Alabama fan checking in. Alabama doesn’t deserve to be in the tournament, in my opinion.
However, to argue that Tennessee should be in rather than Alabama is ludicrous. Alabama’s RPI is higher, they played (and beat) more ranked opponents than Tennessee, and they beat Tennessee head-to-head (in Knoxville, no less).
I figured once ‘Bama lost to Vandy (for the second freakin’ time in the season), they were toast. Even if the team is in, no way do they deserve a 10-seed. But that’s life.
Stink Fish Pot:
Finally. Someone else who doesn’t just ignore the Panthers.
I am not even a basketball fan, but I love my alma mater. I pay enough attention to know they’ve done well, far better than their current seed would portray.
I’m sick of my school working their asses off, doing a damn good job, and being nationally ignored by most of the media and shafted in the seeding. All season long I’d watch ESPN and hear about Arizona, Kentucky, Oaklahoma, Duke… and when Pitt was ranked 2nd in the nation, did they get soundbites on Sportscenter? Hell no.
Wake up, media and tournament drones. Quit ignoring the steel city.
Yep.
Gosh, I don’t know. If rankings that come out right before the tourney existed, then Pitt would probably…
Oh. They’re ranked #4. Shafted again by the committee. I personally think it’s a Big Ten conspiracy against the Big East, still pissed that Notre Dame joined the Big East despite the Big Ten’s efforts to hell and back to court them. Miles Brand can lick it.
No fucking way Boston College shouldn’t have gotten in.
Pittsburgh (and Alabama and Oklahoma State) ought to just be thankful that the mighty Golden Flashes of my alma mater Kent State didn’t make it this year. 
As a MAC fan I say, “Go Central!”
As far as bitching about the selections go, mhendo has it right. The system is biased and arbitrary. Wins and losses in November, December and January seem to count for or against some teams but not for others. The RPI system is biased toward teams from so-called power conferences, but if they’re going to use that system, then they ought to use it consistently. Seed every team by its RPI, and select at-large teams according to RPI, and be done with it.
Oh, no question about that. You guys did a number on Alabama in the tournament last year. Quite impressive.
Pitt and Kansas both got screwed. How Texas–TEXAS!–is a one seed is beyond me. And BC not getting in is ridiculous.
That said, if you want to see something truly egregious, take a look at the women’s bracket–Tennessee gets to play its first four games on their home court. None of this pod crap that the men do, not even the first two rounds on their home court like UCONN, but the FIRST FOUR GAMES. WTF is that???
Yo ** Sauron**: Objectively, your points are somewhat valid. Mainly, I was checking to see what it would take to bait you or Ogre up from the depths in which you lurk. You may recall that my two favorite teams are Auburn and whoever is playing Alabama at the moment.
Though I have no particular love for the Vols, I don’t believe that Tennessee should have been left out, while Troy State, UNC-Ashville, etc. are in. Something in the way of validation needs to be done concerning automatic entry for champions of conference tournaments.
Who the hell is bitching about Boston College? Boston College?!
Who did they beat? No one. They beat up on cupcakes to get their record. They couldn’t beat any ranked teams, and they couldn’t beat any Tourney teams. They don’t belong in the tournament. Well, no, they belong in a tournament - the NIT.
With all the complaining about how the brackets are this year, here’s my $0.02:
Expand this play-in idea. Take the last 4 teams in and the first 4 out, and randomly pair them. Winners get the #16 seeds in each region.
Tennessee didn’t really deserve to be in, but neither did Alabama. Hell, Alabama didn’t really deserve to be in the SEC Tournament, considering how bad they stunk up the conference schedule.
Remember, part of these problems are because Georgia pulled out. With Georgia in, Alabama probably doesn’t go, because I think the committee was just determined to have 6 SEC teams in, and Alabama had been #1 earlier in the year.
BYU shouldn’t be allowed to dictate scheduling to the NCAA. They should be told they have two choices: play on Sunday or forfeit the game. I realize the problem lies with the Selection Committee (bunch of chimps this year, ain’t they?) but the brackets are set and nothing should change them.
Speaking of the Selection Committee, was it being headed by Larry, Moe and Curly? Texas #1 in the South? Kentucky in the Midwest? This “pod” system seems to be more trouble than it’s worth, because Texas gets a virtual home game in the regional final (barring an upset), while Kentucky gets shipped off to the frozen wasteland that is Minneapolis for the regional final, where they might have to face Wisconsin’s best in Marquette. Add in the seemingly-random selections (Auburn? I saw them play UK, and they aren’t even NIT material!) makes this a bad year to have been in that hotel in Indianapolis.
