March 8, 2010 –
by Brendon
If the Big East Tournament were a United States metropolis, it would be Atlanta. The five-day, 16-team, 15-game goliath sprawls across Championship Week from noon on Tuesday until almost midnight on Saturday, giving nary a breath to the other conferences tournaments trying to grab a bit of air in the league’s stifling wake.
It’s really the perfect setup for ultimate exposure. When the Big East Tournament starts on Tuesday, the only real competition for media attention is the Horizon, Sun Belt and Summit finals (unless you fancy some Atlantic 10 pre-quarters). By Friday and Saturday, when the other big leagues are giving fans their first tastes of quality games, the Big East trumps them with matchups of top teams in its semis and final. The Big East finally relents on Sunday for a few hours, but then comes the selection show, in which Big East teams are likely to make up at least an eighth of the field. The conference may not end up owning the NCAA Tournament, but it has property rights to most of this seven-day period of college hoops gluttony.
With an unrivaled media footprint — especially now that either ESPN2 or ESPNU is carrying the games on Second Division Day (Tuesday) — what can college hoops fans expect from the Garden this week? Read More »
Posted in Big East, Reviews/Previews
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Tagged Austin Freeman, Big East, Big East Tournament, Cincinnati, Connecticut, Deonta Vaughn, DePaul, Gavin Edwards, Georgetown, Jeremy Hazell, Jerome Dyson, Jim Calhoun, Louisville, Marquette, Notre Dame, Pittsburgh, Providence, Rutgers, Seton Hall, South Florida, St. John's, Stanley Robinson, Syracuse, Villanova, West Virginia
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February 5, 2010 –
by Brendon
Printable Version of Bracket »
Bracketing Challenges: Well, it finally happened. After relatively smooth bracketing so far this season, I ran into a bunch of problems trying to separate teams from the same conference. The Big East and ACC grouped teams in the 2-3-6-7-10-11 seeds; the Big 12 grouped in the 1-4-5-8-9 seeds. Therefore, I had to move a record five teams up and five teams down by one seedline. We don’t know how common this is for the NCAA Tournament committee because it doesn’t reveal this information like I do, but I would guess it happens with 2-4 teams per year. I’m hopeful that these uneven distributions work themselves out by mid-March.
It’s important to note that Cincinnati was moved from its true seedline of No. 10 because three of the spots where the Bearcats could have played already had a Big East team in the eight-team pod. In the other spot, the No. 7 seed was Xavier, a team that Cincinnati plays every year. The NCAA prefers to avoid those rematches early in the tournament, and that’s especially the case since UC-XU is a notorious rivalry.
Breakdown: One of the surprising parts of this bracket to many of you might be Michigan State’s position as a No. 3 seed after its loss to Wisconsin. MSU was being propped up by that undefeated conference record, and now that it’s no longer, we can evaluate the Spartans on their paltry list of quality victories. Michigan State has just two wins against top-50 RPI teams — Gonzaga and Wisconsin at home, and Sparty has yet to play Ohio State or Purdue. The Boilermakers are now a No. 2 seed even though they’ve actually played an easier conference schedule than MSU so far, but they have four top-50 wins, including Tennessee and West Virginia out of conference. Read More »
Posted in Bracket Junkie, National Perspective
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Tagged ACC, Alabama, Andy Kennedy, Arizona, Arizona State, Arkansas, Augustus Gilchrist, Baylor, Big 12, Big East, Big Ten, Brigham Young, Bruce Weber, Butler, California, Cincinnati, Clemson, Colorado, Connecticut, Cornell, Dayton, DePaul, Derrick Williams, Dominique Jones, Duke, Evan Turner, Florida, Florida State, Gary Williams, Georgetown, Georgia Tech, Gonzaga, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Kentucky, Leonard Hamilton, Marquette, Maryland, Miami (Fla.), Michigan, Michigan State, Mid-Majors, Minnesota, Mississippi, Mississippi State, Missouri, New Mexico, North Carolina, Northern Iowa, Northwestern, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Oklahoma State, Pac-10, Penn State, Pittsburgh, Providence, Purdue, Rhode Island, Robert Morris, Rutgers, Scott Drew, SEC, Seton Hall, Siena, South Carolina, South Florida, Stan Heath, Stanford, Syracuse, Temple, Tennessee, Texas, Texas A&M, UCLA, USC, Vanderbilt, Villanova, Virginia, Virginia Tech, Washington, Washington State, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Xavier
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February 1, 2010 –
by Brendon
Printable Version of Bracket »
Breakdown: Perhaps the most difficult aspect to building this bracket was finding that last No. 3 seed. Out of Purdue, Kansas State, Duke, Texas and West Virginia, it was clear that two of them would be No. 2 seeds and three would be No. 3 seeds, but there was no obvious choice to fill out that third line. Just like in the last projection, I went with New Mexico over Brigham Young and any other team — Wisconsin, Tennessee, Baylor, Temple, Ohio State, Georgia Tech — that might have had a claim.
