NCAA tournament 2011 — running thread

I wasn't saying that. I'm just saying that what you wind up with is the winner of the NCAA tournament, which is not necessarily the best reflection of the best team from that season.

The FA Cup in soccer is great, but it's just a different beast than your league season.

 

Of course it does. The NBA is rigged...

 

Just ask Sacramento.

What a joke.

 

Any sport that uses a series instead of a winner take all format has a better chance to convince everyone that the "best team" won.

 

Except in the NFL, I would argue. One game wins it all makes things much more intense.

 

You're also much less likely to have fluke victories in football than you are in basketball and hockey.

 

Pretty unimpressive list. The Purdue guy fits right in.

 

What we want, by and large, is a paradox that cannot be resolved.

We want (wink, wink) the best team to win a playoff because, after all, that kind of legitimzes why you are bothering to have a playoff.

But we really want the upset and the top dog (Yankees, Patriots, Duke, Lakers) to lose because it's "cool."

So you get champions like N.C. State (1983), Villanova (1985), NY Giants (2008) that gave us exciting games but, over the course of the entire season, were nowhere near being the best team.

 

Preseason No. 1 before the 2009-10 season was Kansas, which lost second round. Preseason No. 9 Duke won it.

Preseason No. 1 before the 2008-09 season was North Carolina, which won it.

Preseason No. 1 before the 2007-08 season was North Carolina, which lost in the Final Four. Preseason No. 4 Kansas won it.

Preseason No. 1 before the 2006-07 season was Florida, which won it.

Looking at the past four years, twice the preseason No. 1 won it all, and the two other times a team ranked preseason top 10 and earned a No. 1 seed won it. I'm not seeing where the tournament fails to reflect what's happened during the regular season.

 

If a team the best team for winning the NCAA Championship, does that mean a team that makes the Sweet Sixteen is at least the 16th best in the nation?

 

Way to kill the NCAA thread by vomiting up the same unwinnable argument that's been played out in a million other threads. Well done.

 

I am going to assume that the VCU games last week were the first time you saw a CAA team this year.