MGoGrendel

March 20th, 2014 at 6:30 AM ^

This looks like a threat to the president! (/s)

Almost puked on my TV yesterday seeing all the fawning over Staee. SportScience even had something something blah blah blah on Izzo's "heart". Turned the TV off when the next two segments were President Barry and SportScience.

Ghost of BCook…

March 19th, 2014 at 7:19 PM ^

So tired of the MSU hype, some warranted, some (like this piece shows) unwarranted.  Can someone please beat them first weekend so I don't have to hear about it past Sunday? 

Fhshockey112002

March 19th, 2014 at 9:11 PM ^

2nd round matchups will be tough for MSU. They either have a Cinci team that is every bit as tough as them, and has a scorer in Kilpatrick who can really score. OR Tommy Amaker and Harvard. I would love to see Amaker get a little bit of payback after struggling here vs MSU. 

Prediction: Cincinnati beats MSU

 

mistersuits

March 19th, 2014 at 7:22 PM ^

The worst part about the new incarnate of fiverthirtyeight is that it's owned wholly by ESPN which is why all of the sudden his algorithm includes the ridiculous BPI.

That and using pre-season rankings under the assumption that it is a valuable and accurate predictor of "overall talent level" on a roster that is useful at this time of year....

MSU/Louisville were ranked #2/3 preseason btw.

LSAClassOf2000

March 19th, 2014 at 7:28 PM ^

...and if you follow the link at the end, you get a nice table of coaches who improve the most over the course of a season (using coaches at a major program in the last decade and with at least 4 years of data, per the site):

Coach

Team

Pyth Nov/Dec

Pyth Later

Diff

Chris Mack

Xavier

0.7701

0.8387

0.0687

Mark Fox

Georgia/Nevada

0.6973

0.7601

0.0628

Mike Brey

Notre Dame

0.8273

0.8796

0.0523

John Beilein

Michigan/West Virginia

0.8046

0.8521

0.0475

Chris Mooney

Richmond/Air Force

0.5939

0.6393

0.0454

Shaka Smart

VCU

0.8001

0.8425

0.0425

Kevin Stallings

Vanderbilt

0.8166

0.8574

0.0408

Scott Drew

Baylor

0.6965

0.7371

0.0406

Fran Dunphy

Temple

0.7737

0.8088

0.0351

John Giannini

La Salle

0.5533

0.5833

0.0300

 

jonvalk

March 19th, 2014 at 8:07 PM ^

How awesomely ironic would it be if Delaware beat Sparty considering that in football, they wear winged helmets?



Sick of the Sparty slobbering. They got up for our game and we shot like crap or else they'd be a 5-seed and whining about team chemistry.

MGoBender

March 19th, 2014 at 8:08 PM ^

"Takes down" is a little headline baiting.  He really doesn't do anything to discount Silver's methodology at all.

That said, All Hail Beilein.

Gulogulo37

March 20th, 2014 at 9:11 AM ^

He says plenty more than that Izzo is "quite successful".

The model does not account for coach Tom Izzo’s extraordinary postseason record."

"Incredible Izzo Again Defies Odds"

He doesn't explicitly say he's the best, but it doesn't take much reading between the lines to assume that's probably what he thinks. Other coaches have been more successful than Izzo and apparently Silver hasn't written odes to them.

Simple argument:

If a guy writes multiple articles praising the tourney coaching of one particular coach and no other, then he probably thinks that coach is the best tourney coach in the country.

Silver has written...blah blah blah.

Therefore, he probably thinks Izzo is the best tourney coach.

Anyway, this article is obviously supposed to be light-hearted and poking fun at Silver's love for Izzo, so big deal if the article doesn't exactly "take down" Silver. Any other article putting Michigan over State would be met with applause and now people are splitting hairs because someone criticized Silver in jest.

Jeff09

March 19th, 2014 at 8:17 PM ^

Beilein has fucked up a lot of people's brackets over the years. It's still called getting Pittsnogled I think



I for one don't bet against the man any more.

MGoBender

March 20th, 2014 at 6:48 AM ^

Credit where credit is due: Izzo is 4th in the "out-performing seed" metric.

Plus, he has the ring.  At the end of the day, that's what's remembered.

Which makes me want to win a title in the next five years sooooooooo badly.  If there was ever a coach that deserved it, it is John Beilein.

EDIT: Usually I don't do this, but what the hell is neg-worthy in this post?  That I point out that Izzo is also great at outperforming seed?  That I point out that people remember an NCAA title more than the "out-performing seed" metric leader?  That I say nobody deserves a title more than John Beilein? 

Just trying to figure it out since nobody bothered to reply.

Gulogulo37

March 20th, 2014 at 9:24 AM ^

Never helps to complain about mgopoints, but yeah, it seems anyone who mentions Izzo or State without heaping scorn on them gets downvoted. Pretty sad frankly. The purge helped a little with getting rid of completely moronic people poisoning the board, but the level of homerism here is getting unreal.

umumum

March 20th, 2014 at 10:23 AM ^

Silver was added to a 75 person pool I was in last year.  He came in tied for 4th.  Not the winner, but not an ass-kicking either.  Data like that provided by Silver should be a tool not a religion--as, by its very nature, his methodology doesn't really account for meaningful upsets--and you can't win a large pool without a couple of them.

PeteM

March 19th, 2014 at 9:39 PM ^

I've enjoyed him since he wrote a column in the Daily in the early 90s (still remember a hilarious piece about a summer internship at Elias Bros).  I love how he uses Silver's own techniques against him.

aplatypus

March 19th, 2014 at 10:12 PM ^

but I find all the uproar here over recent MSU hype to be pretty petty. 

The last time the two played, I don't think it went well for Michigan... but if Michigan State is over rated right now (almost definitely) then let the teams prove it on the court; don't get panties all up in a bunch complaining about every person picking MSU and trying to discredit it all over. 

Personally I like "experts" all over picking them just so it's that much better when they fall short.

TheNema

March 19th, 2014 at 11:41 PM ^

Obama watches ESPN's selection show, remembers a few talking points swiped from Bilas, Digger and Vitale, and then does "his" picks using their logic. It's so mind-numbingly stupid.