The good thing is that none of those teams had a very strong claim at that spot. New Mexico was the choice because its five wins against top-50 teams was more than any other team that hadn’t been bracketed, except Georgia Tech and Pittsburgh, which also have five. New Mexico’s record (20-3), combined with a head-to-head win over Brigham Young, a six-game winning streak and a 10th ranking in my seeding model put the Lobos over the top. I’m not sure what the Selection Committee would do if presented this scenario, but the only other teams I could see them bracketing here are BYU, who — again — has lost to New Mexico head-to-head, or Ohio State, if the Buckeyes were given a complete pass for losses suffered when Evan Turner was injured. Read More »
Posted in Bracket Junkie, National Perspective
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Tagged Arizona, Arizona State, Arkansas, Baylor, Billy Donovan, Brigham Young, California, Clemson, Connecticut, Creighton, Dayton, Demetri McCamey, DePaul, Duke, Evan Turner, Florida, Georgetown, Georgia, Georgia Tech, Gonzaga, Illinois, Illinois State, Indiana, Jimmy Butler, Kansas, Kansas State, Kentucky, Louisville, LSU, Luke Harangody, Marquette, Maryland, Miami (Fla.), Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Mississippi, Mississippi State, Missouri, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Carolina, Northwestern, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Penn State, Pittsburgh, Providence, Purdue, Rutgers, Sean Miller, South Carolina, South Florida, Syracuse, Temple, Tennesse, Tennessee, Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Vanderbilt, Virginia, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest, Washington, West Virginia, Wichita State, William & Mary, Wisconsin
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January 29, 2010 –
by Brendon
Printable Version of Bracket »
Notes: First, automatic bids for each conference are determined by conference record with tiebreakers broken by rank in our BTI model, not by head-to-head or other conference tiebreakers. Of course, every conference except for the Ivy League determines its ultimate automatic bid with a tournament, so conference tiebreakers really don’t matter much for our purposes. Second, there is one potential regular-season rematch in the first two rounds, and that’s in the South where Kentucky and Connecticut could meet. There was already a Big East team in the other three spots where a No. 9 seed could go, and the priority is keeping teams on their true seedlines over avoiding rematches.
