Bracket Racket 03.05.12

Posted on March 5, 2012 by Johnny Basketball

The Bracketology Show is back for another week, as we enter Championship Week in college basketball. No guests this week, as the guys focus all their energies on breaking down the remaning 250+ teams vying for automatic and at-large bids. The show starts off with some talk of two small conference favorites going down prematurely in their conference tournaments, and whether either team has a chance at an at-large bid. We then switch the topic to Michigan State, Ohio State, and the Big Ten as a whole, and get really excited about the prospect of some of these B1G tournament games. Other topics discussed include our picks for the teams who stand to gain or lose the most seeding-wise in conference tournament play, the merits of Tennessee as an at-large, and our “bold predictions” for the week.

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Conference Tournament Viewing Guide 03.05.12

Posted on March 4, 2012 by Chad

Here is the list of conference tournament games on the schedule for today, together with their available television/webstreaming options.  Please note that I only list webstreams for games without national television coverage, even if a stream may also be available. “Local TV” means that the game does not have full national coverage and you should check your local listings.  (PPV) means that the webstream has a fee.

(all times are eastern)

Monday, March 5

Colonial Championship:
7:00 PM    (1) Drexel vs (2) Virginia Commonwealth    ESPN

Metro Atlantic Championship:
7:00 PM    (2) Loyola vs (4) Fairfield    ESPN2

Mid-American First Round:
7:00 PM    (5) Eastern Michigan vs (12) Northern Illinois    mac-sports.com (FREE)
7:00 PM    (6) Bowling Green vs (11) Central Michigan    mac-sports.com (FREE)
7:00 PM    (7) Toledo vs (10) Miami (Ohio)    mac-sports.com (FREE)
7:00 PM    (8) Western Michigan vs (9) Ball State    mac-sports.com (FREE)

Southern Championship:
9:00 PM    (S1) Davidson vs (N3) Western Carolina    ESPN2

Summit Semifinal:
7:00 PM    (1) Oral Roberts vs (4) Western Illinois    Local TV/Fox College Sports – Central
9:30 PM    (2) South Dakota State vs (6) Southern Utah    Local TV/Fox College Sports – Central

Sun Belt Semifinal:
7:00 PM    (5) North Texas vs (9) Arkansas State    Local TV/Full Court/espn3.com
9:30 PM    (3) Denver vs (7) Western Kentucky    Local TV/Full Court/espn3.com

West Coast Championship:
9:00 PM    (1) St. Mary’s vs (2) Gonzaga    ESPN

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Hoops Rewind – Davidson’s 2008 Run

Posted on March 4, 2012 by Johnny Basketball

On today’s edition of Hoops Rewind, we take a YouTube look at Davidson’s magical 2008 run to the Elite 8.

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Championship Week Notebook, and the Final Day of the Regular Season (3/4)

Posted on March 4, 2012 by David Griggs

227 teams remain. That includes Utah Valley, who will be on the board due to being a first place finisher in the Great West, BYU who is out of the conference tournament, but still under consideration, and Wichita State, who is out of the conference tournament, but a virtual lock for the NCAA Tournament. Chad Sherwood has, as he always done, but together a list of today’s conference tournament action.

– Three teams punched their tickets yesterday. The final outcomes weren’t surprising, but the games themselves were. Florida Gulf Coast, in their first ever conference tournament, made it to the finals and had a lead at the half over heavily favored Belmont, who had crushed them twice during the regular season. In the end, Belmont was just too much and captured the automatic bid. They will be a dangerous first round opponent for whoever they face. Belmont’s profile isn’t the best and they did stub their toes multiple times throughout the year, but when they play up to their maximum ability they can beat top 25 caliber teams.

– Murray State got a scare from Tennessee State, but hit a game winning shot in the final seconds to win the Ohio Valley and the automatic bid. They really didn’t need the automatic bid, so because they managed to hold on, another bubble team will now make the field.

– VMI, who was just 8-10 on the season, played well for a half, but then UNC Asheville took over in the second half and won the Big South’s automatic bid. They’ll probably end up on the #16 line, but with the MEAC, SWAC and America East champions looking to take three out of four spots in the opening round, they should be able to avoid it and go straight into the round of 64.

