I don't really care about Cronin giving his opinion, but I don't believe his theory either.

Do people really thing the annual great story matchups between coaches and their former teams, etc are purely random? Joey Brackets now has UC slated to match up with WVU in the second round...would that really shock anyone?

No it wouldn't shock me if we matched up with WV or any of the other 4 seeds.

I believe you missed the point. I believe the committee will over seed or under seed by a line if needed to make a few of these happen every year. It could as easily happen this year with UC as a 6 and WVU as a 3.

Have you honestly never watched the selection show and laughed when these match-ups pop up "randomly"?

(03-07-2017 09:15 AM)rath v2.0 Wrote:  Do people really thing the annual great story matchups between coaches and their former teams, etc are purely random? Joey Brackets now has UC slated to match up with WVU in the second round...would that really shock anyone?

Yes... there are a ton of great story matchups that are possible and you are always going to get a few. You could look at the bracket every year and find a bunch more great matchups the committee could have made happen. They don't have to force anything to get it to work, especially with the bracketing procedures where they try to keep teams closer to home when possible.

68 teams. Limiting travel. Trying to avoid Conference foes playing early when leagues are putting 8-10 teams in gets tricky along with not duplicating a matchup that happened in season. You are going to increase your chances of a "made for tv" match when only 32 teams remain.

Committee has no power over the regular season. Duke was penciled in as a 1 seed and now probably ends up a 4. WVU had a chance at one point of being a 2. The blue bloods are always going to have seasons that put them in position for a 1/2 seed. Given our location that means UK/UL are probably going to find their way into our bracket on most occasions. If we want "protection" we have to reach the next tier.

Who should we play and where? Florida in Orlando? Purdue in Milwaukee? Arizona in Salt Lake? UCLA in Sacramento? Duke in Greenville?

(03-03-2017 02:01 PM)doss2 Wrote:  Anyone who tells you life is fair is a fool or a liar. It's not fair. Of course the rich get breaks. Work hard to beat them.

UC is richer than rich.

(03-07-2017 02:19 PM)bulldog23 Wrote:  

(03-03-2017 02:01 PM)doss2 Wrote:  Anyone who tells you life is fair is a fool or a liar. It's not fair. Of course the rich get breaks. Work hard to beat them.

UC is richer than rich.

Rich is relative. Unless you're suggesting that UC cashes bigger checks than our P5 brethren.

I don't think the committee moves teams up or down more than a seed or two but I do think when they see a potential storyline like u of L as a 2 potentially playing nku as the 15 they are going to make that 2-15 combo happen over others.

(03-02-2017 06:18 PM)ctipton Wrote:  Cronin then offered an example of what he believes are sometimes incorrect seedings.

“My first year at Murray State (2003-04 season), we were a 12 seed. We played Illinois, a 5. In the same pod, Cincinnati was a 4 and played East Tennessee State. It was probably coach (Bob) Huggins’ worst (UC) NCAA Tournament team. They were in disarray late in the year. They had guys suspended, guys injured. East Tennessee State lost (to UC) at the buzzer (80-77). We played Illinois a very tough game (72-53 loss), and then they blew UC out (92-68).

“Illinois had multiple NBA players. Deron Williams was their best player. They were clearly the better team, talent-wise. It wasn’t even close. They were a 5 and Cincinnati was a 4, so you just don’t know. It’s the luck of the draw. I’m a firm believer that the NCAA Tournament committee, and everything is so financially driven, that no matter what is said on that (Selection) Sunday, they’re trying to sell tickets.”

This story doesn't make any sense.

How is Illinois-Murray State and Cincinnati-ETSU going to "sell more tickets" than Illinois-ETSU and Cincinnati-Murray State? The matchups aren't that compelling, and the games were held on the same day in the same arena so it's not like travel was an issue.

Maybe Mick is saying that the Tourney committee *knew* that Murray State was a much, much stronger first round opponent than ETSU? And screwed over his Murray State team to have a more compelling 2nd round matchup?

That's pretty farfetched - the Committee isn't that good at their jobs. Most of them never coached or played basketball. And it's ludicrous to expect them to know the intimate details of all 100 teams that have a shot at the tourney - even coaches only know that for 30-40 teams, and the committee members have real jobs on top of their Committee responsibilities. We've all seen the Madness enough to know that it's completely unpredictable anyways.

The only explanation I can fathom this. Mick is talking about the 2004 tournament. The opening round for Cincinnati/ETSU/Murray State/Illinois was played in Columbus ... more friendly to U.C. than any of the other teams. Did the committee perceive us (UC) as the biggest draw, hence the hence the highest seed and the convenient location???