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March Madness 2016

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TheLand1287

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I didn't see a thread for the NCAA Tournament, other than some Buckeye/Akron NIT talk in the OSU basketball thread, so figured I would start one up for those who follow and get into March Madness to share their opinions on the bracket and discuss the games once they start.

Honestly, I'm very disappointed in some of the seeding decisions and inclusions/exclusions. Just far too many head scratching decisions by this committee who literally have ONE job here... to create a bracket that makes sense. Some of my comments are below.

Seeding
  • The Big Ten got shafted. MSU as a 2 seed & IU and Purdue as 5 seeds were pretty harsh. After seeing this I was convinced that Michigan would be left out, but yet somehow consistency didn't factor in and they still made the bracket... despite the worst ever Top 100 record for any at large team ever (4-12 vs Top 100, 11 of the 12 losses by double digits)
  • Not a Kentucky fan by any stretch of the imagination, but how do they tie with Texas A&M for the regular season SEC Title, beat A&M in the tournament title game, and yet end up as a 4 seed while A&M gets a 3 seed? Makes no sense.
Snubs
  • Michigan's record vs top 100 competition is above, and as questionable a selection as they are... they were far from the worst. Syracuse was basically rewarded for having their coach suspended. They finished the year 1-5 and had an RPI in the 70's. Vandy was 19-13 and had 2 good wins all season. Not to mention bowing out in the SEC tournament first round to a 14-18 Tennessee team. Tulsa... I wont even waste my time on this random selection other than saying 0/59 bracket projections had them in (per bracketmatrix.com), but somehow the committee did. Suspicious how the committee chairman is also from Oklahoma
  • Monmouth, St Bonaventure, South Carolina, Valpo, Saint Mary's, and San Diego State were the last 6 teams left out. Compare those names to the Michigan's , Syracuse's, and Vandy's of the world and tell me that mediocre power conferences don't get an unfair advantage over mid majors.
  • Monmouth had 17 road wins, more than anyone in the country, and the 20th ranked Non-Con SOS. They beat USC, Notre Dame, G'Town, and UCLA. Basically, they did EXACTLY what the committee says a low-mid major team should do... challenge yourself. Then they contradict themselves by ignoring their own criteria. St Bonnie tied with Dayton and VCU for the A10 regular season title and had an RPI of 29. They won at Dayton and swept tournament champion St. Joe's. Going back to the bracket matrix that 0/59 people projected Tulsa in: 52/59 had St Bonaventure in.
  • Saint Mary's, SDSU, and Valpo all had a legit gripe too but not as much as Monmouth or the Bonnies, IMO.
It would be nice if the selection committee was consistent and actually rewarded teams for following the criteria that they laid out. Also, realize that most fans and pundits want the Cinderella teams in over mediocre "name brands" who went under .500 in conference play and showed that the only thing they did consistently well all year was lose. The George Mason's, VCU's, and Butler's who get in and slay the goliaths is what makes the tournament great.
 
My Boilers got screwed for sure. I thought we were a borderline 3 seed, and a 5 seed is a slap in the face.

Such is life, now just need to root for a 6 game winning streak.
 
My Boilers got screwed for sure. I thought we were a borderline 3 seed, and a 5 seed is a slap in the face.

Such is life, now just need to root for a 6 game winning streak.
Indiana won the conference and got a 5 seed. So I think they have a biger gripe. How is Duke on a really down year get a better seed then the champion of the Big Ten, when the Big Ten had a good year?
 
Anyone want to help me with a bracket? If I win, I'll donate 10% of the proceedings to the site. Which is only like $50 US. But that's like $70 Canadian... I'm not a college basketball guy, so I need some help.

2iih3s0.png
 
Indiana won the conference and got a 5 seed. So I think they have a biger gripe. How is Duke on a really down year get a better seed then the champion of the Big Ten, when the Big Ten had a good year?

Outside of Michigan, the whole big ten has a gripe.
 
Indiana won the conference and got a 5 seed. So I think they have a biger gripe. How is Duke on a really down year get a better seed then the champion of the Big Ten, when the Big Ten had a good year?

Cal and Iowa State too, for that matter. Unreal how they both get 4 seeds over IU and Purdue. Not only did IU and Purdue get shafted seeding wise, but they both have formidable mid major teams in round 1. Chattanooga and Arkansas Little Rock were the rare regular season conference winners that actually went on to win their tournaments as well. Both would've been chic upset picks if they weren't playing teams like IU and Purdue who should be 3/4 seeds.

Outside of Michigan, the whole big ten has a gripe.

Wisconsin got a sort of generous 7 seed too. Yes, they finished the year strong, but they were very much a bubble team up until the last month or so. Not to mention they had a few ugly non-conference losses early in the season.
 
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Anyone want to help me with a bracket? If I win, I'll donate 10% of the proceedings to the site. Which is only like $50 US. But that's like $70 Canadian... I'm not a college basketball guy, so I need some help.

2iih3s0.png

Honestly, that doesn't look too bad at all. I have the same Final 4 with MSU over Kansas in the championship game in my initial bracket as well. I also picked Iona over Iowa State as my 1st round upset. Iowa State has a veteran team, but they got upset last year in the first round and are overseeded as a 4. Iona has an NBA prospect at PG in AJ English, and beat everyone's favorite tourney snub Monmouth twice.
 
I want to talk about March Madness, but this thread is never going to get seen in this forum. A mod should move it to Off Topic or Around the NBA. It is in the correct sub forum now, but nobody goes in here.
 
It tends to get going when something interesting happens. How about we let a whole game play out before lamenting the lack of activity.
 
It tends to get going when something interesting happens. How about we let a whole game play out before lamenting the lack of activity.
I can understand that. I'm just saying I don't think that many people go into this sub section. Or maybe it is just me I guess. I had to look it up in the search to find this thread, but I guess more people will find it if it is bumped. Sorry, I'll just see myself out.
 
Anyone want to help me with a bracket? If I win, I'll donate 10% of the proceedings to the site. Which is only like $50 US. But that's like $70 Canadian... I'm not a college basketball guy, so I need some help.

2iih3s0.png

I have the same Final 4, but your elite 8 is way too close to chalk for my tastes.

I have Baylor upsetting Duke then upsetting Oregon and Purdue upsetting ISU and Virginia to make it...those are the 2 weakest 1 seeds IMO.

I have Oklahoma beating Kansas and MSU beating NC...then Oklahoma beating MSU...long live Buddy Hield.
 
Duke has three really good college basketball players (Grayson Allen, Marshall Plumlee, and Brandon Ingram), but, the rest of that team is pretty bad. When they are hot, the team is nearly unstoppable, which caused me to have them in the elite eight losing to Oklahoma; however, I honestly don't think that will happen.

Both Yale and Baylor will give Duke problems. Oregon is a really weak one seed, and Duke matches up well against them, but they still can win games. I regret putting Duke that far in my bracket. If they do make it to the elite eight, I think Oklahoma wins by double digits.
 
Duke-UNCW was an exciting opener. Just missed out on the first big upset of the tourney. My Iona pick isn't looking too promising right now.
 
UCONN vs. Colorado is a really good game so far. UCONN is incredibly well coached.
 

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