U of M MEN'S BASKETBALL 2016-2017

[iam416]

Have it your way, dude. In other news, M finishes #25 in the RPI and #26 in the coaches poll. The screwjob runs deep. Why can't these people and computers understand M is a top 20 team?

[hack]

Wisconsin got the biggest screwing, IMO. Treating them, basically, as a team on the same level as MSU, is going to ultimately open up to these kinds of criticism.

[iam416]

Wisconsin ended up with a shit RPI.

[hack]

There's absolutely no way the NCAA will ever seed a team that finished 10-8 in the conference, a full 4 games back, as the highest seeded team from that conference (aside from an automatic qualifier, 1 bid league). Especially with a non-conference that is mediocre. That's not even plausible.

Of course it's not. And it shouldn't be that way, since the seeds are based on the whole season and current momentum is only one factor. But it's an argument that you could seed that team 6th instead of 7th.

But, again, Michigan is a very hard team to rank. It's clearly better than Minnesota and possibly better than Purdue, but it also let a major rival come in and beat them at home. Can't erase that off the record. Of course you can avoid all this conspiracy theory if MSU wasn't given a generous seed.

[WM Wolverine]

A seed too high or low is typical, which is where the Gophers/Sparty fit in so no complaints... B1G was very weak so they were deservingly hurt...

Wisconsin & Michigan is where they screwed up, M was a solid 6 with an outside chance at a 5-seed after beating the Gophers, Purdue & Wisconsin in 3-days. Those wins meant nothing to the committee, nothing. M had a lot of impressive MOV (15+ points) in the past month/six weeks, which didn't help their cause either. Very few quality wins till the B1G tournament which their seeding seemed quite set before the tournament.

Tough draw in 1st round against a #24 kenpom in Oklahoma State and #6 Kenpom in Louisville if they get to the 2nd round. We are more deserving of a 6-seed than quite a few 5 & 6 seeds that were given them. Sweet Sixteen will take a major upset vs Louisville who I have as a very good chance to reach FF.

We were just as good off to land a 10-seed losing to Nebraska & Illinois to finish the season. Or an 11-seed where we'd play a 6-seed, then a 3-seed (big step down from the 2-seeds imo this season), then finally a #2 seed and still yet to play a team the caliber of Louisville... Road to the Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight is a very tough one where were slotted...

Takes a bit of the luster and advantage of winning the B1G tournament. Not near as optimistic about a potential tourney run with Louisville in round 2, a team I was hoping we wouldn't have to face till the Sweet Sixteen or potentially later.

[WM Wolverine]

Just beat Oklahoma State and if we play our best, we'll have a chance to beat a Louisville team that is essentially Minnesota but with NBA talent.

I really like the Gophers btw (next year more so), no idea their 1st round match-up but they are a program with a great future. They are going to sustain their success, Pitino is bringing in excellent athletes in every class, they play awfully good defense and will be a tough game going forward. They are a top 20 program over the next 4 years.

[iam416]

but it's an argument that you could seed that team 6th instead of 7th.

Sure the difference between a 6 and 7 is ranking M at 24 instead of 27. That's not a "cornholing" or otherwise "egregious screwjob." It could have gone either way. Frankly, you could probably say most teams final seeding number (1-68 ) is +/- 4. That's what it ALWAYS is.

I'm not a particularly big fan of Sparty. There's possibly some "Izzo Effect" in there as well as the fact that 4 of their non-conference losses were against pretty damn good teams. But they didn't beat many good teams, and 10-8 in the conference isn't particularly impressive. They were final seeded at 35, which, obviously means they could have easily been a 10. Of the teams below them, Wichita seems like they got totally assrailed, but they're also Sparty's best non-conference win. My sense is there's not a great deal of difference b/t VT, Okie State and Sparty. Each has maybe 2 good wins.

If someone wants to make the case that Sparty is egregiously over-seeded, then they need to explain who gets seeded higher and why. When you look at 35 through 46, it's pretty much hot mediocre crap on a plate. So, feel free to explain why and how teams 36 through 46 are clearly better than Sparty, but I don't particularly see it.

[THE_WIZARD_]

The Big Blue Worldwide Conspiracy is appalling.

[THE_WIZARD_]

If you aren't a #1, 2, 3 or 4 seed who gives a shit. The rest of the at-large field you can throw in a basket and call it meh. And to some degree beyond #1 and #2 seeds given the number of 3/14, 4/13, 5/12 and 6/11 upsets does it really matter? Hell I'd rather play the Pokes first round than #4 Gayturds getting ETSU at #13...

[hack]

Right. Could have been and probably should have been, and WM is right that M essentially received no reward for winning the conference and does appear to be playing a very strong 10 seed.

Maybe I would be more frustrated if I knew enough about Louisville to be afraid of them, but, as of now, I'm focused on the fact that the team gelled, is a legitimately good two-way team right now, and I'm looking forward to taking down those fucks. Every year there are going to be teams that are better than their seeding because they came on late, and that's Michigan this year.

[THE_WIZARD_]

Obviously the selection committee values the regular season far more than the conference tourney as they should...unless your Duke...you get your ass kissed for either.

[Hannibal]

Gotta at least win that first tourney game. In a normal year, I would say that it's house money after that, but this program needs another deep tourney run badly and this should have been a likely year for one of those.

[hack]

I'm unmoved - get to the Sweet 16. It's a shame they made it harder on themselves than they had to, but this team has always been good enough. It's not a failure of a year if they don't, but I will be disappointed.

[iam416]

A final note using the best metric -- the Vegas lines.

Wichita is the only lower seed that is favored by more than a point, and they're favored big at -6 vs Dayton.

Wisconsin is -5'. Every other 8/9 game is at 1 or 1'.

In the other 7-10 games, the 7 is favored with SMC at -4', M at -2' and Cocks at -1'.

Minnesota is currently a PK against MTSU. They opened at 3 suggesting that Vegas thinks they're slightly better. No other 5-12 game is less than 6.

Purdue is the lightest 4 seed at only 8'. The rest are double digits.

My informal take away is that Wisky and Wichita were underseeded and Minnesota was overseeded.

[Hannibal]

I'm unmoved - get to the Sweet 16. It's a shame they made it harder on themselves than they had to...

Yeah that's my take on it too. This year, on the whole, has turned out to be "okay" so far and we need at least a couple of big tourney wins to solidify it.

I wonder if this is a long term turnaround or if it is just a one year thing. In 2011 we had a similar turnaround and we got three good years after that, but we had much better recruiting in that stretch too. I'd feel a lot better about a loss this weekend if I knew that this wasn't a short term blip.