So does anyone else share my thinking that Duke is only going to get into the tourney based on reputation? I think there are going to be a lot of more deserving "bubble" schools this season but I figure Duke will get the nod simply because they will draw more media attention. I also expect a first round exit.

And as far as Duke, I learned a little more about Coach K's character away from the cameras this week that makes me like him and the team even less.

I think they are still one of the 64 best teams. With that said, they should bot get better than a 10 seed this year. Once the dust settles, I think they will probably be a 7 or 8 based on reputation.

I always thought Coach K was a standup guy, and what has happened this week doesn't change that. Do I think Henderson went in with the intent to foul hard, absolutely. Did he plan on breaking his nose, I don't think so. If there was no blood on that play it would have been an intentional foul and no suspension.

Any coach is going to get up and say his player was not trying to hurt another player. You are going to protect your players as much as possible. I am guilty of it at the highschool level watching one of my pitchers bean a guy. I knew he was going to plunk him, and I had no problem with it. The control was not there and instead of the ribs he got him in the head. The intent to hit him was there, but not to lay him out.

Well Glass beat me to it.

I dislike Duke, for the record, but they should be in, no doubt.

Duke is clearly one of the best 43(ish?) at large teams after all the conference champions.

They have an RPI of 16 and a strength of schedule of 3(!), and 22 wins.

If you put another team from a power conference in place of the word "Duke" there with that resume, you would say they deserve to get in, no question.

My team, Syracuse is generally considered in the tournamen t right now, with the same record, but not nearly as high of an RPI or SOS, not even close to Duke's.

Now I think they should get a 9/10 seed, but because of their reputation I dont see them getting any worse than a 6, maybe a 7.

Clearly, they are tournament worthy - it's clear to me atleast.

Yeah, they'll be in. But based on their ranking of 21st in the country, which is high, you're looking at no worse than a 6 seed.

I think they're looking at a 7-8 seed. The committee always seem to place an emphasis on how you finish the season. Duke lost 6 of it's last 9 conference games and then got beat in the 1st round of the ACC tourney by the 10th seed. That won't look too good when it comes time to seed them.

I also think Duke will get a plenty enough high seed based on reputation and I expect a quick exit with a double-digit embarrassing loss.

My comment about Coach K had nothing to do with what happened this week. We just had a new employee start with us this week who attended a Duke practice with a friend not too long ago. The f-bomb is more than a regular part of his speech (as in every other word) and he berates his players. He has a different image in front of the cameras...

This is a team (like Notre Dame in football) that relies on reputation. They have a "better than you" attitude in an arrogant way and are protrayed that way by so many in the media.

Duke doesn't deserve to be in the NCAA tournament?

Geez you really do hate those guys, huh?


Arizona is a team though that I think would struggle to get in if not for their reputation. Without that win against Memphis in December I'd be pretty unimpressed with their season.

quote:

Originally posted by TenTimes:
Duke doesn't deserve to be in the NCAA tournament?

No.

quote:

Geez you really do hate those guys, huh?

Yes. Simple enough.

When they lost 5 or 6 in a row they pretty much played themselves right out of the tourny, imho. The problem is because of their reputation they automatically start the season as a top-10 team in the country and have to play bad enough to get them out. While other teams win and win and win and struggle to get in. The system has its favorites and Duke is one of them.

Duke snags a 6 seed and gets a pretty favorable bracket imo. A second round matchup against Pitt and a third round against UCLA who lost their way into the tournament. This is gonna be interesting to see if they can live up to their reputation

Syracuse NIT bound? Ouch. Texas/N. Carolina will be a fun 3rd round for me if it happens.

Duke definately got a higher seed than I expected. I thought 7 would be the absolute highest. Texas/N.C. should be one of the better games of this tourny if it happens.

Duke gets a 6 thanks to an RPI. But it is only useful for tourny favs as for the second straight year Missouri State gets the cold shoulder. Thankfully their RPI was only about 35 as opposed to a top 20 from last year so it is more justified.

And Winthrop an 11...it just makes me chuckle.

quote:

Originally posted by TenTimes:
Syracuse NIT bound? Ouch.

