Selection Sunday update on seeding/potential playing locations
My apologies for the block of text. I won't be able to edit this post today but feel it's needed ahead of the fireworks tonight. Mods, if you want to throw some paragraphs into this thing for the sake of people's eyes, that'd be helpful...
Michigan is currently the 3rd 3 seed on bracketmatrix, but still have some outside chances of moving up. Our chances of getting a 2 seed come down to both Tennessee and Cincinnati losing today and falling behind us. Based on where they are now (UC 3rd 2 seed, UT 1st 3 seed), unless they both lose badly I don't know that it's possible. The 2 seed locations are Charlotte, Nashville, Pittsburgh and Detroit. Charlotte and Nashville will be swallowed up by Duke/UNC or if UNC gets a 1 seed then either Xavier or Kansas would get Nashville. That leaves Detroit and Pittsburgh, but to get Detroit we'd need to jump not only UC and UT, but MSU and Purdue as well. I doubt we make that sort of jump if we haven't already, but hopping MSU is possible if the committee does the right thing (lol).
If we get to a 2 seed, it's behind Purdue as the 4th 2 seed with us playing in Pittsburgh. Much more likely is staying where we are, but possibly jumping UT, maybe UC (I think this is possible with WSU losing yesterday, making a loss today much worse), or possibly MSU. 3 seed locations are Nashville, Wichita, and two Dallas slots. As the current 3rd 3 seed behind MSU and UT we're in one of those Dallas slots, which is the furthest location we could be in outside of dropping to a 4 seed (all 4 seed locations are out west). If we can pass UT, that gets us to Wichita at least. Nashville is hundreds of miles closer though.
To get there we'd need to either jump both UC and UT with MSU getting a 2 seed, or jump one of the teams playing today along with MSU. Nashville is also in the south regiom, which would include Virginia as the 1 and possibly Cincinnati as the 2 if they win and stay put. I'd prefer that to playing in Wichita, which right now would have Nova as 1 and Duke/UNC as 2. The team that could help even more would be Arizona.
The matrix hasn't updated since their win last night, so they could conceivably hop us, though they have a long way to go from the 4th 4 seed. Them jumping up could be to our benefit as they are closest to Dallas. So for rooting interests today, root for UT and UC to lose badly and the committee to put MSU below us, or if not AZ above us. Of course, I think our boys can beat anyone anywhere if they continue to play like they have been. The location will definitely matter though to us fans who want to see the first couple rounds.
Go Blue!
MOD EDIT - I am guessing at breaks here. Not sure what the OP intended for breaks. - LSA
March 11th, 2018 at 10:35 AM ^
must heavily weigh record and/or no bad losses. That is MSU's only real argument - 4 losses all year, all to Top 20 teams, and 3 to Top 10 Teams.
But man - I am with Matte. We beat them twice by double digits, and did not have a home game to do it. Sparty's BIG schedule was pathetic - no Michigan, Purdue, Nebraska or Penn State road games. Their own tough BIG road game - Ohio State, where they were blown out. In their BIG games v mediocre opponents, they had MANY close calls, and did not look dominant at any time over the past 15 games or so.
If the Selection Committee has been watching any real basketball - we are CLEARLY better than Sparty right now.
KenPom uses opponent-adjusted efficiency margins. Wins and losses literally don't matter. With the exception of the Michigan games, MSU has been much better against their opponents than the average team. That's fine -- it doesn't make Michigan's accomplishments any less valid.
I really wish people would stop obsessing over MSU's seed. This isn't RCMB. Michigan doesn't need validation from MSU.
March 11th, 2018 at 11:04 AM ^
they have much better losses than us. For example we lost to LSU and Northwestern, while they lost to Michigan 82-72 and they lost to Michigan again 75-64. If you go back to last year they had another great loss to Michigan 86-57.
March 11th, 2018 at 11:21 AM ^
The ends will justify the means.
