Does Anyone Want to Make the Tournament?

by awiggo on Mar 13, 2008 10:32 PM CDT in Basketball Comment 7 comments

For the first time since I've started following the field of 65 closely, there simply aren't 65 worthy teams. There are about 55 teams that should be in the tournament and another 20 or so that wouldn't make the field in previous years, but 10 of them will see their names this Sunday.

Aside, I hate it when the ESPN pudits simply say 'in' or 'out'. That is not enough. You have to build a field of 65. You can't simply say that everyone of these questionable teams is out. They can't all be out. Joe Lunardi does build a field each day on ESPN.com but the television guys don't ever mention who the 65 teams are. They just say 'in' or 'out', and that is not constructive at all.

Take a look at how the bubble teams did this afternoon and this evening. Just about every team on the bubble today did the same thing. They lost.

Big East
Villanova 82, Syracuse 63 (Wed)
Georgetown 82, Villanova 63

SEC
Alabama 80, Florida 69
Georgia 97, Mississippi 95

ACC
Boston College 71, Maryland 68

Big XII
Colorado 91, Baylor 84

Pac 10
Southern Cal 59, Arizona St. 55
Washington State 75, Oregon 70

Conference USA
Tulsa 78, UAB 69
UTEP 80, Houston 77

Atlantic 10
Xavier 74, Dayton 65
Charlotte 69, UMass 65

Update [2008-3-14 9:53:33 by awiggo]:
Mountain West
Utah 82, New Mexico 80

Does anyone want to make the tournament? Ohio State, Kansas State, and Virginia Tech will have their opportunities to fall flat tomorrow.

In mid-major conferences, Virginia Commonwealth, South Alabama, and St. Mary's all lost in their conference tournaments earlier in the week. Their at-large bids are now very questionable.

There were a few teams that helped themselves today: Texas A&M, West Virgina, Miami, Temple, UNLV, and St. Joe's among them.

--AW--

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Aggies

A&M was about as pathetic as a team can be and still get a win. They are very, very fortunate to have won on a day when so many others went down. This is a deeply flawed team with a coach who is in over his head. Maybe they would have been better off losing and going to the NIT.

by Caradoc on Mar 14, 2008 12:31 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs

AW

DO you think that a trip to the A10 final would get Temple in? I asked PB about them a week or so ago and he was unimpressed. I think they're worth a clsoe look. Beaten UMASS, Xavier, Charlotte, Dayton..2nd in A10. Real hot over their last 15 games. Yet, nobody's been talking about them.

I have a passing interest because of their coach. Fran Dunphy led Penn to the tournament pretty much his entire tenure there. Now, he's got Temple back on track while Penn's in the toilet.

Thoughts on their chances with all these other teams stumbling?

by Blitzburgh on Mar 14, 2008 1:21 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Temple Owls

Maybe. With Dayton, UMass, and Rhode Island all doing nothing in the conference tournament, they are all probably out. St. Joe's has a shot from the A-10 too.

Temple and St. Joe's split during the season, have comparable overall records, and RPIs, but Temple was two games up on St. Joe's in conference. For that reason alone, I'd have to give the nod to Temple for the second A-10 bid. The Owls do need to win today, though, and make the finals to have a legitimate case.

I will also add that the only reason Temple has a shot is b/c of all the other teams losing, not becauase of anything they've done special.

--AW--

by awiggo on Mar 14, 2008 8:50 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Best to Coach Fran Dunphy

As a Quaker myself will always root for Dunph. He put some great teams together w/out scholarships and put a hell of of scare into the Horns in the 1st round 2 years ago. Never been more torn for a game in my life. I hope they make it.

by Horndogger on Mar 14, 2008 10:39 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

i was at that game at American Airliens

First time I've ever rooted against the Horns. Was a fun game and actually damn close.

by Blitzburgh on Mar 14, 2008 12:56 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Lobos lose by 2

New Mexico was another bubble team that failed to help itself today, losing to Utah.

I really can't see St. Mary's as a questionable team for an at-large, though. Their RPI is in the solid range (41), they were ranked in the polls most of the year, they have good wins over two Top 25 RPI teams (Drake and Gonzaga), plus a win over #56 Oregon. I think they're in, particularly considering how the rest of the field looks.

by JudenSmithFan on Mar 14, 2008 3:06 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs

St. Mary's

is in. They shouldn't have been thrown in that sentence with the other two. My only point was that they weren't making themselves any prettier for the committee by losing.

--AW--

by awiggo on Mar 14, 2008 8:44 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs