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As I scanned the “bitch” columns today, there was more whining for Monmouth than for the Bonnies…which I really don’t understand. The media types are giving Monmouth “credit” for scheduling UCLA and Georgetown even though both teams hit various levels of suck this year.
I found several articles that talked about using “advanced metrics” this year; but they didn’t get specific about exactly which ones the Selection Committee uses. Some sites (like Sagarin) give credit for close losses…the value of which has been debated around here in past years.
PTI had Bilas on to talk about the selection process last week. He hit various levels of stupid in some of his remarks, but pointed out something that I had never completely considered. Teams like Michigan (and State in past years) get another shot at key wins in the conference tournament and many mid/low majors don’t get this extra shot. Bilas used this distinction to talk about the unfairness of the selection process.
It’s funny that there is a simple way to make sure that the mid/low majors don’t get their regular season champs passed over. Simply do away with their conference tournament. If you want to gamble, don’t complain when you get burned.
http://www.ncaa.com/rankings/basketball-men/d1/ncaa-mens-basketball-rpi
The final RPI Rankings from the NCAA has Syracuse at 71. This is the lowest ranking for a power conference team that I remember.
As of this morning, ESPN (who I used all year) had them at 68:
http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/rpi/_/groupId/2
CBS has Syracuse at 72:
http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/bracketology/nitty-gritty-report
• Speaking of which, the committee once again reinforced a truism I always keep in mind when doing my own mock brackets – good wins (RPI top 25 or top 50) are by far their most valued criteria. It’s why Syracuse (5-6 vs. top 50), Temple (5-6) and Tulsa (4-5) got in but Saint Mary’s (2-2), South Carolina (1-1) and Monmouth (1-1) did not. Monmouth’s three sub-200 RPI losses did not help, either.
• I’ve noticed for a couple years now that the committee is paying closer attention to advanced metrics like KenPom.com, particularly in evaluating bubble teams. Committee chairman Joe Castiglione cited them as to why Wichita State, 12th on KenPom, got an at-large berth despite an underwhelming resume. Vanderbilt (27th) also had that as its main calling card, while NIT-bound St. Bonaventure likely got dinged for its No. 79 rating.
• That said, they selectively ignored the same criteria for No. 34 Saint Mary’s (out) and No. 86 (!!) Temple (in).
SI interview with Castiglione.
On including Tulsa: “They were actually the last team placed into the field. It was a very, very difficult decision. We looked for distinguishing factors. In the case of Tulsa it was their four top-50 wins, including a road win over SMU. They had eight top-100 wins, and to add some context to that—six of the eight top 100 wins were over teams in the tournament. Those kinds of things begin to distinguish them.”
On the exclusion of St. Bonaventure: “In the case of St. Bonaventure, their non-conference strength of schedule was outside the top 150. They also had five losses to teams that aren’t in the tournament. In that last group of teams, in which St. Bonaventure was considered, they were being compared to teams like Syracuse and VCU, and in those particular cases they had head-to-head losses to each of those teams. I guess you could say it hurt their chances.”
7 min ESPN radio interview with Castiglione.
In the case of Syracuse, you look at what they did,” Castiglione said. “They had five top 50 wins. Three of those came away from home. Eight top 100 wins overall. We noticed the neutral site win over UConn, which won their conference tournament today, the netural site win over A&M, which was co-champs of its league, and the road win at Duke.”
Syracuse had a relatively low RPI (Ratings Percentage Index) of 72. The RPI is commonly referred to, in part because it’s on the NCAA’s website, but Castiglione noted that the NCAA selection committee uses other criteria when considering teams. The RPI is only used as a comparision of wins.
“Our conversations aren’t just about the RPI,” Castiglione said.
Castiglione also said Syracuse was an example of having to consider unbalanced conference schedules. Because of the ACC’s unbalanced schedule, the Orange played one of the toughest schedules in the ACC.
“They played North Carolina twice and Pitt home and away,” Castiglione said, “and they didn’t get the chance to play Virginia, Louisville, Duke or Miami at home.”
Note that both my simplistic method and the actual conference SOS calculation shows that Syracuse had one of the WEAKEST conference schedules. The committee actually focused on the away games…which surprises me.
2. Michigan’s top-50 wins prevailed over its lack of top-100 wins.
The burning question with regards to Michigan’s candidacy as an at-large team was whether the selection committee would value the Wolverines’ four signature wins and no bad losses over the absence of any other quality wins. The answer: yes. When Joe Castiglione made his media rounds after the Selection Show to explain the committee’s decisions, he repeatedly mentioned the number of RPI top-50 wins that bubble teams did and did not have. He didn’t mention the records that bubble teams had against RPI top-50 competition. Just the number of wins. And, when you look at the bubble teams that did and didn’t make the cut, it becomes apparent how much of an impact the metric had.
Bubble Teams’ RPI Top-50 Wins Bubble Teams in the FieldNumber of RPI Top-50 Wins
Syracuse 5
Temple 5
Michigan 4
Tulsa 4
Vanderbilt 2
Wichita State 1Bubble Teams Out of the Field Number of RPI Top-50 Wins
St. Bonaventure 3
St. Mary’s 2
Monmouth 1
South Carolina 1
San Diego State 1
Valparaiso 1It’s not a perfect cut — Vanderbilt’s inclusion remains to be puzzling for a variety of reasons — but the committee generally preferred the teams with more RPI top-50 wins.
