Joe Lunardi's WAAAYYYY too early Bracketology
Joe Lunardi has posted a way too early bracket for the NCAA Basketball tourney next year. He has Michigan as a 3 seed in the West with a first round match against Butler with possible games against #6 Gonzaga, #2 Baylor and #1 Kentucky.
Other Big Ten team seeds include Indiana with the overall #1, State as a 2, Ohio as a 4, Wisconsin as a 4, Minnesota as an 8, and Purdue as an 11 as well as OHIO(!) as a 9 seed.
Oh shit, we have to play Butler. That's going to be a tough game.
/s
We did lose to Ohio and Butler went to two straight NCAA championshp games. No clue why anyone would understimate them...
April 16th, 2012 at 10:46 PM ^
He's poking fun at the fact that the matchups these bracketologists create are completely arbitrary and meaningless. They may get a high % of the teams predicted correctly (which isn't even that hard to do IMO), but the placement of every team is like pulling names out of a hat.
April 16th, 2012 at 11:52 PM ^
next year
Auburn Hills is hosting for the first weekend of the tournament next year. It would be nice to get a top 4 seed and be able to play at the Palace.
I am going to go ahead and start a pool. who's in?
Let the hype flow. Let the weight of expectations fall fully on that team in Indiana. Personally, I won't buy it until I see them play some defense.
Agreed. I kind of hope we can still play the underdog card next season and fly under the radar. It seems easier to exceed lower expectations than to meet very high expectations. A 3-seed with games at the Palace would be pretty awesome.
Something tells me a top-10 preseason ranking won't go unnoticed
They've got a lot of hype but I can't say it's undeserved. They lose one player of significance (Jones III) and have two draft picks in their front court (Watford being a late 2nd rounder). Their only big problem is defense but they still only lost 7 games without it this year.
This was probably not worth posting.
but your post was an absolute necessity.
/s
That's why I posted it.
Or should I just go back to harassing recruits on twitter?
I think he's got the Big 10 all wrong. I just don't see a Draymond-less MSU and a Jordan Taylor-less Wisco being that high. I think Northwestern, Minnesota and Iowa are vastly underrated, with pretty strong returning casts. Also, I don't see Purdue making the tourney. 4 of their top 6 scorers are gone next year including superman Robbie Hummel.
At this point, it's foolish to have Wisco and MSU as anything other than a B10 contender (and thus a 4 seed or better) every single season. People expect a down year whenever these two schools lose star players and in most years Bo Ryan and Izzo respond with at least B10 contenders.
Sparty has a lot experience left as well as a great recruiting class. And for all the talk of Wisco not having a PG next year - does their "offense" really need one? To only slightly oversimplify, the Bo Ryan offense is based on passing the ball around for 15-20 seconds before taking a mid-range jumper or 3 and then playing solid defense. They've never needed a penetrator or someone to run complex sets on offense. As long as they have a decent inside player (Evans) and a bunch of stretch big (Bergren, etc) they'll be fine.
Wiscy also has A stud freshman coming In to replace Taylor. Bo Ryan also never finished below 4th in The Big Ten. WIscy, MSU, IU, and UM will all be In the mix for a B1G title
I can't seem to find it online though; every link to it leads to his new one. I want to know how he did
When you're getting paid to be "The Bracketology Guy" for any of the big sites, it's sorta expected that you will do some bracketology work during the off season. I like your idea, though: not for actually doing it, but as an illustration that nobody remembers any of this stuff the next day, anyway.
I guess that sorta makes it "Zen Bracketology."
First impressions, not a lot of Big East in the top tier of that bracket. Another down year there outside of Syracuse?
Color me an Indiana believer. Those seniors next year are as experienced as any bunch in the nation. Their defensive issues mostly stemmed from Hulls having to guard the ball which won't be the case next year. He moves into strictly a shooter's role and can be hidden defensively against all but the most elite athletic teams. Oladipo and Sheehey can both really defend. Zeller is a solid defender too. Their new 7 footer Jurkin is very light on his feet. Will foul a ton but he's replacing Pritchard who fouled a ton without the athleticism. This is going to be a very good team. I fully expect Crean to cost them in the Final Four (or sooner) with some boneheaded in-game managing. But I'll be legit surprised if they aren't a 1 or 2 seed come March 2013
I've got to work on the Thursday so really hope it's a late Thursday or Friday.
I doubt that Baylor and Kentucky will be in the same region again.
Midwest
1. Indiana
2. North Carolina*
3. Michigan St.
4. Memphis
East
1. Louisville
2. Michigan
3. NC State
4. Duke
South
1. Kentucky
2. Kansas*
3. Ohio St.
4. Florida
West
1. UCLA
2. Baylor
3. San Diego St.
4. Arizona
- UCLA is my Mizzou of 2012-13
- I have Kansas being the higheest #2 seed and preferring the Midwest, however, I have IU being the #1 overall seed...you don't want to have the first #1 and #2 in the same region --- thus they're swapped with UNC
- NC State is assuming C.J. Leslie stays
- I believe you can have NC State and Duke at the 3-4 in the East because they'd be on opposite sides of the region
Personally, I think next year is PRIME for an underdog/cinderella to make it to the Final Four, but I'll go with the teams listed...
#1 Indiana vs. #2 UNC
#1 Louisville vs. #2 Michigan
#1 Kentucky vs. #3 Ohio St.
#1 UCLA vs. #3 SDSU
-----------------------------------
#1 Indiana vs. #3 SDSU
#2 Michigan vs. #1 Kentucky
-----------------------------------
#3 SDSU vs. #2 Michigan
(sidenote: ESPN Films Fab 5 is shown for 48 hours straight on ESPN2)
-----------------------------------
National Champion: #2 Michigan
April 16th, 2012 at 10:30 PM ^
thought Andy said we're a TOP 5 TEAM! A 3 seed would not be a top 5 team!