BE logjam in the East Region…Intentional?

Well… The 1st Round of the NCAA Tourney had a few surprises huh. The Nof’ Clickians (UNC-Cheat) were escorted out of the tourney by VCU. Other upsets saw Wisconsin, BYU, SMC go down as well. All four 8-seeds also fell (Georgia, Villanova. TOSU, & Clemson) in the 1st Round. No monumental upsets, but still enough to make the first two rounds interesting. You may notice the focus is on the Fri/Sunday slate. That is primarily due to the Big East schools being slotted into that cycle.

I meant to mention this last post…Not only were there only 3 bids for the Big East, both BE Champion St Johns (5-seed) and Connecticut (2-seed) were slated into the East Regional. Villanova was placed in the West as an 8-seed. So in the best case scenario BE teams could only win in 2 regions. Should the Johnnies and Huskies advance as expected they will meet in the EE and face elimination from conference mates. Hmmm. Both have the ability to reach the Final Four, whether the draws will see them advance well…we shall see.

Most prognosticators think either Kansas or Duke will best the Johnnies and end Papa Pitino’s run. UConn’s path is a bit lighter with UCLA, then Mich State. I expect both Big East clubs to meet in the Elite Eight.

Surprises?

Big Surprises are High Point, TCU, and Utah State, in order. Mild surprise was VCU. What the hell…

“Let’s do it, Again!” “Let it Ride!” Lets see ’em do it again in the 2nd Round.

Jim Harvey a.k.a. @gtmoblue

Big East Perspectives

Big East Perspectives

Well now… First of all. From up here in the cheap seats, it appears the Selection Committee is slowly relegating the Big East to lesser conference/mid-major status. The BE has consistently secured 5 NCAA bids since conference reformation in 2013. Averaging (4.86) 5 bids/year over the last 13 years. However, the last 3 years we’ve been awarded 3 – 4- 3 bids in the NCAA Tourney..

Potential selection bias?

The committee snubbed Seton Hall, the 4^th place team in the Big East Conference, one with a 21-12 overall/10-10 conference record, a team on par with 4^th/5^th place teams in the P4 and with current tourney select teams such as Kansas 23-10, Missouri 20-12, Tennessee 22-11, Texas Tech 22-10 , Clemson 24-10, Iowa 21-12, UCLA 23-11, Kentucky 21-13.

Of this sampling of teams playing today in the tourney, only K-TT (3-way tie for 3rd), UCLA (logjam with 3-way tie for 2^nd), Tennessee (3-way tie for 3rd) were 4^th or better in conference play. Others such as NC St. 20-14, BYU 23-12, Ohio St 21-13, Texas 20-14, Georgia 22-11, TAMU 22-11, were also well down their respective conference standings.

The current reliance on ‘metrics’ favors conferences with multiple ranked teams, heavily factoring in “tiered” wins/losses, power rankings, and the like. Still, the committee siting the 7^th team in the B12/ACC or the 8^th/9^th team in the B1G/SEC over the 4^th team in the BE reeks of P4 bias. It is what it is.

Friday / Sunday Slate

The 3 Big East teams are all playing the Fri/Sun slate. 2-seed Uconn and 5-seed St Johns in the East Region with 8-seed Villanova in the West Region. The seeding is such that prognosticators suggest that the Johnnies will probably bow out in the 2^nd Round (KU) or at best in the SS (Duke). Uconn is expected to make a FF run, but could bow out in SS (MSU) or EE (Duke). ‘Nova the lowest seeded BE team is expected to bow out in the 2^nd Round (Arizona), although they are slight underdogs to Utah St in the 1^st Round.

Big East exceeds prognosticator expectations, again.

My expectations are:

A 2/5 seed matchup in the East Region elite eight btwn Huskies/Johnnies. St Johns moves on to the Final Four. Nova ‘sneaks’ to the West Region EE with close victories over Utah St, Arizona, and Arkansas, before bowing to Purdue in the EE game.

In other news:

Big East 4th Place team – Seton Hall 21-12/10-10 (conf) decided to forego any postseason play after being snubbed by the NCAA Selection Committee. Well Done, Pirates, Well Done!

Big East 5^th Place team – Creighton 15-17/9-11 (conf)…passed over by both the NCAA and the NIT…accepted a bid for the College Basketball Crown tourney in Las Vegas. Hmmm? Three games are slated for April 1^st – 4^th.

Jim Harvey a.k.a. @gtmoBlue