Thursday, January 22, 2009

B101's Questions For The Competition

Questions For The Competition is a weekly column that addresses our issues with the brackets of other bracketology "experts." This week's questions are for ESPN.com's Joe Lunardi and Andy Glockner of CNNSI.com.

Keep in mind that these questions are about each bracketologist's latest bracket, the date of which is listed below.

Joe Lunardi (ESPN.com) - Jan. 19 Bracket

How in the world does Illinois State still deserve an at-large? They're in, but Arkansas isn't even First Four Out?

We hate to beat a dead horse, but how in the world do you still have no mention of UNLV (and it's quality OOC) and instead have San Diego State on the First Four out list? The Rebels have the fourth best resume out of the MWC?

Speaking of the MWC, how is BYU still a 7 seed?

How mamy games does BC have to lose in a row before they fall off of your Next Four Out list?

Who did Memphis beat to deserve a 4 seed? After you finish looking at Memphis' mediocre profile, take a look at Villanova's and tell us who they beat to deserve an 8 seed...

Andy Glockner (CNNSI.com) - Jan. 19 Bracket

How is Syracuse ahead of Louisville and Georgetown?

What's with the hatred for the top of the Big XII? Oklahoma not a 1, Texas a 6?

And what's with the love for the Big XII bubble? Oklahoma State a 7 seed? Really?? The Cowboys have a better resume than Notre Dame, Kansas, and Purdue??

Memphis a 4 and BYU a 7? Are you channeling your inner Lunardi?

How is Stanford (at 2-3 in the Pac-10) worthy of a bid if the season ended today, but not UNLV?

How can Tennessee be a 7 and Kentucky a 11? Didn't Kentucky just win big at Tennessee?

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

While I agree w/your assessments about Lunardi and CNNSI.com's brackets, I don't think you're in any position to criticize other people's brackets when you have Ohio St. as a 4 seed.

Forget about their resume for a minute, and tell me, when you watch this team do you honestly see them as a sweet 16 team? There's no way, and their game at Illinois proved just that on Tuesday night.

Yes, they had some quality wins early, but take a deeper look at those. They were getting absolutely destroyed by Miami until McClinton was ejected, and that is the sole reason they won that game. Not because they were the better team, but because an all-american was ejected mid way through the first half.

Then they play ND, and it was Harangody's first game back from having pneumonia. They clearly weren't the same team in that game from what we saw in Maui, and honestly haven't recovered since. While it was still a good win, it was still a bit tainted. Then they beat Butler at home, which is a decent win, but Butler is not the same team the past few years. Yes, they beat Xavier, but Duke showed Xavier is not a top tier team.

Ohio St. will most likely flirt around .500 in the Big Ten, which is really not that impressive. I just don't see how you can lose a home game by 30 points to an unranked team and make an argument that you're a top 4 seed type team. It's just not possible.

Paymon said...

Jimmy - I agree with you that those two marquee wins were diluted by circumstance. To abut your statements, the McClinton ejection was a farce, because the OSU player initiated and sold it well.

If David Lighty returns and is effective by tournament time, then I would not be surprised by the 4 seed. He's a galvanizing force and the team's best defender.

Bracketology 101 said...

Ohio State certainly isn't a 4 seed anymore after their awful performance against Illinois on Tuesday, but prior to that, they had earned their spot on the four line. Your analysis finds a hole in all of their big wins, but the bottom line is they did win all of those games. A resume that includes wins over Notre Dame, Butler, Miami, and Michigan is better than anything that the teams on the 5, 6, or 7 lines have. Yes, their WVU loss was bad, but by the end of the year, it's tough to find a team that has no hiccups on its resume.

Another point to remember when you look at a team's seed is that their seed does not necessary mean we are guaranteeing them an equivalent run in the NCAA Tournament. The top four seeds in each region aren't ever going to all survive until the Sweet 16, so giving Ohio State a 4 seed isn't our way of saying we like them to reach that round.

rsgoldfeng said...

While it wassell diablo 3 gold still a good win, it was still a bit tainted. Then they beat Butler at home, which is a decent win, but Butler is not the same team the past Runescape Moneyfew years.

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