Breakdown: In the end, I guess all of this was just bluster. The point of this bracket projection — even in January — is to accurately determine what the Selection Committee would do if it had to select and seed the field today. With that as the overriding standard, I found myself unable to move Texas or Duke ahead of Kentucky for the last No. 1 seed. If I wanted to make a bracket of what should happen, we’d have an entirely different projection. UK is still just 13th in the BTI seeding model, but that is a seeding model based on an entire season of play and pro-rated for what’s happened so far. This is a bracket based on less than three months of play, and so sometimes we’re left with guesswork. My best guess is that Kentucky would get the nod over Duke and Texas right now. Read More »
Posted in Bracket Junkie, National Perspective
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Tagged A.J. Ogilvy, ACC, Alabama, Arizona, Arizona State, Atlantic-10, Auburn, Baylor, Big 12, Big East, Big Monday, Big Ten, Boston College, Brigham Young, California, Charlotte, Cincinnati, Clemson, Colonial, Connecticut, Courtney Fortson, Dayton, DePaul, Duke, Florida State, Frank Martin, Georgetown, Georgia, Illinois, Ivy League, Jeffrey Taylor, Jermaine Beal, John Jenkins, Jon Leuer, Kansas, Kansas State, Ken Pomeroy, Kentucky, LaSalle, Louisville, LSU, Maryland, Massachusetts, Matt Painter, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Mississippi State, Mountain West, New Mexico, North Carolina, Northwestern, Ohio State, Oklahoma State, Oliver Purnell, Pac-10, Penn State, Pittsburgh, Providence, Purdue, Rhode Island, Richmond, Rick Barnes, Rick Stansbury, San Diego State, Sean Miller, SEC, Seth Greenberg, South Carolina, South Florida, St. Joseph's, Stanford, Syracuse, Temple, Texas, Texas A&M, Travis Ford, UNLV, Vanderbilt, Virgina Tech, Virginia, Virginia Commonwealth, Virginia Tech, Washington, West Virginia, William & Mary, Wisconsin, Xavier
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January 18, 2010 –
by Brendon
Notre Dame had a tough loss on Saturday in Cincinnati. After controlling most of the first half, the Irish could never pull away from a tough Bearcats defense. Eventually, UC’s dominance of the backboards caught up to UND, and the Irish fell, 60-58. Despite Luke Harangody growing into the Big East’s version of Tyler Hansbrough over the last two seasons, he’s seen the talent erode around him, and the team success that Notre Dame experienced during Harangody’s first two seasons is proving elusive in his final two.
As a freshman, Luke Harangody and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish won 24 games, reached the Big East Tournament semifinals and the NCAA Tournament as a No. 6 seed. As a sophomore, Harangody saw his team win 25 more games, earn a No. 4 seed in the NCAA Tournament and win a game there.
Last season, Notre Dame was a consensus top-25 team entering the season, this despite losing Rob Kurz and replacing him with no one (I suppose it was sophomore Tyrone Nash, in theory). Notre Dame disappointed, though, finishing 8-10 in conference and 18-14 overall (before the NIT, where the Irish won three times). A seven-game losing streak in January and February ruined the season. Read More »
Posted in Big East
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Tagged Ben Hansbrough, Big East, Cincinnati, DePaul, Jack Cooley, Joey Brooks, Jonathan Peoples, Kyle McAlarney, Loyola Marymount, Luke Harangody, Mike Brey, Mike Broghammer, Mike Cook, Morehead State, Northwestern, Notre Dame, Pittsburgh, Rob Kurz, Rutgers, Ryan Ayers, Scott Martin, Seton Hall, St. John's, Tim Abromaitis, Tom Knight, Ty Proffitt, Tyler Hansbrough, Tyrone Nash, USF, West Virginia, Zach Hillesland
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January 14, 2010 –
by Brendon
St. John’s needed and got a win on Wednesday night against the Bearcats and Lance Stephenson. The star freshman from Lincoln High in Brooklyn may be “Born Ready,” but he readily handed over six turnovers including one in the final 10 seconds that led to Dwight Hardy’s game-winning free throws in St. John’s 52-50 win. But, enough about Stephenson.
