Friday, March 05, 2010

B101's Weekday Tweets - Friday

Our quick thoughts on Friday's results:

One bid down, 64 to go. Cornell wrapped up the first automatic berth of the season on Friday night, tying a league record with 20 three-pointers in a 95-76 win over Brown in Providence. It's the third straight Ivy League title for the Big Red, who have lost in the first round of the NCAA tourney each of the last two years as a 14 seed. Their seed will be a few seed lines better than that this season, thanks to a 46 RPI and a 16-3 road/neutal record that includes road wins over Alabama and St. John's. We have the Big Red on top of the 11 line right now, but they climb onto the 10 line if things break right for them over the course of the next week.

Of note: Kent State won at Akron.

Atlantic Sun Tournament - Semifinals
No. 6 Mercer beat No. 2 Jacksonville; No. 5 East Tennessee State beat No. 8 Kennesaw State.

OVC Tournament - Semifinals
No. 1 Murray State beat No. 4 Eastern Illinois; No. 2 Morehead State beat No. 6 Tennessee Tech.

MVC Tournament - Quarterfinals
Top-seeded Northern Iowa trailed by one at the half but beat No. 8 Drake 55-40; No. 2 Wichita State beat N0. 7 Missouri State; No. 3 Illinois State beat No. 6 Indiana State; No. 5 Bradley beat No. 4 Creighton.

Horizon Tournament - Second Round
No. 7 Detroit beat No. 3 Green Bay; No. 4 Milwaukee beat No. 5 Cleveland State.

Colonial Tournament - First Round
No. 5 VCU beat No. 12 Delaware; No. 11 James Madison beat No. 6 Drexel; No. 7 Hofstra beat No. 10 Georgia State; No. 8 Towson beat No. 9 UNC-Wilmington.

WCC Tournament - First Round
No. 5 Loyola Marymount beat No. 8 Pepperdine.

MAAC Tournament - First Round
No. 7 Canisius beat No. 10 Marist; No. 9 Manhattan beat No. 8 Loyola (MD).

Southern Tournament - First Round
N6 Elon beat S3 Davidson; N3 Chattanooga beat S6 Georgia Southern; S4 The Citadel beat N5 Samford; N4 UNC-Greensboro beat S5 Furman.

31 comments:

Anonymous said...

Did you catch Joe Lunardi moving Kansas State up to #1 after getting blown out by Kansas?

Bracketology 101 said...

Yeah, we discussed it in depth in the comments section of our Friday bracket. It's insane.

Anonymous said...

JU=Fail. You tie for the conference championship with 3 other teams, who all lose in the first round of the tournament, then turn around and get upset in the second round, you deserve to have your playing license stripped.

Zak said...

As a fan quasi-interested in Legihh not getting the play-in game(I live in the Lehigh Valley home of Lehigh and Lafayette), is it safe to assume that Lehigh will not be in the play-in game anymore given that the A-Sun has blown up?

Anonymous said...

If Saint Mary's loses in the WCC semifinals and Old Dominion loses in the CAA finals, who has a better chance of getting in?

jp23 said...

The Washington Post had an article today about expanding the field. Your thoughts on 96? Do you feel 65 is just fine?

Bracketology 101 said...

If Mercer wins the Atlantic Sun final, they're definitely in the play-in game. ETSU would likely be a 16, but not in the play-in because of their semi-decent 125 RPI.

ODU would have the better chance to get in under that scenario because they advanced a round further and because St. Mary's would have lost to Portland or San Diego (not Gonzaga).

We were actually quoted in that Washington Post story today about tournament expansion (we hate the idea). Here's a link for anyone else who wants to read it:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/05/AR2010030503788.html?sub=AR

Anonymous said...

The issue with expansion is that as of now, the tournament has a decent deal of prestige that would be stripped if it were expanded to 96 teams.

Anonymous said...

How many "bid stealers" would you expect to see in a given year? If, for instance, you expect to see an average of four "bid stealers" per year, then shouldn't the "last four in" really be called the "last four out?"

Anonymous said...

Just wondering... I think VA tech could lose today and still get a bye in the ACC tourney, any chance a team in the top 4 of the ACC gets left out?

Haigin88 said...

I'm still stunned that Lunardi and Seth Davis both have UConn in the field as of now. What alternate reality are they living in?

jp23 said...

