Conference tournaments are about basketball but also so much more: the fans, parents, bands, cheerleaders, etc. The CAA Tournament is taking place this weekend in Washington, DC, and we could not be more excited to be there in person! HoopsHD will be covering all the angles so you can look forward to an abundance of articles in the days ahead. Jon Teitel continues our coverage with a recap of the ACC 1st round tripleheader AND CAA title game on Tuesday.
It is not often that you get to attend 2 difference conference tourneys in the same city on the same day: challenge accepted! It has been a long day so let’s summarize. Food: $30 food vouchers (plural) from the generous ACC bought me plenty of goodies: hot dog/cheese curds/cheeseburger/fries/pepperoni pizza/more calories than I care to count.
GAME #1: Notre Dame-Georgia Tech Notre Dame FR PG Markus Burton might be the smallest player on the court at 5’11” but good luck stopping him as he made a trio of trifectas and scored a majority of his 21 PTS in the 1st half. Georgia Tech used the inside game of Baye Ndongo and the outside game of Naithan George to try to keep up but it was the Irish who took a 45-35 halftime lead. Ndongo/George kept scoring in the 2nd half (finishing with a combined 46 PTS/9 REB/9 AST), and they even fought all they way back to take a 78-77 lead with just over 4 minutes to play. However, Notre Dame coach Micah Shrewsberry’s son Braeden did his father proud with a team-high 23 PTS/5-8 3PM and the Irish eyes were smiling due to an 84-80 win over the Rambling Wreck and a date with Wake Forest on Wednesday afternoon.
I missed the postgame press conference due to multiple scheduled interviews.
GAME #2: NC State-Louisville I am sure that it was a great game (not really, just a high-scoring affair), but I had to hop on the metro to get to the CAA tourney title game
GAME #3: Boston College-Miami See above.
CAA TITLE GAME: Stony Brook-Charleston Charleston coach Pat Kelsey was trying to win his 2nd tourney title in a row:
Unfortunately nobody told Stony Brook SR G Tyler Stephenson-Moore, who made 4 shots from behind the arc as part of a 17-PT 1st half that gave Stony Brook a surprising 40-35 halftime lead:
Stony Brook blew a 15-PT 1st half lead in a 6-PT home loss to Charleston back on January 6th so the Cougars were not afraid. Charleston missed a ton of layups all night long but shot a sizzling 7-10 from long-distance in the 2nd half including 3 from the Australian Sensation Reyne Smith:
It was such an exciting 2nd stanza that even Charleston’s mascot was trying to find a place to sit down and catch his breath:
The Seawolves refused to give in, as SR G Aaron Clarke (who went scoreless in the 1st half) knocked down some clutch threes and then drove in for a layup to tie it at 73-all with 2:12 left in regulation, and when neither team could score in the final 2 minutes we were heading for OT!
Both teams were running out of steam in the extra session but Smith outscored the entire Stony Brook team by himself (8-6) as the Cougars held on for dear life to win it 82-79 and clinch their 2nd straight tourney trophy:
That is a wrap for tonight, check back tomorrow for some great Charleston celebration photos and an ACC quadruple-header.
Posted inNews and Notes|Comments Off on All-Access at the ACC AND CAA Tournaments: Tuesday’s Gone with the Wins
On Sunday Drake beat Indiana State 84-80 in the MVC tourney title game to earn an automatic bid to next week’s NCAA tournament. The Bulldogs made the NCAA tourney last March as well but had a 7-PT loss to Miami. Earlier today HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel got to speak with Drake SO G Conor Enright about what it feels like to make the NCAA tourney for the 2nd year in a row.
You were born/raised in Illinois: what made you choose Drake? It was relatively close to home and they were the 1st school to offer me when I was 15 years old. They stayed with me so I stayed with them.
You play for Coach Darian DeVries: what makes him such a great coach, and what is the most important thing that you have learned from him so far? He cares about us, not just as a coach but also as a role model/friend. He has built a great culture here and you see how much he cares about the game.
You have done some volunteering at schools and with a group called “Feed My Starving Children”: how much importance do you place on community service? A lot: my schedule is a little crazy now but I did more of it before the season. It is cool to give back to kids who look up to you and have that ability to spend time with them: hopefully they will pay it forward someday when the next generation is looking up to them.
