Our quick thoughts on Wednesday's results:Is there a worse road team in our bracket than UConn? Their latest road debacle came against Providence last night. The Huskies got blown out of the Dunkin' Donuts Center in the second half and are now 0-4 on the road this season. They will hold onto their spot in the bracket next week as long as they are able to handle Marquette at home this weekend, but their seed could fall close to double digits. The Friars were led by Jamine Peterson, who had 23 points and 14 rebounds. The court rush was good (albeit a few seconds early), but isn't one of the unwritten rules to court rushing that you don't rush on a team that you are ahead of in conference standings?
The best conference on the had its two best teams face off on Wednesday night with New Mexico taking care of BYU in the Pit. The loss snapped the Cougars' 15 game winning streak and should put to rest all the talk of them being a top 4 seed. The debate now moves to which team should be the highest seeded team in the MWC. The Cougars still sit in first place in conference, but the Lobos have a much better OOC resume and a higher RPI. If they can win at TCU this weekend we'll have them higher on the S-Curve. The win has to be a big confidence boast for the Lobos as its only the second time that the have beaten the Cougars in the last nine meetings.
The second best team in the SEC is...Vanderbilt? As strange as it sounds, it's pretty hard to argue otherwise right now after the Commodores pulled away in the second half to win 85-76 at Tennessee. Vandy, which is off to its best start since 1966, has now won four straight conference road games and won 10 in a row overall. Even if that streak ends this weekend at Kentucky, Vandy will be at worst a 5 seed next week. They might be joined on that line by the Vols, who will try to snap their two-game skid Sunday against Florida in Knoxville.
It looks like we're going to be a week ahead of every other bracketologist when it comes to Charlotte. The 49ers beat Temple 74-64 at home on Wednesday night, handing the 15th-ranked Owls their first A-10 loss and extending their own winning streak to four games. It's very conceivable that given their next three games (at UMass, GW, at Fordham), the 49ers may be atop the A-10 standings for a little while. Provided they can get past the Minutemen this weekend, they'll probably move to the 9 line in our next bracket. Temple, who was pretty maxed out as a 4, will drop a line with the loss.
William & Mary's at-large dreams are over. The Tribe lost an absolutely brutal game at James Madison on Wednesday night, which dropped them into a tie for fifth in the Colonial. They've now lost three in a row after winning 14 of 15 and earning as high as an 8 seed in one of our earlier brackets. The Tribe won't have any number next to their name on Monday - they'll be on the Last Eight Out list and ODU will be the lone Colonial team in the field.
Of note: Texas beat Texas Tech at home; Oklahoma State beat Texas A&M at home; Duke beat Florida State at home; Villanova beat Notre Dame at home; Florida beat Georgia at home; Ohio State won at Iowa; Illinois won at Penn State; Northern Iowa beat Drake at home; Wichita State beat Illinois State at home.
7 comments:
To be fair, i commented on your blog a couple weeks ago that Charlotte should have been in over Louisville. But you guys chose to ignore the Charlotte road win at Freedom Hall. You guys were not the first to realize Charlotte belonged in. Why do you guys ignore head to head matchups?
We don't ignore head-to-head match-ups; they just aren't the be-all, end-all that some people make them out to be. Teams earn bids based on an entire resume, not just one game or one head-to-head win. Charlotte's win over Louisville was nice, but the 49ers were not at-large worthy until this week.
My understanding from what I've read is that the selection committee isn't that big on head to head matchups, right?
That makes zero sense. What better of comparision of 2 teams is a head to head result? Especially when the road team wins.
By acknowledging that there is a difference between home and road performance, you've already pointed out the main reason why a head to head matchup on a non-neutral court is not at all an apples to apples matchup.
Dan Holmes,
If 2 teams have nearly identical resumes and are among the last considered for an at large spot, you don't think head to head should be a strong consideration? What is the point of having non conference games if the head to head results are ignored?
Yes - it's true. HTH is not that big of an impact. Anybody remember 2000? Virginia and North Carolina both 9-7 in ACC play, and Virginia swept North Carolina. UNC gets an 8 seed, and Virginia is out of the tournament.
The reason to play good OOC games is to build up your overall resume against good teams, not to get an advantage over that one specific team you play.
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