Official Selection Sunday Discussion Thread

[nkhera1]

Re: Official Selection Sunday Discussion Thread

Was this the order of the #1 seed:

1. Florida
2. UNC
3. Ohio State
4. Kansas

[Bamafan3723]

Re: Official Selection Sunday Discussion Thread

And Vitale is now screaming ACC homerism on ESPN now. Yelling about FSU should be in. How awesome the ACC is. What a moron.

[nickb]

Re: Official Selection Sunday Discussion Thread

The commitee obviously had favorites in terms of confrences. They are in love with the ACC/Big Ten. They also like the SEC/Pac10, and hate the Big East. They must have seen the Big East as a very weak confrence this year.

[RubenDouglas]

Re: Official Selection Sunday Discussion Thread

i think yall are right about stanford. i stand corrected.

AF in its last 4 loses, lost to teams that averaged around a 82 RPI.

Stanford in its last five games, lost 4, to teams that average an rpi of 48.

stanfords last two wins averaged an rpi of 118.5.
AF last two wins averaged an rpi of 143.

obviously the better team is in.

you just cant lose to teams with crappy RPIs. and AF did just that

[bigeastbumrush]

Re: Official Selection Sunday Discussion Thread

This is complete bulls..

Horrible. Horrible.

Maryland a 4. Duke a 6.

Somebody explain to me how Michigan State got in. Maybe I missed it but everytime I turned on Sportscenter, they lost. What did I miss?

[elicoleman]

Re: Official Selection Sunday Discussion Thread

I'm glad Vitale is heated over Drexel not getting in.

[OSUG1]

Re: Official Selection Sunday Discussion Thread

Was this the order of the #1 seed:

1. Florida
2. UNC
3. Ohio State
4. Kansas

yes

[stalsy2310]

Re: Official Selection Sunday Discussion Thread

Michigan St. is in way before Illinois.

[Psyblast]

Re: Official Selection Sunday Discussion Thread

This is complete bulls..

Horrible. Horrible.

Maryland a 4. Duke a 6.

Somebody explain to me how Michigan State got in. Maybe I missed it but everytime I turned on Sportscenter, they lost. What did I miss?

You missed them beating Texas, Wisconsin and Indiana...there really wasn't any argument against them.

[Sandman42]

Re: Official Selection Sunday Discussion Thread

As was stated earlier, I can't believe that Syracuse and Drexel didn't get in, and Stanford, Illinois, and Arkansas get in over them.

[elicoleman]

Re: Official Selection Sunday Discussion Thread

Atleast kudos on the committe for not screwing up and making sure BYU was playing the Thursday/Saturday games. Congrats.

[ehh]

Re: Official Selection Sunday Discussion Thread

Some initial thoughts outside of the who's in/out controversy....

- Florida has one of the easiest paths to the Final Four in recent memory. I honestly don't think there's a team in the entire bracket that can stay within 15 points of them. Wisconsin is clearly hurt by the Butch injury and aren't the same team. Oregon could get hot but I don't think they have the firepower to stay with UF. Maryland is extremely overrated at a 4-seed and after that they are all average teams or worse.

- A Texas vs. UNC Sweet 16 match up should be awesome, though UT most likely won't stand much of a chance if the UNC machine is rolling. Durant will need 50, which is possible because UNC doesn't have anyone who can come close to matching up with him. I think Terry is too slow and Ginyard is too small, but he's definitely their best bet even though he doesn't play that much.

- I'm really hoping for a G'Town/UNC match up in the Elite 8, it would be awesome to see how UNC can handle the Hoya's offense. They struggled against NC State's similar offense this season and the Hoya's are basically NCSU on steriods. If Costner and McCaulley can be effective it'll be scary to see what Green and Hibbert can do against the Heels.

- Ohio State, like UF, seems to have a relatively easy trip through the early rounds though Xavier might give them some headaches. OSU vs. A&M/Memphis in the Elite 8 will be one to watch. If A&M can get that far it'll be fun to see how they attempt to bottle up Oden.

- The Texas A&M vs. Memphis potential match up will be very interesting. A&M struggled a bit down the stretch but can beat anyone in the nation. This is a bad candidate for the first "real" team Memphis will have to play in three months.

- Kansas could have a battle on their hands on the first weekend vs. Villanova.

- Duke is in outstanding shape considering what they've gone through the last six weeks, they couldn't have asked for a better draw. If they can beat VCU, which I think they will, they get a reeling Pitt team in Round 2 who struggles on offense almost has bad as Duke does. It may be one of those "First to 50 wins" games, but I think Duke has a great chance at reaching the Sweet 16 yet again this year.

- The potential Pitt/UCLA match up of Howland vs his protege and old school sounds interesting in theory, but this may be the most brutal game to watch in the entire tournament. Both teams are suspect offensively (though UCLA clearly has the edge IMO) and pride themselves on tough, physical defense. I said above the Duke/Pitt game could be a First to 50, this one might be a First to 40. Either way, Pitt enters the tourney once again as a high seed, but like the last six years I don't think they're getting past the Sweet 16.

Upsets to Watch For

Hell, you could list half the field so I'll try and limit it....

ODU over Butler
Winthrop over ND
Winthrop over Maryland
G-Tech/UNLV over Wisky
GW over Vandy
Nova over Kansas
VCU over Duke

Early Final Four

Like every year people will say "This is the first year all four 1-seeds make the FF." I'm sure it won't happen, but we'll see.

I think Florida will make it out of the St. Louis region and Ohio State out of the San Antonio region. I think those are the only two 1-seeds who make it to Atlanta. In the East Rutherford region I'm going to take Georgetown over UNC. I think G'Town has several favorable match ups over UNC, plus experience. The San Jose region is the one that's got me stumped. Kansas has a ton of depth and talent and should have learned from last year's early exit, but I don't trust Bill Self in the tourney yet. I'm going to go out on a limb and say Southern Illinois will make it out of the region. I have no logic as to why other than "It's March and anything can happen".

Georgetown vs Ohio State is another fantastic potential match up. All year Oden has played a one-man zone in the paint but he won't be able to do that against G'Town. Like Florida, G'Town is an extremely unselfish team which will help them against a team that has defense ups-and-downs like OSU. Conley could be the difference maker though, as G'Town doesn't have the speed or quickness to contain him on the perimeter.

National Champion

Florida has the stars, the role players, the toughness, the experience and most importantly IMO the unselfishness as a team to win it all. As you can see by today's performance and post game interviews they still have the fire inside and feel as if they have something to prove. If they play their game they are head and shoulders above everyone else. For the third time in the last four years the pre-season #1 will cut down the nets and for the first time in 15 years we'll have back-to-back champions.


I'm sure everything I just typed out will be 100% wrong, but oh well!

[mike01]

Re: Official Selection Sunday Discussion Thread

Texas would be dangerous for UNC but I don't think they could beat them. UNC has too many players they can throw at Durant. A combination of Terry, Dion Thompson, and Brandon Wright could hold him to 30 or so haha.

I think Arizona is dangerous for FLA if they get out of the first round.

Wisconsin could lose to TAMCC.

My final four:
Oregon
Southern Illinois
UNC
Virginia