After redshirting in 2022 you played in all 35 games last year and were named to the MVC All-Freshman Team: how did taking a redshirt year help you either on or off the court? It definitely helped. I came in a bit weak but gained 17 pounds, which was a big thing. Being around the team and practicing every day taught me the mental/physical side of college basketball. I had not played a lot of games in a while so it definitely paid off.
In the 2023 NCAA tourney you had 2 AST in a 7-PT loss to Miami: how close did you come to pulling off the upset, and what did you learn from that loss that you think will help you this time around? We played better than them for the 1st 35 minutes but they went to the Final 4 so it shows you how good we were. It gave us a taste of the tourney and definitely made us hungry to get back there: you have to be locked in for 40 minutes. This year you were 1 of the best 3-PT shooters in the conference at 44.3 3P%: what is the secret to making shots from behind the arc? Shot selection is important and you have to get into the gym a lot. I tweaked some stuff from last year and have gained a lot of confidence from my teammates. Last Sunday you scored 9 PTS in a 4-PT win over Indiana State in the MVC tourney title game: what did it mean to you to win it again, and what was the reaction like when you got back to campus? It was awesome to win it again and go back to March Madness. I am especially happy for all the guys who were not here last year. It was a 6-hour bus ride back to campus and there were not a lot of people around because it is our spring break but I got a lot of nice texts. You are 1 of only 4 teams in the nation who has won 27+ games for each of the past 2 years (along with Houston/Purdue/UConn): do you think that your program deserve more respect for its remarkable run? I think so. Coach has built something special over the past 6 years. Mid-majors get overlooked sometimes but it is hard to win that many games regardless of what conference you are in. It is good to be underrated a bit as it gives us something to push for. You faced Indiana State 3 times in the past 9 weeks: do you think that they are 1 of the 68 best teams in the nation? I definitely do. I have watched them all year: they have an amazing offense with a lot of firepower and a great coach. I cannot name 68 better than them.
What kind of seed do you think you deserve, and what kind of seed do you think you will get? I think something between 9 and 12 is our range, but realistically it looks like 10 is the highest and 12 is the lowest based on the projections that I have seen. I am super-excited and we wil be the underdog no matter what our seed is, which I love for us!
-For Jon Teitel’s Conference Tournament Previews – CLICK HERE
-For the latest Hoops HD Bracket Rundown Video Podcast, where the Hoops HD Staff builds a bracket on the air and reveals it line-by-line – CLICK HERE
-For Jon Teitel’s latest bracket where he guesses the actual Selection Committee, and is one of the best in the world at doing so – CLICK HERE
-For our most recent Championship Week Video Notebook – CLICK HERE
-For the Hoops HD NCAA Tournament Team Sheets Index – CLICK HERE
-For all the Conference Tournament Brackets and Schedules – CLICK HERE
-For the Hoops HD NCAA Tournament Survival Board – CLICK HERE
-And to see and hear the greatest call in sports history – CLICK HERE
.
THE FIELD OF 80:
-Let me start with this, because I think it is perhaps the most important point. The NCAA Tournament, as an event, transcends the sport of college basketball more than any other event transcends any other sport other than perhaps the Olympics or the Kentucky Derby. People who don’t watch or know anything about track & field, or curling, or skiing, or swimming, still watch the Olympics and still get into the events. People who don’t know the first thing about horse racing still get excited for the Kentucky Derby. The NCAA Tournament is a very similar event. People who follow college basketball very passively, or even not at all and are not college basketball fans, still LOVE the NCAA Tournament! And, before anything is done to change the NCAA Tournament, I’m BEGGING you to stop for a second, and assess why that is. What is it that makes so many people love this event?? And, let’s make an effort to not change the things about it that so many people love, because if you do, then not as many of them will love it anymore. Not as many of them will watch it anymore. That would make it less of a showcase for the NCAA, and that will not be good for the NCAA.
One of the proposed formats is an 80 team field, and using this morning’s JNG RANKINGS for both selection and seeding, the bracket below is what the field would look like. Take a look, and see what you think…
So…do you like it??
My answer is…meh. While I don’t COMPLETELY hate it, I don’t like it either.