UK-Arizona as a Final Four game? What the hell is going on? That should be a national championship game! Luke Walton getting his ass kicked by Jules Camara and Marquis “QUEESE!” Estill should be more important than just a Final Four game.
Nonsense, JimSox5, because Gene Keady doesn’t know diddly-squat about basketball. He’s a wishy-washy coach.
But, as an Indiana University alumna, I’m not very confident in Mike Davis’ coaching abilitiies. But at least he doesn’t have a bad comb-over.
Personally, I’m awaiting The General’s comeback with Texas Tech.
Brianjedi
I don’t have a problem with BYU dictating that they can’t (rather, won’t) play on Sunday. They have had this condition probably since the tournament started (no cite, it just seems like common sense), and the NCAA has worked around it for at least as long as I can remember. The precedent has been set, and it never appeared that anyone had a problem with it before. It would seem that the teams *should * have a problem this year, since it effects their preparation. You see a possible matchup with BYU in the next round or 2, and you prepare a bit for them, only to have them yanked and put into another bracket.
The selection committee screwed up, and instead of just switching them Sunday, before the pairings were announced, they offered up one of the most half-assed solutions I’ve ever heard. Switching a team from one bracket to another, halfway through, is just plain stupid. If BYU loses in the first round in the South, what’s to say that if they had been moved to the Mid-West, that they couldn’t have advanced. And vice-versa. Unless they lose in the first round, there will be a question as to whether they would have advanced at all if they had been put in the correct bracket straight away.
That having been said, I have them losing in the first round to UConn, so I son’t really think this seeding screw up will matter, but the selection committe needs a little foresight next time.
Elwood & sir viks
What do you think of our hometown boy? Gerry Mac has really been impressive, this year. I’ll admit, I wasn’t completely sold on him at the beginning of the season. Hell, even when he played for the PA title, I always believed that Bishop Hannan had pushed the limits on eligibility and “recruiting”, and that GM was just a big fish in a small pond. Well, the Carrier Dome isn’t exactly a small pond, and I got the opportunity to see him play more often, and
damn! that kid has a nice looking shot. The local media were all over him before the season started, and some even had him saving the NBA. The most sucessful guy our area sent to the NBA was Bob Sura. Not exactly a household name, even in Cleveland, I’d imagine. McNamara should stay at SU for his 4 seasons, graduate, and do pretty well in the NBA. I still don’t see him becoming a superstar on the next level, but he *should * be a fine player in seasons to come, as he gets older, smarter, and a little bigger & stronger.
Rex
These are state run schools. BYU is a Mormon institution.
Bless your heart. I’ll pray for you tonight.
I agree that something similar to “validation” needs to be done regarding entry into the tournament. Alabama shouldn’t be in this year, Auburn shouldn’t be in this year, and others should be.
The problem with that is that the last four teams in and out would normally be seeded between #7-#11. The lowest seeds are usually the teeny-tiny conference champs (i.e. Ooie Pooie, Manhattan, etc.). However, there’s no reason not to take all those conference champs and pit them against each other to feed into the #1 and #2 seed opponent positions.
The argument against that is normally that these “play-in games” are derrogatory to small schools that work their butt off for their one chance in the big dance where they’d get to play a Kentucky or a Duke. But I disagree - these play-in games do nothing but highlight their schools in a venue in which they aren’t competing for the spotlight with Kentucky/Duke, but with another similar small school - and the winner gets to go on to get their asses handed to them through their nostrils by Kansas/Arizona/etc.
There’s only one game on tonight, and those two teams get to soak up the audience of the entire country all at once, with nothing to distract us (save the Iraq situation).
Mmmm. SU in Albany. I’m so there! Well…here…actually.
C’mon, don’t besmirch my Spartans for getting to play in Auburn Hills in 2000. We had it coming to us after that crooked clock fiasco in Kanas City some years back. Of course, crooked clocks were helpful against Michigan in football in 2001!
Is the committee off their rocker regarding BYU? (say, wasn’t that Michael Jackson’s alma mater- Bring’em Young?).
Regarding play-ins, why not just go to 128 teams? Make the first round three games long, that way every decent team gets their shot.