This sent a message to the mid-major programs to screw off. High-major schools always will have more chances to play RPI top-50 competition and will host a fair share of those games. On the other hand, the mid-majors are stuck trying to schedule those games for the non-conference slate and usually are forced to play them on neutral sites or in hostile venues. This gives a team like Michigan, which was 4-11 against RPI top-50 teams, a decisive advantage. Each of St. Bonaventure, St. Mary’s, Monmouth, and Valparaiso had at least a .500 record against RPI top-50 teams, but, together, they played a total of 13 such games. If those mid-majors had the opportunity to play 15 games against top-50 competition like Michigan, maybe they would have had more than four signature wins.
But they didn’t get that chance, and Michigan ultimately benefited from it.
Joe Castiglione was the NCAA Tournament committee chairman (and Sooners AD)
For what it’s worth, the NIT bracket put the Aztecs as a 2-seed. I would guess that the 1-seeds were seen as the first four out of the real tournament.
NIT Bracket released:
http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/eye-on-college-basketball/25516048/nit-bracket-schedule-tip-times-monmouth-and-no-ben-simmonsVT, FSU, and GT. No Clemson
My second favorite team….whoever is playing UNC.
My other favorite past time is to pull for a quick exit for the Big-10. This personal tradition goes back to the days of Woody Hayes and Bob Knight when I began to despise the B10. The only exception is Mich St. I think Izzo is a great coach and always enjoy seeing him be successful.
PNC is fine. As several of you noted, it should have been built on campus so that the student seats are jam packed every night.
I think the claim that the stadium NEEDS to be on campus to have the student section full is way overblown.
Point #1:
What’s the ratio between students that live on campus versus off campus. In the early 80’s, there were 20,000 undergrads with dorm rooms for something like 5500.Point #2:
Last time I checked, Carter-Finley was off campus and I never had a problem getting a ride to the games when I lived on campus (3 years). Why would it be any different now?The problem is the LTR’s bought by companies in the lower level that remain empty for about half of the home schedule. State wanted the money for construction and this is the consequence of getting it.
Unless you are talking about DT in his prime, this team was not one player away from making the NCAAT.
As expected, Pitt moved up in the Dance Card and Syracuse is the third team out. GT is the fourth team out.
His view on Pitt (same article)
It’s a sigh of relief for the Panthers, who have now defeated the Orange all three times they played this season. Pitt still does not have a great record against the top 50 (2-6), but is still likely to get in. A win over North Carolina in the next round would seal the deal.
Palm on Syracuse
It’s going to be a long week, and especially selection Sunday, for the Orange. Syracuse is now 19-13 overall, and while it has four top 50 wins, the Orange are just 13-12 against the RPI top 200, and that does not include a loss to St. John’s. Their RPI has dropped to 65 at the moment..
Syracuse fans have been hoping for “consideration” for the nine games coach Jim Boeheim missed…, but… Boeheim isn’t scoring or rebounding or playing defense. It would be foolish to count on Boeheim’s absence having any positive effect on Syracuse’s hope for selection.
Micro-USB storage is back on the S7. But I don’t think that you can get to the battery.
Comparisons:
https://www.androidpit.com/samsung-galaxy-s6-vs-galaxy-s7-comparisonhttp://www.gottabemobile.com/2016/02/22/samsung-galaxy-s7-vs-galaxy-s6-what-to-know/
http://www.pocket-lint.com/news/136572-samsung-galaxy-s7-vs-galaxy-s6-what-s-the-difference
I bought a one-year old, used phone from gazelle.com at Thanksgiving. They rate their phones’ condition as “excellent”, “good”, or “fair”. In November, they were running a 10% off deal, so I saved almost $400 buying an “excellent” phone versus buying the latest version new. Absolutely no scratches on either the glass or case.
Sorry SF, only the cheapskates have responded so far…and we’re no help on buying the latest and greatest. But my brother has the S6 Edge and he loves it. His only complaint was the limited number of cases available to protect the phone without covering up the “edge”. I suspect that there is no bad decision between your two choices.
Palms thoughts on the ACC as of yesterday:
ACC
When: Tuesday-Saturday
Number of teams currently in: 7
In: Duke, Miami, North Carolina, Notre Dame, Virginia
Probably in: Pitt
On the fence: Syracuse
Outlook: The ACC is a classic example of how conference standings mean nothing. Pitt, Syracuse, Florida State and Georgia Tech all finished behind Clemson and Virginia Tech, but all have at least a long-shot chance at an at-large bid, while the Tigers and Hokies would have to win the tournament to get in. The loser of the Pitt-Syracuse game will have a nervous Selection Sunday. North Carolina and Virginia still have a chance to be No. 1 seeds.
I don’t go to CBS very often, but I do like Jerry Palm. Interesting trivia about stats and at-large selections.
Bracketology: Top seeds have only won 1-of-11 conference tournaments
Gonzaga beats St Marys to throw another mid-major into bubble hell.
At half-time of that game, Lunardi’s last four in were Syracuse and three conference one-seeds that were beaten in their conference tourney. The whining by the media will be epic this year because there will be so little difference between one team and the next that everyone looking for an excuse to bitch will have someone that they can champion.
Dance Card has the three conference one-seeds (Valpo, Monmouth, Wichita St) as out. They probably all three won’t get left out, but I can hear the whining Sunday over the ones that do.
Syracuse has fallen to the last team above the burst line on the Dance Card AND Pitt is only five slots back. Things are not looking good for the loser of their game tomorrow.