|
Poss |
PPP |
eFG |
Turn |
Reb |
FTR |
| Cincinnati |
62 |
0.81 |
0.426 |
0.339 |
0.438 |
0.213 |
| St. John’s |
62 |
0.84 |
0.402 |
0.177 |
0.270 |
0.216 |
Ten days after handing over a game against Providence, St. John’s took one back against Cincinnati. The Bearcats turned the ball over on a third of their possessions, a total of 21. The Johnnies converted those 21 giveaways into 25 points, 13 more than UC’s points off turnovers. When I look at the box score and see that St. John’s forced 21 turnovers but had just seven steals, it strikes me that many of the turnovers were unforced. Nonetheless, Cincy committed turnovers and St. John’s capitalized. Read More »
Posted in Big East, Game of the Night
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Tagged Big East, Cashmere Wright, Cincinnati, Connecticut, D.J. Kennedy, Deonta Vaughn, DePaul, Dion Dixon, Dwight Hardy, Ibrahima Thomas, Lance Stephenson, Louisville, Maryland, Norm Roberts, Oklahoma State, Paris Horne, Pittsburgh, Providence, St. John's, Steve Toyloy, Vanderbilt, Villanova, Yancy Gates
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January 5, 2010 –
by Brendon
Big-time college basketball is a tough business. Coaches are asked to travel around the country to court adolescents who are also being courted by dozens of other coaches. They are then asked to make sure those adolescents go to class, do well enough in class to stay eligible and then stay out of trouble at all times. Of course, coaches need to also get those players to help them win and win often, and it would be nice if they played a style that put fannies in the seats.
To be fair, it’s not like these coaches don’t know the drill when they accept the position, and they get very well compensated for all the hassles of the job. In some cases, as with St. John’s Norm Roberts, there is added pressure because of the stigma of the previous regime. Sex and pay-off scandals ruined Mike Jarvis’ tenure, and Roberts’ ability to put space between St. John’s basketball and the image problems of the early part of this decade has been laudable, and it has also given Roberts some leeway on the court.
Roberts is now in his sixth season and may be facing the most crucial on-court juncture of his tenure. A season that began brightly with a 9-1 record, including a strong performance in a loss at Duke and wins over Siena and Temple has now toppled over after the 15-point home loss to Providence on Sunday. The 0-2 Big East start has made thoughts of an NCAA Tournament appearance wistful, and now the question is whether Roberts will win enough this season to keep his job. Read More »
Posted in Big East
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Tagged Brown, Bryant, D.J. Kennedy, DePaul, Duke, Geoff McDermott, Justin Burrell, Malik Boothe, Mike Jarvis, Norm Roberts, Paris Horne, Pittsburgh, Providence, Rev. Donald Harrington, Sean Evans, Siena, Sylven Landesberg, Temple, Tim Welsh, Villanova, Virginia, West Virginia, Weyinmi Efejuku
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December 4, 2009 –
by Brendon
Most teams are about halfway through their non-conference schedules, which makes this a pretty good time to look at how conferences are doing in terms of RPI. Conference RPI is a solid predictor of how generous the committee will be to a given conference come Selection Sunday (more on that soon).
Top 10 conferences by RPI (through games of Dec. 3):
1. Big East
2. ACC
3. Big 12
4. SEC
5. Atlantic 10
6. Big Ten
7. Mountain West
8. Pac-10
9. Missouri Valley
10. WAC
Based on our expectations entering the season, there is one surprise in each direction. The Big East is the pleasant one, the Big Ten the unpleasant one. Let’s look at both.
The Big East entered this season with muted expectations thanks to the departure of so much talent from last year’s historically strong season. The thing about last year, though, was that the Big East was exceptionally tough at the top but very poor at bottom. Teams like DePaul, South Florida and Rutgers played very poorly out of conference, and those teams brought down the conference’s RPI, which ended the year just fourth. Read More »
Posted in Big East, Big Ten, National Perspective
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Tagged ACC, Atlantic-10, Big 12, Big East, Big Ten, Boston University, Bradley, Cincinnati, DePaul, Duquesne, George Mason, Gonzaga, Iowa, Louisville, Missouri Valley, Pac-10, Penn State, Providence, Rutgers, SEC, South Florida, Texas-San Antonio, Tulane, UNC-Wilmington, UNLV, Utah, Vermont, WAC, Wichita State
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