Welcome to the Friday Feedback, which looks up and sees the ball beginning to drop as we approach FF100. Compose yourself, please.
Crazy time descending upon us. I like to call it the greatest time of the year. Can’t top conference tournaments and, despite what the NCAA insists, you can’t screw with the NCAA Tournament. I’m delighted. I even decided to reduce blog insults by 34 percent in honor of the at-large field … which may be the worst ever. I’m not even being dramatic.
I watched Wednesday as Maryland beat Duke, which every year seems to drop a conference game that somehow legitimizes another team or the conference as a whole. The Terps — ~dangerous~ — were already in, but now the ACC looks markedly better.
So I dug in and first thought off the top of my head “Who from the ACC is in?” Duke, Maryland, Clemson. I like Wake Forest, too. So four. Then, stupidly, I looked online. The ACC is widely projected to get seven teams. Seven! Add Virgina Tech and Florida State — 20 win teams — as well as Georgia Tech, which is actually above both in the RPI.
Virginia Tech, for no real reason, became my circled team. So-so RPI, weak strength of schedule. I searched around and really had no problem with the Hokies getting in, if for no other explanation than I couldn’t answer this question: Where are the other at-larges coming from?
The Big 12 and the Big East are tough and honestly deserve whatever they get. The ACC is down. The SEC is down. The Big Ten is top-heavy. The Pac 10 is atrocious and may only get one team if Cal wins the conference tournament … and if Cal doesn’t it must be asked if Cal is any good.
So not a great year for the Big Six. Here’s the kicker: The mid-majors are not good. They’re not. The exception is the Atlantic 10. It’s No. 6 in the RPI … two spots above the Pac 10. I’ll take Temple, Xavier and Richmond, but Rhode Island is 2-3 in its past five and lost last week at sub-.500 St. Bonaventure and Dayton is 5-6 in its last 11 with a loss at .500 Duquesne and a giveaway loss last night against Richmond.
The Mountain West (RPI No. 7) has New Mexico and BYU and … well, I guess San Diego State. The Missouri Valley gets Northern Iowa no matter what, but if that’s the tourney champ that might be all. Same for the WAC (Utah State), Colonial (Old Dominion), Horizon (Butler) and Metro Atlantic (Siena) in the conference RPI top 15. Conference USA and the Mid-American are winner-only leagues. The only mid-major from the RPI top 15 to get two bids no matter the outcome of the conference tournament — meaning possibly three total — is maybe the West Coast, which has Gonzaga and St. Mary’s, but is otherwise forgettable.
So, using very jagged math, I totaled up the teams I thought were in — from the Big Six, I took locks no matter what happens in the conference tournament because I figured one of them would win it — and added what I outlined from the mid-majors and then added the winner from the 17 conferences outside the RPI top 15. I came up with 54 teams. You need 65.
Just figure I was being lenient on some — I had UConn and Virginia Tech in, for example, because they’re better than alternatives — and account for some wiggle room. You’re looking at 10-15 marginal teams – likely both, definitely one of the two I mentioned — that are going to get in because someone has to.
All of which makes me think this: It’s an excellent time to at least have the debate about expanding or altering the NCAA Tournament.
Onto the Feedback. As always, comments appear as posted. In other words, don’t monkey around.
ccteam said:
Huggs credited Bryant for the offense looking much better last night. Good for him. Hope he keeps it up. I think the double bye is advantageous for this team. They are not consistent enough to win 4 or 5 in a row in the post season.
Truck was very good, but he wasn’t on the floor when WVU needed baskets. That was Butler, instead. Point guard play is key. As for the bye, I really don’t think it matters for WVU. Even if they were to blow out Villanova and look really dangerous in the process, it’s not as if the Mountaineers are in some sort of a rhythm they don’t want interrupted. Rest, practice and preparation won’t hurt this team.
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