All of UM's "good non-conference opponents" go down in first round
I had pitt over gonzaga and K State in the final four
March 23rd, 2013 at 12:22 AM ^
Looking at history I had to limit myself from choosing Pitt to go THAT far, but I did have them winning this round and against Gonzaga. Can't count on that team for anything. ****.
I hope it is not any sort of indicator on our ability
how would beating 3 teams who went on to lose in the tournament indicate anything about our ability?
Well, I think what he is saying is that a number of the "good" teams we beat haven't turned out to be as good as people thought. One way to measure the quality of a team is by the quality of the teams they beat. If some of the best teams you beat turn out to be less good, you could deduce that your team is less good as well.
It's not necessarily rock solid, but not that far fetched either.
It's not so much what it says as what it unsays. It unsays, "we are good because we beat those teams."
Our "good conference opponents" are doing pretty well for themselves so far.
Except for Wisconsin. Fuck them.
Seeding Ole Miss as a 12 was a questioable move by the committee, seeing as they won the SEC conference tourney.
But yeah..... fuck Wisconsin.
they shot 25% from the field, so it's actually a miracle they were still in that thing....
And Illinois.
So did Wisconsin. OMG PENN STATE DIDN'T EVEN MAKE THE TOURNEY!
It means "good" is both relative and variable.
Well in all fairness the NCAA selection committee thought our out of conference opponents were pretty good as evidenced by their seeding.
My bracket is still alive though. I've got Michigan, MSU, Indiana and OSU in the final four. Obviously I went "all in" on the B1G.......lol.
I did the same thing. Although that puts me in the uncomfortable position of not rooting against OSU and MSU with every ounce of my being.
I have that same Final Four as well, but I always root for those guys in the tourney. It surprises me how many M fans root against other Big Ten teams.
So you like Big Ten teams to do well, except for the ones that actually do? Come on.
So you really don't want the Big Ten to do well. Which is fine, but don't say you do.
I conceptually want the Big Ten to do well particularly since I live in the middle of SECSECSEC country. But I just can't stand OSU and MSU.
I have the same final four with OSU and Michigan in the championship game.
As for Michigan non conference opponents going down in the first round... so.
It was fairly evident through the season there was very little seperating the top of the food chain from the bottom. Seeding been done, if Michigans wins everything or loses on Saturday our schedule is meaningless.
Random gonna random.
It's a single-elimination tournament. You can't draw a whole lot of conclusions.
It does seem a bit strange that all three lost in the first round. But thankfully at this point in time the only teams wins that matter are Michigan's and the won in the first round. Hopefully when its all said and done Pitt, K.State and NC State can take solace in the fact that they all lost to the eventually National Champs during the regulard season.
When we played Pitt, they seemed like they had potential to be good, but were underperforming. They played like that in the tourney.
When we played Kansas State, they looked awful. From that 1-game sample it was shocking to see them do well during the season. But hey look, they played awful in the tourney.
When we played NC State, they too showed flashes of why they were ranked so highly at the beginning of the season. In our game, they nearly came back. And guess what they did in the tourney: fell behind early and almost came back. Still a loss!
Is that good?
I picked them all to win the first round too, I believed the Ken Pom/RPI hype, I don't know why, I didn't think any of them were that great when we played them. Wisconsin losing was a big shock to me, as fun as Marshall Henderson is he's not that good and Ole Miss, suprising SEC tourney aside, is also pretty bad. I had Wisconsin going to the elite 8, woops!
Well, when this post was made, that list included MSU and no one else. Now it includes MSU and Illinois.
The point is, every tournament team we played this season was favored to win their first round match up, however 4 of them did not. And it doesn't say a lot about us that MSU beat Valpo.
March 22nd, 2013 at 11:12 PM ^
Pretty sure we beat Ohio
March 22nd, 2013 at 11:15 PM ^
Two 8 seeds going down to 9 seeds is not exactly amazing to be honest. Most of the time the 8 seeds are slightly favored, if at all. Kansas State's loss was surprising, but not unprecedented. If you thought these 3 teams were powerhouses and Final 4 material, then yeah, you should be surprised and disappointed, but they're still quality opponents. None of these squads were top 10 teams and that was pretty clear before the tourney
At this point I don't think it really matters. I am more concerned with Michigan finding a way to advance to the Sweet Sixteen for the first time in forever. Survive and advance.
I have a nice little weekend planned. The wife and I are going to Adventures in Homebrewing. Then I am bottling my beer. Then I will probably head over to the joe. I don't know if I will have enough time.
Who cares. I didn't think they were good when we beat them.
I did the same thing to an extent, but at the same time the NCAA tournament is a single-game data point versus a season of games. KSU is better than La Salle, just not today. Pitt and Wichita St. are close, and that played out how we thought. NC State lost to a good team in Temple; they were a mediocre ACC team with a ton of talent. UM is still pretty good, and I think with different match-ups each of these squads could have made a run.
March 22nd, 2013 at 10:15 PM ^
March 22nd, 2013 at 11:11 PM ^
It doesn't mean that much. It happens. If those games were all played again they'd likely have different results, except maybe NC State.
Don't put too much stock into it just because it's the tournament. FGCU didn't prove they're a top 10 team because they beat up on Georgetown.
i say we all root for the only guy with the perfect bracket who has the maize and blue winning it all.
Teams lose in the NCAA tournament and two of those games were 8-9 games.