Hoops HD

Bracketology 2017: March Madness Predictions (Version 10.7)

Posted on March 12, 2017 by Jon Teitel

***UPDATE*** Jon Teitel is at the Big Ten Tournament and hard at work with his coverage. He may not have time to make any adjustments to the American or Big Ten final, but it’s unlikely that any of the teams would have been moved more than a seed line (Sunday, March 12th, 5:21pm, est)

CLICK HERE for the final Championship Week Video Notebook

CLICK HERE for the Hoops HD Committee Report

CLICK HERE for the Hoops HD’s Mock Selection Committee’s Final Bracket

CLICK HERE for Joby Fortson’s Nitty Gritty Ratings, which are among the most accurate of any metric when it comes to guessing the Committee

For Jon Teitel’s coverage of the Big Ten Tournament – CLICK HERE

Selection Sunday has arrived as our NCAA tourney predictions turn into reality. 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 try to send out a final update later today predicting which 68 teams will hear their names called on the Selection Show. See below for his list of who will make the cut 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): AUTO-BID
1: Kansas (Big 12)
1: North Carolina (ACC)
1: Gonzaga (WCC): AUTO-BID

2: Kentucky (SEC)
2: Oregon (Pac-12)
2: Duke (ACC): AUTO-BID
2: Arizona (Pac-12): AUTO-BID

3: Louisville (ACC)
3: Baylor (Big 12)
3: UCLA (Pac-12)
3: Florida State (ACC)

4: Florida (SEC)
4: West Virginia (Big 12)
4: Butler (Big East)
4: Notre Dame (ACC)

5: Purdue (Big 10)
5: Virginia (ACC)
5: Cincinnati (AAC)
5: Minnesota (Big 10)

6: SMU (AAC)
6: Iowa State (Big 12): AUTO-BID
6: Wisconsin (Big 10)
6: Creighton (Big East)

7: St. Mary’s (WCC)
7: Maryland (Big 10)
7: Michigan (Big 10)
7: Miami FL (ACC)

8: Dayton (A-10)
8: Arkansas (SEC)
8: Wichita State (MVC): AUTO-BID
8: Virginia Tech (ACC)

9: South Carolina (SEC)
9: Oklahoma State (Big 12)
9: Northwestern (Big 10)
9: VCU (A-10)

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

11: Vanderbilt (SEC)
11: Providence (Big East)
11: Wake Forest (ACC)
11: Middle Tennessee (CUSA): AUTO-BID
11: USC (Pac-12)
11: Kansas State (Big 12)

12: Rhode Island (A-10)
12: Nevada (MWC): AUTO-BID
12: UNC-Wilmington (CAA): AUTO-BID
12: Vermont (America East): AUTO-BID

13: Princeton (Ivy)
13: East Tennessee State (SoCon): AUTO-BID
13: Bucknell (Patriot): AUTO-BID
13: New Mexico State (WAC): AUTO-BID

14: Winthrop (Big South): AUTO-BID
14: Florida Gulf Coast (Atlantic Sun): AUTO-BID
14: Iona (MAAC): AUTO-BID
14: Northern Kentucky (Horizon): AUTO-BID

15: Kent State (MAC): AUTO-BID
15: Texas Southern (SWAC): AUTO-BID
15: North Dakota (Big Sky): AUTO-BID
15: Jacksonville State (OVC): AUTO-BID

16: Troy (Sun Belt)
16: South Dakota State (Summit): AUTO-BID
16: NC Central (MEAC): AUTO-BID
16: New Orleans (Southland): AUTO-BID
16: Mount St. Mary’s (NEC): AUTO-BID
16: UC Davis (Big West): AUTO-BID

Posted in Bracketology | Comments Off

HoopsHD at the Big 10 Tourney: Photo essay (Day 3)

Posted on March 12, 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 now-3rd row Jon Teitel will be bringing you daily updates of all the action from the Verizon Center via a series of photo essays. Day 3 finally saw a quartet of games with the top-4 seeds in action, but since we are already a day behind we are going to focus a little more on the “photo” part and a little less on the “essay” part.

Bad news: now that all the best teams are playing I got pushed out of press row and into the “media overflow” seating.

