Running 2022-23 NCAA Basketball Thread

Warning: NSFW ... but appropriate given the person in question:

 

You don’t think Bill Self represents a two-point swing in that game? There was a lot of be desired at both ends. Personally, I didn’t think KU would make it past UConn next round, so I’m not stunned. But Self could’ve swung two points and gotten the win.

But hey, it’s not the first time KU has lost in March. And it certainly won’t be the last.

 

Best way to get criticized in March is to excel in November, December, January and February.
Kansas and Virginia and Arizona all have something Kansas State, Virginia Tech and Arizona State would love to have: an NCAA title.

 

The best way to get criticized in March is underperform your seed on multiple occasions. You're a No. 1 seed and don't make the 2nd weekend, that's a problem. If you're a six seed, no one will make a peep when you lose to the third seed in the second round, unless you blow a 20 point lead in the second half.

You know why a guy like Self still gets guff? These are his seeds at Kansas, starting with 2004 and obviously missing 2020 since there was no tourney:

4 3 4 1 1 3 1 1 2 1 2 2 1 1 1 4 3 1 1

Counting this season, he was a 1 or 2 seed 14 of the last 16 times.

He was the number one overall seed and lost in the second round
He was a one and lost in the Sweet 16
Those back-to-back two seeds, he lost in the second round

Out of those 10 one seeds, which you would assume would be a Final Four -- again based on seed -- seven times they did not make the Final Four.

Look at Painter's career at Purdue. Even beyond the last three tourney losses, which are horrific, they weren't going to make it in 2020 with a 16-15 record, so that's a four-year stretch that isn't great since the Elite Eight appearance when they overperformed their seed.

He lost as a 3 to an 11 (VCU) in 2011 in 2nd round
He lost as a 5 to a 12 (Little Rock) in 2OT in 2016 in first round
He lost as a 2 to a 3 (Texas Tech) in 2018, which isn't terrible but by seed should have been the Elite Eight, not the Sweet 16)
Now the last three years.

In eight years, he has seven tournament appearances in which there are four losses to double-digit seeds, two Sweet 16s (one where they underperformed their seed) and an Elite Eight (again, which has been succeeded by a barely winning record in COVID year, and the last three debacles)

 

Princeton had exactly one Q1 opportunity this season prior to the tournament: at Yale.

They're now 2-1 against Q1s. It's almost like we should give these smaller programs an actual shot every once in a while.

 

Purdue last went to the Final Four in 1980. The next year Gene Keady took over. In the next 43 years by my rough count Purdue won or tied for the Big Ten Championship nine times and went to the tournament 28 times. Zero trips to the Final Four.

In the same period Michigan State won or tied for the Big Ten title 11 times and have made 30 trips to the tournament. They have gone to the Final Four eight times and won once.

 

Since the Big Ten's last national title, Michigan State in 2000, the conference has gone 0-7 in national championship games. That's kind of a weird streak. Obviously any team good enough to get there is good enough to win it. You'd think random chance would have led to a victory or two.

 

Fixed.

 

Michigan State wasn’t beating North Carolina in 2009 but very well might have won it in 2010 if Kalin Lucas hadn’t suffered a torn Achilles in a second round win over Maryland
The Spartans made it to the Final Four but lost to Butler

 

It’s fine though. Next year we’ll hear all the pundits tell us how “deep” the Big 10 is and they’ll get nine teams, only to go through all of this again.

 

Since the start of the 64-team seeded field in 1985, Kentucky, North Carolina, Kansas, Villanova, and UConn have all won as many national titles as the entire Big Ten, three. Duke has won five.

 

It’s a half-empty, half-full situation.

The media which broadcasts the B1G loves to talk about how deep the league is, with all the top teams knocking each other off.

Then the NCAA tournament comes along, and you realize all those teams beating each other is because they’re all mediocre.