What, No Spartanfreude Thread???
Crispin or whoever was on Color thinks they're in no matter what. At 18-13, he thinks they're not even a fucking bubble team. He's not the only one who thinks this either, so, I'd guess they're in. Which is ridiculous. They're 6-7 against top-50 RPI, only one average loss to #129 Northeastern, a nice 10-8 in Conference play, but 18-13 overall. That apparently is automatically in for Izzo in 2017.
The bubble is terrible this year. MSU's resume isn't great. But the rest of bubble teams have worse ones.
Exactly. I know, I get it. I'm just bleh, on them. Even though I know they're talented as hell.
And then Illinois went and lost to Rutgers yesterday. Rutgers dude.
I don't think they should be safe, especially if they lose their first BTT game. The whole "difficult non-conference schedule" argument kinda goes out the window when you lose every single marquee game, plus Northeastern.
However, they are in. It would take a catastrophic season to keep Izzo out of the tournament given the national media's bizarre love affair with him.
MSU will get warm in the BTT and make the semis, then half of the national pundits will start picking MSU as a potential Final Four team, then MSU will lose before reaching the Sweet 16 again
Back in the day we didn't give a fuck about them. I gave them a moment, but have returned to that more enjoyable condition.
Whatever Sparty. Whatever.
So, if you don't think MSU should be in the tournament, find the team that should replace them. Here they are, plus the first nine out on this morning's Bracket Matrix... and Illinois, who was IN this morning and then lost at Rutgers. (Should have seen that coming, Maverick -- Rutgers is a blue-collar team -- and Iceman kinda screams Jersey Shore anyway, doesn't he? :-)
- MSU (18-13, KenPom #50, live RPI #48, best KP wins: neutral vs. Wichita St., vs. Wisky, vs. Michigan, swept Minnesota, vs. Northwestern; lost vs. Northeastern)
- llinois (18-13, KenPom #68, live RPI #57, best KP wins: vs. Michigan, swept Northwestern, netural vs. VCU, lost vs. Winthrop; lost @Rutgers)
- Rhode Island (20-9, KenPom #49, live RPI #42, wins: neutral vs. Cincy, vs. VCU; lost vs. La Salle and vs. Fordham)
- Vandy (17-14, KenPom #40, live RPI #46, wins: swept Florida, vs. South Carolina; lost @ Mizzou)
- Cal (19-11, KP #55, RPI #55, wins... vs Utah, neutral vs. Princeton? Lost @ Stanford)
- K-State (19-12, KP #34, RPI #58, wins vs. WVU, @Baylor, vs. Texas Tech, no bad losses; KP #306 OOC strength-of-schedule, 8-10 in Big 12)
- Georgia (D-I 17-13, KP #56, RPI #54, wins... vs. Vandy, @Tennessee? Lost @ Oakland)
- Houston (20-9, KP #45, RPI #52, wins... vs. Rhode Island, neutral vs. Vermont? Lost @LSU, vs. Harvard)
- Iowa (17-13, KP #68, RPI #74, wins vs Purdue, vs Iowa St, @ Wisky, vs. Michigan, @Maryland, lost vs. UNO)
- Clemson (16-14, KP #36, RPI #67, wins: @South Carolina, swept Wake Forest; no bad losses, 6-12 ACC)
- Ga Tech (D-I 16-14, KP #77, RPI #96 (!), wins: vs. UNC, vs. Florida St, vs. Notre Dame; lost vs. OHIO, vs. NC State, and lost by 29 to Syracuse today)
Your best hope for a MSU-free tournament is chaos in the big conference tournaments -- BC winning the ACC, Wazzu winning the Pac 12, Texas winning the Big 12, etc. :-) Oh, and pull for anybody-but-Gonzaga...
OK, fine, but here are the list of teams behind MSU on the Bracket Matrix who would also need to drop out / pass MSU:
Illinois St, Illinois, Wake Forest, Syracuse, (Middle Tennessee), Providence, Seton Hall, USC, Xavier, Marquette. (I put Middle Tennessee in parentheses because I'm not sure they could survive an upset in the CUSA tournament; i.e., I'm not sure they're actually an at-large, despite being an 11 in the Matrix).
That's a lot of necessary chaos. Now, don't get me wrong, I would thoroughly enjoy seeing that MSU lost an NIT game. But I just don't see it happening.
As in Freddy P. Soft. How dare you!
/s