– Some really good games yesterday, but again, it was mostly chalk. Georgia State put up a fierce fight against George Mason, but lost in the final seconds. The Colonial now has its top four teams in the semis in Drexel, Old Dominion, VCU and George Mason, and it the automatic bid really is up for grabs. Continue reading →

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Bracket Report – Sunday 03.04.12

Posted on March 4, 2012 by Johnny Basketball

It’s time for a special edition of the Bracket Report. For the rest of this week, we’ll be starting off every morning with an updated view of the bracket, accounting for the wins and losses of the previous night. Here’s where we stand as of Sunday morning, March 4:

REARRANGING THE ICING: Kansas and Michigan State have landed the third and fourth 1 seeds in our latest bracket. Why not North Carolina? Well, the Tar Heels have worse numbers than Michigan State, almost across the board. And yes, North Carolina has “looked better” in abstract, but that’s been against a significantly weaker ACC — and, frankly, a Duke team that’s highly inconsistent and a bit overrated. if Michigan State loses today to Ohio State, then UNC probably slips by them, but I still think that the Spartans are a better resume choice than North Carolina. Elsewhere, Ohio State falls to eight on the S-curve, so they get plopped into Kentucky’s bracket.

MY FRIEND THE UPSET: Personally, I’m looking forward to some upsets, just to knock the bottom of the bubble out of contention. I’ve chuckled at the TV talking heads talking about Northwestern, Seton Hall, Virginia, and Colorado State being in trouble — folks, they’re all in. The quality of the bubble is so bad that our lower-level play-in game consists of Texas and Arizona, neither of whom should be sniffing the tournament in a normal year. So the thought here is that upsets need to start happening in otherwise one-bid leagues. We lost one of those on Saturday when Murray State held on to win the Ohio Valley Conference. We’ve got another one on the slate today, as Creighton (who’s in regardless) faces off against Illinois State. Haters of bad bubble teams, root vociferously for the Redbirds! There are a few other possibilities – Harvard *might* warrant an at-large (although I doubt it), Long Beach State *might* warrant an at-large (again, doubt it), and…well, that might be it for the smaller conferences. The next chance at knocking out bad bubble teams might be upsets in the Mountain West, A-10, and Conference USA.

LAST FOUR IN/OUT: My last four in were (in order) Seton Hall, St. Joseph’s, Arizona, and Texas. I’m not impressed with any of these teams, but they have a better case than the first four out which are Xavier, Miami, South Florida, and UCF. It’s a very fluid situation, though. Xavier has been in every field I’ve put together so far, but their continued struggles against subpar competition were finally too much to handle. Of the “out” group, I think Xavier’s got the best chance of moving back up. For the curious, the next four out were Oregon, Tennessee, VCU, and Illinois.

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Conference Tournament Viewing Guide 03.04.12

Posted on March 4, 2012 by Chad

Here is the list of conference tournament games on the schedule for today, together with their available television/webstreaming options.  Please note that I only list webstreams for games without national television coverage, even if a stream may also be available. “Local TV” means that the game does not have full national coverage and you should check your local listings.  (PPV) means that the webstream has a fee.

(all times are eastern)

Sunday, March 4

America East Semifinal:
5:00 PM    (1) Stony Brook vs (4) Albany    espn3.com
7:30 PM    (2) Vermont vs (6) Hartford    espn3.com

Colonial Semifinal:
2:00 PM    (1) Drexel vs (4) Old Dominion    Local TV/Full Court/espn3.com
4:30 PM    (2) Virginia Commonwealth vs (3) George Mason    Local TV/Full Court/espn3.com

Metro Atlantic Semifinal:
2:00 PM    (1) Iona vs (4) Fairfield    espn3.com
4:30 PM    (2) Loyola vs (6) Siena    espn3.com

Missouri Valley Championship:
2:00 PM    (2) Creighton vs (4) Illinois State    CBS

Northeast Semifinal:
12:00 PM    (2) Wagner vs (3) Robert Morris    Local TV/Fox College Sports – Atlantic
6:00 PM    (1) Long Island University vs (5) Quinnipiac    Local TV/Fox College Sports – Atlantic

Southern Semifinal:
6:00 PM    (N1) UNC-Greensboro vs (N3) Western Carolina    Local TV/espn3.com
8:30 PM    (S1) Davidson vs (N2) Elon    Local TV/espn3.com

Summit Quarterfinal:
7:00 PM    (4) Western Illinois vs (5) North Dakota State    Local TV/Fox College Sports – Central
9:30 PM    (3) Oakland vs (6) Southern Utah    Local TV/Fox College Sports – Central

Sun Belt Quarterfinal:
7:00 PM    (1) Middle Tennessee vs (9) Arkansas State    Local TV/Full Court/espn3.com
7:15 PM    (4) Louisiana-Lafayette vs (5) North Texas    sunbeltsports.org (PPV)
9:30 PM    (2) Arkansas-Little Rock vs (7) Western Kentucky    Local TV/Full Court/espn3.com
9:45 PM    (3) Denver vs (6) South Alabama    sunbeltsports.org (PPV)

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