Good news: it was actually in the 1st row of the crowd and there were plenty of seats available so I got to sit at midcourt: not bad eh?!

Directly in front of me was former NBA champ Rick Mahorn, who was doing color commentary on the radio. I walked by him and he is almost as tall as me even though he was sitting down:

And right in front of Mahorn was Dan Dakich, who was doing color commentary on TV for his son Andrew, who is a member of the Wolverines:

Game 1 featured Boiler Up vs. Go Blue:

Caleb Swanigan had yet another double-double before fouling out, but DJ Wilson was unstoppable with 26 PTS/8 REB/3 BLK in a 74-70 win by Michigan, which made Coach John Beilein very happy:

The Purdue postgame press conference was short and sweet:

I got to ask Michigan SR G/F Zak Irvin if his former teammate Spike Albrecht (who now plays for Purdue) had reached out to him after the airplane incident earlier this week, and he said that he indeed had: kudos to Spike!

Game 2 was Gophers against Spartans:

You know it’s a big game when the best NFL ref in the business is in the house: Gene Steratore!

I went to grab a snack at halftime in the media room and spied Jim Nantz preparing for tomorrow’s CBS broadcast. It took all my willpower to keep from walking up to him and saying “Hello friends”:

Minnesota was able to hang on for a 63-58 win despite SR SG Akeem Springs going down with a right Achilles injury (not pictured) and JR C Reggie Lynch getting smacked in the mouth and having a tooth bent back before later returning to the game:

In the postgame press conference Michigan State coach Tom Izzo said that he was disappointed in his team’s effort, which as you might imagine is a rather rare occurrence:

Minnesota only won 8 games last year but have looked great since last month as they have won 9 of 10:

Game 3 saw Wisconsin beat Indiana 70-60, and since my brother-in-law is a Badger alum, here are a bunch of Wisconsin photos:

The nightcap was the least “neutral” site game that I have ever attended, as the Scott Van Pelt-led Maryland crowd was out in force to see their Terps play only a subway ride away from College Park:

…and then it all went horribly wrong as Northwestern overcame a 10-PT 2nd half deficit to win it 72-64. I got to say hi to Terp alum/NBA veteran Walt Williams, who I had just interviewed on the phone the previous week for an article about Len Bias:

In the postgame press conference I asked Coach Collins why his team has been able to shoot the lights out this week after finishing the regular season 10th in the conference in FG%, and he said the gradual return to health of Scottie Lindsey has made all the difference in the world:

Check back (hopefully) later today for my Day 4 photo essay about the 2 semifinal games!

Posted in CBB | 1 Comment

Championship Week Video Notebook: FINAL DAY!!

Posted on March 12, 2017 by David Griggs

WELCOME SELECTION COMMITTEE MEMBERS!! It is very important that you double check your work with what we’ve done to ensure that you did it right!! CLICK HERE to view our Survival Board

For the Hoops HD Selection Committee Report, and a look at our seed list and bracket as it stands prior to Sunday’s Games – CLICK HERE

This is our final Championship Week Video Notebook, and it was a busy day as 14 automatic bids were handed out. UC Davis and North Dakota made it to the NCAA Tournament for the first time, Duke knocked off Notre Dame to complete their run through the ACC Tournament and give their resume a huge boost in the process, Arizona picked up their second big win in two nights to win the Pac Twelve, and much more. We review all of today’s games, preview tomorrow’s games, and discuss what the Hoops HD Selection Committee did on their final evening of deliberations. And as always, we begin with our mailbag and end by updating the Survival Board.

SUNDAY’S CHAMPIONSHIP WEEK ACTION

AMERICAN
Format: Standard
Location: Hartford, CT
Sunday, March 12 – Championship
3:15 PM – (1) SMU vs (2) Cincinnati, ESPN

ATLANTIC TEN
Format: Ladder (top four seeds bye into quarterfinals)
Location: Pittsburgh, PA
Sunday, March 12 – Championship
12:30 PM – (2) VCU vs (4) Rhode Island, CBS

BIG TEN
Format: Ladder (top four seeds bye into quarterfinals)
Location: Washington, DC
Sunday, March 12 – Championship
3:00 PM – (2) Wisconsin vs (8) Michigan, CBS

