Tournament game discussion goes here!
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Hoping TSU wins today and then goes on to take down #1 seed Michigan on Saturday!
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Let’s Get This Party Started!
Four games today, 3 interest me.
TSU over Mt. St. Mary’s
Wichita St over Drake
I don’t care vs I don’t care
Mick Cronin over Tom Izzo
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I picked TSU in my bracket. They’d better not disappoint!
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#16 Texas Southern vs #16 Mount Saint Mary’s
4:10 pm truTv
#11 Drake vs #11 Wichita State
5:27 pm TBS
#16 Appalachian State vs #16 Norfolk State
7:40 ok m truTv
#11 UCLA vs #11 Michigan State
8:57 pm TBS
Does anyone understand why two of the play in games feature #11s playing for an opportunity to play a 6 seed?
The seeding is to reward the best regular season teams, right?
Why award two 6 seeds with playing an 11 seed that played two nights before?
Wouldn’t make more sense to have the next four lowest teams (16s) have two play in games to play the other 1 seeds?
It is because the last 4 at large teams play in these 2 games and they are almost always seeded 11 (everything below 11 is almost always automatic qualifiers).
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i like the ucla/michigan state game because we can make fun of the loser…
1st weekend mick … or overrated big 10
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I don’t get it either. Shouldn’t the #1 seeds get the easiest path vs a #16 that has to win a play-in game?
Putting them at #11 doesn’t make sense
They’re actually doing the opposite and penalizing the last 4 ( MichSt, UCLA, WSU, Drake) to get in as an At Large bid and making them play a game just to get to the 1st rd. The other 2gms are the bottom 4 teams from the AQ bids who won their CT.
edit: and as mentioned if they were to have been selected b4 another team they would have slotted in the 11 seed line. Otherwise if you put them as a #15 or #16 they would play someone like the likes of say UH, OhST. PLaying MichSt or UCLA in 1st rd would be very tough matchup for Coogs being #2 seed.
The true 16 seeds are playing ea other to get to 1st rd – see TSU etc. Its 2 separate grps of 8 teams playing tonight. The 4 teams that got the last 4 At Large bids who are put as 11 seeds ( which is where would have been put in ) and then the 4 teams considered at the bottom when it comes to Conf strength etc. I think we can all agree that in normal situation UCLA, MichSt is better than TSU. Seed lines #13-16 are usually reserved for the AQ’s from the bottom Confs – ex. Patriot, SWAC, Southland etc.
The true measure of a “low” major conference is the following:
a) always a single bid, AND
b) that single bid is always seeded 14-16.
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In fact, here is how I would break it down:
a) High major conferences: always have a team in the Top 25, and always have more than one NCAA bid. Examples: P5 plus Big East and AAC. WCC is debatable.
b) Mid major conferences: might (but often don’t) have a team in the Top 25, often only one bid leagues, but might be two bid leagues on rare occasions; very rarely produce a team that makes a deep NCAA run. Examples: CUSA, MAC, MVC, Atlantic-10.
c) Low major conferences: Always one bid leagues, never have a Top 25 team, said one bid is always seeded 14 or below (usually 15 or 16), usually eliminated in first round, never advance beyond the Sweet 16 (and making it that far is extremely rare as well). Examples: SWAC, Southland, etc.
a) Pre-BYU, WCC was debatable. I think now, pretty safe to assume BYU/St. Mary’s or another team having a surge year (Santa Clara, USF) will join Gonzaga.
b) MWC definitely a mid-major in hoops if not for SDSU.
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I’m rooting for Norfolk State. It’s funny how the HBCUs almost always end up in a play-in game. NCAA loves anti-racism shirts but at the end of the day, play-in was created to give P5 schools with 10 plus losses more opportunities to make cash.
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The SWAC and MEAC always get screwed because of how their teams schedule. Most of those athletic programs have to schedule a ton of beatdown games for the money instead of home and home series with similar level programs. Makes them looks worse in the NET ranking, etc.
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Those are absolutely “low major” conferences.
Wow!
https://twitter.com/DanWolken/status/1372610352622538755
Maybe we’ll see him fall off a stool like Ron Hunter did.
Worst part is if one of their coaches have just a modicum of success, they are swooped up by another program. Mike Davis had TSU looking decent and the Detroit Mercy came a calling.