The Hoops HD Committee Report: Friday, March 10

Posted on March 11, 2017 by John Stalica

For Jon Teitel’s recap of Day 2 of the Big Ten Tournament – CLICK HERE

For Jon Teitel’s latest Bracket Projection – CLICK HERE

For Warren Nolan’s RPI and Statistical Analysis – CLICK HERE

For Andy Bottoms’ award-winning Bracketology – CLICK HERE

For Galen Clavio – CLICK HERE for his Bracket Projection with CrimsonCast and CLICK HERE for his SportPolitik podcasts

For the latest Buffet from Scott Schwartz – CLICK HERE

Friday marked the 2nd night of the Hoops HD Selection Committee meetings – tonight was largely devoted to two major tasks: building the top 8 seed lines and also adding 4 more at-large teams to the field. 3 more spots opened up tonight thanks to results in the Big 10, Big 12 and Pac 12 conferences.

However, since those results came in later in the night, our first order of business was to discuss the teams that would be on the top seed lines. While the NCAA Selection Committee usually goes one seed line at a time (requiring votes to add 8 teams at a time and rank them 1 through 8), our committee went 2 seed lines at a time which required votes to add 12 teams and rank them 1 through 12. After the first 2 lines were seeded and ranked, there would be 4 carryover teams and individual members would then add 8 further teams to discuss and rank. We repeated the process 2 more times until we had the top 6 seed lines established.

It was at this point that we discussed which teams should be selected for the next 4 at-large spots that were guaranteed to open up. Those four teams were Vanderbilt, Wake Forest, Providence and VCU. Middle Tennessee was considered as an at-large, but they did not make it in during this round of balloting. If they beat Marshall tomorrow, it will be a moot point since they will be an automatic-bid winner. If they lose to Marshall, then they are still under consideration (for now) along with 11 other teams on the board. It is possible for 3 more spots to open up from the SEC, American and Atlantic 10 conferences. However, since Dayton lost today, we will have a contingency A-10 team (either Rhode Island or Davidson) on our Master Seed List tomorrow night along with teams from the Ivy and Sun Belt conferences that play their championships on Sunday. If Kentucky loses to Alabama and either SMU or Cincinnati lose tomorrow, we will also consider contingency teams like Alabama, UConn and Central Florida as well. If VCU loses tomorrow and both SMU and Cincy lose in the American, we will have bid thieves out of those 2 conferences.

Our last order of business tonight was building the 7th and 8th seed lines in the Master Seed List. You can see the complete board below:

Tomorrow night, we will add the remaining at-large sports that open up (if any), plan for any contingencies and seed the remaining teams into the Master Seed List. We will also do an initial scrub of the seed list based on results from tomorrow’s conference championship games.

Posted in News and Notes | 1 Comment

HoopsHD at the Big 10 Tourney: Photo essay (Day 2)

Posted on March 10, 2017 by Jon Teitel

HoopsHD is always hovering around the edge of legitimacy (see Puppet, The), but thanks to the good folks at the Big 10 we are kicking it up a notch this week with a media credential to the Big 10 Tourney in DC. From his prime perch in the 2nd row Jon Teitel will be bringing you daily updates of all the action from the Verizon Center via a series of photo essays. Day 2 saw a quartet of games without any of the top-4 seeds, plus a scheduling conflict with the all-important Arizona-Colorado Pac-12 quarterfinal on TV, so the only report from Thursday is #7-seed Iowa vs. #10-seed Indiana.

Bad news: twice as many games today = twice as many reporters = I got pushed all the way down past the baseline:

Good news: MUCH better view of Molly McGrath:

The Hawkeyes were out in full force with their mascot/band:

With both teams squarely  on the bubble it certainly  had the  feel  of a play-in game, and the intensity both on the court and in the stands was noticeably greater than the previous day.  Iowa was able to keep it close for the 1st 20 minutes and only trailed by 3 at the half despite leading scorer Peter Jok not even scoring a single point for the 1st 15 minutes of the game.  FR PG Jordan Bohannon was the hero for Iowa with his 1st career double-double: 24 PTS, 10 AST, and 6-11 from behind the arc.  However, Indiana’s offense was outstanding in the 2nd half, scoring 52 PTS in the 2nd stanza en route to a 95-73 win that was not as close as the score indicated.  The Hoosiers shot  almost 68% from the field in the 2nd half and shot 60.3 FG% for the entire game, so even a double-double off the bench from Iowa FR PF Cordell Pemsl was not enough to stem the tide.