SEC
Format: Ladder (top four seeds bye into quarterfinals)
Location: Nashville, TN
Sunday, March 12 – Championship
1:00 PM – (1) Kentucky vs (3) Arkansas, ESPN

IVY LEAGUE
Format: Standard
Location: Philadelphia, PA
Sunday, March 12 – Championship
12:00 PM – (1) Princeton vs (3) Yale, ESPN2

SUN BELT
Format: Standard
Location: New Orleans, LA
Sunday, March 12 – Championship
2:00 PM – (4) Texas State vs (6) Troy, ESPN2

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

Posted in Bracketology, Championship Week Video Notebook, Commentary, News and Notes, Podcasts, Survival Board, Videocasts | 2 Comments

The Hoops HD Committee Report: Saturday, March 11

Posted on March 12, 2017 by John Stalica

Click HERE for Jon Teitel’s interview with South Dakota State player Michael Orris

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 at CrimsonCast and click HERE for SportsPolitik

Click HERE for Scott Schwartz and The Buffet/Waiting Line

Saturday marked the 3rd night of the Hoops HD Selection Committee meetings – tonight we filled the final at-large spots. Once the final at-large spots were filled, the remainder of the field was seeded into the Master Seed List and the committee did a thorough scrubbing of the seed list to account for all games played through Saturday.

Two spots initially opened up based on Kentucky, SMU and Cincinnati winning their games and opening up at-large spots out of the SEC and American conferences. After debating the final teams listed Under Consideration, there was also an A-10 contingency to account for because of VCU and Rhode Island’s matchup in the A-10 title game tomorrow. Our committee was in a position to choose 3 teams out of a pool of 8 teams to consider. What made things real interesting here was Middle Tennessee was voted into the field as an at-large – the initial 3 teams voted into the field were Kansas State, USC and Middle Tennessee. This also meant that we now had a contingency team from Conference USA to consider! Rhode Island became the final at-large contingency team regardless of whether or not they are able to beat VCU in the A-10 Championship tomorrow. Later on in the evening, Middle Tennessee did beat Marshall to lock up the automatic bid out of Conference USA. At the end of the day, this means that VCU, Kansas State and Rhode Island are the last three teams to be voted into the field.

The next phase was to finish filling the master seed list with all the at-large teams along with teams playing in their conference championship games (i.e. Bakersfield, New Mexico State, New Orleans, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, Troy, Texas State, Princeton, Yale, UC-Irvine and UC-Davis). Bakersfield, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and UC-Irvine were ultimately removed from the seed list after losing in their conference championship games. At the end of the night, we had 70 teams in our Master Seed List. That number will shrink to 68 teams once the Ivy and Sun Belt championship games are played.

The 3rd and most laborious task of the night was to scrub the entire seed list. This is the process where teams were shifted up and down to account for games played through Saturday. Motions to move teams require a simple majority yes-or-no vote to be approved. Below is the updated selection board:

Tomorrow will be the final day of the Hoops HD Selection Committee meetings. Look for our final bracket projection on the website sometime after the Atlantic 10, Ivy League, SEC and Sun Belt conference championship games go final. It is not expected that multiple contingency brackets will be needed this year, but stay tuned to find out!

Below is the above seed list placed into a bracketed format. As the article indicates above, this is not our final bracket

Posted in Bracketology, CBB, Championship Week Video Notebook, Commentary, News and Notes | 2 Comments

Tourney Talk: HoopsHD interviews South Dakota State SR PG Michael Orris

Posted on March 11, 2017 by Jon Teitel

Last Tuesday South Dakota State beat Omaha 79-77 in the Summit League title game to earn an automatic bid to next week’s NCAA tournament. The Jackrabbits made the NCAA tourney in 2016 before losing to Maryland and made it back this year to claim the school’s 4th NCAA tourney bid since 2012. HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel got to speak with SR PG Michael Orris about what it feels like to make the tourney during his 1 year of eligibility as a graduate transfer.

You originally signed with Illinois but followed Illini coach Bruce Weber to Kansas State before later transferring to Northern Illinois: why did you switch to the Huskies, and do you have any regrets about the whole process? Hindsight is 20-20 so I guess I would have handled the recruiting process a little differently, but at the time I was just a 17-year old kid. That being said, I have no regrets.