In this format, there would be a full slate of 16 games on Wednesday for the Round of 80, and the television would work just like the Round of 64 games on Thursday and Friday. Rather than go to Dayton, they would go straight to their sites. Half the teams would get Thursday off before having to play again on Friday, and the other half would not. Perhaps the teams that need to play on Thursday would all play in the afternoon to give them a little more rest.
Here is what I like about it the least….
I think it alters the feel of the regular season. People who don’t intently follow college basketball say the regular season means nothing. I could not disagree more. I think it is, from top to bottom, the most exciting and important regular season of any major sport. The NBA, MLB, and even NFL have blah games throughout the season. College football’s regular season may be getting better with a 12 team playoff, but while it was great for some of the teams in the P5 conference, it’s hard to argue that the regular season was important for all the college football teams when on a regular basis we saw a team go undefeated and not get to play for the national championship because everyone simply assumed they weren’t good enough. In college basketball, right out of the gate, the games feel important. We at Hoops HD love the Under the Radar teams (we hate the term “mid-major” around here!!) and do a weekly podcast throughout the season that starts in November. If you’re a fan of an Under the Radar team, you know that November is your shot. James Madison ended up winning the auto-bid, but if they hadn’t then the win against Michigan State on the first day of the season would have proven to be hugely important. Expanding the field to 80 changes that. While teams can go through slumps and still make the field with a 68 team format, the majority of the teams that land inside the bubble needed to be good all year long. Or, at the very least, not br any worse than decent.
It also means that there are about eight to ten conferences that will likely rarely ever see the Round of 64. One of the special things about the Round of 64 is that by it’s structure, at least 26 or 27 out of the 32 games feature a power program against a good Under the Radar Program. For the diehard fan, that’s great! For the casual viewer, that’s great! To expand the field, and make that setup for far fewer of the games makes it less great for a lot of the fans. I also think that it’s unfair to ask a team who either won a conference championship or who played their way inside of the bubble to have to win another game to make the Round of 64. People say this will be better for the non-power conferences. That is objectively wrong!! I mean…LOOK AT THE BRACKET!! Look at the number of non-power leagues that either won’t make the Round of 64 at all, or that will have to win yet another game just to get there!! HOW IS THAT GOOD FOR THEM!!??
Now, let me finish with the same point I started with, and that’s how the NCAA Tournament greatly transcends the sport of college basketball in much the same way the Olympics does (or, at least used to). I have no idea who the best gymnast in Lithuania is, or who the best pursuit cyclist in Belarus is, but I like the idea that whoever it is gets to take part in the Olympics. If I were to turn on the Olympics and learn that those countries were not allowed to participate, and the reason that they were no longer there was the “bigger” countries wanted more of their own participants, my reaction would be “Well, that’ sucks!!” And, it WOULD suck!! And, it DOES suck!! And it makes a lot of people who only watch these events during the Olympics far less interested in doing so!!
We all know who wants to expand the NCAA Tournament, and we all know why they want to do it! And, it ain’t to make the sport better, and it ain’t to help out the non-power leagues! So before anyone goes and does that, they need to ask themselves this. ARE they making it better?? (and, the answer is NO). But more than that, are they changing what it is that so many people love about it and perhaps chasing them off?? And if that happens, then is this still as great of an event as it is now??
You know what so many people say about March Madness?? They say there is nothing else like it! You know WHY they say that?? Because it’s true!! For many reasons, there is nothing else like it! Not everyone lives in an NFL or NBA city, but a lot of people either went to college or lived in communities where a college was a central point of it. It engages EVERYONE! But, if you expand this tournament or severely restructure it, not everyone is going to say that there is nothing else like it anymore. Do you know why they won’t say it anymore?? The answer is simple. Because it will no longer be true.
