ESPN pundits pick big flop for Big East

[dmac80]

Was watching the round table bracketology last night on ESPN2. They have nova winning a game and the other three teams being bounced in the first game! Creighton going down to LA Lafayette!

[stever20]

Was watching the round table bracketology last night on ESPN2. They have nova winning a game and the other three teams being bounced in the first game! Creighton going down to LA Lafayette!

Could easily see Xavier and Providence losing right away- either way for Xavier, their limit is the 3rd rd(when they see Louisville). PC/UNC is interesting, but after that would be Iowa St. Don't see Creighton losing 1st rd, but it wouldn't be a shocker to see them fall to Baylor 2nd round. Nova I think is in a really good position- like them over St Joe's or UConn in 2nd round, then sweet 16 vs UNC/Iowa St is manageable. I'd be shocked if we don't have 1 sweet 16 at least.

I think worst case Xavier and PC lose 1st games, Creighton, Nova lose in rd of 32.

best case Xavier and PC make it to rd of 32, Nova makes it to final 4.

To me, Creighton is the big wild card. Could see them going out vs Baylor, but then could see them going to Dallas.

[Jet915]

Was watching the round table bracketology last night on ESPN2. They have nova winning a game and the other three teams being bounced in the first game! Creighton going down to LA Lafayette!

Could easily see Xavier and Providence losing right away- either way for Xavier, their limit is the 3rd rd(when they see Louisville). PC/UNC is interesting, but after that would be Iowa St. Don't see Creighton losing 1st rd, but it wouldn't be a shocker to see them fall to Baylor 2nd round. Nova I think is in a really good position- like them over St Joe's or UConn in 2nd round, then sweet 16 vs UNC/Iowa St is manageable. I'd be shocked if we don't have 1 sweet 16 at least.

I think worst case Xavier and PC lose 1st games, Creighton, Nova lose in rd of 32.

best case Xavier and PC make it to rd of 32, Nova makes it to final 4.

To me, Creighton is the big wild card. Could see them going out vs Baylor, but then could see them going to Dallas.

If we are lucky to get to the Sweet 16, I like our chances against Wisconsin. We played them last year and scored over 80 points on Bo in a neutral court win.

[stever20]

Was watching the round table bracketology last night on ESPN2. They have nova winning a game and the other three teams being bounced in the first game! Creighton going down to LA Lafayette!

Could easily see Xavier and Providence losing right away- either way for Xavier, their limit is the 3rd rd(when they see Louisville). PC/UNC is interesting, but after that would be Iowa St. Don't see Creighton losing 1st rd, but it wouldn't be a shocker to see them fall to Baylor 2nd round. Nova I think is in a really good position- like them over St Joe's or UConn in 2nd round, then sweet 16 vs UNC/Iowa St is manageable. I'd be shocked if we don't have 1 sweet 16 at least.

I think worst case Xavier and PC lose 1st games, Creighton, Nova lose in rd of 32.

best case Xavier and PC make it to rd of 32, Nova makes it to final 4.

To me, Creighton is the big wild card. Could see them going out vs Baylor, but then could see them going to Dallas.

If we are lucky to get to the Sweet 16, I like our chances against Wisconsin. We played them last year and scored over 80 points on Bo in a neutral court win.

yeah, I could see that pretty easily. I think I'm maybe a bit more worried about Baylor for you guys than Wisconsin- think they may have a bit better athletes and you would be playing them in a pretty hostile environment.

[fellahmuskie]

Call me a homer, but I've got Villanova in the Final 4, Creighton and Xavier in the Elite 8 and Providence in the Round of 32. It's more fun picking that way.

[adoraz11]

Not terribly surprising Xavier and Providence are low seeds and I'm sure underdogs. Nova most recently lost to Hall and has played in a lot of close games (wins). Creighton can be shut down. I can just as easily see them getting bounced first game as making it to the finals.

Regardless it really doesn't matter at all. Either they succeed or they don't and nothing ESPN says will affect that.

[xu1990]

The winner of X/NC State will not be a big underdog to SLU. The spread on that game will be <3.5 regardless of who wins tonight.

[billyjack]

I have Creighton and Villanova in the Final 4... Creighton actually in National Final...

Creighton will roll any team that hasn't played them this year... it'll be like Mike Tyson fighting Michael Spinks... their opponents will have a look of shellshock after 10 minutes... think of their games against Nebraska or Cal or Arizona State, especially Cal where the Bears came in cocky and within 12 minutes were wandering around with glazed eyes and semi-half-smiles and dazed looks... their road is Lafayette, Baylor, Oregon and Arizona... with Arizona being the only real tough game. I cannot picture in my mind seeing Baylor play disciplined ball, so they'll get clobbered. Congrats in advance to the Bluejays...!

Villanova has a road of Milwaukee, Connecticut, Iowa State or Providence at MSG, and Michigan State at MSG... New Yorkers will be fully behind VU vs ISU or MSU... UConn (or Providence of course) might be their toughest game.

[stever20]

I have Creighton and Villanova in the Final 4... Creighton actually in National Final...

Creighton will roll any team that hasn't played them this year... it'll be like Mike Tyson fighting Michael Spinks... their opponents will have a look of shellshock after 10 minutes... think of their games against Nebraska or Cal or Arizona State, especially Cal where the Bears came in cocky and within 12 minutes were wandering around with glazed eyes and semi-half-smiles and dazed looks... their road is Lafayette, Baylor, Oregon and Arizona... with Arizona being the only real tough game. I cannot picture in my mind seeing Baylor play disciplined ball, so they'll get clobbered. Congrats in advance to the Bluejays...!

Villanova has a road of Milwaukee, Connecticut, Iowa State or Providence at MSG, and Michigan State at MSG... New Yorkers will be fully behind VU vs ISU or MSU... UConn (or Providence of course) might be their toughest game.

San Diego St didn't have a problem adjusting to them. Also, playing at Creighton for Cal is a lot different than playing what will be close to a road game vs Baylor, a much better team. Also, they will likely have to play Wisconsin and not Oregon. Wisconsin played them last year...

[notkirkcameron]

These "conference" arguments in the NCAA Tournament are seemingly solely designed for ESPN to get page views. 32 conferences will not win the National Championship.

Take 2011 for example.

The Big East put 11 teams into the NCAA Tournament = Good!No league in history has done that!
but only two (Marquette and UConn) made it to the Sweet 16* = Bad! The Big East flopped! They're overrated!
But then UConn won the National Championship, going undefeated all season against non-Big East teams, but finishing 9th in the Big East. Every loss on their record was to a Big East team.

So did the Big East have a good tournament or a bad tournament in 2011? Depends on the point of view you're coming from already. If you think the Big East is overrated, that's the Rorschach you see.

*= part of this was because the selection committee had UConn play Cincinnati in the 2nd round, and Syracuse play Marquette in the 2nd Round. Nevermind that when 11 teams are cut in half, then cut in half again, like in the NCAA Tournament, you get 2.75 and 2 teams made it to the Sweet 16. Put another way, the Big East made up 17% of the Round of 64 and 12.5% of the Sweet 16. Oh boy. What a flop.