You then decided to come to South Dakota State as a graduate transfer: how does your approach coming into a season change when you know that you only have 1 season of eligibility? It is a really unique situation: I wanted to find the perfect coach/system/fit that would maximize my abilities and allow me to excel. I was longing for that great PG/coach relationship like I have seen in the past with TJ McConnell/Sean Miller or Ryan Arcidiacono/Jay Wright. The moment I talked to Coach TJ on the phone we just clicked right away.

You play for 1st-year coach TJ Otzelberger: how do you like playing for him, and did you 2 create a special bond because you were both starting your Jackrabbit careers at the same time? I think that is where our bond started. He always had a chip on his shoulder with people telling him he could not do this or that. He wanted this to be a redemption year for me because he had heard about me from back when I was in high school and knew the kind of person that I was. It is unbelievable to play for him: the freedom he gives his players is 2nd to none and we finish each other’s sentences when it comes to play-calling.

In your final non-conference game of the year you scored 15 PTS/6-8 FG in a 22-PT loss at Wichita State: how do they compare to teams you saw during your time in the Big 12? I think that they are right there: they have the length/size/versatility to rival any high-major that I have seen, but we can rival them as well.

SO PF Mike Daum was conference ROY in 2016 and conference POY in 2017: what makes him such a great player? Mike is special: it is unique to have a big man who is so mobile. We call him “Baby Dirk”, which could not be more accurate. His awareness offensively is incredible, which makes my job as a PG a lot easier.

In the Summit League semifinal you scored a career-high-tying 20 PTS including the game-winning shot with 1.5 seconds left in a 3-PT win over #1-seed South Dakota: did you think that it was going in, and where does that rank among the highlights of your career? I knew as soon as it left my hand that it was going in…which is why I did a little pose! It was a crazy game and to finish it like that is what I dreamed of as a kid on my cement driveway counting down for the last-second shot. It has to rank as the #1 shot that I have ever taken.

Last Tuesday you scored 6 PTS while playing the entire 40 minutes in a 2-PT win over Omaha: how exhausted were you by the end of the game, and what was the feeling like during the court-storm? Coach TJ laughed after the Denver game and asked if I enjoyed my night off…since I only played 36 minutes! I love playing/competing and do not care about anything else. My career could have ended at any moment last week so fatigue was not going to set in for me. I would have played 60 minutes if it could get us into the NCAA tourney.

In the 2016 NCAA tourney the Jackrabbits had a 5-PT loss to Maryland: did you watch the game, and what do you think it will take to pull off an upset this year? They fought very hard and all the guys have talked about that experience. As you see every year you can just throw records out the window: at Kansas State we were a high seed but lost in the 1st round. You have to do all the little things: we are all trying to win and it is a beautiful thing to watch.

What kind of seed do you think that you deserve, and what kind of seed do you think that you are going to get? We have been talking about that all week. I have heard that we are going to be a 15 or 16 seed but it does not matter to me: we are fortunate to be in the tourney and will be excited with whatever we get. I think it would be cool to be a #16-seed and try to make some history against a #1-seed.

Your career on the college court might come to a close next week: what is your plan for the future? I want to play for as long as I can so I will pursue a pro career for as long as I can, but I am going to get my Masters degree and might end up on the sideline 1 day as a coach.

Posted in Interviews | 1 Comment

Bracketology 2017: March Madness Predictions (Version 10.6)

Posted on March 11, 2017 by Jon Teitel

We are only 1 day 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 send out a final update tomorrow 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: Duke (ACC)

4: Florida (SEC)
4: Butler (Big East)
4: Purdue (Big 10)
4: West Virginia (Big 12)

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

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

7: Wisconsin (Big 10)
7: Creighton (Big East)
7: Dayton (A-10)
7: South Carolina (SEC)

8: Miami FL (ACC)
8: Oklahoma State (Big 12)
8: Virginia Tech (ACC)
8: Wichita State (MVC): AUTO-BID

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

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

11: Providence (Big East)
11: Vanderbilt (SEC)
11: Wake Forest (ACC)
11: Middle Tennessee (CUSA)
11: USC (Pac-12)
11: Kansas State (Big 12)

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: UC Irvine (Big West)
15: Texas Southern (SWAC): AUTO-BID

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