I think there might be a riot here...

quote:

Yeah, they'll be in. But based on their ranking of 21st in the country, which is high, you're looking at no worse than a 6 seed.

quote:

Duke snags a 6 seed and gets a pretty favorable bracket imo.

Man, I'm good.

The problem is Duke was no where near being #21 in the country. They will get past their 1st round matchup and will be defeated by Pitt.

Any system where favorites have to play themselves out and non-favs have to play themselves in makes no sense to me at all. The only upside the NCAA tourney has to it is that teams actually need to play for a title unlike in football. Unfortunately, there are a number of schools which get overlooked and others which get too much credit. How Arkansas is in the tournament is beyond me...

quote:

Originally posted by Skip's Crew:
The problem is Duke was no where near being #21 in the country. They will get past their 1st round matchup and will be defeated by Pitt.

A 6 seed is SUPPOSED to beat an 11 seed, and then Lose in the next round to the 3 seed.

quote:

Originally posted by Boomer24:
Now I think they should get a 9/10 seed, but because of their reputation I dont see them getting any worse than a 6, maybe a 7.

They get their 6, and get IMO the weakest of the 11 seeds, maybe even weaker than the 12 seeds.

quote:

Originally posted by Skip's Crew:
But it is only useful for tourny favs as for the second straight year Missouri State gets the cold shoulder.

It was a joke last year when Missouri State did not make it. This year, not so much. They really only won 1 big game all year, against Wisconsin. As a fan of the MVC, they did everything they were asked to do to get more teams in, rated as the 6th toughest league. What hurt them, is the bottom teams are catching up to the mid level teams. Until these guys see the MVC as an equal league as the bigger conferences, the 3-6 teams will not be looked upon the same as the 3-6 teams of say the Big 10. The fact that Illinois, Purdue, and Michigan St. all made it is a joke. Arkansas made it simply based on their tourny run.

Kansas St. should be in. How does the 4th place team in the Big 12 not make it with 20+ wins and over 10 conference wins and 5 teams from the Big 10 make it when that was a 2 team league this year.

Drexel beats Syracuse, Nova, and Creighton, with 14 road wins. Air Force shot themselves in the foot with the horrible end to their season, but they still deserve to be in.

Missouri St. was one win away from making the tourny I believe. They went 0-5 against Creighton and SIU. If they just win one of those games I think they probably are in, but you can't justify putting them in based on one big win against Wisconsin.

Other teams more deserving than Illinois, Arkansas, Michigan St., and Purdue, who I consider the 4 worst at large teams in the tourny are Florida St. Syracuse, West Virginia and Appalachian St.

Kansas St. and Drexel missing the tourny with those 4 teams making it is a joke. Not to slight Texas Tech, because I think they deserve to be in, but they finished below K-State in league, and lost to them by 21 points.

I am convinced the NCAA will never change when it comes to smaller leagues. They come out a couple years ago and say if you want more teams in the tourny, then get your RPI up and play big schools for respectability. The MVC does exactly that, the WAC and others follow suit and when they start beating the larger schools, the NCAA changes its tune, and still finds a way to throw in 3 undeserving Big 10 schools, one Pac 10 team, and at least 1 SEC team. Stanford, I will at least give credit to injuries. With a healthy team all year, they probably are worthy, but I still would have left them out.

quote:

Originally posted by Skip's Crew:
How Arkansas is in the tournament is beyond me...

Same for me but with Stanford

quote:

Originally posted by Glassman:
I am convinced the NCAA will never change when it comes to smaller leagues. They come out a couple years ago and say if you want more teams in the tourny, then get your RPI up and play big schools for respectability. The MVC does exactly that, the WAC and others follow suit and when they start beating the larger schools, the NCAA changes its tune, and still finds a way to throw in 3 undeserving Big 10 schools, one Pac 10 team, and at least 1 SEC team. Stanford, I will at least give credit to injuries. With a healthy team all year, they probably are worthy, but I still would have left them out.

They showed a graphic yesterday that said the number of teams from the smaller conferences has steadily declined each of the past 4 years from 12 in I think it was 2004 down to 6 this year.


Oh well, it's still beats college football I guess?