Running NCAA men's tournament thread 2012

Oh that's right - Cowher's Super Bowl year, when they were banged up for most of the season and, when finally healthy won five or six in a row to end the season to get into the playoffs. Ditto with Mario's cup team, which only had the two best players in the world on it but was slowed by injuries for some of the year.

Those are very good comparisons to Butler and VCU..... :

 

And that's great for the first round or two - though I would argue that two of those kids from Lehigh would make Duke's roster and one may even be a starter, but that's nit picking - but at the end of the day this is still the playoffs, the tournament to determine the best team, the tournament to figure out who is the national championship so the deeper it goes, the more we should want the best teams involved.

 

You want to be the best? Go out and play like it. Prove it on the court. If you can't beat Lehigh, you are in no way deserving of making the Final Four or playing a national championship game.

 

Nobody, not even Coach K, believed Duke was a legit Final Four team.

And in one-and-done basketball, with a 3-point line, injuries and the fact that we are dealing primarily with 18 to 20 year old kids, the best team doesn't always win.

 

Too bad. That's why you play. You want to be the "best team?" Win when it counts. Otherwise, we can just rely on the polls or the RPI.

 

The best team that day wins. May not be the most talented team. The most talented team doesn't always win in any sport.

 

I see a lot of excuses in that post as to why the "better" team may not win.

 

I'm not arguing that.

I'm arguing that in a one-and-done format anything can happen and while a few of those upsets are good, too many are bad and ruin the tournament.

We've got four legitimate teams who all spent some time this year in the top ten and who have all been to the Final Four.

And more importantly, none of them will play that bullshit Butler "let's win 50-48 by limiting possessions and slowing the game" style of basketball.

Frankly it won't surprise me if Ohio State emerges as the winner but all four teams are legitimate.

 

Not excuses, reasons.

There is a huge difference.

If you really believe Northern Iowa was better than Kansas or George Mason was better than UConn than you are sniffing glue.

 

Invoking the 3-point line and dealing with 18-20 year old kids are excuses. I'll grant that injuries can be a legitimate reason for a higher-seeded team to get upset.

 

Who said a game decides who the better team is? The outcome of a game shows who won the game.

 

/sniffs glue, hoping no one notices