Big East Semi-Finals 3/9/18

[stever20]

As an X fan, that one really stings, and hopefully we can still grab a #1 seed.

They will, as Duke lost tonight, and honestly I am not sure if Kansas has the resume to overtake Xavier. But IMO this locks up Nova vs. Duke in the east region. I'm not too happy about this.

I wouldn't be so sure. North Carolina with a win over Virginia would have a crazy 14 wins vs group 1 opponents. 14-7 record. Xavier would only be 6-4 vs group 1 opponents- so 4 fewer opponents than UNC has wins. Kansas is 11-3 vs group 1 opponents, and would add another win if they can beat West Virginia.

I think bare minimum UNC would overtake Duke on the seeds- sending UNC quite possibly to the East region.

I think the top seeds are-
1- Virginia
2- Villanova
3- Kansas
4- UNC(if they beat Virginia), Xavier(if UNC loses)
5- Xavier(if UNC loses), UNC(if they lose to Virginia)
6- Duke
7- Purdue
8- Cincy

that would be regions of - if UNC wins-
East- Villanova, Duke
South- Virginia, Purdue
Midwest- Kansas, Xavier
West UNC, Cincy

if UNC loses-
East- Villanova, UNC
South- Virginia, Purdue
Midwest- Kansas, Duke
West- Xavier, Cincy

[XUFan09]

As an X fan, that one really stings, and hopefully we can still grab a #1 seed.

They will, as Duke lost tonight, and honestly I am not sure if Kansas has the resume to overtake Xavier. But IMO this locks up Nova vs. Duke in the east region. I'm not too happy about this.

My first thought was that they might not put the second best 1 seed with the best 2 seed, just because it limits who the 3 and 4 seeds can be in that region, but you're right that Duke probably won't be sent to the Midwest or the West if they're the best 2 seed, and they likely won't put them in the South with UVA.

Kansas has a lot of Q1 wins. I would love to see them knocked off tomorrow to increase the chances of the 3rd overall seed for Xavier. Whoever is #4 will be out West and is most likely going to have the strongest 2, 3, 4 combo in their region.

Of course, this year has been weird. The best resumes might not match up cleanly with the toughest outs in the tournament. So, "strongest 2, 3, 4 combo" might be a matter of interpretation.

[kayako]

Kansas has a lot of Q1 wins. I would love to see them knocked off tomorrow to increase the chances of the 3rd overall seed for Xavier. Whoever is #4 will be out West and is most likely going to have the strongest 2, 3, 4 combo in their region.

I wouldn't worry about it too much. Remember last year? Nova was the overall #1, and we got stuck with not only Duke as our #2, but a criminally overqualified Wisconsins in the 2nd round. And Duke themselves were matched up with a final four South Carolina team. Meanwhile, the weakest #1 seed Gonzaga got a free ride to the final four (no offense to Xavier you guys salvaged the tournament for the conference).

[stever20]

Kansas has a lot of Q1 wins. I would love to see them knocked off tomorrow to increase the chances of the 3rd overall seed for Xavier. Whoever is #4 will be out West and is most likely going to have the strongest 2, 3, 4 combo in their region.

I wouldn't worry about it too much. Remember last year? Nova was the overall #1, and we got stuck with not only Duke as our #2, but a criminally overqualified Wisconsins in the 2nd round. And Duke themselves were matched up with a final four South Carolina team. Meanwhile, the weakest #1 seed Gonzaga got a free ride to the final four (no offense to Xavier you guys salvaged the tournament for the conference).

And Duke was the next to last 2 seed(#7 overall). So how exactly is that being stuck with Duke?

sometimes 8/9 lines have teams like Wisconsin that underachieve thru the year. Wisconsin had lost 6 of their last 10 games going into the tournament. Not been the only time seen someone like that (think Kentucky a few years ago).

[DeePhence]

Welp, I have to say, I am still buzzing this morning.

I stopped posting here out of embarrassment for a stretch.

I think most PC fans looked back on the regular season with a bit of disappointment - even losing Holt before the season started. Yes, we had lots of injuries and illnesses (no worse than, say Nova losing Booth for six weeks or Creighton losing Krampelj), but we never really played consistently, which was weird for a team with so many seniors in big roles. Cartwright was up and down, as was Bullock, and our highly touted freshman, Ashton-Langford wasn't ready (until the second half last night!)

