March Madness 2016

Thought I'd create a thread for generic comments about the tourney.

Possible fun fact: I haven't found an on-line roster to confirm it, but I think Ray Barreno played on the same team as Oregon break-out star Chris Boucher, at New Mexico JC in 2013-14.

Holy Cross (which is not a Holy Cross school) was #268 on KenPom, and their RPI was 248 (UP was 218 KP and 249 RPI).  So, you're saying there's a chance!

up7587 wrote:Holy Cross (which is not a Holy Cross school) was #268 on KenPom, and their RPI was 248 (UP was 218 KO and 249 RPI).  So, you're saying there's a chance!

Holy Cross (a Jesuit school) moved on to the field of 64 this evening with a 59-55 win over Southern (KenPom ranked 224 beginning the game).

The win marks the Crusaders (really?) first NCAA win in 63 years.....

Wichita St continues the tradition of a play-in team winning another game, #11 Shockers beating #6 UofA.  Two Pac-12 teams lost to lower seeds today.  Bad omen for Ducks?

Edit: make that 3 Pac-12 teams, as #8 USC couldn't make a FT in the last minute, and gave up a lay-up on an ELOB play under the basket to #9 Providence.

On opening day, of the 16 games played, 7 were won by lower seeded teams. So a higher seed only won 56% of the time. Losers included three #8s, two #6s, and two #5s. Most of those were power 5 teams that didn't win their conference. #notthatgood

I believe that automatic qualifiers should not be placed in a First Four game. If they qualify, they should get placed into the round of 64. Let those at-large Power 5 schools that finished at 50% in their conference play their way in.

DoubleDipper wrote:

up7587 wrote:Holy Cross (which is not a Holy Cross school) was #268 on KenPom, and their RPI was 248 (UP was 218 KO and 249 RPI).  So, you're saying there's a chance!

Holy Cross (a Jesuit school) moved on to the field of 64 this evening with a 59-55 win over Southern (KenPom ranked 224 beginning the game).

The win marks the Crusaders (really?) first NCAA win in 63 years.....

holy Cross is also the smallest school (2904) to ever be ranked #1 in the AP top 25.

They had a guy named Bob Cousy in 1949-1950

up7587 wrote:I believe that automatic qualifiers should not be placed in a First Four game.  If they qualify, they should get placed into the round of 64.  Let those at-large Power 5 schools that finished at 50% in their conference play their way in.

This. I think I could make for more interesting play in games, as well...

Recall our debates about foul or not, up three in the final seconds? Iowa found a new way to do it. 8.8 seconds left, they missed a FT up three. They did not foul until there was two seconds left, then they fouled in the act of shooting. The Temple player stepped up and made all three FTs to tie the game. Iowa did hang on, barely, in OT.

And Michigan St got screwed. They should of been a #1 seed instead of Oregon. But the committee made them a #2, and they got taken out by the big bad boys from #15 Middle Tennessee St. Totally unfair.

up7587 wrote:Wichita St continues the tradition of a play-in team winning another game, #11 Shockers beating #6 UofA.  Two Pac-12 teams lost to lower seeds today.  Bad omen for Ducks?

Edit: make that 3 Pac-12 teams, as #8 USC couldn't make a FT in the last minute, and gave up a lay-up on an ELOB play under the basket to #9 Providence.

#4 seed Cal and #7 seed OSU both lose today. The Pac-12 continues to underwhelm.

More madness!  Northern Iowa knocked out Texas and coach Shaka Smart with a half court shot at the buzzer.  Another lower seed Power 5 goes down.

And in the final game, Cincinnati made the tying dunk at the buzzer, but it was declared 'no good', a fraction of a second too late. St. Joseph's moves on to play Oregon.

What better way to wrap up a fantastic day of basketball than with a Texas loss via a half court bank shot!

Congrats to UNI.