The WP article was what got me to the web site. I'll keep up through out the best time of the year!! Keep up the good work!!

Can you guys beam me up to the GMU-VCU game??

James G. said...

B101, Did Florida State just lock up a bid?

Anonymous said...

Would it help Notre Dame's resume if Loyola Marymount keeps winning in the WCC tournament? It sounds like Harongody is playing today at Milwaukee. How will his return impact the Irish?

Bracketology 101 said...

Quick hits...

Virginia Tech will be in our bracket on Monday if they win today.

It doesn't really matter what Loyola Marymont does for ND. It's still a bad loss. With or without Harangoody the Irish need to pick up 2 more wins and they are a lock.

Florida State is a lock.

On average there are about 3 bid stealers a year. We are already accounting for 2 bid stealers in our current bracket (Washington and Memphis). Otherwise our bracket would look like other bracketologists and we would have teams like UConn, VT, and Dayton in. We add the bid stealers to make it more accurate in terms of how many at large bids will likely be available.

Anonymous said...

FSU is safely in now. There's no way 10-6 in the ACC is left out.

The issues now are whether they get a bye in the ACCT and whether they can play their way out of the 8/9 game.

Anonymous said...

Is FSU locked into a 8/9 matchup or could they move up to a 6-7 seed?

Anonymous said...

I know that you guys use RPI above all other stats, but FSU is 17th in pomeroy's rankings, and have only 2 losses to teams ranked lower than them, at 49 florida and home vs 69 NC state, and 12 top 80 wins, along with 3rd in the ACC. FSU is also 27th(a 7 seed, potentially) in the sagarin ratings, with all but two losses to top 20 teams there. They have won 5 of 6, and are one of just 2 ACC teams with 5 road conference wins... It just doesn't FEEL like an 8 seed...

Anonymous said...

As an add-on to the last comment, How can OSU be above FSU, with losses to tulsa, rhode island, texas tech and oklahoma. I thought we established two years ago that Marquee wins weren't enough to make up for mediocre results in other games? Marquette shares FSU's worst loss, but also took a knock at Depaul, and may end up with just ONE win over a tournament team, and LOST to FSU. Also, How is gonzaga a 6 seed with 2 wins over tourney teams and 2 absolutely GROSS losses?

Unknown said...

"Marquette shares FSU's worst loss, but also took a knock at Depaul, and may end up with just ONE win over a tournament team."

which 2 of xavier, georgetown and louisville do you think are not making the ncaat?

Anonymous said...

I'm sorry, that's an awfully terrible oversight. still 3 is less than FSU's 4, and FSU beat Marquette, and FSU doesn't have any loss comparable to the depaul disaster.

Anonymous said...

Mag, Xavier, Georgetown, and Louisville likely all will make the tournament.

Anonymous said...

Thank you for shedding light on an otherwise cloudy situation, 3:37 anonymous.

Unknown said...

"I'm sorry, that's an awfully terrible oversight. still 3 is less than FSU's 4, and FSU beat Marquette, and FSU doesn't have any loss comparable to the depaul disaster."

i'm not sure why we are comparing fsu and marquette. both are comfortably in the ncaat and have similar profiles -- they are in BCS conferences, didn't do much OOC, beat most of the teams worse or close to them and lost to most of the teams better than them. pomeroy has them at 17 and 19, which is basically the same. they probably are going to be seeded between 7 and 10 depending on what happens next week. i think i would rather be a 10 than an 8 or 9 because then you avoid a 1 seed in the 2nd round.

Anonymous said...

Because Marquette is above FSU in the S-curve.

Unknown said...

they are both 8 seeds, which is where they should be at this point. if fsu were a 7 and marquette were a 9, i could see your beef, but not when both are 8s.

Anonymous said...

Jay Bilas and ESPN seem to love Connecticut, but does this loss to USF, put USF ahead of UConn in the Big East bubble discussion?

Anonymous said...

Point rendered moot. ND>Marquette in OT.

Anonymous said...

Does the ginormous win at NOVA upgrade WVU to a 2 seed as long as they win one game in the BE tournament? And is WVU's worst case now a 3 seed?

Anonymous said...

I wonder if Joey Brackets will still have UConn as one of the last four in on Monday.

jiggajake said...

wtf georgia tech in the tourny?