2009 NCAA Basketball Thread

[WJMorris3]

Who the hell is Radford?

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=Radford+University

Gotcha.

Anyway, congrats to the Radford Highlanders for their 2nd trip to the Big Dance. I don't expect them to last long unless the opponents get the flu or something.

And speaking of sucking in the MVC tourny: What the hell is with Creighton? I guess that last second win took all it had from them. Now, provided that they do lose (and they're down 18 with 10:12 to go in the game), what does that mean for the Bluejays? Would they get an at-large bid?

ESPN was saying they needed to make the semis, which they did. They also did win 26 games and were the regular season champions of the MVC-which should be enough based on history. That said, getting demolished in such a manner does not look well to the committee. Fortunately, just about everyone else has lost as well.

Hate to break it to you, but I the Bluejays wont make the field after what happened. The stench will linger for days if not weeks. Heck, they may not get an NIT bid at this stage.

Are you like Will and insanely overrate mid-to-low tier BCS teams because they are BCS teams? Sure the ACC may get...oh...7, and the Big East 8, but the SEC collectively sucked massively, the Big Ten has quite a few iffy bubble teams, and the Pac 10 and Big XII won't snap up that many bids.

Creighton is the regular season champion of a top 10 RPI Conference, has 26 wins, and fairly good computer numbers....History says that is enough for an at large. Besides, not many folks get FSN Midwest.

No, I'm not like Will, I try to judge every team as fairly as possible. In case of the Bluejays, the non-conference schedule was rather lacking in my eyes. Nothing too terrible, but not overly impressive. Unfortunately the rest of the Valley was in the same boat in terms of non-conference heft. That said, I DO think the Bluejays will get consideration for an at-large, however they won't get in.

And yes, I did see part of the 2nd half of that game.

Creighton vs. Penn State. Who gets in?

To be honest, neither should. They should invite the 31 conference champs and that's it. But if we're talking what's actually going to happen, Penn State easy. Penn State beat Illinois, Purdue, and Michigan State, all on the road. How's that for good scheduling? Meanwhile, Creighton lost at home to... Arkansas-Little Rock? Can't have those kind of losses...

[Seadragon76]

But, then where are you going to get the the 34 at-large bids?

Anyway, congrats to Northern Iowa! The Panthers survive a hard fought game in overtime against Illinois State to join Cornell, ETSU, Radford and Morehead State in the Field of 65.

[WJMorris3]

But, then where are you going to get the the 34 at-large bids?

Anyway, congrats to Northern Iowa! The Panthers survive a hard fought game in overtime against Illinois State to join Cornell, ETSU, Radford and Morehead State in the Field of 65.

Simple, you shrink the tournament down to 31 teams. Give the #1 overall a bye (at least until the Great West Conference forms up). If you're not good enough to win your conference, you shouldn't be in the field.

[Seadragon76]

But, then where are you going to get the the 34 at-large bids?

Anyway, congrats to Northern Iowa! The Panthers survive a hard fought game in overtime against Illinois State to join Cornell, ETSU, Radford and Morehead State in the Field of 65.

Simple, you shrink the tournament down to 31 teams. Give the #1 overall a bye (at least until the Great West Conference forms up). If you're not good enough to win your conference, you shouldn't be in the field.

Then, under your format, it would last... oh about six or seven seasons (Remember that at least six members have to be full D-I schools for so long before it actually earns an automatic bid in a sport and of the current Great West members, only Chicago State and UT-Pan American are eligible).

[Gary]

But, then where are you going to get the the 34 at-large bids?

Anyway, congrats to Northern Iowa! The Panthers survive a hard fought game in overtime against Illinois State to join Cornell, ETSU, Radford and Morehead State in the Field of 65.

Simple, you shrink the tournament down to 31 teams. Give the #1 overall a bye (at least until the Great West Conference forms up). If you're not good enough to win your conference, you shouldn't be in the field.

Then, under your format, it would last... oh about six or seven seasons (Remember that at least six members have to be full D-I schools for so long before it actually earns an automatic bid in a sport and of the current Great West members, only Chicago State and UT-Pan American are eligible).

Dustin your talking to a brick wall here. His fantasy college teams doesn't even make the tournaments/bowls

[WJMorris3]

But, then where are you going to get the the 34 at-large bids?

Anyway, congrats to Northern Iowa! The Panthers survive a hard fought game in overtime against Illinois State to join Cornell, ETSU, Radford and Morehead State in the Field of 65.

Simple, you shrink the tournament down to 31 teams. Give the #1 overall a bye (at least until the Great West Conference forms up). If you're not good enough to win your conference, you shouldn't be in the field.

Then, under your format, it would last... oh about six or seven seasons (Remember that at least six members have to be full D-I schools for so long before it actually earns an automatic bid in a sport and of the current Great West members, only Chicago State and UT-Pan American are eligible).

