15 hours ago, 16thBBall Fan said:

A possible Cal and Rick matchup in the 2nd round.

Exactly what the committee wants to drive ratings.

15 hours ago, 16thBBall Fan said:

Conference Breakdown:

SEC- 14 

Big 10- 8

Big 12- 7

Big East- 5 

ACC- 4

Mountain West- 4

West Coast- 2

Kind of shows the real impact of NIL and the portal in my mind.

42 minutes ago, TheDeuce said:

I'll just say it...

The SEC was the best conference this year. 14/16 teams in the tournament is an absolute joke. 

If the NCAA is as good as the SEC tournament it will be a good one.

15 hours ago, futurecoach said:

As a UK fan you can’t really be upset about this bracket. 

UK has great path to final 4 if they can get past Texas/Illinois in the second round. Pope has Tennessee's number, and I believe Utah State could give UT a game anyways. Sadly, I think Gonzaga comes out of this region though. 

15 hours ago, DragonFire said:

Auburn's reward for being the top overall seed is a very difficult draw.

Yeah, you can argue UofL got screwed. They should have been higher than an 8. However, playing in Lexington is practically a home game, in a gym you've already played in. I would say Auburn & Creighton got screwed too having to run into UofL so early. 

My Final Four:

Florida (Champion)

Michigan St.

Duke

Gonzaga

Vanderbilt was a team that surprised me from SEC.  But this is a comparison of the first four out to what I believe are the lowest rated SEC teams.  It sorts by NET automatically.  I'm not sure which ones you would immediately point to and say "they're in" over one of the SEC ones.  The strength of the SEC season shows up all over the place.  Look how terrible the OOC schedules are for every one of the SEC teams here, Vandy and Texas in particular.  But each one was dragged up because of the SoS and its effect on the other metrics. 

Ohio State is an interesting case here.  I think they've the others beat in several of these.  But their record looked bad, and I'm guessing that's what got them eliminated. 

13 minutes ago, DragonFire said:

Vanderbilt was a team that surprised me from SEC.  But this is a comparison of the first four out to what I believe are the lowest rated SEC teams.  It sorts by NET automatically.  I'm not sure which ones you would immediately point to and say "they're in" over one of the SEC ones.  The strength of the SEC season shows up all over the place.  Look how terrible the OOC schedules are for every one of the SEC teams here, Vandy and Texas in particular.  But each one was dragged up because of the SoS and its effect on the other metrics. 

Ohio State is an interesting case here.  I think they've the others beat in several of these.  But their record looked bad, and I'm guessing that's what got them eliminated. 

I'd love to see North Carolina's numbers in there. They made it purely on name of the program. 

6 minutes ago, DearToday said:

I'd love to see North Carolina's numbers in there. They made it purely on name of the program. 

It can only do up to 8, and I didn't put UNC due to it being more about the SEC, but this is with UNC instead of Indiana:

 

While I tend to agree that North Carolina got in on name recognition, I don't think it's as clear cut when you look at those resumes. 

Better record than most of the teams, better NET than all of them, better KenPom than all of them, better BPI than all of them, better T-Rank than all but West Virginia, incredibly strong OOC SOS, second best SOR.  They're middle of the pack in a couple other metrics.

It really is just down to the fact that they didn't beat anyone who was particularly great that works against them.  Which really SHOULD count against them big time. 

3 hours ago, bugatti said:

The SEC got in so many teams because of what took place in November and December.

Exactly this. 

I agree, their non-con schedule shouldn't be ignored, but neither should the rest of the season. If games in November matter that much, the system is grossly flawed. 

2 hours ago, gchs_uk9 said:

I think I agree but I'm not sure who I'd have left out. Probably Texas? Maybe Oklahoma, but those same Sooners did beat Louisville.

IMO, it's tough to justify a team getting in the tournament with a sub .500 conference record. If the media decides a conference is the best, that means a team can have a losing record after the first of the year and get in the tournament? That's just crazy to me. 

2 hours ago, 9068 said:

Kind of shows the real impact of NIL and the portal in my mind.

I think NIL is part of it, sure, but the SEC's recent success is most impacted by a significant increase in coaching, IMO. The SEC has the best collection of coaches right now, and that's why they have been the best conference. 

The real answer is there are too many teams in the tournament.

19 minutes ago, bugatti said:

The real answer is there are too many teams in the tournament.

I agree 100% cut it down or do away with conference tournament and seed the conference winners and add a weekend or 2 if needed and let everyone play in it and split the money with everyone and may help schools that don't have much NIL money. I am not really for that before 10 people quote me. lol

23 minutes ago, bugatti said:

The real answer is there are too many teams in the tournament.

How would you cut it back? Eliminate automatic quailifiers from small conferences or eliminate some number of at-large invites?