TOURNEY WATCH: 3/29/2010
by BracketCat on Mar 29, 2010 12:00 PM CDT
in Men's Basketball
14 comments
Pop goes the Big 12!
For what we thought might be the best conference in the country, the failure to advance a single team to the Final Four is a pretty strong indictment against that notion.
Oklahoma State and Texas were big disappointments — both should have been able to win first-round games against lower-seeded, mediocre ACC teams.
Texas A&M had a great shot at its first Sweet Sixteen in three years, but just couldn't score down the stretch.
Baylor, K-State and Missouri did about as much as could be expected, and for the two that reached the Elite Eight, circumstances (see: questionable officiating and unfavorable turnaround times, respectively) simply weren't in their favor.
But it all traces back to Kansas. The so-called best team in the country dealt a death blow to the league's reputation with its showing in Oklahoma City. After that, nothing short of a run to the championship by either K-State or Baylor — or both — could have salvaged the Big 12's standing.
AP Ranking = 7
ESPN/USA Today Ranking = 7
NCAA Seed = 2 (West Region)
Record = 29-8
- Loyola Chicago (14-16)
- Western Illinois (13-17)
- Boston University (21-14)
- No. 2* seed Ole Miss (24-10)
- No. 3* seed Dayton (23-12)
- IUPUI (25-11)
- FHSU (22-7)
- Washington State (16-15)
- No. 6 seed Xavier (26-9)
- No. 8 seed UNLV (25-9)
- Alabama (17-15)
- No. 16 seed UAPB (18-16)
- Cleveland State (16-17)
- South Dakota (22-10)
- No. 10 seed Missouri (23-11)
- No. 5 seed Texas A&M (24-10)
- Colorado (15-16)
- No. 8 seed Texas (24-10)
- No. 7 seed Oklahoma State (22-11)
- No. 3 seed Baylor (28-8): Loss to No. 1 seed Duke (78-71 in the NCAA Tournament)
- No. 1 seed Kansas (33-3)
- Nebraska (15-18)
- Iowa State (15-17)
- Oklahoma (13-18)
- No. 5* seed Texas Tech (19-16)
- No. 15 seed North Texas (24-9)
- No. 7 seed BYU (30-6)
- No. 5 seed Butler (32-4)
*NIT
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You're not going to convince me the Big lEast was the best conference
Syracuse and Nova destroyed that rep. I suppose there was no best conference.
The Horizon conference is still undefeated...
woot?
Hail to the Purple, Hail to the White
Wildcat in spirit, Wildcat in fight
Hail Alma Mater from sea to sea
Onward forever, Hail Victory!
But not the regular season champ
Which means more, in the long run.
Sorry, not buying it. All year, all we heard about was Syracuse and Villanova. Well, scratch that.
The Tourney really only proved one thing...
that on any given night with only one game to continue on…any team can go down to another.
I sitll wonder about the officiating....
I know no one likes to talk about it, but when the announcers multiple times during games cite blown calls and EVERY one went against Kstate and Baylor, I am bothered. I can see how Duke was going to get the calls down the stretch with a huge fan base and support, but more than a handful of neutral friends from other states watched the games and told me they shut them off bc it appeared so biased. I’m over our loss, but all I want is consistency and as a former official myself, the blown calls may have influenced the outcome of both games and that leaves with me a distaste for college basketball right now.
Get ready to roll...Go Cats!
I will only say this;
When three Big Ten teams advance to the Sweet Sixteen and two of them do so without the benefit of having their star player (with one still going), one must wonder if 5 teams were too few for the league.
Less memorable than Sam Okey's Hawkeye career.
I'm not so sure of that
Given that those are the top 3 teams in their league, it’s not surprising. Illinois was a borderline bubble team, but then again so was Minnesota. The drop off after those 6 was pretty steep.
Given the hectic nature of the tournament this year, it’s real hard to say who the best conference was based on the results. The Big 10 did about what was expected – sans Michigan State (but normal rules don’t apply to them in the tournament). The same could be said about the Big 12, sans Kansas (but normal rules don’t apply to them in the tournament).
I think 5 was about right.
Surgeon General's Warning: K-State-Mizzou basketball may increase the risk of high blood pressure. Please consult your doctor prior to watching any of these games.
Why not take it one round farther
and compare Elite 8’s? B12 – 2, B10/11 – 1.
‘Oh but wait! Go one more! Count the Final Four teams!’ B12 – 0, B10/11 – 1.
Or is it by total conference Tournament wins? B12 – 9, B10/11 – 9 (chance for two more).
Oh! But 7 Big 12 teams played to get 9 wins, only 5 Big 10/11 teams made it and have to date 9 wins!
Which Big 10 would you have added? 7-11 Conf (15-17 overall) Michigan or 7-11 Conf (20-14 overall) Northwestern (with the 300th rated non-con RPI, by kenpom)???? No thanks.
--VegasCat07
Forgot about Illinois...
who would have really just been taking also borderline Minnesota’s spot…
--VegasCat07
Wow, talk about over-reacting.
There’s a reason I prefaced my post with “I will only say this” because I specifically was not slamming another league (and if a conference deserved my ire it would be the Big East). You also made a major logical leap that “too few” meant “four more teams”. Yes, specifically I would have added Illinois and that is it. Were they great? No, but their resume contained more quality than Florida State or Louisville and, considering those two teams came from conferences that received a bloated number of bids, I simply feel the bids should have been more evenly distributed.
Calm down. This was not a post about a bad Big XII (it was really good) or an overrated K-State team (I had them in my Final Four), but more about how CBB seems to be drinking the Big East Kool-Aid the way CFB has been drunk with ESSS EEEE CEEE SPEEEED for a decade.
Less memorable than Sam Okey's Hawkeye career.
by Kyle McCann't on Mar 30, 2010 10:57 AM CDT up reply actions
If my statement was taken
to mean I thought you wanted four more bids for the Big 10, then it was misunderstood.
The reply/edit to my post was intending to show that my opinion is that Illinois making it in is fine – but it would have been at the expense of Minnesota. I’m not convinced either MINN’s or ILL’s was better than LOU’s or FSU’s resume…
--VegasCat07
Nah
League was way too top-heavy.
Frankly, Minnesota didn’t even belong in. They should have picked one of the teams that made the NIT Final Four, instead.
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