has become almost as popular as trying to win an NCAA pool.

"At 4 p.m. you're one of the first four in,'' said Arizona State coach Herb Sendek, whose Sun Devils had their own share of heartache in 2008 when ASU missed the tourney despite a 19-12 record. "By 4:26, you're one of the first four out and you flip the channel and you've fallen off the face of the Earth. I've learned, for me at least, it's better to watch Andy Griffith reruns.''

Flint didn't ignore it. He bathed in it. He'd sit and discuss his team's chances with his players, listen to every analyst, read every story. It wasn't curiosity so much as it was affirmation because he was that sure his Drexel team would get in the tournament.

Hinson listened, too, but with a little more edge because he was ticked that people discounted his team. He remembers Digger Phelps, who sat clearly on the anti-Missouri State side, declaring emphatically that one blind resume team clearly was a tournament team, only to find that the team was the Bears.

"I enjoyed that,'' Hinson said.

Greenberg knows how that feels -- now, from both sides. As a coach he'd hear the TV analysts debating his team's merits, each jab at his club's worth feeling like a personal assault.

And now he's doing the same thing, asked to weigh in on the cost of a bad loss, to distinguish blind resumes and argue who should be in and shouldn't be.
"It used to kill me when people said stuff like that, and now I have to say it about people who are my friends, that I admire and respect,'' Greenberg said. "It's really hard.''

It will happen again this year. Hinson knows it. He'll be on a treadmill or maybe in a sports bar, somewhere where there are televisions turned to college basketball news.

The conversation will turn to the inevitable snubs and he'll hear it: Missouri State, the team with the highest RPI to never make the NCAA tournament.

It's his scarlet letter, one he's pretty sure will be his for life. No matter what people think of the RPI, he can't imagine the committee will make that mistake again.

It's also the pit in his stomach that will never go away. He has since been fired, let go by Missouri State in 2008. That wasn't nearly as bad.

"OK, it's not death, it's not losing someone you love, not even close,'' Hinson said. "But as far as my profession is concerned, it was the absolute lowest moment of my professional career because we didn't just think we were in. We knew we were in. Then it was just boom. I will never ever forget it. Never.''

This Selection Sunday, Hinson will do something extraordinary. He'll watch the Selection Show, not just for who gets in but for who doesn't.And then in a day or two, he'll pick up the phone and call a coach.

"Hey buddy,'' he'll begin, "let me tell you a story ... ''

Alieberman wrote:Duke did not win ACC regular season or conference tournament. This matters to the committee

Chicat wrote:

Alieberman wrote:Duke did not win ACC regular season or conference tournament. This matters to the committee

I hope it does, because even with more losses their resume is slightly better than ours.

Chicat wrote:

Alieberman wrote:Duke did not win ACC regular season or conference tournament. This matters to the committee

I hope it does, because even with more losses their resume is slightly better than ours.

Main Event wrote:We're getting Wiscy again

Chicat wrote:

Chicat wrote:

Alieberman wrote:Duke did not win ACC regular season or conference tournament. This matters to the committee

I hope it does, because even with more losses their resume is slightly better than ours.

Or maybe I'm wrong...

CalStateTempe wrote:Why would we get wisky again?

HiCat wrote:If Arizona is the no. 2 seed in the west, what locations/ venues would they play at? This is probably already answered somewhere. Don't recall reading it anywhere.

ASUHATER! wrote:Portland and los Angeles