College basketball

[Vrede too]

7:00 pm ET no TV
No. 10 Coastal Carolina < No. 6 Appalachian State
2020 Sun Belt Conference Men's Basketball Tournament
New Orleans, Louisiana
Second round, my Appalachian State (11–9, 17–14) had a 1st round bye

7:00 PM ET ESPN
Wofford < East Tennessee
Southern Conference Championship game
neoplacebo doesn't know how excited he should be.

7:00 PM ET no TV
No. 1 North Dakota State > No. 4 Oral Roberts
Summit League Men's Basketball Tournament
Semifinals, right-wing god is going down.

Woohoo, hat trick!
Appalachian State advances in the tourney.
East Tennessee gets an auto-bid to MM.
Right-wing godlings go home.

[billy.pilgrim]

Auburn is 27 with 6 losses. Interesting, Florida, 12 losses, and lsu,10 losses, are ranked 28 and 30 with similar schedules.

As the article said, the NET need work.
Auburn ain't great this year but they are a hell of a lot better than 27


You also know that something is wrong when Auburn is #6 in old RPI rankings and 27 in the NET.

[Vrede too]

Saint Mary's (CA) (26-7) 51, @#14 BYU (24-8)
Everyone knows that god is Catholic, not a stinkin' Mormon.

Auburn is 27 with 6 losses. Interesting, Florida, 12 losses, and lsu,10 losses, are ranked 28 and 30 with similar schedules.

As the article said, the NET need work.
Auburn ain't great this year but they are a hell of a lot better than 27

You also know that something is wrong when Auburn is #6 in old RPI rankings and 27 in the NET.

AP has Auburn #20, not all that much “better than 27”. LSU is (43) and Florida is (45). Could be that’s more accurate.

Auburn has lost 4 of its last 6.
LSU has been even worse down the stretch.
Florida has lost 3 of its last 5.
All have been sucking lately.

LSU moved up to (29) in NET this week.

I’m not defending NET or offering my own opinion on the rankings, but relevant factors MAY be:

LSU played 2 conference champs in their nonconference season, Utah State and East Tennessee State.
Florida played nonconference #4 Florida State (26-5), #24 Butler (22-9), decent Xavier (19-12), and conference champ Utah State.
Auburn only played nonconference bubble team North Carolina State.

Auburn got stomped by Florida 47-69.
Auburn only beat LSU by a point at Auburn, thus not benefiting Auburn much.

[billy.pilgrim]

Saint Mary's (CA) (26-7) 51, @#14 BYU (24-8)
Everyone knows that god is Catholic, not a stinkin' Mormon.

Auburn is 27 with 6 losses. Interesting, Florida, 12 losses, and lsu,10 losses, are ranked 28 and 30 with similar schedules.

As the article said, the NET need work.
Auburn ain't great this year but they are a hell of a lot better than 27

You also know that something is wrong when Auburn is #6 in old RPI rankings and 27 in the NET.

AP has Auburn #20, not all that much “better than 27”. LSU is (43) and Florida is (45). Could be that’s more accurate.

Auburn has lost 4 of its last 6.
LSU has been even worse down the stretch.
Florida has lost 3 of its last 5.
All have been sucking lately.

LSU moved up to (29) in NET this week.

I’m not defending NET or offering my own opinion on the rankings, but relevant factors MAY be:

LSU played 2 conference champs in their nonconference season, Utah State and East Tennessee State.
Florida played nonconference #4 Florida State (26-5), #24 Butler (22-9), decent Xavier (19-12), and conference champ Utah State.
Auburn only played nonconference bubble team North Carolina State.

Auburn got stomped by Florida 47-69.
Auburn only beat LSU by a point at Auburn, thus not benefiting Auburn much.

Not much different than rankings last year and look where they went. As I've said all season, this team isn't as good as last year's team.

Could be that there is something to the article I posted about the NET penalizing the sec and favoring the big10(?) this year.

The NET will improve, I'll give it time. Meanwhile I'll recognize that Auburn should be well above 27, but nowhere near the top 10 they were last year and I'll continue to root for them to improve, or even catch a few lucky breaks.

[Vrede too]

... Could be that there is something to the article I posted about the NET penalizing the sec and favoring the big10(?) this year....