HoopsHD keeps celebrating the greatest time of the year with the 2nd part of our preview of every single conference tourney in the nation. Jon Teitel continues our coverage with his predictions for the 17 conference tourneys getting underway this week/weekend. Tweet us if you have any comments, and if you missed his picks last week concerning the 15 other conference tourneys you can find them at: https://hoopshd.com/2024/03/04/conference-tourney-previews-part-1-of-2-9
AAC tourney predicted champ: South Florida (#1 seed) Dates: March 13-17 Location: Fort Worth, TX 2023 tourney champ: Memphis (#2 seed) Fun fact: Houston has been in title game each year since 2018 Seeding: 8 of past 9 champs were top-2 seed Houston has been contending for this title for the past 6 years…but there will be no lucky #7 for the Cougars as they have moved on to the Big 12. I normally do not like new coaches, and it is hard to believe that Coach Amir Abdur-Rahim won exactly ONE game in his debut season at Kennesaw State in 2020. However, after seeing him win 3 straight Atlantic Sun tourney games last March by single digits he proved that he knows how to survive and advance, and after watching him tie the school record for victories in 1 season by winning 21 of his past 23 games with only a pair of single-digit losses, he has made me a believer. The biggest concern is that the 1 thing they are great at is the 1 thing that they cannot control: their 67.5 FT% allowed is #8 in the nation.
A-10 tourney predicted champ: Loyola Chicago (#2 seed) Dates: March 12-17 Location: Brooklyn, NY 2023 tourney champ: VCU (#1 seed) Fun fact: 7 different champs in past 7 tourneys Seeding: only 2 of past 9 champs were top-2 seed This tourney has had 7 different champs in the past 7 tourneys so Loyola is the pick for those of you who believe that 8 is enough. I thought Dayton had this trophy wrapped up a month ago when they started 19-3, but after losing 3 of their final 8 games the only thing consistent about the Flyers is that damn song that Chad plays every week! Top-2 seeds have not fared well here in the past but Coach Drew Valentine has gotten his team hot at the right time, winning 17 of its final 20 games. They have great interior defense (43.4 2P% allowed is #4 in the nation), a desire for revenge after a 2-PT loss to Richmond on January 9th, and the power of a higher power courtesy of…Sister Jean!
ACC tourney predicted champ: North Carolina (#1 seed) Dates: March 12-16 Location: Washington, DC 2023 tourney champ: Duke (#4 seed) Fun fact: 4 different champs in past 5 tourneys Seeding: 5 of past 6 champs were not top-2 seed If you like a conference where the 2 best teams are in-state rivals who hate each other…then this is the tourney for you. Defending champ Duke started out 5-3 but has won 19 of their next 22 regular season games before getting swept by the Tar Heels. UNC started out 7-3 but have won 18 of their final 21, so while it is a bit of a coin-flip at the top the sweeper has the edge. This tourney has not been kind to top-2 seeds, but it has also not been kind to defending champs, and since the Tar Heels have not won this title since 2016 they get the nod. Often viewed as an offensive juggernaut who spends 40 minutes running a fast-break, Coach Hubert Davis has ratcheted up the defense this year as his squad is top-40 in the nation in both 2P% allowed/3P% allowed. They have a dominant scoring duo in SRs RJ Davis/Armando Bacot, and after losing the NCAA title game in 2022 and missing out on the entire NCAA tourney in 2023 they are hungry to finish their careers on a high note in 2024.
Big 12 tourney predicted champ: Houston (#1 seed) Dates: March 12-16 Location: Kansas City, MO 2023 tourney champ: Texas (#2 seed) Fun fact: only 3 champs since 2013 are Iowa State/Kansas/Texas Seeding: 4 of past 5 champs were top-3 seed The only 3 winners of this tourney since 2013 are Iowa State/Kansas/Texas, but after watching the Cougars obliterate Kansas by 30 PTS last Saturday in a revenge game it is impossible to bet against them. While 4 of the past 5 champs in this league were top-3 seeds, #2-seed Iowa State and #3-seed Baylor are both limping into the postseason due to losses in their regular season finales. Coach Kelvin Sampson’s defensive efficiency is #1 in the nation, their 56.9 PPG allowed is #1 in the nation, and he has a transfer in LJ Cryer who knows a thing or 2 about winning games in March after taking home the 2021 NCAA title at Baylor.