At the postgame press conference I asked Iowa coach (and Penn alum!) Fran McCaffery if he thought that Bohannon was going to end up rewriting the school record book after such a fantastic rookie season, and he said that his PG has already begun to do so:

When you see Coach standing in the hallway you can see that he is even taller in person:

I also asked Indiana coach Tom Crean about his feisty fist-pump with 5 minutes left as he watched his players diving for loose balls even while they had a 25-PT lead, and he said that toughness is a skill just like everything else a basketball player can do:

I did not stick around for Rutgers-Northwestern, which turned out to be a wise move as the Wildcats did their best  Indiana impression by winning a Big 10 game by 22. The highlight of the night was watching my own Wildcats beat Colorado, but the over-under on how late I can stay up to watch their Pac-12 semifinal contest with UCLA on Friday is midnight.  Check back tomorrow for my Day 3 photo essay about all 4 quarterfinal games!

Posted in CBB | 1 Comment

Bracketology 2017: March Madness Predictions (Version 10.5)

Posted on March 10, 2017 by Jon Teitel

CLICK HERE for our most recent Championship Week Video Notebook

We are only 2 days away from Selection Sunday as we continue to make our NCAA tourney predictions. Last March HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel correctly picked 65 of the 68 teams that made the tourney, each of which was within 1 spot of their actual seed, including 37 right on the money. He will spend the upcoming days predicting which 68 teams will hear their names called on Selection Sunday. See below for his list of who would make the cut if they picked the field today and let us know if you agree or disagree in the comments section. To see how we stack up with other websites (ranked 3rd out of 88 entries over the past 3 years), check out: www.bracketmatrix.com

SEED: TEAM (CONFERENCE)
1: Villanova (Big East)
1: Kansas (Big 12)
1: North Carolina (ACC)
1: Gonzaga (WCC): AUTO-BID

2: Kentucky (SEC)
2: Oregon (Pac-12)
2: Baylor (Big 12)
2: Louisville (ACC)

3: UCLA (Pac-12)
3: Arizona (Pac-12)
3: Florida State (ACC)
3: Florida (SEC)

4: Duke (ACC)
4: Butler (Big East)
4: Purdue (Big 10)
4: West Virginia (Big 12)

5: Virginia (ACC)
5: Cincinnati (AAC)
5: Notre Dame (ACC)
5: SMU (AAC)

6: Minnesota (Big 10)
6: Iowa State (Big 12)
6: St. Mary’s (WCC)
6: Maryland (Big 10)

7: Wisconsin (Big 10)
7: Creighton (Big East)
7: Dayton (A-10)
7: Miami FL (ACC)

8: Oklahoma State (Big 12)
8: South Carolina (SEC)
8: Virginia Tech (ACC)
8: Wichita State (MVC): AUTO-BID

9: Arkansas (SEC)
9: Michigan (Big 10)
9: VCU (A-10)
9: Northwestern (Big 10)

10: Marquette (Big East)
10: Seton Hall (Big East)
10: Michigan State (Big 10)
10: Providence (Big East)

11: Xavier (Big East)
11: Wake Forest (ACC)
11: USC (Pac-12)
11: Middle Tennessee (CUSA)
11: Vanderbilt (SEC)
11: Syracuse (ACC)

12: Rhode Island (A-10)
12: Nevada (MWC)
12: UNC-Wilmington (CAA): AUTO-BID
12: Texas-Arlington (Sun Belt)

13: Vermont (America East)
13: Princeton (Ivy)
13: East Tennessee State (SoCon): AUTO-BID
13: Akron (MAC)

14: Bucknell (Patriot): AUTO-BID
14: Winthrop (Big South): AUTO-BID
14: Florida Gulf Coast (Atlantic Sun): AUTO-BID
14: Cal State Bakersfield (WAC)

15: Iona (MAAC): AUTO-BID
15: Northern Kentucky (Horizon): AUTO-BID
15: Texas Southern (SWAC)
15: UC Irvine (Big West)

16: North Dakota (Big Sky)
16: Jacksonville State (OVC): AUTO-BID
16: South Dakota State (Summit): AUTO-BID
16: NC Central (MEAC)
16: New Orleans (Southland)
16: Mount St. Mary’s (NEC): AUTO-BID

Posted in Bracketology | Comments Off on Bracketology 2017: March Madness Predictions (Version 10.5)

Championship Week Video Notebook: Day 11

Posted on March 10, 2017 by David Griggs

WELCOME SELECTION COMMITTEE MEMBERS!!  We have dissected all of today’s action for you, and have outlined what teams you need to be putting into the field!!  CLICK HERE to view our Survival Board

CLICK HERE for our Hoops HD Selection Committee Report

Thursday of Championship Week.  It’s the busiest day in all of March.   We review all of the action as 50 teams were eliminated from our Survival Board.  Highlights include Xavier’s big win against Butler which should put them safely inside the bubble, TCU’s surprising upset over Kansas, a huge quarterfinal day in the ACC, and much much much more.

