NCAA Selection Sunday discussion

[chopper]

That's a ridiculous bar. Only 2 teams are favored to reach the S16 or better, and getting to the final 4 regardless of seed is damn hard.

[Hall2012]

Villanova and Xavier both pretty much need to make the sweet 16, with at least 1 in the elite 8 and preferably Final Four. Anything less would have this tournament on track for being a disaster for the Big East. Those 2 need to hold serve, the other 4 schools are the ones with an opportunity to make this tournament great.

Butler, Creighton, Providence, and Seton Hall will all most likely face a top 2 seed in the round of 32 should they win their opening game. All very tall tasks - all massive opportunities. Just 1 of them pulling the upset to advance to the sweet 16 would turn this into a great tournament for the league (assuming Nova an X hold serve), 2 of them pulling through would be downright amazing, and as much as I'd like to think about 3 or all 4 of them doing it, that just seems unrealistic. I just hope they all win their first game so we can get 4 cracks at it.

[DudeAnon]

That's a ridiculous bar. Only 2 teams are favored to reach the S16 or better, and getting to the final 4 regardless of seed is damn hard.

Is it really? Xavier and Nova should be Sweet 16 locks so that means only 1 team out of 4 has to make it. Is that really too much to ask?

And while making the Final Four is hard, by design the 1 seed is supposed to be the favorite. So asking one of our two 1 seeds to make the final four doesn't seem ridiculous.

[Hall2012]

That's a ridiculous bar. Only 2 teams are favored to reach the S16 or better, and getting to the final 4 regardless of seed is damn hard.

Is it really? Xavier and Nova should be Sweet 16 locks so that means only 1 team out of 4 has to make it. Is that really too much to ask?

And while making the Final Four is hard, by design the 1 seed is supposed to be the favorite. So asking one of our two 1 seeds to make the final four doesn't seem ridiculous.

I tend to agree with you, that's the minimum I'm hoping to see. Not that all four 8/10 seeds losing in the round of 32 would necessarily be a disappointment (as they'd all be huge dogs), but I'm looking for something from this tournament that makes it a great success. Par for the course doesn't excite me.

[H.U.S.T.L.E.]

That's a ridiculous bar. Only 2 teams are favored to reach the S16 or better, and getting to the final 4 regardless of seed is damn hard.

Is it really? Xavier and Nova should be Sweet 16 locks so that means only 1 team out of 4 has to make it. Is that really too much to ask?

And while making the Final Four is hard, by design the 1 seed is supposed to be the favorite. So asking one of our two 1 seeds to make the final four doesn't seem ridiculous.

I'm hoping my Virginia Tech Hokies get past Alabama in Round 1, since I'd really like to see how we stack up against Villanova.

We've got decent length on the perimeter, but we only have one big with Blackshear manning the middle pretty much on his own. Spellman & Paschall could have a field day if Blackshear gets in foul trouble early.

[kayako]

Lets win some close games in the 1st weekend. Nova, Seton Hall, and Providence were all disappointing last year.

[xusandy]

According to Dan Greene of Sports Illustrated. Missouri (now that Michael Porter is back) really might beat Xavier in the round of 32. In fact, Greene has X as having the most difficult path to the final 4 in the West Region. There's a potential matchup with either under seeded #4 Gonzaga (virtually a road game for us) or improving #5 Ohio State in the sweet 16, followed by a game with #3 Michigan (Big 10 tourney winner) or #2 UNC in the elite 8. 3 of the 5 teams I mentioned have a better KenPom ranking than X. Bottom Line: X is Greene's pick to make the earliest exit of any of the #1 seeds!

Actually, the "separation" between the truly top teams and the bulk of very good teams seems to have collapsed this year, so we can expect a lot more upsets after the first round than in past years. For example, Providence just beat Creighton in OT, X in OT, and then lost to Nova in OT in the BE tourney. WOW! what a great run! Congrats to you guys! But the Friars reward was a 10 seed in the dance, which suggests that the committee believed there are 35+ teams better than Providence, but not as good as Nova. So there's almost no separation at all among the top 40 teams?

Gonna be some gooooood games coming up for us all to watch.
Go BE!

[Bill Marsh]

According to Dan Greene of Sports Illustrated. Missouri (now that Michael Porter is back) really might beat Xavier in the round of 32. In fact, Greene has X as having the most difficult path to the final 4 in the West Region. There's a potential matchup with either under seeded #4 Gonzaga (virtually a road game for us) or improving #5 Ohio State in the sweet 16, followed by a game with #3 Michigan (Big 10 tourney winner) or #2 UNC in the elite 8. 3 of the 5 teams I mentioned have a better KenPom ranking than X. Bottom Line: X is Greene's pick to make the earliest exit of any of the #1 seeds!

Of more significance than the return of Porter, who really hasn’t played with this team all year, is that missing against Florida State will be Jordan Barnett, a senior and Missouri’s #2 scorer, #2 rebounder, and best free throw shooter. I don’t expect them to get past Florida State.

Michigan is really a juggernaut at this point in the season and really should be favored to win that region, but I expect X to be right there with them in the Elite 8

Actually, the "separation" between the truly top teams and the bulk of very good teams seems to have collapsed this year, so we can expect a lot more upsets after the first round than in past years. For example, Providence just beat Creighton in OT, X in OT, and then lost to Nova in OT in the BE tourney. WOW! what a great run! Congrats to you guys! But the Friars reward was a 10 seed in the dance, which suggests that the committee believed there are 35+ teams better than Providence, but not as good as Nova. So there's almost no separation at all among the top 40 teams?

Gonna be some gooooood games coming up for us all to watch.
Go BE!

Good points!

[gtmoBlue]

Virginia, not X will be the 1st 1-seed to fall. They sprint to cover the 3pter... They don't have much offense and use their good d to cover their weakness.
I think Creighton guns UVA down, and the Jays move to see UK/Ariz winner.

X is a tourney horse...they will not be surprised by anyone, regardless of Mr. Greene's opinion. All the teams mentioned also have glaring weaknesses as well and X has had an amazing luck factor this year, plus the ability to win even when their game is off. Go Xavier.

[H.U.S.T.L.E.]

Virginia, not X will be the 1st 1-seed to fall. They sprint to cover the 3pter... They don't have much offense and use their good d to cover their weakness.
I think Creighton guns UVA down, and the Jays move to see UK/Ariz winner.

X is a tourney horse...they will not be surprised by anyone, regardless of Mr. Greene's opinion. All the teams mentioned also have glaring weaknesses as well and X has had an amazing luck factor this year, plus the ability to win even when their game is off. Go Xavier.

That might be one of the silliest scouting reports of UVA I've seen in a long time. And this is coming from a VT fan who can't stand the Wahoos.

UVA had the SIXTH-BEST 3-pt defense in the country this year. They close out 3-pt shots extremely well, and they've got length. As far as offense goes, it's not that they don't have much offense... it's just that they play a style that values great shots over more shots. They have four guys that play significant minutes who are very good to great three point shooters (Devon Hunter - 38.2%, Ty Jerome - 38.9%, Kyle Guy - 39.5%, Devon Hall - 45.2%).