Big East tourney predicted champ: Connecticut (#1 seed) Dates: March 13-16 Location: New York, NY 2023 tourney champ: Marquette (#1 seed) Fun fact: Villanova has won 5 of past 8 tourneys Seeding: 5 of past 6 champs were top-2 seed If Georgetown wins this 1 then I might just have to hang up the old keyboard because it means I know absolutely nothing about this sport. I did not think it was possible for UConn to improve on last year’s championship season, especially after losing 3 sensational starters in Jordan Hawkins/Andre Jackson/Adama Sanogo, but Coach Dan Hurley has incorporated grad transfers like Cam Spencer and fantastic freshmen like Stephon Castle to create a serious threat to go back-to-back. They have balanced scoring with all 5 starters in double-digits, size in the paint in the form of 7’2” Donovan Clingan, and a veteran PG in Tristen Newton who is a triple-double threat every time he steps onto the court. Hurley has pointed out that the only 2 teams to win 2 in a row in the past half-century (Duke in 1992/Florida in 2007) did so in large part by returning most of their core players. If the Huskies can get it done next month with a revamped roster then Hurley will deserve all the credit in the world…even though I still will not cheer for his brother.
Big 10 tourney predicted champ: Purdue (#1 seed) Dates: March 13-17 Location: Minneapolis, MN 2023 tourney champ: Purdue (#1 seed) Fun fact: 5 different champs in past 5 tourneys Seeding: 3 of past 4 champs were top-2 seed Coach Matt Painter has certainly stubbed his toe on more than 1 occasion in the NCAA tourney but he was good enough to win this conference tourney last year and has enough talent to do it again even though this tourney does not like repeat champs. What it DOES like is top-2 seeds, and since the Boilers swept the Illini this year they have to be considered the heavy favorite. Purdue has great 3-PT shooting (41.1% is #2 in the nation) and they have the best player in the country in Zach Edey. I still do not think they will make the Final 4 in April…but they are looking unbeatable in March.
Big West tourney predicted champ: UC-Irvine (#1 seed) Dates: March 13-16 Location: Henderson, NV 2023 tourney champ: UCSB (#2 seed) Fun fact: Fullerton has made title game 4 times in past 5 tourneys Seeding: 6 of past 7 champs were top-2 seed Fullerton has made this title game 4 times in the past 5 tourneys but I am not picking them this year…since they finished 10th in the league and will not be participating this week. On the other end of the standings, Coach Russell Turner followed up last year’s 23-win season with a 24-win season (and counting) this year. The Anteaters are great on both ends of the court: when you are top-35 in the nation in shooting on both offense (47.7%) and defense (40.6% allowed) you are going to win a lot of games, which they did. They also start 3 seniors/2 juniors so the players will not get frazzled if things are not going their way.
C-USA tourney predicted champ: Sam Houston (#1 seed) Dates: March 12-16 Location: Huntsville, AL 2023 tourney champ: FAU (#1 seed) Fun fact: 6 different champs in past 6 tourneys Seeding: 5 of past 7 champs were top-2 seed 5 of the past 7 champs in this league were top-2 seeds, and Louisiana Tech was looking good all year long until losing at home to Sam Houston last Thursday. The Bearkats have a new coach in Chris Mudge, a new league after realigning from the WAC, and a heck of a 2024 (going 14-3 since New Year’s Day after starting the year 6-8. Since stubbing their toes with back-to-back losses at FIU/Jacksonville State in early-February they have won 7 in a row and have all the momentum you could ask for. I thought this team was 1 year away because 5 of their top-6 scorers are juniors but it has been clicking so far. This tourney has had 6 different champs in a row so here is hoping they make it 7-for-7.
Ivy tourney predicted champ: Princeton (#1 seed) Dates: March 16-17 Location: New York, NY 2023 tourney champ: Princeton (#2 seed) Fun fact: only 3 teams to ever win tourney are Penn/Princeton/Yale Seeding: each of 5 all-time champs were top-2 seed The only 3 teams to ever win this tourney are Penn/Princeton/Yale, but due to my Quakers having a God-awful 18-loss season we will just have to see if our win over Villanova gets old (spoiler: it does not). Each of the 5 all-time Ivy champs were a top-2 seed so that would seem to narrow it down to the Tigers and the Bulldogs, who split their season series. Yale faded down the stretch by losing 3 of their final 6 games, while Princeton has only lost 3 games all season. The X-factor is that Coach Mitch Henderson will not panic if it goes down to the wire since his team’s 80.9 FT% is #2 in the nation. If the Tigers do win this tourney, I wonder how they will do in the NCAA tourney…since any memories I have of them from last year’s NCAA tourney are escaping me at the moment.