 

FRIDAY’S CHAMPIONSHIP WEEK ACTION

ACC

Format: Ladder (top four seeds bye into quarterfinals)
Location: Brooklyn, NY
Friday, March 10 – Semifinals
7:00 PM – (1) North Carolina vs (5) Duke, ESPN
9:30 PM – (2) Florida State vs (3) Notre Dame, ESPN

BIG 12
Format: Standard
Location: Kansas City, MO
Friday, March 10 – Semifinals
7:00 PM – (4) Iowa State vs (8) TCU, ESPN2
9:30 PM – (2) West Virginia vs (6) Kansas State, ESPN2

BIG EAST
Format: Standard
Location: New York City
Friday, March 10 – Semifinals
6:30 PM – (1) Villanova vs (5) Seton Hall, FS1
9:00 PM – (6) Creighton vs (7) Xavier, FS1

PAC-12
Format: Standard
Location: Las Vegas, NV
Friday, March 10 – Semifinals
9:00 PM – (1) Oregon vs (5) California, Pac-12 Network
11:30 PM – (2) Arizona vs (3) UCLA, ESPN

MOUNTAIN WEST
Format: Standard
Location: Las Vegas, NV
Friday, March 10 – Semifinals
10:00 PM – (1) Nevada vs (4) Fresno State, CBS Sports Network
12:30 AM – (2) Colorado State vs (6) San Diego State, CBS Sports Network

CONFERENCE USA
Format: Standard
Location: Birmingham, AL
Friday, March 10 – Semifinals
12:30 PM – (1) Middle Tennessee vs (4) UTEP, CBS Sports Network
3:00 PM – (2) Louisiana Tech vs (6) Marshall, CBS Sports Network
Saturday, March 11 – Championship

MID-AMERICAN
Format: Standard
Location: Campus sites (first round); Cleveland, OH (second round through championship)
Friday, March 10 – Semifinals
5:30 PM – (1) Akron vs (4) Ball State, CBS Sports Network
8:00 PM – (2) Ohio University vs (6) Kent State, CBS Sports Network

WAC
Format: Standard
Location: Las Vegas, NV
Friday, March 10 – Semifinals
9:00 PM – (1) Cal State-Bakersfield vs (4) Utah Valley, espn3
11:30 PM – (2) New Mexico State vs (3) UMKC, espn3

BIG SKY
Format: Standard
Location: Reno, NV
Friday, March 10 – Semifinals
8:30 PM – (1) North Dakota vs (4) Idaho, watchbigsky.com
11:00 PM – (2) Eastern Washington vs (3) Weber State, watchbigsky.com

SOUTHLAND
Format: Ladder (top two seeds bye into semifinals)
Location: Katy, TX
Friday, March 10 – Semifinals
6:00 PM – (1) New Orleans vs (5) Sam Houston State, espn3
8:30 PM – (2) Texas A&M-Corpus Christi vs (3) Stephen F. Austin, espn3

BIG WEST
Format: Standard with Re-seed for Semifinals
Location: Anaheim, CA
Friday, March 10 – Semifinals
9:30 PM – (1) UC-Irvine vs (4) Long Beach State, espn3
12:00 AM – (2) UC-Davis vs (3) Cal State-Fullerton, ESPNU

MEAC
Format: Standard
Location: Norfolk, VA
Friday, March 10 – Semifinals
6:00 PM – (1) North Carolina Central vs (5) Maryland-Eastern Shore, espn3
8:30 PM – (2) Norfolk State vs (11) Howard, espn3

SWAC
Format: Standard
Location: Campus Sites (Quarterfinals); Houston, TX (Semifinals and Championship)
Friday, March 10 – Semifinals
3:30 PM – (1) Texas Southern vs (5) Grambling State, TBA
9:30 PM – (2) Alcorn State vs (3) Southern, TBA
Saturday, March 11 – Championship

BIG TEN
Format: Ladder (top four seeds bye into quarterfinals)
Location: Washington, DC
Friday, March 10 – Quarterfinals
12:00 PM – (1) Purdue vs (8) Michigan, ESPN
2:30 PM – (4) Minnesota vs (5) Michigan State, ESPN
6:30 PM – (2) Wisconsin vs (10) Indiana, BTN
9:00 PM – (3) Maryland vs (6) Northwestern, BTN

