Not sure which team is perennially over-seeded more: Villanova or Virginia. Every year they get knocked out early and every year the "experts" are surprised.
Can add Gonzaga to that list.
This is supposed to be Coach Few's best team at Gonzaga. I read it on the internet.
I had Virginia in the Finals, so this screwed my bracket. That said, Virginia is one of the most boring teams; I won't miss watching them. Plus one more chance to cheer against the Spartans.
I did the same thing, I'm mad I couldn't even get out of the weekend. Virginia refused to go fast at all, even though they could have easily scored in transition.
Honestly wouldnt be shocked to see sparty in the Final Four.
Well, they used to be.
No doubt today was a nice win, but they've been a mediocre tourney team relative to seed since 2009.
2009-10 - made final four
2010-11 - 10 seed lost to UCLA in 1st round
2011-12 - 1 seed lost to 4 seed Louisville in the Sweet 16
2012-13 - 3 seed lost to 2 seed Duke in the Sweet 16
2013-14 - 4 seed lost to 7 seed UConn in the Elite 8 (after beating the #1 overall seed). UConn won the NC
So there's 1 Final Four, 2 sweet 16s, and an Elite 8 in your timeline. One early exit when they were a double digit seed. It's not like they're losing to garbage, they're getting beat by quality teams. Not sure how this is "underperforming their seed".
March 23rd, 2015 at 12:27 PM ^
So making the final four in 2010 as a #5 constitutes mediocre performance relative to seed?
They still seem to outperform every year. You just have that feeling they're going to be tough to eliminate every season
Well, I hate to say it, but I foresaw a pretty decent Sparty run and now am even more certain of it. In 2013, all I heard at work was, "Michigan had a weak bracket" (lol), "All the good teams were taken out" (yes, Kansas and Florida - by Michigan), at least the verbal gymnastics about how this is "different" will be entertaining.
And, as long as Kentucky's breathing, State's run will, at best, end the same way as 2013 Michigan's. Except probably by a lot more than six points.
LOL this CBS panel with Spike Lee is just jokes...
Nice win by sparty
They're starting two seniors and two juniors. If anything, they've performed well below expectations this year.
Doesn't matter how they did in the season b/c they're still giong to the Sweet 16. Izzo is a great coach. His record speaks for itself even if it's been a little lackluster in the recent 3-4 years.
When did making the Sweet 16 become a huge achievement? MSU is a very experienced team that was ranked #18 in the preseason. They are pretty much right where they're supposed to be.
When Izzo takes the youngest team in the tournament to the finals, let me know.
When Beilein takes a team to the NCAA Tournament 17 years in a row, let me know. Izzo has more Sweet 16s than and the same amount of Elite Eights as Beilein has tourney appearances.
MSU is a premier program but they don't recruit quite at the level of Duke, Kansas or Kentucky year in and out. Izzo is a great coach whether we as fans want to admit it or not.
But yeah he's also a whiny bitch.
With all the 4 stars and 5 stars on his team he better make the sweet 16. If Beilein had Izzo's talent we would be in the final four every year. Coach K and Roy Williams all have 4 times as many national championships as Izzo has and they get the same talent. Do you honestly think Izzo could make Stauskas, Levert, Burke, and Hardaway all 1st/2nd round picks from nowhere. In EL they recruit 5 star guys like Payne, Dawson, and Appling keep them 4 years because they can't develop enough to leave for the NBA. Beilein makes 3 stars into first rounders in 2 years.
Yes, there was a period of time when Tom Izzo was a better coach than John Beilein. That is no longer the case, which is why Michigan has had more recent tournament success, more recent conference titles, and why Beilein is 6-4 against Izzo over the last five regular seasons despite working with far lesser talent. Right now, Beilein is just better.
That's why I said "even if his record has been lackluster the past 3-4 years." The board makes it sound like Izzo is some generic coach who gets lucky 24/7. Luck is a factor for every team in the tourney.
Burke hitting the 3 against Kansas = luck.
Next year will be an interesting time for MSU and UM.
Izzo is a great coach, but unlike you and half this board, I'm not going to blow the guy for taking a team starting 4 highly-ranked upperclassmen to the Sweet 16. And Burke hitting the three against Kansas was luck? STFU kid.
Who said I was blowing him. I was saying he is a great coach. Obviously not the greatest of all time. Media goes overboard on a lot coaches.
You don't think that it was lucky as fuck hitting a 30 foot 3 pointer with 10 seconds left? That was Michigan's lucky moment. Every team has one that gets far in the tourney.
LOL take off your blinders boy.
Well we can argue over Costello/Schilling, but given that Costello gets more minutes every game, I was labeling him the starter.
just wow.
are you actually arguing that Beilein is better than Izzo right now, even though MSU is in the sweet 16 in a rebuilding year while UM isn't even in the NIT? That doesn't make any sense.
March 23rd, 2015 at 12:43 PM ^
Coach A loses 3 key starters from last year's team and returns his team to a 4th-straight sweet 16 appearance.
Coach B has substantial attrition as well but has a sub-.500 season and fails to reach the NCAA tournament or NIT.
Take the blinders off, if you were giving a job performance review for this past year, which coach would you say is "just better right now?"
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They've gotten better as the year went on but Maryland, Wisconsin, and Virginia are overrated. Duke, Kentucky, or Arizona would beat them. Luckily for them they got placed in the easiest region for yet another year. It pays to have Hollis on the selection committee.
Well if I can't root for Michigan and Beilein, I guess Fisher and SDSU will have to do. Take em down Coach!
(Has Fisher ever beaten Coach K?)
I'm rooting for this and also Iowa. I enjoy Fran's antics and I like BHGP and want them to get to experience some happiness until Ferentz punches them in the soul dongs some more.
I'm torn between rooting for the Big Ten or hoping Gonzaga takes them down because I picked the Zags in my bracket.
We also beat them three straight times from 1995-97. Fisher was the coach for the first two.
Hiring Ellerbe and Amaker (after fudging up a potential Pitino hire) kept our program dead for 20 years, not Fisher.
Those problems would have been alleviated if the AD at the time made better decisions regarding the basketball program.
Fisher deserved to be fired for the Ed Martin scandal. But we can't blame him for two bad coaching hires and neglecting our facilities.
Look no further than Columbus to see how a program can survive sanctions. They got nailed in both basketball and football and didn't miss a beat because they made good hires. We fired Fisher and hired a guy with a losing record at Loyola of Maryland.