Dustin your talking to a brick wall here. His fantasy college teams doesn't even make the tournaments/bowls

Their record will eventually improve. Hell, SJT might even go 11-0 one year in football.

[Drew22]

But, then where are you going to get the the 34 at-large bids?

Anyway, congrats to Northern Iowa! The Panthers survive a hard fought game in overtime against Illinois State to join Cornell, ETSU, Radford and Morehead State in the Field of 65.

Simple, you shrink the tournament down to 31 teams. Give the #1 overall a bye (at least until the Great West Conference forms up). If you're not good enough to win your conference, you shouldn't be in the field.

Then, under your format, it would last... oh about six or seven seasons (Remember that at least six members have to be full D-I schools for so long before it actually earns an automatic bid in a sport and of the current Great West members, only Chicago State and UT-Pan American are eligible).

Dustin your talking to a brick wall here. His fantasy college teams doesn't even make the tournaments/bowls

Their record will eventually improve. Hell, SJT might even go 11-0 one year in football.

LMAO. That won't happen.

[floydnimrod]

Damn, I wanted VMI to win. Then we could of had VMI/UNC. The score to that game would be like 132-104.

With VMI winning of course.

That loss really got me down. Aside from Cincinnati, they're my favorite team, and was even worse now that Tennessee-Martin (and country's best player Lester "The Jester" Hudson) will miss the tourney field, and most likely any postseason berth whatsoever. Hopefully Niagara can make it in

Not so fast, fnz. Since UT-Martin won the OVC Regular Season title, it gives them an automatic berth into the NIT so there is still some hope for you yet.

Oh, and BTW: I did watch the Creighton game yesterday. That wasn't their best showing. All you're doing, buzzcut, is basing a team after one (bad) game when you have the overall body of work to look at. I have to think that being co-champs of the MVC, a top 10 conference in terms of RPI, and going 11-1 in their last 12 games (Which is something the committee really looks at) and having wins over Bubble teams Dayton, New Mexico, and George Mason ought to be enough to get them in.

If I sound like a broken record, it's because outside of Creighton and (possibly) UNI, this area of the nation is void of NCAA bound teams.

GooI was wondering if their was a rule about that (Regular Season champs getting in)

[buzzcut]

Who the hell is Radford?

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=Radford+University

Gotcha.

Anyway, congrats to the Radford Highlanders for their 2nd trip to the Big Dance. I don't expect them to last long unless the opponents get the flu or something.

And speaking of sucking in the MVC tourny: What the hell is with Creighton? I guess that last second win took all it had from them. Now, provided that they do lose (and they're down 18 with 10:12 to go in the game), what does that mean for the Bluejays? Would they get an at-large bid?

ESPN was saying they needed to make the semis, which they did. They also did win 26 games and were the regular season champions of the MVC-which should be enough based on history. That said, getting demolished in such a manner does not look well to the committee. Fortunately, just about everyone else has lost as well.

Hate to break it to you, but I the Bluejays wont make the field after what happened. The stench will linger for days if not weeks. Heck, they may not get an NIT bid at this stage.

Are you like Will and insanely overrate mid-to-low tier BCS teams because they are BCS teams? Sure the ACC may get...oh...7, and the Big East 8, but the SEC collectively sucked massively, the Big Ten has quite a few iffy bubble teams, and the Pac 10 and Big XII won't snap up that many bids.

Creighton is the regular season champion of a top 10 RPI Conference, has 26 wins, and fairly good computer numbers....History says that is enough for an at large. Besides, not many folks get FSN Midwest.

No, I'm not like Will, I try to judge every team as fairly as possible. In case of the Bluejays, the non-conference schedule was rather lacking in my eyes. Nothing too terrible, but not overly impressive. Unfortunately the rest of the Valley was in the same boat in terms of non-conference heft. That said, I DO think the Bluejays will get consideration for an at-large, however they won't get in.

And yes, I did see part of the 2nd half of that game.

Creighton vs. Penn State. Who gets in?

Creighton of course, if it were those two that were the last ones remaining. But you have to realize there are other teams in contention for a bid.

[Drew22]

That's what I was talking about!

GTHD. I love Ty Lawson.

[HedleyLamarr]

You really think that loss to Illinois State was THAT bad? Wow... Here I am thinking that a 26-7 record with wins over fellow bubble teams Dayton and New Mexico and a decent RPI would be enough.

Hey, I've been doing this bracketology stuff for over a decade, so I know what I'm talking about. If you're a bubble team, the absolute last thing you want to do is have a bad loss be your last loss. And in Creighton's case, their last loss was indeed a bad loss(Hell they never as so much tied the score, much less have a lead). Already, some bracketologists are leaving the Bluejays out of the field now.