SEC
Format: Ladder (top four seeds bye into quarterfinals)
Location: Nashville, TN
Friday, March 10 – Quarterfinals
1:00 PM – (1) Kentucky vs (8) Georgia, SEC Network
3:30 PM – (4) South Carolina vs (5) Alabama, SEC Network
7:00 PM – (2) Florida vs (7) Vanderbilt, SEC Network
9:30 PM – (3) Arkansas vs (6) Ole Miss, SEC Network

ATLANTIC TEN
Format: Ladder (top four seeds bye into quarterfinals)
Location: Pittsburgh, PA
Friday, March 10 – Quarterfinals
12:00 PM – (1) Dayton vs (9) Davidson, NBC Sports Network
2:30 PM – (4) Rhode Island vs (5) St. Bonaventure, NBC Sports Network
6:30 PM – (2) VCU  vs (7) George Mason, NBC Sports Network
9:00 PM – (3) Richmond vs (6) George Washington, NBC Sports Network

AMERICAN
Format: Standard
Location: Hartford, CT
Friday, March 10 – Quarterfinals
12:00 PM – (1) SMU vs (9) East Carolina, ESPN2
2:30 PM – (4) UCF vs (5) Memphis, ESPN2
7:00 PM – (2) Cincinnati vs (7) Tulsa, ESPNU
9:30 PM – (3) Houston vs (6) Connecticut, ESPNU

SUN BELT
Format: Standard
Location: New Orleans, LA
Friday, March 10 – Quarterfinals
12:30 PM – (1) Texas-Arlington vs (8) Coastal Carolina, espn3
3:00 PM – (4) Texas State vs (12) Louisiana-Monroe, espn3
6:00 PM – (2) Georgia State vs (7) Louisiana-Lafayette, espn3
8:30 PM – (3) Georgia Southern vs (6) Troy, espn3

 

And for all you radio lovers, below is an mp3 version of the show…

Posted in Bracketology, Championship Week Video Notebook, Commentary, Podcasts, Videocasts | 1 Comment

The Hoops HD Committee Report: Thursday, March 10

Posted on March 10, 2017 by John Stalica

Click HERE for Jon Teitel’s Day 1 Coverage of the Big Ten Tournament

Click HERE for Jon Teitel’s latest Bracket Projection (through Wednesday’s games)

 

SITES YOU NEED TO CHECK OUT FROM SOME OF THIS YEAR’S COMMITTEE MEMBERS!!

Warren Nolan’s RPI and Statistical Site for College Sports – CLICK HERE

Podcaster and Bracketologist Extraordinaire Andy Bottoms at Assembly Call – CLICK HERE

Galen Clavio at Crimson Cast – CLICK HERE

Galen Clavio again at Sports Politik – CLICK HERE

Scott Swartz at The Buffet – CLICK HERE

 

Tonight is the first official night that our Hoops HD Committee met via Skype conference call to begin bracketing the field for the 2017 NCAA Tournament. After last night’s results, our committee was charged with filling the remaining 6 at-large sports plus another at-large spot guaranteed to open up due to the ACC having all remaining teams in the NCAA Tournament.

Our first order of business was awarding the 2017 Centenary Award – the honor went to Alabama A&M. Their prize for winning the award will be their placement on the Under Consideration Board for the duration of the committee meetings. We also began to shrink the Under Consideration Board down to 26 candidates that have a realistic shot at inclusion to the field. We began to discuss the remaining teams and then each individual committee member would choose 8 teams from the list that were Under Consideration. The top 8 vote-getters would then be ranked 1 through 8. In the first wave of balloting, we added Michigan, Northwestern, Arkansas and Seton Hall to the field. (That’s right Wildcat fans – go ahead and start contacting your travel agents for next week!) The remaining 4 teams carried over and then, after further debates, each committee member would choose 4 more teams from the Under Consideration list. The top 4 vote-getters would then be ranked 1 through 8 with the 4 carry-overs.

Since there were only 3 open at-large spots at the time of the vote, the top 3 teams were added into the field: Marquette, Michigan State and Xavier. The Musketeers got voted in after their win against Butler in the Big East tournament. It was at this point that our committee stopped for the night. After Creighton beat Providence, we were assured of a spot in the Big East opening up, so we will fill that spot during tomorrow night’s meetings. We will also begin the process of filling in the Master seed list – depending on time, we will add up to 32 teams (8 seed lines) to the master seed list for tomorrow night’s meetings. Other spots will eventually open up (i.e. Big 12, Big 10, SEC), but with TCU and Kansas State scoring upsets in the Big 12 Tournament, there is still a chance for a bid thief to surface in a major conference.