Could be that the SEC is being abused by NET - I'm not going to do the deep dive into comparisons - but it ain't on behalf of the Big Ten. The Big 12, ACC and Big East are all better situated than the Big Ten, and the Pac-12 is roughly equivalent. Not that I'm suggesting that the Big Ten's being abused. To the extent that I've paid attention, it's earned its slide.

[billy.pilgrim]

... Could be that there is something to the article I posted about the NET penalizing the sec and favoring the big10(?) this year....

Could be that the SEC is being abused by NET - I'm not going to do the deep dive into comparisons - but it ain't on behalf of the Big Ten. The Big 12, ACC and Big East are all better situated than the Big Ten, and the Pac-12 is roughly equivalent. Not that I'm suggesting that the Big Ten's being abused. To the extent that I've paid attention, it's earned its slide.

I didn't say "abused", just that any new system needs work. The RPI was bad but not that bad.

From the article I posted last week.

"Auburn Tigers (RPI: 5, NET: 27)

Auburn has a 24-4 record, five Quadrant 1 wins and a combined 12 victories against the top two quadrants, so it might be hard to fathom why the Tigers are all the way down at No. 27 in the NET—a full 18 spots behind Florida State, which has marks of 24-4, five and 13, respectively. (It's even worse on KenPom.com, where Auburn is ranked No. 39.)"

Even worse for this conference

"the A-10's top six teams having a combined NET rank 121 spots lower than their RPI"

This has to be off. Again, the RPI wasn't that bad.

"For the 14-team Big Ten, its combined NET rank is 323 spots higher.

"The Big Ten has seven teams in the NET top 30, but it only has one team (Maryland) in the RPI top 30. That change would greatly hurt the conference as a whole because it would diminish the quantity of Quadrant 1 games."

"In the NET, the top 12 teams in the Big Ten have a combined Q1 record of 68-92. Switch to RPI, and that plummets to 34-74. On a per-team basis, that's 4.3 fewer Quadrant 1 games and 2.8 fewer Quadrant 1 victories."


The article pointed out that we don't know how the criteria are weighted.
My bet, those weights will change.

[Vrede too]

I didn't say "abused", just that any new system needs work. The RPI was bad but not that bad.

From the article I posted last week.

...

The article pointed out that we don't know how the criteria are weighted.
My bet, those weights will change.

I meant "abused" by result, not by intent.

Except for Michigan State, dammit, the Big Ten's fortunes have crashed a bit since that article was written.

[Vrede too]

7:00 pm ET no TV
No. 10 Coastal Carolina < No. 6 Appalachian State
2020 Sun Belt Conference Men's Basketball Tournament
New Orleans, Louisiana
Second round, my Appalachian State (11–9, 17–14) had a 1st round bye

7:00 PM ET ESPN
Wofford < East Tennessee
Southern Conference Championship game
neoplacebo doesn't know how excited he should be.

7:00 PM ET no TV
No. 1 North Dakota State > No. 4 Oral Roberts
Summit League Men's Basketball Tournament
Semifinals, right-wing god is going down.

Woohoo, hat trick!
Appalachian State advances in the tourney.
East Tennessee gets an auto-bid to MM.
Right-wing godlings go home.

Appalachian State 68, Texas St 85

[Vrede too]

Bubble Watch: Can Northern Iowa still get an at-large bid?

"Can Northern Iowa still get an at-large bid?"
That's a real question?

Probably not.

... 23-6 record. I want to see the Panthers get a shot in the tournament because I’ll always err on the side of the mid-major, but I think that’s a long shot....

Speaking of failures, the 2019-20 O-misery is O-ver:

Miami (FL) 64, Clemson 69
Washington 70, Arizona 77
North Carolina 53, Syracuse 81

Nice, home for the year:

Kansas St 53, TCU 49

I don't really favor it that much between these two, but Colorado had a good run before it collapsed right out of being ranked in the mid teens:

Wash St 82, Colorado 68

[billy.pilgrim]

https://www.ncaa.com/video/basketball-m ... nders-2020

Not too sure about Andy's picks. Seems that the Auburn freshman who will go somewhere between #3 and #10 in the draft when matched against all college players should be included in any list of top ten freshmen.

