The West Bracket (San Jose)

[Kyyle23]

I went and saw the Urge at Copper Dragon once because my friends liked them, but Penny Pinch was the place, especially on a nice night when you can chill in the beer garden.

 

Between 1996 and 2004 I saw the Urge 12 times at Copper Dragon and Mississippi Nights in St Louis. Their shows are insane.

 

Back to the bracket, I think SIU has a good chance of making a run, but they need to hit their shots. They are in a defensive bracket if I have ever seen one.

[Rowand44]

He may have recruited them, but he never coached them, I wouldnt say he knows them very well. I dont know, I think SIU-Illinois would be off the hook, and SIU would have a bigger chip on their shoulder than Illinois. Beating the coach that left you is always a good motivating factor

I'm hoping our players aren't looking ahead to a possible Illinois matchup, they're saying all the right things but every damn reporter is asking them about it and it has to be in the back of their minds. Holy Cross is no push over and that game honestly scares the hell out of me(I'd be nervous no matter who we played though).

 

http://www.thesouthern.com/articles/2007/0...ts/19573964.txt

 

 

I miss the Copper Dragon, I have seen many many great shows and have had many many Copper Dragon brews there. Its too bad they stopped having it open regularly and only open it for special events.

I've still never been to Copper.

[Rex Hudler]

Vs. Wisconsin, Duke, Texas Tech. Three tourney teams. Not great, but I've seen worse.

 

That's also balanced by the fact that their conference schedule was so difficult. They played Louisville twice, Pitt three times, @ Georgetown, @ ND. I'm not going to make St John's out to be some powerhouse, but they're better than at least four teams in the Big Ten. But I digress -- I was the one who brought it up, and shame on me, but they're better than at least four teams in the Big 10 (I know -- nothing to crow about).

 

 

 

I would guess this is the biggest reason for the eight seed. I don't want to ask for particulars here, just a general question -- do you guys get more info than the public does w/r/t injuries?

 

Even so, by putting Marquette at an eight seed, the Selection Committee is essentially saying that there's AT LEAST 28 teams better than Marquette in the tourney. Sorry -- I'm not buying it. Their "body of work" is too strong. Not a chance on this earth that Indiana is better than MU. None at all.

 

Part of the problem with Marquette's schedule wasn't the best teams they played, but the rest of their non-conference schedule. Hillsdale (D-II, win doesn't count), Idaho St., Detroit, Eastern Mich, Valparaiso, Northwestern St, Maryland-Baltimore Co, Morgan St, Savannah St. Their best out of conference wins were Texas Tech, Duke, North Dakota State, Delaware State and Oakland. The last three certainly don't make anyone shake in their boots.

 

In conference they went 10-6 with two wins against Pitt, one over Louisville and Villanova. Nice wins. But the rest of their wins were not against tourney teams.

 

Plus, I still can't get over the name change. They are supposed to be the Marquette Warriors!

 

As far as injuries, the committee has its sources. They probably aren't much better than a fan who does their due dilligence to get the information, but we have to take injuries into account. We want to give a team credit for their body of work in terms of getting into the tournament, but seeding becomes just as much about how you are playing now and what kind of team you are likely to present once the tourney begins.

 

In all honesty, I don't recall the teams being as bunched up in the middle as in previous years. I really don't think there is a whole lot os difference between seeds, even between 12's and 5's.

 

A few other things to consider. Seeds lines are somewhat fluid and are influenced by certain rules. Among them are limitations on where a team can or cannot play, not sending teams too far from their home in consecutive years (whenver possible), spreading out teams from the same conference, etc. Sometimes a team has to be moved up or down one seed line to accommodate the above. Without giving away any specifics, it is entirely possible that Marquette and Duke were both 7-seeds and had to be moved.

 

Setting the bracket has many complexities and is not as simple as tossing all the teams in easily. Sometimes, one necessary change has a domino effect and creates two or three other changes.

 

Lastly, aside from my own personal work to create the Kansas/SIU/Illinois triumvirate, any other matchups, circumstances, etc are purely coincidental. The plight of the Big East was not planned or plotted. Sometimes that is just how things fall. Whether they have representation on the committee or not is irrelevant. When teams from specific conferences are discussed that do have representation, those members have to get up and leave the room. They are not allowed to participate in said discussion. The # of teams from a specific conference and how a conference is "treated" is simply not discussed at all.

 

Hope that helps.

Edited March 12, 2007 by Rex Hudler

[DrunkBomber]

I went and saw the Urge at Copper Dragon once because my friends liked them, but Penny Pinch was the place, especially on a nice night when you can chill in the beer garden.

100% agree about P3. It was also fun shooting water balloons into that same beer garden from my friends apartment on the third floor of creekside with a 3 man sling shot

[CWSGuy406]

Part of the problem with Marquette's schedule wasn't the best teams they played, but the rest of their non-conference schedule. Hillsdale (D-II, win doesn't count), Idaho St., Detroit, Eastern Mich, Valparaiso, Northwestern St, Maryland-Baltimore Co, Morgan St, Savannah St. Their best out of conference wins were Texas Tech, Duke, North Dakota State, Delaware State and Oakland. The last three certainly don't make anyone shake in their boots.

