March Madness 2018 and Conference Tournaments

[CNGL-Leudimin]

Update on auto-bids:
A-Sun: Lipscomb (First March Madness appearance!)
Big South: Radford
Big Ten: Michigan
MAAC: Iona
MVC: Loyola Chicago (a.k.a. Loyola (IL)) (Ending a 33 year drought)
OVC: Murray State
Southern: UNC Greensboro

I miss the posts by the road from which I was upgraded in WI .

[Hot Rod Hootenanny]

Showing my age again, I remember when the NCAA tourney had a lot fewer teams than it does now.. The conferences were sorted geographically into the four regions, and there were a limited number of bids available for independents. In the Mideast Region, Notre Dame usually got a bid. The conferences that played in the Mideast were the SEC, OVC, Big Ten and Missouri Valley. Only the conference champion made it, and very few conferences had tournaments. A slow expansion started in the late 70s or early 80s, but they still did things geographically. At one point, the higher-seeded teams in each region got a first-round bye. The NCAA set up Kentucky and Louisville to play in 1982, with Louisville getting a bye, but Middle Tennessee from the OVC beat UK in the first-round game because UK was overlooking MTSU for U of L.

1976 was the first year the NCAA allowed 'At-Large' bids for conferences
1978 was the first year the NCAA started seeding the b-ball tourney (though it would be the following year, '79, that the seeding method we're familiar with started)

[CNGL-Leudimin]

Update on auto-bids. I wanted Cleveland State to get the Horizon berth despite a losing record, but it didn't happen.
ASUN: Lipscomb (First March Madness appearance!)
Big South: Radford
Big Ten: Michigan
CAA: College of Charleston
Horizon: Wright State
MAAC: Iona
MVC: Loyola Chicago (a.k.a. Loyola (IL)) (Ending a 33 year drought)
NEC: LIU Brooklyn
OVC: Murray State
Patriot: Bucknell
Southern: UNC Greensboro
Summit: South Dakota State
WCC: Gonzaga

I think I'll predict a Gonzaga championship in one of my brackets this year .

Update (March 9): added the Patriot auto-bid, I forgot to do so yesterday.

[1995hoo]

 ACC: Virginia 

[CNGL-Leudimin]

Today is Selection Sunday! Here are all auto-bids:
AM East: UMBS
AAC: Cincinnati
A-10: Davidson
ACC: Virginia
ASUN: Lipscomb (First March Madness appearance!)
Big 12: Kansas
Big East: Villanova
Big Sky: Montana
Big South: Radford
Big Ten: Michigan
Big West: Cal State Fullerton
CAA: College of Charleston
CUSA: Marshall (ending a 31 year drought)
Horizon: Wright State
Ivy: Penn
MAAC: Iona
MAC: Buffalo
MEAC: NC Central
MVC: Loyola Chicago (a.k.a. Loyola (IL)) (Ending a 33 year drought)
MT West: San Diego State
NEC: LIU Brooklyn
OVC: Murray State
Pac 12: Arizona
Patriot: Bucknell
SEC: Kentucky
Southern: UNC Greensboro
Southland: Stephen S. Austin
SWAC: Texas Southern
Summit: South Dakota State
Sun Belt: Georgia State
WCC: Gonzaga
WAC: New Mexico State

Too bad Grand Canyon couldn't accomplish the same feat as Northern Kentucky last year...

Here are all first appearances since 2011. Note I now refuse to recognize the 2013 March Madness as there is no official winner (so I assume it wasn't played).
2011: Northern Colorado
2012: Norfolk State, North Dakota State
2013: (No March Madness)
2014: Cal Poly, NC Central
2015: Buffalo, North Florida, UC Irvine
2016: Cal State Bakersfield, Florida Gulf Coast (first recognized by me), Stony Brook
2017: Jacksonville State, North Dakota, Northern Kentucky (on the first year of elegibility!), Northwestern (at-large), UC Davis
2018: Lipscomb

[1995hoo]

Don't forget the selection show is on TBS, not CBS.

[Buck87]

first appearances since 2011
2011: Northern Colorado
2012: Norfolk State, North Dakota State
2013: Florida Gulf Coast - went on to become the first ever 15 seed to advance to the Sweet 16
2014: Cal Poly, NC Central
2015: Buffalo, North Florida, UC Irvine
2016: Cal State Bakersfield,  Stony Brook
2017: Jacksonville State, North Dakota, Northern Kentucky (on the first year of eligibility!), Northwestern (at-large), UC Davis
2018: Lipscomb

Here's another version of the list, for those interested in the history of how things actually happened in real life as opposed to someone's weird opinion of it

[CNGL-Leudimin]

Since I have struck the entire 2013 March Madness I consider no 15 seed to have reached Sweet Sixteen yet. Much like I consider the Tour de France wasn't run from 1999 to 2005.

[cu2010]

Just because the NCAA vacated the championship doesn't mean the event didn't happen. It still happened. Louisville still won the tournament that year. FGCU still made it to the Sweet Sixteen. Just because the NCAA punishes one team doesn't strike the entire event from the history book.

On that note, I find the notion of the NCAA taking away wins as a punishment to be an extremely ridiculous concept...you can't rewrite history, folks...

[Anthony_JK]

A side note on the inanities of the NCAA tournament:

Georgia State will rep the Sun Belt as their tournament champion, defeating Texas-Arlington.

