NCAA seeding...
 

I didn't mind the job the selection committee did on the teams they left in and out. I would've put in Syracuse and Drexel and left out Stanford and Illinois (based on them losing those 2 players down the stretch).

But the seeding of these teams by the committeee was HORRIBLE!
Some were seeded too high. Some too low.

Too high (I mean for example if you're a 5 seed, you shoulda been a 7 seed) were Gonzaga, Butler and Tennessee

Too low (for example if you were a 7 seed, you shoulda been a 5 seed) were Nevada, Louisville, and Winthrop.

I don't have a bracket in front of me, so I could've named more. Feel free to add to the debate, agree or disagree if you want.

agree with each point...good analysis:D

How do they justify teams that dont win 20 games getting in? I mean out of 30 or more games, 20 should be the benchmark regardless of SOS.

I think Stanford was the only one to get an at large bid with less than 20 wins. While I adamantly am against Stanford getting in they did only play 30 games while a lot of other teams played 33 or 34 so it isn't really that fair to say that their 18-12 isn't allowed but 20-14 would be fine.

What is the worst record ever to make it?? MIAMI(OHIO) AT 18-14 has to be getting close to the worst record ever.

There have been 3 or 4 teams with losing records make it. I remember Siena was like 13-20 one year and won the play-in game before losing the eventual champion Maryland.

As bad as it is, sometimes I think the storyline gets a team in the tourney...for example, Illinois, funny how they're bracketed to take on Southern Illinois in the second round if both should win their first round games. Would be great to see SIU roll over Bruce Weber's underachieving Illini. Nothing against Weber, I love the guy as a coach, it's just a story and we all know the tournament is as much about the journey as it is the destination.

IT IS ABSOLUTLEY GREAT. SIU has always wanted to play Illinois (especially in the last 8 years) and they want no part of us, well now, I am praying that they are FORCED to play us so we can MOP them by 20....I can CARE LESS ABOUT MY FUTURE WAGERS, I would gladly forfeit them for a chance at Illini and SMOKING THEM so I can talk ish for the next 8 years until they force us to play again.....

There is nothing stopping them from playing the max # of games. Too hard for the smaller schools to get in when mediocre power conference teams get in with 18 wins. If you cant win 66% of your games in a given year you should be in the NIT.

I think the NIT this year is actually one of the more interesting tournaments they've had:

http://www.cstv.com/auto_pdf/p_hotos...f/2007-Bracket

For anyone that bets the games in the tourney you can learn a lot by watching this and seeing if any trend develops like Big East teams going 4-0 against SEC teams or something like that. Last year two CAA teams made the Final Four of the NIT and George Mason went to the Final Four in the NCAAs. A Missouri Valley team made the Final Four and Wichita St went to the Elite 8. There are a lot of correlations between the success of conferences in the NIT and the NCAAs although it is very important to watch whatever games you can to not allow any results where a team just quit on the season to cloud your judgement.

Agree, with schools being able to make their own schedules, they can schedule whoever they want. SIU can GET NO GAMES, none at all. Listen to this. THE ONLY reason we got to play Indiana this year was because Indiana Football needed a game filler, they asked SIU Football (Division 2) to play them, SIU told them, "You want that game, then we get a 2 game contract with your basketball team, at Indiana/at SIU".....they agreed.

Not to beat a dead horse but Stanford lost 4 out of its last 5 (all goodteams except ASU-who sucks) and was 4-7 in its last 11 games! Lost 1 st round in its conf tourney. Disgrace. They'll probably go to the elite 8

Nevada - Creighton may be one of the toughest games in the tourney. I had Nevada as a 4 and Creighton as a 6 yet they are playing in a 7-10 game.

Believe me, I agree 100% on you with Stanford.

http://www.derbytrail.com/forums/showthread.php?t=10751

I just don't think a 20 game minimum is a good idea since you could easily have a 19-11 team be a lot better than a 20-14 team some year. There actually are rules preventing teams from playing so many games. You are only allowed 2 exempt tournaments every 4 years or something like that where the games only count as 2 towards your total even if you play 4. So getting more than 30 games isn't something every team is allowed. It would also create a situation where you had a 10 team league and the 6th and 7th place team both have 19 wins overall. The 7th place team gets to play the 10th place team in the opening round and gets their 20th win before losing to the 2 seed. The 6 seed loses opening round to the 3 seed. Now you are saying the 7 seed has become eligible by finishing lower in the leauge than the 6 seed. Getting a bye in your tournament would become a detriment.

I will be attending that game

That should be a pretty awesome game. The winner of that is a major threat to Memphis. You got a little shafted in the rest of the games there though. Arizona-Purdue isn't the most exciting 8-9 game and I can't see either giving Florida a game. Jackson St should be in the play in game and North Texas should be a 16 seed. At least hopefully Florida and Memphis will be entertaining in their shallackings.

I just read where the chair of the committee said that Syracuse was hurt by the unbalanced league schedule. What are they suppoed to do about that? I am far from a Syracuse fan but to hold the way a conference is set up against a team is stupid. I know that its a hard job and its impossible to make everyone happy but I think that more of the criteria should be required. You should have to have a winning conference record, SOS must be under 100 for power conferences, higher for midmajors, win at least 20 games or 66% of your games. If you do all these things then you are eligible to play in the tourney. If not then you better win the conference tourney. Having mid majors makes the tourney special, not the Stanfords or Illinois of the world.

