ESPN: X, Butler and Providence just Mediocre and Generic

[gosports1]

IMO…

Villanova is a horrendously unjust choice for 1 seed……
bad league, bad tourney history in recent years, best win is VCU………… this is a midmajor w/o any major wins, and unlike Gonzaga they have shown to not be competitive with top teams in the actual tourney

If in the ACC Villanova would battle NCState for 6th place….. and I would favor NCState….. and hey, this may well be proved in the rd of 32

at least they did put the rightful 1 seed Virginia in this bracket but this is an asinine choice for 1 seed

the entire BE is a national charity case and joke………….. how is GTown seeded.. or Xavier? GTown, in particular is a complete disgrace……….

this crap needs to stop[/quote]
Let's play our game and win a few to get them to STFU.[/quote]
I don't know where you found the quote, but someone should point out to this moron that the BE was 7-2 against his beloved ACC and 7-5 against the B10. The facts would probably be too hard for him to grasp![/quote]
Probably some 19 year old busy with his studies and knew nothing about college basketball before he enrolled.
They poached many of the elite teams from the Big East and they had the same number of bids the Big East had ? shows how pathetic the ACC was before the Big East split. Their fans called the Big East the Big Least when the Big East was king 5 years ago. Very delusional fan base ![/quote]


Sounds like some of the comments some of the fans from the newer members of the American said after the C7 bolted

[Irishdawg]

To be fair, Vegas picked Texas, and those hotels weren't built for free. As others have said, just have to go out and win games. Good luck to all the Big East!

[gofriars08]

They're putting Texas as the favorite because the advanced metrics love them because they've played a brutal schedule. However, they have been atrocious versus top 50 teams and have a coach that Friar fans can attest is not adept at maximizing on court talent.

Butler will struggle with their size, but they've been tall and long teams already like UNC and Providence. Simply put, Butler is just tougher and if you don't think they haven't seen they are listed as underdogs and are using that for motivation, I've got a bridge for sale.

As for PC and Xavier, they'll let their game do the talking. Both are flat out superior teams to their play in opponents and I expect them to prove that. Xavier haa great balance and depth while PC has IMO the best player in their region.

[novahoops11]

I'm driving out to Pittsburgh early just to root for Butler, so I expect nothing less than two wins from the Bulldogs this weekend!

[NJRedman]

To be fair, Vegas picked Texas, and those hotels weren't built for free. As others have said, just have to go out and win games. Good luck to all the Big East!

No, they were built from blood money from the mob and then blood money from big corporations.

[NJRedman]

They're putting Texas as the favorite because the advanced metrics love them because they've played a brutal schedule. However, they have been atrocious versus top 50 teams and have a coach that Friar fans can attest is not adept at maximizing on court talent.

Butler will struggle with their size, but they've been tall and long teams already like UNC and Providence. Simply put, Butler is just tougher and if you don't think they haven't seen they are listed as underdogs and are using that for motivation, I've got a bridge for sale.

As for PC and Xavier, they'll let their game do the talking. Both are flat out superior teams to their play in opponents and I expect them to prove that. Xavier haa great balance and depth while PC has IMO the best player in their region.

The thing is it's not just those schools I mentioned. They have been disrespecting Nova every chance they get. i have heard multiple times that Nova isn;t a deserving 1 seed and that either Virginia (who couldn't even make their conference final) or Arizona (who play in a MUCH weaker conference) deserve it over them. They don't mention Wisconsin who lost to Rutgers this year as the undeserving 1 seed but Nova. They say Nova hasn't played anyone and that they haven't seen the type of athletes that LSU or NC State have in the Big East. Can you believe that shit?

Oh and Providence doesn't really do anything great. It was so bad that even Seth Greenberg had to say "Wait a second, Chris Dunn is a very good player!"

[billyjack]

Providence is playing in its 17th NCAA tourney this year.

Of the 16 previous:
- 11 times we lost our first game.
- 5 times we won at least 1 game, and in those years we've had 1 Sweet-16 ('74), 2 Elite-8's ('65, '97), and 2 Final Fours ('73, '87).

So when we win we tend to get on a roll...!

And in the 1974 Sweet-16 year, we were ranked #5 in the nation in March but were scheduled against #1 NC State way too early (pre-seeding era).

[stever20]

saw this thing from Lunardi:
http://insider.espn.go.com/mens-college ... ceFailures

Runner-up: Villanova Wildcats. Never have I seen an underrated No. 1 seed. Blame it on Fox, blame it on football bias, whatever. I'm telling you, pick against these Wildcats at your own risk. It also doesn't hurt that Wisconsin and Arizona are on the opposite side of the bracket.

pretty interesting numbers also that he brings up about the middling majors vs the mid majors....

• In the last five NCAA tournaments, 17 "middling majors" have received at-large bids (I define this group as power-conference teams with losing conference records and/or a double-digit tournament seed).
• Conversely, 12 teams outside the "Power Five" have been at-large selections in the same double-digit seed range (needless to say, no "non-power" teams with losing conference records have ever received at-large bids).
• The average seed of middling majors since 2010 is 10.3. The average seed of non-power at-large teams has been 11.3, a full seed line that would have to be considered in evaluating their relative success (or not) in the tournament.
• Over the past five years, despite an average seed that's one line worse than the middling majors, teams outside the Power Five have gone 14-12 (.538) in their NCAA games. This includes one each in the Final Four (VCU, 2011), Elite Eight (Dayton, 2014) and Sweet 16 (La Salle, 2013).
• The 17 major-conference teams, on the other hand, have gone just 7-17 (.290) in NCAA games over the same time frame. And only one of them (Marquette, 2011) won as many as two games in the tournament.

I'm assuming that he's putting the Big East(both versions) in the Power Five group. This would have included Xavier last season.

[DudeAnon]

I would not be surprised at all to see Providence make the elite eight/final four. They are possibly the most talented team in our conference and they have a chip on their shoulder.

[chicagojayfan]

They're putting Texas as the favorite because the advanced metrics love them because they've played a brutal schedule. However, they have been atrocious versus top 50 teams and have a coach that Friar fans can attest is not adept at maximizing on court talent.

Butler will struggle with their size, but they've been tall and long teams already like UNC and Providence. Simply put, Butler is just tougher and if you don't think they haven't seen they are listed as underdogs and are using that for motivation, I've got a bridge for sale.

As for PC and Xavier, they'll let their game do the talking. Both are flat out superior teams to their play in opponents and I expect them to prove that. Xavier haa great balance and depth while PC has IMO the best player in their region.

Agree with this analysis. I'd add in that I think the metrics/RPI have overrated the B12 this year. We'll see for sure in the tourney, but I don't think they are the powerhouse they are supposed to be.

Butler will be a tough matchup for a lot of teams. Tough and disciplined D, a guy who can get to the paint and score and a couple of tremendous outside shooters. Not many teams play that way these days and teams will struggle to figure them out.