UTA reached the finals by upsetting Louisiana-Lafayette in the semis.

ULL had blown through the Sun Belt regular season at 26-4, with only one conference loss in the regular season (on the road at Georgia State).

However, because ULL's RPI is low because they beat no major teams, they more than likely will get shut out of an at-large NCAA bid.

The Ragin' Cajuns MBB team, though, is insured an NIT bid, because that tournament grants an automatic bid to the regular season champion of the Sun Belt if they don't make the NCAAs.

Probably won't ease the bitterness, though.

[US71]

Something to make Bugo cheer: Arkansas men's basketball team has earned a No. 7 seed in the east region of the NCAA Tournament.

[HazMatt]

The Selection Show was a hot mess.  Quit trying to fix things that aren't broken and go back to what works.

[SP Cook]

The Selection Show was a hot mess.  Quit trying to fix things that aren't broken and go back to what works.

This.  CBS/TBS are trying to make two hours of a show out of about 45 minutes of material.    And the analysts have little knowledge of basketball below the top teams, and just read out the names without the ability to say anything off-the-cuff about any of the teams.  For just one example, one "pod" has WVU-Murray State and Marshall-Wichita State.  Wichita State's head coach is Gregg Marshall, who Marshall passed over for the head job in favor of a coach who failed totally, and its assistant is Donnie Jones, who was Marshall HC and left the program high and dry in a pay dispute, going to UCF, where he failed totally.   The winner would play, probably, WVU, which, are both in the same state and WVU refuses to play Marshall.  Just one example, there are two dozen in the field like that.  I doubt any of the people on TBS could tell you were any of the mid-major schools not named for states or cities are even located.

 

[hbelkins]

The Selection Show was a hot mess.  Quit trying to fix things that aren't broken and go back to what works.

This.  CBS/TBS are trying to make two hours of a show out of about 45 minutes of material.    And the analysts have little knowledge of basketball below the top teams, and just read out the names without the ability to say anything off-the-cuff about any of the teams.  For just one example, one "pod" has WVU-Murray State and Marshall-Wichita State.  Wichita State's head coach is Gregg Marshall, who Marshall passed over for the head job in favor of a coach who failed totally, and its assistant is Donnie Jones, who was Marshall HC and left the program high and dry in a pay dispute, going to UCF, where he failed totally.   The winner would play, probably, WVU, which, are both in the same state and WVU refuses to play Marshall.  Just one example, there are two dozen in the field like that.  I doubt any of the people on TBS could tell you were any of the mid-major schools not named for states or cities are even located.

Wichita State's coach also has a loudmouthed drunk wife. She really showed herself last year after UK beat Wichita State.

[CNGL-Leudimin]

Okay, now time to fill the brackets! This time due to obvious reasons I'm not predicting a Middle Tennessee win.

[LM117]

ACC: Virginia 

[Rothman]

The bracket this year is a headscratcher.

[hbelkins]

UK got screwed again, to no one's surprise.

A 5 seed after winning the tournament of what's regarded as top to bottom the toughest conference this year.

Sent to BF Idaho for the first round.

[Rothman]

How Xavier got a 1 seed doesn't make much sense to me.

[HazMatt]

UK got screwed again, to no one's surprise.

A 5 seed after winning the tournament of what's regarded as top to bottom the toughest conference this year.

Sent to BF Idaho for the first round.

  The Big 12 would like a word. 

You could argue Kentucky as a 4 seed over Wichita State and Gonzaga, but honestly West Virginia has a better profile than both teams.  Either way, Kentucky would have been one of the last 4 seeds and been sent out west anyway.  Auburn, Arizona have better profiles regardless.  Kentucky was a 6 seed going into the SEC tournament I feel and the Tennessee win bumped them up.

[Alps]

How Xavier got a 1 seed doesn't make much sense to me.

Having watched the Big East play, I'm gonna argue they're the best league this year. So it sounds like we're all homers.

[Rothman]

How Xavier got a 1 seed doesn't make much sense to me.

Having watched the Big East play, I'm gonna argue they're the best league this year. So it sounds like we're all homers.

That's fine, conference-wise, but I thought Providence beat Xavier twice.  Reminds me of George Washington beating UMass twice when UMass had Marcus Camby and was ranked #1 through a lot of the season and as soon as they faced a big center in the tourney (Oklahoma), they fizzled. (Yes, that was a long time ago. )

[jflick99]

The bracket this year is a headscratcher.

Definitely. WTF is Oklahoma doing as a 10?? Since January 13, they've won four games, and got bounced in the first round of the Big 12 tourney. How is that even worth a bid, not to mention a pass through the First Four? I felt Oklahoma State was more worthy.

I saw Penn as a potential upset candidate as a 12 or 13. I think they're too good to be a 16. Should be a good game with KU on Thursday.

ASU & Syracuse are real headscratchers as well.

[NWI_Irish96]

Notre Dame, without their 2 best players, beat Syracuse at Syracuse, they ended up with the same conference record, and Notre Dame advanced farther in the conference tournament, so I really don't get Syracuse in and ND out.

That said, for a team that's been to two Elite 8's in the last 3 years, I actually prefer playing a likely 3-5 games in the NIT over having a 50/50 shot of even making it to the part of the NCAA tournament where bracket picks start counting.

[Buck87]

That was a nice win over UCLA by St. Bonaventure last night, their first NCAA tournament win since the 1970 Elite 8.