march madness 2015

[Son of Jack]

I was thinking there are a couple of teams that can knock them off with a good game and Kentucky is off or their heads are thinking about how great they are.

Wisconsin can do it. They are fundamentally sound like something I haven't seen in some time. Like a Bob Knight coached team.

I agree with you that Wisconsin can beat UK. They have the bigs to compete with UK's bigs. But, I think it's going to take a team getting really hot from outside to beat them. There aren't many teams with that kind of shooting. Duke has had some great offensive games. Virginia might be able to beat them, given their style of play. But, all those teams would need UK to struggle so that the game would be close.

 

[Nick M]

This is what's kinda frustrating about the tournament. It's not the 65 best teams because they take a bunch of schools who win their conference tournaments. The conference tournament often have winners who weren't the best team in the conference for most of the year.

I think less than 10 teams have a realistic chance. It isn't often that Villanova has things fall into place giving them an easier path, then shooting 75% once.

Unlike Arizona and Syracuse whom the NCAA committee made it as easy as possible because they wanted them in the final four for one reason or another. And they dropped a bunch of early games for a decade, if you remember.

 

[chrysostom]

Just get it over with and name your final four. One reason I don't like to do it is two of the 4 best often end up in the same bracket.

kentucky
virginia
villinova
duke

they are all in different brackets

bracketology tells me that

 

[chrysostom]

I was thinking there are a couple of teams that can knock them off with a good game and Kentucky is off or their heads are thinking about how great they are.

Wisconsin can do it. They are fundamentally sound like something I haven't seen in some time. Like a Bob Knight coached team.

it can only happen in the final game

 

[Nick M]

Wisconsin can knock over Kentucky. It isn't that will do it, they have the ability. So the NCAA will put Wisconsin in the worst bracket. They always do this. They have a killer bracket and then one cream puff.

 

[kmoney]

Wisconsin can knock over Kentucky. It isn't that will do it, they have the ability. So the NCAA will put Wisconsin in the worst bracket. They always do this. They have a killer bracket and then one cream puff.

You think the NCAA wants Kentucky to win it all?

 

[Nick M]

You think the NCAA wants Kentucky to win it all?

I think the selection committee wants to stick it to various teams and give an easy path to others. Surely you know what I mean in terms of observation. How can one bracket be so loaded, and another is a complete joke....

 

[kmoney]

I think the selection committee wants to stick it to various teams and give an easy path to others. Surely you know what I mean in terms of observation. How can one bracket be so loaded, and another is a complete joke....

No I'm not denying that happens. Just questioning them wanting to give Kentucky an easy path and Wisconsin a hard one.

 

[Son of Jack]

No I'm not denying that happens. Just questioning them wanting to give Kentucky an easy path and Wisconsin a hard one.

I think sometimes style of play and watchability plays into what Nick is talking about. Kentucky is a name, who is watchable. They have a bunch of elite-level college athletes, who will go on to play in the NBA. Wisconsin doesn't look or play that way. They have a bunch of really good to great college basketball players, who are decent athletes. Who do you think they want to advance? It's a television program, and they want ratings. UK gives them that. Wisconsin...meh.

 

[Simon Baker]

Tv - maybe. ratings ? the programs that recruit and "sign" the Players - that's who you see in the sweet 16. and coaching, of course.

 

[Son of Jack]

Tv - maybe. ratings ? the programs that recruit and "sign" the Players - that's who you see in the sweet 16. and coaching, of course.

Nick's point (and mine) is that the people who put together the bracket tend to pave the way for certain teams and make others work really hard to get through their brackets. I think they do for ratings purposes. The underdog stories are great from a basketball standpoint, but they often kill the ratings.

 

[chrysostom]

I think the selection committee wants to stick it to various teams and give an easy path to others. Surely you know what I mean in terms of observation. How can one bracket be so loaded, and another is a complete joke....

can you tell us
which one is loaded
and
which one is a joke

 

[Nick M]

can you tell us which one is loaded and which one is a joke

As soon as the bracket is done.

Nick's point (and mine) is that the people who put together the bracket tend to pave the way for certain teams and make others work really hard to get through their brackets.

They did it in football because the SEC paid ESPN 2 Billion dollars. The BCS started great. Have number 1 and 2 play in a bowl game. Then it turned into a gross political event. Culminating in fake run of MNCs.

Of course Jim Delaney, the Big Ten commissioner fueled the fire by effectively telling ESPN to go pound sand when they decided to do their own network broadcast via Fox. That is also an interesting read regarding dice and "consider them rolled".

 

[chrysostom]

can you tell us
which one is loaded
and
which one is a joke

As soon as the bracket is done.

why can't you look at the brackets as they are today?

they won't change much in the next week

 

[Nick M]

why can't you look at the brackets as they are today?

The are not released. I don't care how close speculation is to the real thing. Who will win between Virginia and Duke? They both can't be ACC champions.

After than we can all guess on who is going to just be off one day and lose, and a bum pulls a Bucky Dent move.

 

[Nick M]

why can't you look at the brackets as they are today?

So make your predictions.

 

[SaulToPaul 2]

Does ESPN's bracketologist wear a bad rug?

 

[chrysostom]

So make your predictions.

I predict
more excitement
more fan involvement
more brackets filled out
more money spent
more tv time
in the history of sports

 

[kmoney]

I think sometimes style of play and watchability plays into what Nick is talking about. Kentucky is a name, who is watchable. They have a bunch of elite-level college athletes, who will go on to play in the NBA. Wisconsin doesn't look or play that way. They have a bunch of really good to great college basketball players, who are decent athletes. Who do you think they want to advance? It's a television program, and they want ratings. UK gives them that. Wisconsin...meh.

Yes, I'd agree on that. Which means Virginia might get a tough bracket since they score about 20 points a game.

I hope this year is the first one to see a 1 seed lose to a 16. The 1 seed being Kentucky. lain:

 

[Nick M]

The NCAA has dropped the hammer on Jim Boehim and Syracuse for all their cheating. The sad part is, it is only the tip of the iceberg. I will speculate that Derrick Coleman could not pass a 9th grade proficiency at any point during his "college education".

The football team also had "infractions".

The infractions include academic misconduct within the football program from 2005-2007, basketball program in 2012, inappropriate student-athlete relationships with a booster stemming from the YMCA situation and failure of the basketball program to adhere to its own drug policy.

Here is a list of the punishments issued by the NCAA:

- Five years of probation from March 6, 2015 through March 5, 2020.

- Vacation of all wins in which ineligible men’s basketball students played in 2004-05, 2005-06, 2006-07, 2010-11 and 2011-12 and ineligible football students played in 2004-05, 2005-06 and 2006-07.

- Total wins vacated by Jim Boeheim are 108, dropping him to 6th on the all-time wins list. It is also the most vacated wins ever as a result of an NCAA investigation.

- Fine of $500 per contest played by ineligible students.

- The school must return to the NCAA all funds it has received to date through the former Big East Conference revenue sharing for its appearances in the 2011, 2012 and 2013 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament.

- Suspension of the head basketball coach from the first nine conference games of 2015-16.

- Reduction of men’s basketball scholarships by three for the 2015-16, 2016-17, 2017-18 and 2018-19 academic years. If the school has already executed scholarship offers for the 2015-16 year, the school may begin the four-year penalty with the 2016-17 year.

- Reduction in the number of permissible off-campus recruiters from four to two during June 1, 2015 through May 31, 2017.​