U of AZ grad. Hoping for a miracle.

I will be in Lexington on Thursday but with OSU and Louisville and Xavier all within a short drive tickets will be hard to come by.

Im loving UNC's bracket right now...should be fairly smooth sailing to the Elite 8. If they meet G'Town, I will have great cause for concern.

May not get by Texas. Very scary team.

Roy just simply has to stay on their asses. Their problem is they are good, and they know it. Too much bullsh*t from them at times. If he keeps them focused, they can play with any team in the country. But, that is a big if....

The superconferences are hurting the sport a lot. No conference should have so many teams that you can't play each team twice and if you do you should absolutely be split into divisions. I think the committee is sending their disapproval on this trend to big conferences. The end result though is that Syracuse has year after year scheduled one of the more pathetic non-conference schedules. They knew it was going to burn them one of these times and it finally did. They are going to have to adjust in the future or risk not making the tourney. They played 6 games non-conference against teams in the top 140 in the RPI. Niagara is in the play-in game and they are in the top 140. In those six games they went 3-3. They beat Penn, Hofstra, and Holy Cross. They lost to Wichita St, Oklahoma St, and Drexel. Of their 14 non-conference games they had 12 at home and one in NYC against Oklahoma St. If they want to improve their tournament resume they have to go on the road more than once in the non-conference schedule. It can only help their recruiting base to play a few games on the road. So while I would have put Syracuse in for sure, I can't feel sorry for them when their only road game non-conference was two hours away at RPI #247 Canisius.

Well that certainly makes it a much more interesting 8-9 game. Unlike Syracuse, Arizona played a great non-conference schedule. Nine of their eleven non-conference games were against teams in the top 83 in the RPI.

Texas has the best player and you know what can happen if he gets hot and the supporting cast fills the roles...

Yeah, that was another seeding that totally baffled me. Poll every team in the tourney and ask them if they'd rather play Texas or Washington St and see how it turns out. Yet somehow Texas got the 4 seed while Wash St got the 3. It isn't like it was an RPI thing since Texas was 25 and Washington St was 26.

ala carmelo Anthony

My final four right now

Oregon, Kansas, Georgetown, A&M

Kansas/Georgetown

Kansas

(Kansas is exactly like NC in regards to what Kev said, they have a year experience, and will take it 1000% seriously after getting bounced last year in the first round)

Texas record vs. Top 25 opponents 3-4
UNC record vs. Top 25 opponents 7-0

I agree that Boehiem shoots himself in the foot with his nonconfernece schedule but he cant control what the Big East does. If the committee does not like the super conferences then issue a statement but it is not fair to hold politics against college kids and the fans.

Throw it out the window in a single elimination tourney. Everybody is 0-0. Texas coach Barnes may be one of the worst in game coaches I have ever seen. He seemingly has no clue what is going on. His teams make a lot of mental mistakes. But they have a really good point guard and the best player outside of the NBA which can be a lethal combination.

Well I don't think it is just politics. In the end Syracuse had a non-conference schedule that was detrimental and in conference only had three quality wins to go with two bad losses. I get a feeling the comittee chair making the statement he did about unbalanced conference schedules was the equivalent of issuing a statement but that Syracuse was excluded based on their full resume, not because of politics.

Lots of good points here guys.

Just in case you haven't signed up yet, here's the info for the Derbytrail FREE bracket pool through Yahoo (info on another DT thread)-

http://www.derbytrail.com/forums/showthread.php?t=10694

I hope to see you guys in...

Then why not just say "Syracuse just did not play a strong enough nonconference schedule with enough success to be included"? All that crap about not playing each team twice is pathetic. Why? Because while you dont play the tough teams twice you also dont play the patsies twice and in some seasons dont play some of the patsies at all. Texas Tech really does not belong either. I know Air Force kind of faded late but they were more qualified that Stanford and TT both of whom they beat.

I hear what you are saying Chuck, but some of that has to be taken into consideration. Does it not mean that your team has shown the propensity (look it up Scavs) to get the job done against opponents more closely matched talent wise?

I hated the interviews with the head of the committee as well this year. He seemed totally clueless or just afraid to say what they were actually thinking. They should get a new spokesman and point out exactly why they excluded any team they get asked about. I bet if they rattled off some numbers about Syracuse like I did people would be a lot less bothered by it than they are by the garbage he was spouting. Stanford, TT, and Arkansas are all a joke. There are ten teams I could argue getting in before them. I don't really get the backlash by a lot of people on Illinois though. They seemed deserving to me.

Sniper, they are brutal, absolutely brutal, they will lose that game by 20. I hope they win because SIU will SMOKE them but they are going to get smoked by VT

I guess what pisses me off the most is this idea that this is such a "hard" job and the committee must be locked up for 5 days to make all these tough decisions. 90% of the field is settled by last week. An upset in a conference final may upset things a bit but it should not be as complicated as they make it.

Thanks for getting the link to the NIT bracket...here's my "Final 4" in the "other" tournament...for what it's worth -

FLORIDA ST. / WEST VIRGINIA / KANSAS ST. / SYRACUSE
SYRACUSE over WEST VIRGINIA

I understand what you are saying and in normal circumstances I would agree but Durant is a giant x factor. There will be no one on the floor that is close to him talentwise. But Barnes is so bad ....

Syracuse may not show up.
I like Air Force