Selection Sunday-NCAA tournament thread

Correct. What I loved about Tark is he would essentially roll the ball out, and say "Go play, guys.".....Let LJ, Anthony, Hunt, Ackles, Augmon.......let them go and run.

 

Gary Williams says more big conference also-rans like Maryland should get in. And less Gulf Coasts.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/dc-sports-bog/wp/2013/03/22/gary-williams-says-ncaa-tournament-should-eliminate-automatic-qualifiers/

 

Maybe because for Jabari Parker, going to the beach isn't a priority in his life?

 

Very well, Gary. I look forward to seeing your team visit Fort Myers next year.

 

Right. Because the NCAA needs less Florida Gulf Coasts and Valparaisos and Cleveland States and more sixth place teams from the big conferences.

I fear a 96-team tournament is coming. I don't like that it's gone to 68 teams, but teams like VCU and La Salle making nice tournament runs helps me warm to that. I guess in theory, you could go to 128 teams and just expand the tournament by two days.

I don't think there really is any justification to take it past 64 teams. Keep the automatic qualifiers and take four fewer schools from the bigger conferences. Granted, this year, that would probably include Oregon, but Oregon never should have been a No. 12 seed in the first place. I think Lunardi and Palm had Oregon as a No. 8 or No. 9 seed before they were announced. It's pretty rare for them to be off by three or four spots.

 

I think Oregon was the auto bid from the Pac-12, since they won the tourney.

But your point about the 64-team field is right on. The NCAAs need more conference also-rans like I need a hole in my head.

 

Phi Slama Jama.

There are always teams that run and jump. It's the coaches who need to establish themselves as Masters of the Universe that make the last 2 minutes of a game last 25 minutes

 

It was almost as if the committee wanted to make the 12-5 upset a self-fulfilling prophecy.

 

FGCU hasn't been this team all season. In fact, it's been quite inconsistent -- it lost 10 games and didn't even win the Atlantic Sun regular season title. I don't think you could look at a team that lost to Lipscomb twice and see this coming.

The biggest difference in this team during the tournament has been the PG, Brett Comer, who has been spectacular as a passer and has taken care of the ball -- 24 assists and five turnovers in two games -- while setting a fast pace in transition. But he has had a tendency to get out of control, and that's when FGCU gets in trouble.

In those two losses to Lipscomb, for example, Comer turned the ball over 11 times (six in one, five in the other). Against Mercer, he had three assists and seven turnovers; he turned it over five times each against USC Upstate (an OT win), Maine and Duke (only three assists in that one); and had five assists and six turnovers against VCU. He is also not a good free throw shooter (.635, and he doesn't get to the line very much), and having a PG who can't hit consistently from the line can kill a team in close games (in fact, only one starter shoots better than 67 percent from the line).

Defensive pressure from the big boys can hurt the Eagles -- they committed 25 turnovers against VCU, 25 against Duke, 23 against Iowa State and 18 against Miami (BTW, Comer had eight assists and no turnovers in that upset). In two NCAA games, though, they have only 26 turnovers combined. Also, while they have good defensive numbers for the season (.407 opp. FG pct., .310 3-pt. pct., 15.8 opp. TOs /game), they've had some bad lapses in that department, especially at the 3-point line, and when they do, they usually lose. East Tennessee State, Stetson, Lipscomb and Iowa State all had huge 3-point games against FGCU.

The short answer to all this is, as Brett Comer goes, so for the most part goes FGCU. And right now, he is playing at a big-time level.

 

My bad... For some reason I was thinking Arizona won it this year... That makes that No. 12 seed even harder to understand...

But, could this tournament have done without the last four non-automatic qualifiers... Would anyone have cried if Boise State was left out? Cal? Minnesota? St. Mary's? Middle Tennessee? Yeah, I realize La Salle might have missed out, but that's life...

 

There have been a few times where the No. 12 seed has been favored over the No. 5 seed.

 

I really do think they love that whole 5-12 mystique (sells the tournament to have "upsets") and set some of those up on purpose.