MAAC tourney predicted champ: Quinnipiac (#1 seed) Dates: March 12-16 Location: Atlantic City, NJ 2023 tourney champ: Iona (#1 seed) Fun fact: Iona has won 6 of past 7 tourneys Seeding: 3 of past 4 champs were top-2 seed Iona has won this tourney 6 of the past 7 times it was played…but I am just not feeling it this year after they lost 10 games in league play. 3 of the past 4 champs were a top-2 seed and the top-2 in this league (Quinnipiac/Fairfield) split their season series this year. The Bobcats had a weird conference season: they started 11-1, then lost 4 straight to finish February, but have bounced back with 4 straight wins in March. Quinnipiac coach Tom Pecora had not been a head coach since 2015, but after spending the past 6 years as an assistant in Hamden he has a very good feel for his current roster. If it is a close game then the good news is that their 78.4 FT% is top-15 in the nation.
MAC tourney predicted champ: Ohio (#3 seed) Dates: March 14-16 Location: Cleveland, OH 2023 tourney champ: Kent State (#2 seed) Fun fact: 4 different champs in past 4 tourneys Seeding: each of past 3 champs were not #1 seed This tourney is often not won by the team at the top of the standings, and after watching Toledo lose 4 games in February I am leaning toward Ohio. The Bobcats should have some decent crowd support while playing in their home state, especially now that they have turned things around on the court. Ohio had a losing record in late-January but won 10 of their final 12 games to clinch the #3 seed. It is comforting to rely on a veteran backcourt come tourney time and Coach Jeff Boals has a pair of SRs in Jaylin Hunter/Shereef Mitchell who are also his 2 leading scorers. If his team can keep making 3s and not turning the ball over then they will be in good shape.
MEAC tourney predicted champ: Norfolk State (#1 seed) Dates: March 13-16 Location: Norfolk, VA 2023 tourney champ: Howard (#1 seed) Fun fact: Norfolk State has made title game in each of past 4 tourneys Seeding: 5 of past 7 champs were top-2 seed Sometimes you have to do a deep dive to figure out who should win 1 of these things and sometimes everything quickly falls into place. Norfolk State has made the title game for 4 years in a row, they are the top seed, and this tourney is in their home city (where they did not lose a game all season): what am I missing?! Coach Robert Jones also has his team playing its best when it counts the most: they were 10-8 in early-January but won 11 of their final 13 games. Their leading scorer even has the initials “JT” (Jamarii Thomas) so if I can give the rest of the league 1 piece of advice it would be FEAR THE SPARTANS!
MWC tourney predicted champ: Nevada (#2 seed) Dates: March 13-16 Location: Las Vegas, NV 2023 tourney champ: San Diego State (#1 seed) Fun fact: San Diego State has made title game each of past 6 years Seeding: 7 of past 8 champs were top-2 seed Defending champ San Diego State has made this title game each of the past 6 years so if you can find a more dangerous #5-seed then good luck. The Aztecs are a big reason that 7 of the past 8 winners of this tourney were a top-2 seed, which you might think is irrelevant this year because there are like 7 different teams who could win this 1, but I think Nevada is somehow flying under the radar despite being the #2-seed. Their only non-conference loss (to Drake on December 9th) is looking better than ever, and after starting league play 6-5 they finished strong by winning each of their final 7 games. Wolf Pack coach Steve Alford won an NCAA tourney as a player at Indiana and won conference tourneys as a coach in the Big 10/MWC/Pac-12. As you might expect from a coach who was a renowned long-distance shooter, his team lives by the 3 on both ends of the court, as they are top-40 in the nation in both 3P% and 3P% allowed.
Pac-12 predicted champ: Arizona (#1 seed) Dates: March 13-16 Location: Las Vegas, NV 2023 tourney champ: Arizona (#2 seed) Fun fact: only 3 champs since 2015 are Arizona/Oregon/Oregon State Seeding: 7 of past 9 champs were top-2 seed Of course I am biased, but my defending champion Wildcats have played great down the stretch while the other top-2 seed (Washington State) has lost to both the Wildcats’ in-state rival (ASU) as well as their own in-state rival (Washington). The only 3 teams to win this tourney since 2015 are Arizona/Oregon/Oregon State, so even though the Cougars swept my boys during the regular season, I do not think there will be a 3-peat in the last-ever tourney this league ever hosts. Arizona’s offense is national-championship-caliber (top-10 in the nation with 90.3 PPG/49.6 FG%/43.1 RPG/19.1 APG), so as long as their defense is mediocre or better then they will be that rarest of specimens: someone who comes home from Vegas as a winner!