[O Really]

Speaking of failures, the 2019-20 O-misery is O-ver:

Miami (FL) 64, Clemson 69
Washington 70, Arizona 77
North Carolina 53, Syracuse 81

Nice, home for the year:

Cute. But true. Why drag it out. Everybody go home before somebody (else) gets hurt. As GoCubsGo's Cubbies say "wait 'til next year."

[billy.pilgrim]

I get a kick out of saying, my kid gets to go to the Final Four game

Hope he gets to see your team play.

That would be cool.

I don't see that this Auburn team has the enthusiasm as last year's team. Supposedly we have more talent and the season is young. Last year we lost a bunch in February but won the last 12 or 13, so I can still hope.

The kid is loving his new job. He rode in the Goodyear Blimp a couple of weeks ago and interviews Bryce Brown from last year's Auburn team today. City life suits him fine.

https://www.ncaa.com/news/basketball-me ... basketball

My kid almost got to go to the Final 4 game, unless he can become Essential

Damn Obama, this is all his fault

[billy.pilgrim]

Just heard

SEC tournament canceled

https://www.al.com/alabamabasketball/20 ... celed.html

[Vrede too]

Just heard

SEC tournament canceled

Wow. That sucks, sorry.

With Whack9 and Sometime Lefty's trips still pending, your boy is the closest I've come so far to real world COVID-19 impact.

[billy.pilgrim]

Just heard

SEC tournament canceled

Wow. That sucks, sorry.

With Whack9 and Sometime Lefty's trips still pending, your boy is the closest I've come so far to real world COVID-19 impact.

He wasn't going to the sec tournament, but was going to the Final Four

I assume it will be, but I don't think NCAA has canceled. The report did say limited to "essential" and likely print reporters won't be considered essential.

[Vrede too]

He wasn't going to the sec tournament, but was going to the Final Four

I assume it will be, but I don't think NCAA has canceled. The report did say limited to "essential" and likely print reporters won't be considered essential.

Thanks. My response was originally going under your Final Four post, then I switched to the more current one without thinking when you posted anew while I was composing.

That will be a huge deal for MM to be canceled. At least the SEC has the regular season to base a ranking on - KY wins.

[O Really]

Looks like basketball season is over for all. I read the NCAA said that if Carolina isn't playing they're just going to cancel the whole tournament.

[Vrede too]

He wasn't going to the sec tournament, but was going to the Final Four

I assume it will be, but I don't think NCAA has canceled. The report did say limited to "essential" and likely print reporters won't be considered essential.

Thanks. My response was originally going under your Final Four post, then I switched to the more current one without thinking when you posted anew while I was composing.

That will be a huge deal for MM to be canceled. At least the SEC has the regular season to base a ranking on - KY wins.

But what do I know?

Looks like basketball season is over for all. I read the NCAA said that if Carolina isn't playing they're just going to cancel the whole tournament.

Carolina hasn't been playing for awhile .

2020 NCAA tournament canceled due to coronavirus

Breaking news: NCAA, NBA, NHL, MLB - Despite COVID-19 disruptions economists are predicting an uptick in US male workforce productivity .

[Vrede too]

AP Rankings
NET Rankings
Coaches Rankings
RPI Rankings

Averages (not double checked because why bother?)

Dammit, Kansas 28-3 is the 2019-20 Men's National Champion (1.25)
Dayton 29-2 is #2.75, hooray for Cinderella
Gonzaga 31-2 is #3, Sister O!
San Diego State 30-2 is #6.25, hooray for Cinderella
(might actually be 4th or 5th place if all other averages are higher, I did not figure for teams I don’t like or have no interest in)
Duke 25-6 is #9, top 10!
Oregon 24-7 is #11.5
Maryland 24-7 is #13.5
Auburn 25-6 is #17.25
Wisconsin 21-10 is #21.5
East Tennessee State 30-4 is #28, neo neo!

[O Really]

Or, you could disqualify Kansas and Duke since they pulled their teams out before the official cancellation, disqualify Dayton because Ohio, disqualify the Zags because somewhere they had to have a pervert priest or so running around, and voila! Aztecs win!