Below is the Selection Board through tonight’s games: (note that teams highlighted in orange in the Under Consideration board have been eliminated from their respective conference tournaments)

Posted in Bracketology, CBB, Championship Week Video Notebook, Commentary, Hoops HD Report, News and Notes | 1 Comment

HoopsHD at the Big 10 Tourney: Photo essay (Day 1)

Posted on March 9, 2017 by Jon Teitel

HoopsHD is always hovering around the edge of legitimacy (see Puppet, The), but thanks to the good folks at the Big 10 we are kicking it up a notch this week with a media credential to the Big 10 Tourney in DC.  From his prime perch in the 2nd row Jon Teitel will be bringing you daily updates of much of the action from the Verizon Center via a series of photo essays.  Day 1 tipped off with 2 games (Penn State-Nebraska and Rutgers-Ohio State) and there was as much excitement off the court as on it.

You know it is a big deal because you cannot even get out of the Gallery Place metro stop without seeing all of the signs:

After spending most of the past 2 decades in Chicago and Indianapolis, the Big 10 tourney heads to DC this week before traveling north to Madison Square Garden next March.  I had to work at my other job all afternoon so I assumed that I was going to miss all of Game 1, but thanks to an Ed Morrow layup in the final 30 seconds of regulation I was able to make it courtside for overtime.  Despite not having a single senior on their roster, Penn State came out strong with a 12-2 run to take control in OT en route to a 76-67 win.  Shep Garner scored 16 PTS for the Nittany Lions, but the big story came later that night when I learned that his cousin flew in for the game, an aspiring rapper…named Flavor Flav!  My own best sighting of the day was when I was heading to the postgame press conference and almost bumped into ESPN sideline reporter Molly McGrath.  Not only is she even more beautiful in person than on TV, but she actually stepped aside and waved me through so I could get by even though I was happy to yield the right of way: go Molly!  At the press conference I failed to come up with a suitable question for Nebraska coach Tim Miles, but the big news was that his AD sent out a tweet that Miles will be back next year despite only winning 3 games over the past 2 months.

Then I asked Penn State FR PF Mike Watkins how he was able to play so well (18 PTS/11 REB/Big Ten Tourney-record 8 BLK) after a below-average performance against the Huskers on Valentine’s Day, and he just said that he had been working hard in practice during the past few weeks.

Game #2 featured a Rutgers team who had won only 3 games since Christmas by a combined 6 PTS facing an Ohio State team who has played in more Big 10 Tourney games over the past 13 years than anyone else.  However, there is a reason that Coach Steve Pikiell led his former school (Stony Brook) to the postseason each of the past 5 years: the guy just knows how to win games in March.  Somehow he did it last night despite his leading scorer (Corey Sanders) shooting 2-10 FG and his 2nd-leading scorer (Deshawn Freeman) fouling out with only 10 PTS.  The key was Nigel Johnson, who scored 21 PTS while making a career-high 8-8 FT.  I asked Nigel after the game if he had a lot of family/friends at the game since he grew up in Ashburn, VA, and he said that he indeed had quite a large cheering section in the building.

It also helped that Rutgers out-rebounded the Buckeyes 49-31 and that Ohio State left a ton of points at the FT line by only making 15-28 (and how do you shoot 54.2 FG% in the 1st half but only 23.8 FG% in the 2nd half?!).  I asked OSU SO PG CJ Jackson if he got any satisfaction from playing some of the best basketball of his career over the past 2-3 weeks even though they had just lost to the Scarlet Knights, but he admitted that the only thing he cared about at that moment was that he and his teammates had not been able to come out on top.

I still cannot get over the amazing seat I had on press row, as I was THIS close to the court:

…which allowed me to get great views of the Ohio State band/mascot:

It is also fascinating to look around and see other blasts from the past all over the arena: Buckeyes student assistant Greg Oden (who actually sat in the 1st row of the stands rather then on the bench), Compass Media radio analyst/NBA champion Rick Mahorn (sitting about 5 seats away from me on press row), BTN coordinating producer Bill Friedman (my former co-worker from 20 years ago in Bristol), etc.  I did not get to attend the 1st 2 games on Thursday afternoon, but am heading out soon to catch Iowa-Indiana and then it’s off to a nearby bar to watch Arizona-Colorado in the Pac-12 quarterfinals with some fellow Wildcats.  I hope everyone is enjoying Championship Week as much as I am, and check back tomorrow for my Day 2 photo essay about the Hawkeyes-Hoosiers!

Posted in News and Notes, Tim Miles | 1 Comment