#4 Cal
#6 Arizona
#5 Baylor
#6 Texas
#7 Oregon St
#3 West Virginia
#5 Purdue
#6 Seton Hall
#7 Dayton
#2 Michigan St

3 Pac-12, 3 Big-12, 2 Big-10, 1 Big East, 1 Atlantic-10. The ten schools bounced by double digit seeds in round 1.

Watching GU shutdown Utah; wondering how the Pilots ever scored a point against that defense.

I liked this:

@kerrykeating3 wrote:There's a better chance of me coaching at Santa Clara next year than Sabonis being in Spokane. But what do I know.

You'd think if you were up 12 points with 44 seconds left, you'd have pretty good odds of a win, no?

The only double digit seeds left in the Sweet Sixteen are #10 Syracuse and #11 Gonzaga, and they play each other next.

The seeds remaining by region are:
Midwest - #1, 4, 10, 11
South - #1, 2, 3, 5
East - #1, 5, 6, 7
West - #1, 2, 3, 4

That leaves Oregon as the #1 with the toughest path to the Final Four. Virginia in the MW has the easiest, followed by No Carolina in the East.

The Sweet Sixteen teams break down by conference as follows:
Big 12: 3
Big 10: 3
ACC: 6
Big East: 1
Pac 12: 1
SEC: 1
WCC: 1

One of these things is not like the others.

up7587 wrote:One of these things is not like the others.

And only two of the teams are from the West Coast.....as I recall, last year there were four.

It was funny looking at the conference breakdowns. Had to double check a few schools after all the realignments.

Wait, TA&M is now SEC. Maryland is B-10, not ACC. Syracuse is ACC, not Big East? What conference is Notre Dame?

up7587 wrote:It was funny looking at the conference breakdowns. Had to double check a few schools after all the realignments.

Wait, TA&M is now SEC.  Maryland is B-10, not ACC. Syracuse is ACC, not Big East?  What conference is Notre Dame?

I totally understand your "march madness" trying to figure it all out.  As far as I'm concerned Syracuse is still a Big East school and Maryland is in the ACC.....but alas, it's Notre Dame that's in the ACC, just below Duke in terms of the year the two teams have had.

Surprising that no school from California made it through the first two rounds; lot of talent comes from that state.

And without the newcomer from Texas, the SEC would be shut out. The conference of Kentucky and Florida, both recent champions.

up7587 wrote:Surprising that no school from California made it through the first two rounds; lot of talent comes from that state.

I think you hit the nail on the head when you said talent comes from that state.

As I recall, about half the UO roster is from Cali, but of course their best player, Dillon Brooks, is repping Jasonn's hometown, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada.

No surprises last night (Thursday)....all the higher seeded teams won, and all by double figures.

Loved watching UO....they just seemed to be having fun, and man can they get to the hoop. Wish now I had picked them for the Final Four.

Speaking of getting to the hoop, Maryland's Jake Layman has had some of the best dunks I've seen in the Tournament.....and that technical they called on him last night for hanging on the rim was just pure BS.  I think some refs, especially the shorter ones, have no idea how much forward momentum these big guys have when they dunk....the player cannot just stop and drop straight down.   It's a dumb rule anyway.  They finally got rid of the rule about dunking during pregame, how about getting rid of the rule about too much time on the rim.

Most impressive performer of the night IMO: Perry Ellis, Kansas, 27 points.

Least impressive, based on the hype, was Grayson Allen. And for a player in contention for POY, Ingrahm didn't stand out as a dominant force. Lot of talent, for sure.

It appears that this Hield fellow is a pretty good shooter.

Yikes, that 16 point comeback by Syracuse against Virginia today made Gonzaga look pretty good in comparison.

Coach Boheim again showed his superiority as a coach by employing the full court press in the second half that took the Cavaliers totally out of their deliberate game.  

The real only offense that Virginia had was London Perrantes, once recruited by UP, with 6 3-pointers.

At this point, what are the odds any #1 seeds make it to the Final Four?

DoubleDipper wrote:

At this point, what are the odds any #1 seeds make it to the Final Four?

I'm no math major...

25%?

100%, depending on how you read the question.