March 11th, 2018 at 11:11 AM ^
March 11th, 2018 at 12:04 PM ^
I guessed at paragraphs there. Hopefully, that it looks better than it did.
Text walls, man. Yikes. It's kind of like reading old Roman tablets.
March 11th, 2018 at 10:25 AM ^
Boston hosts the overall East Regional, but other than that and Charlotte, it is really bizarre that no cities out of Providence, Philly, NY, Newark, DC, Baltimore, or anywhere in Florida, etc are hosting... especially with a ton of teams clearly making it from the ACC and Big East, (as well as A-10 usually with a good representation)--- not to mention cities that are friendly to B1G teams.
March 11th, 2018 at 10:09 AM ^
We gon bust whatever bitch ass school the committee puts in front of us.
March 11th, 2018 at 10:16 AM ^
March 11th, 2018 at 10:20 AM ^
March 11th, 2018 at 10:26 AM ^
While I'm far from a basketball expert, after watching the UNC/Virginia game last night I'd say I Hope Michigan doesn't play in the same region as Virginia. I'd much rather have xavier/UC/Nova/UNC, etc. as the 1/2.
March 11th, 2018 at 10:36 AM ^
March 11th, 2018 at 10:58 AM ^
the round of 16, we're going to have to beat high quality teams. No getting around it. But I frankly like our chances in a rematch against UNC on a neutral floor.
March 11th, 2018 at 12:28 PM ^
March 11th, 2018 at 10:46 AM ^
March 11th, 2018 at 11:07 AM ^
March 11th, 2018 at 10:55 AM ^
March 11th, 2018 at 10:58 AM ^
March 11th, 2018 at 11:07 AM ^
Will the bracket be leaked again this year?? Not sure why they have to wait until 6pm if these conference championship games barely affect the seeding anyways.
March 11th, 2018 at 11:09 AM ^
are capable of pulling the upset against Duke or NC?
March 11th, 2018 at 11:41 AM ^
March 11th, 2018 at 11:34 AM ^
March 11th, 2018 at 11:41 AM ^
March 11th, 2018 at 11:44 AM ^
That would be a great matchup, although Haas couldn't stay in front of Ayton if he tried. I think Purdue has a deeper team but that would be a fascinating game.
Purdue beat Zona by 25. Ayton got his (22 vs. 12 for Haas) but as a team Arizona played like shit.
March 11th, 2018 at 11:54 AM ^
I mostly want this to happen so that I could see how many MSU fans go apeshit and say that they are boycotting Little Caesar’s.
March 11th, 2018 at 12:33 PM ^
March 11th, 2018 at 12:43 PM ^
Little Caesar’s doesn’t deliver pizzas...
March 11th, 2018 at 12:20 PM ^
March 11th, 2018 at 12:56 PM ^
What? Seeds aren't assigned to locations. They travel with the team to that location. Kansas will absolutely be in Wichita.
They start at the top of the S-Curve and assign pods to teams in order. The only way Kansas wouldn't get Wichita is if it were a more convenient location for two higher seeds. That's not possible -- given that WSU is the host (and thus ineligible to play there), I doubt there are two D-I programs closer to Wichita than Kansas is.
if the ncaa truly cared about protecting the top 16 teams they could wait until after selection sunday to figure out where to play the games.
it's obvious that there are way more good teams fighting for the charlotte, detroit and nashville venues. there's no reason to have those venues locked in before the selection. they could easily just add several other venues for the first two rounds.
if the nit can make last minute decisions on venues, i would think the more important tournament could too.
I don't even know where to begin.
They can make last-minute venue decisions for the NIT because they're held at campus sites, which means the gyms are often unused anyway, and nobody goes to the NIT except a skeleton ESPN crew and a few student season-ticket holders.
Expecting LCA, the United Center, Bankers' Life, etc. to all hold their schedule for a 5-6 day window on the off chance that the NCAA wants to host there is asinine.