 

In conference they went 10-6 with two wins against Pitt, one over Louisville and Villanova. Nice wins. But the rest of their wins were not against tourney teams.

 

Plus, I still can't get over the name change. They are supposed to be the Marquette Warriors!

 

I realize their OOC schedule wasn't the toughest, but in the end, their SoS ended up 17th with an RPI in the top 25. I certainly don't think the schedule can be used as a detractor for MU's resume. My guess is that the McNeal injury is the main reason for the bump down. James gets all the pub, but McNeal is the best player -- he's very strong defensively, he rebounds, and he's tough to guard -- this year he has developed a nice 15 foot jump shot, and his high shot release allows him to score over bigger guys.

 

For me, the most frustrating teams is seeing teams who I consider to be inferior (pretty clearly, too -- but then again, I may be looking through blue-and-gold colored glasses) above my Eagles Warriors. I know it's a biased website, but I thought one poster did a real nice job of covering this at MU Scoop. There are at least three-four teams whose resume's don't hold a candle to MU's, yet they received higher bids.

 

I understand what you're saying about locations, but I still don't think location should take prescident over a team's road to the Final Four. I just don't believe that a team with Marquette's resume deserves that round two game at Chapel Hill Winston Salem... yikes.

 

I appreciate the responses, though, RH.

 

And yeah... the whole "Golden Eagles" thing is lame, I can't see how or why anyone would find the name "Warriors" offensive. Pretty ridiculous, IMO, and most of the fan-base still chants "Let's go Warriors!", but it isn't the same. I don't have a heavy stance on it either way -- we could be the Pink Pixies and I couldn't care, so long as the basketball was of high quality.

Edited March 13, 2007 by CWSGuy406

[Rowand44]

Randal's doing a daily diary for the tournament, so here's his first entry:

 

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/sports/st...0E?OpenDocument

[Balta1701]

Well, here we go, finally a first round where Duke has a legit chance to lose...and of course, I picked Duke.

 

And this is sweet...Billy Packer thinking he's on a commercial break...not realizing he's still being broadcast online:

"Did Texas Tech win or lose? Man, how many first round losses has that guy had?"

 

I find that Mt. Rushmore Bud Light commercial unbelievably offensive.

 

This is starting to look like a normal Duke first round game.

Edited March 15, 2007 by Balta1701

[Balta1701]

I don't think I can remember any game where I've heard the announcers spend as much time talking about how tired 1 team looks as they have with Duke in this game.

[3E8]

Duke alumni have clearly compromised the referees.

[Balta1701]

McRoberts seems to be having a hell of a game.

[tigerfan]

How in the world was a charge not called on Duke a moment ago?

[3E8]

That was a fair foul against VCU I thought. But they seem to be in favor of Duke. I love the way VCU plays.

[tigerfan]

Me too, little sloppy at times though. Gotta watch it with those turnovers.

[witesoxfan]

Maynor is a god

[3E8]

VCU not only won the game, they f***ed Duke up in the process, just cause they could. That was fantastic.

[tigerfan]

Bout time there was an upset. Anyone know the last time Duke got knocked off in round 1?

[Jordan4life_2007]

Bout time there was an upset. Anyone know the last time Duke got knocked off in round 1?

 

Not sure. I'm not surprised, though. This was the weakest Duke team in years.

[tigerfan]

Agreed, hence why I picked VCU.

[The Bones]

Bout time there was an upset. Anyone know the last time Duke got knocked off in round 1?

 

1996

 

best game of the tourney so far by a lot. man was it great to see scheyer and paulus getting beat up.

[He_Gawn]

IU's guards are lighting it up so far. Makes me even more anxious to see Gordon and Ratliff playing on the same team again!

[greasywheels121]

Big Ten = 3-0 on Day One.

 

It's nice to get a little revenge on 'Zaga for last year's 2nd round game, while at the same time, proving a lot of people wrong. It's weird to think that one of the TV personalities I dislike the most (Dick Vitale) was the only one giving us a chance tonight.

 

Great second half, as we started to get a bit more of a balanced attack on the offensive end. It's going to be tough to keep the season alive against UCLA, but hopefully we can make it interesting.

[Balta1701]

Take that Zaga. 01, they beat us. Last year...they beat us. There might have been another one on the list somewhere. It was nice to get one.

[greasywheels121]

We beat them in '02 in Maui. We got as high as #8 that year, and then we played Kentucky in December. Mike Davis went off on a no-foul call on Bracey, and then the wheels on his wagon began to really fall off for that year and the rest of his time at Indiana.

[WhiteSoxfan1986]

Well I fared great today with Duke my only loss. Indiana fans, I think you guys are gonna give UCLA a battle Saturday.

Edited March 16, 2007 by WhiteSoxfan1986

[Rex Hudler]

We beat them in '02 in Maui. We got as high as #8 that year, and then we played Kentucky in December. Mike Davis went off on a no-foul call on Bracey, and then the wheels on his wagon began to really fall off for that year and the rest of his time at Indiana.

 

I was about 8 rows from that Mike Davis tantrum. It was a very sad site to see.