Running 2022-23 NCAA Basketball Thread

I think we are to the point that Saturday afternoon, the committee calls it quits, closes the laptops, and orders drinks.

Weekend performance means nothing (good or bad)

 

The NCAA has said loudly and often that the "last 10 games" factor is no longer being considered by the selection committee, which is focused on the complete "body of work."

I personally think that's a mistake. I think whether a team is trending up or down late in the season is very relevant in deciding who gets the right to play for the championship (and how they're seeded). Especially in a case like this in which there are no concrete criteria, such as season record in the pro playoffs.

 

With my own ears, I heard the committee chairman say Rutgers didn't get in because of its record after mid-February.

 

Ha! That's great!

 

Tennessee is 4-0 vs. the top 10 teams by seeding.

And right now they don't deserve anything higher than a 6 or 7 seed.

They also may have the most Beta 5-star player in the tournament. These are Josiah-Jordan James' stats in his last three tournament losses:

vs. Missouri, SEC 2023: 1-7 FG, 3 pts (0-3 3PT), 3 points
vs. Michigan, NCAA 2022: 5-13 FG (0-6 3PT), 13 points
vs. Oregon State, NCAA 2021: 2-10 FG (0-5 3PT), 5 points

 

Because that’s when a key player got injured who isn’t returning.

 

Also, this is the time each year when I declare that there are four more at large teams than God intended and thus I have zero sympathy for anyone missing the cut in a 68-team field.

 

Then just throw out the part about Earnhardt, although this had absolutely nothing to do with what tracks or races he competed in. ("Second place is the first loser." -- Dale Earnhardt)

This has to do with the fact that when you enter the NIT, you have officially marked yourself as a team that wasn't worthy of NCAA selection. And a blue-blood like North Carolina wasn't quite up to facing that stark reality.

By the way, who won the NIT last year?

 

There was nothing unusual that happened in conference tourneys this weekend either for the most part. Everyone who played in the main title games, and even semifinals for the most part, were making the tourney. All the non-power teams we would have talked about -- Florida Atlantic, Oral Roberts, Charleston -- won. So they probably didn't even have to work past Friday.

 

As they say, you are on the bubble for a reason. The teams that got left out have a glaring reason or three for being left out.

 

I guessed Texas A&M but they were actually runners up. I won’t spoil the answer.

It wasn’t Virginia either, but I would note they recovered from that unspeakable humiliation to grab a share of the ACC regular season title.

 

Last 10 games used to be on the team sheets and they aren't anymore. I want to say it was around the time of the NET being introduced that they took them off. I think it is good and bad, and to say they don't factor it at least a little, if not officially, is probably off. I think it doesn't let teams get away with early bad losses or shows them that playing good games all season matters.

The NCAA moves the goalposts all the time. They still talk about things like eye tests, which they use to show teams with good and bad records belong. If the last 10 doesn't matter this year, they will make an example of someone next year. Kind of why selection is and always has been maddening.