Still, I think at this point, win or lose tonight, we're ready to say that the journey was bumpy but the destination was what we had hoped for in the end. And we're gonna play basketball again next weekend!

Cooley said in the presser last night "God bless the Big East, what a league." I agree. I haven't enjoyed the Big East as much as I have these last few years. You newcomers - we're delighted you're all here. Great teams, great players, great coaches, great fans and arenas. And still the best post-season tourney in basketball. The ACC and the Big 10 can pretend, but we're the NYC ticket to have in March.

Xavier, to me, is still one of the best teams I have seen all year. So balanced, inside and outside, deep, and Mack is a great coach. I still cannot believe we didn't crumble when we got behind by 17 - never mind come back.

Enjoy the final everyone, and good luck with the brackets tomorrow!

[paulxu]

That was some comeback, and I'm surprised we couldn't make one of those last layups.

Congrats to the Friars. Good luck in the tourney.

[Bill Marsh]

Welp, I have to say, I am still buzzing this morning.

I stopped posting here out of embarrassment for a stretch.

I think most PC fans looked back on the regular season with a bit of disappointment - even losing Holt before the season started. Yes, we had lots of injuries and illnesses (no worse than, say Nova losing Booth for six weeks or Creighton losing Krampelj), but we never really played consistently, which was weird for a team with so many seniors in big roles. Cartwright was up and down, as was Bullock, and our highly touted freshman, Ashton-Langford wasn't ready (until the second half last night!)

Still, I think at this point, win or lose tonight, we're ready to say that the journey was bumpy but the destination was what we had hoped for in the end. And we're gonna play basketball again next weekend!

Cooley said in the presser last night "God bless the Big East, what a league." I agree. I haven't enjoyed the Big East as much as I have these last few years. You newcomers - we're delighted you're all here. Great teams, great players, great coaches, great fans and arenas. And still the best post-season tourney in basketball. The ACC and the Big 10 can pretend, but we're the NYC ticket to have in March.

Xavier, to me, is still one of the best teams I have seen all year. So balanced, inside and outside, deep, and Mack is a great coach. I still cannot believe we didn't crumble when we got behind by 17 - never mind come back.

Enjoy the final everyone, and good luck with the brackets tomorrow!

So many great story lines from last night’s game, starting with the defense. No one else has been able to stop Blueitt and Macura. The job on Blueitt was a thing for the ages. And one of his 2 field goals was because the defender slipped and fell down, leaving him with a wide open shot.

Then there were the freshmen, Watson and MAL, playing big minutes during the come back and making big plays. Watson scored time after time and MAL let Cartwright play off the ball to score and preserve his energy.

And the seniors. What can we say about Caerwright? I don’t care if he misses every shot he takes, he’s still the guy in whose hands you want to have the ball at the end of the game. But so much more. The big charge(s). The PC backcourt directed an offense that committed only 7 turnovers. Seven!

Keep the faith.

[Bill Marsh]

As an X fan, that one really stings, and hopefully we can still grab a #1 seed.

They will, as Duke lost tonight, and honestly I am not sure if Kansas has the resume to overtake Xavier. But IMO this locks up Nova vs. Duke in the east region. I'm not too happy about this.

Is this the same Duke team that lost to St John’s that you’re worried about?

[gosports1]

PC came to play last night. lets hope that team sticks around. Lunardi still has PC as a 10 seed (at least its not an 11 playin) behind St bonaventure among others. I realize UMass and DePaul were bad losses but 3 top 5 wins all against the projected #1 seeds doesn't make up for that?. Maybe 10 is good, I don't like the 8/9 seed either considering with a win number 1 is waiting. we shall see how it pans out

[Bill Marsh]

It should, but do you really want to be on the 8-9 line?

No doubt. This puts them in 7-8 territory.

considering where most folks had them, they're probably now on the 8-9 line. Their resume still has a lot of warts on it. To really get out of the soup, they'd need a win tomorrow over Nova to get onto the 6 line I think....

Who cares where "most folks" had them? The committee are the only folks who matter, and no one knows where the committee has them. I'm sticking with the 7-8 lines.

Speaking of warts, how many top 5 wins do they have?