SEC predicted champ: Tennessee (#1 seed) Dates: March 13-17 Location: Nashville, TN 2023 tourney champ: Alabama (#1 seed) Fun fact: 4 different champs in past 5 tourneys Seeding: 7 of past 9 champs were top-2 seed This tourney likes top-2 seeds and is in the Vols’ home state so I voluntarily pick them to win it. Much like Matt Painter, Coach Rick Barnes has been underwhelming in the NCAA tourney, but he won this tourney in 2022 and might have an even stronger squad in 2024. In contrast to Arizona, Tennessee has a defense that is national-championship-caliber (top-25 in the nation with 38.3 FG% allowed/30.6 3P% allowed/11.2 APG allowed), so as long as their offense is mediocre or better then they will be that next-rarest of specimens: someone who comes home from Nash-Vegas as a winner!
SWAC predicted champ: Texas Southern (#3 seed) Dates: March 13-16 Location: Birmingham, AL 2023 tourney champ: Texas Southern (#8 seed) Fun fact: Texas Southern has won 7 of past 9 tourneys Seeding: each of past 3 champs were not #1 seed I am done picking anyone other than the Tigers. I know that Coach Johnny Jones had an 0-8 start to the year…and had several conference losses to teams outside the top-300…and has an atrocious offense. What he ALSO has is a team that has emerged victorious in 7 of the past 9 times this tourney has been played, and the comfort of knowing that each of the past 3 champs were not a #1 seed. Each of Texas Southern’s top-4 scorers are seniors so they have plenty of veteran leadership, and they split the season series with each of the other top-4 seeds. Death, taxes, and the Tigers in this tourney.
WAC predicted champ: Grand Canyon (#1 seed) Dates: March 13-16 Location: Las Vegas, NV 2023 tourney champ: GCU (#5 seed) Fun fact: GCU has made title game in 4 of past 5 tourneys Seeding: 7 of past 9 champs were top-2 seed The defending champ won this tourney last year as a #5 seed so they have to be considered a heavy favorite now that they are the #1-seed. Coach Bryce Drew has only lost 4 games all year but 2 of them were back-to-back in late-February so hopefully that served as a pair of teachable moments. They have great interior defense (43.9 2P% allowed is top-10 in the nation), and there is no more consistent lineup in the universe as they have had the same starting 5 (Tyon Grant-Foster/Ray Harrison/Gabe McGlothan/Collin Moore/Duke Brennan) in every single game all season long. They get to the FT line with ease (24.1 FTA is top-10 in the nation) and they can block a shot or 5 (5.4 BPG is top-10 in the nation) so let’s Lopes up!
PROGRAM NOTE: This was recorded Monday, March 11th at 9:30pm, est, and the seedlist was built before the show was recorded. None of the games that were played that daywere considered in this bracket.
A full Hoops HD panel have all submitted their own individual seedlists. They were then cross country scored by Chad to form a master seedlist, and it is revealed to the panel Selection Sunday style team by team and line by line. They discuss, assess, and debate each team as they are revealed. See who the #1 seeds are, who the rest of the protected seeds are, who is on the bubble, and who just missed it.
Below is the final bracket, but don’t look at it until you’ve watched the show!!
And for all you radio lovers, below is an audio only version of the show…
We are only 5 days away from Selection Sunday as we continue to make our NCAA tourney predictions. HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel correctly picked 67 of the 68 teams that made the 2023 tourney with 65 of his 67 within 1 spot of their actual seed, including 53 right on the money. He will spend the upcoming week predicting which 68 teams will hear their names called on March 17th. See below for his list of who would make the cut if they picked the field today and if you agree or disagree then feel free to tweet us. To see how he stacks up with other websites (ranked 11th out of 174 entries over the past 5 years), check out: www.bracketmatrix.com