Please. Nothing's worse than Kentucky's loss to Georgia last year, and yet they made the tournament. I'm sure we had teams get blown out before and still blunder into the dance.

Georgia was a Tournament team last year.....

[floydnimrod]

YES! Tyrone Lewis and Bilal Benn both make clutch plays that make up for a poor team performance at the free throw line.

Niagara vs Siena tomorrow, should be a great game (9ET on espn2)

[rams80]

You really think that loss to Illinois State was THAT bad? Wow... Here I am thinking that a 26-7 record with wins over fellow bubble teams Dayton and New Mexico and a decent RPI would be enough.

Hey, I've been doing this bracketology stuff for over a decade, so I know what I'm talking about. If you're a bubble team, the absolute last thing you want to do is have a bad loss be your last loss. And in Creighton's case, their last loss was indeed a bad loss(Hell they never as so much tied the score, much less have a lead). Already, some bracketologists are leaving the Bluejays out of the field now.

Please. Nothing's worse than Kentucky's loss to Georgia last year, and yet they made the tournament. I'm sure we had teams get blown out before and still blunder into the dance.

Georgia was a Tournament team last year.....

Because of the autobid only.

[Seadragon76]

Today is one of the busiest days of Championship Week with four bids to be decided today.

CAA Championship

#1 VCU Rams vs. #2 George Mason Patriots

It may have been a few years, but once again the CAA is all about the two teams that made the conference famous and they will square off for the auto bid once again

MAAC Championship

#1 Siena Saints vs. #2 Niagara Purple Eagles

The last time these two teams met, Niagara romped past the Saints at home. This time, it'll be on the Saints' home floor and much, much more is on the line

Southern Championship

South #3 College of Charleston Cougars vs. North #1 Chattanooga Mocs

In the conference where the focus is squarely on Stephen Curry and Davidson, they will languish in the NIT while the team that knocked them off in the semifinals, the College of Charleston, goes for the auto bid against the host school

West Coast Championship

#1 Gonzaga Bulldogs vs. #2 St. Mary's Gaels

The WCC's fiercest rivalry heats up once again as the Gaels get their big man, Patrick Mills, back in time for their battle against the always tough Zags

Outside of these games, only four other games are to be played...

Summit Semifinals - At Sioux Falls, SD

-North Dakota State vs. Southern Utah

-South Dakota State vs. Oakland

Sun Belt Semifinals - At Hot Springs, AR

-Western Kentucky vs. North Texas

-UALR vs. South Alabama

[Thad]

Davidson depended too much on Curry this season. The loss of their PG Jason Richards from last season was huge. He would do the ball handling which allowed Steph to do what he does best, run around and run off a screen and take a jumper. Now, he's playing the point, so he can't really do that as much.

In the championship game, I'd be shocked if Chatty beat CoC. The Cougars are much better coached and more athletic than Chattanooga.

[Breakwood]

C'mon You Purple Eagles!

[Gary]

Pac-10 Tournament pairings have been announced

First Round

#8 Oregon State vs #9 Stanford

#7 Washington State vs #10 Oregon

Second Round

Oregon State/Stanford vs #1 Washington

#4 Arizona State vs #5 Arizona

#3 California vs #6 Southern California

Washington State/Oregon vs UCLA

My predictions

Stanford over Oregon State

Washington State defeats Oregon

Washington beats Stanford

Arizona State beats Arizona

California beats Southern California

UCLA beats Washington State

Semifinals

Arizona State defeats Washington in Triple Overtime

UCLA over California

Finals

Arizona State over UCLA

[BrySmalls]

George Mason vs. Virginia Commonwealth for Colonial Athletic Association Champion tonight @ 7pm on ESPN2.

GO PATRIOTS!

Note: VCU has beaten GMU twice in the championship game, 2004 and 2007.

[KevinMcD]

C'mon You Purple Eagles!

Agreed, It will be a tough win but they can do it.

[Seadragon76]

Pac-10 Tournament pairings have been announced

First Round

#8 Oregon State vs #9 Stanford

#7 Washington State vs #10 Oregon

Second Round

Oregon State/Stanford vs #1 Washington

#4 Arizona State vs #5 Arizona

#3 California vs #6 Southern California

Washington State/Oregon vs UCLA

My predictions

Stanford over Oregon State

Washington State defeats Oregon

Washington beats Stanford

Arizona State beats Arizona

California beats Southern California

UCLA beats Washington State

Semifinals

Arizona State defeats Washington in Triple Overtime

UCLA over California

Finals

Arizona State over UCLA

Someone is still a soreass from what the Huskies did in Seattle against the Sun Dorks.

I have a prediction too: U-Dub is going to run rampant in the tourny, bring home the title and get themselves a nice little 5 seed or, if the pieces fall correctly, a good 4 seed.