2022 NCAA Basketball Discussion Thread

[100% pro-life no matter what]

Tomorrow is opening day!  Several members of the AP Top 25 are in action, but all are against inferior competition.  The most interesting game of the day is probably Memphis (#34 in preseason Kenpom rankings) in a true road game at Vanderbilt (#66).

Go 'Dores!

[100% pro-life no matter what]

So far today three ranked teams have lost.

#18 Wisconsin got blown out against Indiana, 63-45.

#16 Miami (FL) lost in overtime against NC State 83-81.

And Kentucky got a win that they sorely needed, knocking off #5 Tennessee in Knoxville, 63-56.

Four.  My Vanderbilt Commodores beat #15 Arkansas 97-84 behind 63 2nd half points.

[100% pro-life no matter what]

Huge upset in Nashville as Vanderbilt knocks off #6 Tennessee 66-65 on a buzzer-beating 3-pointer.  Congratulations to ER!

It's when stuff like that happens that I regret not going up to Nashville for the game!  I definitely screamed in my living room when that shot went down though!

Also, the decision by UT to pass up the wide-open dunk to burn a couple more seconds was really bad- especially when they ultimately missed the front end of the 1-and-1.

[100% pro-life no matter what]

Also Considered!!

https://twitter.com/ESPNLunardi/status/1627728947566809106

[100% pro-life no matter what]

The biggest beneficiary of all of the bubbles popping today is Florida Atlantic University. It would take a loss tomorrow to Western Kentucky AND bid thieves in probably five to six conferences for the Owls to be knocked out now.

FAU is a lock whatever happens in the C-USA Tournament.  Bubble teams should be rooting hard for the Owls.

[100% pro-life no matter what]

Put Vandy in!!

[100% pro-life no matter what]

Bubble teams can breathe a little easier as Houston easily won their AAC semifinal over Cincinnati, and Memphis is running Tulane out of the gym in the other one.  However, the big story for Houston is that Marcus Sasser went out in the first half with a groin injury and did not return.

The big bid thief threat is UAB.  They're actually favored against Florida Atlantic in the C-USA Championship Game tonight and would shrink the bubble by a spot.  Bubble teams also probably should hope San Diego State beats Utah State, but USU is probably OK either way at this point.

[100% pro-life no matter what]

Very rough Bracketology (I usually spend a lot more time on this, but I'm just going to quickly put one together before the show):

1 Seeds: Alabama, Kansas, Houston, Purdue
2 Seeds: UCLA, Texas, Arizona, Marquette
3 Seeds: UConn, Tennessee, Gonzaga, Baylor
4 Seeds: Duke, Kansas State, Xavier, Virginia
5 Seeds: San Diego State, St. Mary's, Indiana, Texas A&M
6 Seeds: TCU, Iowa State, Kentucky, Creighton
7 Seeds: Miami, Memphis, Northwestern, Missouri
8 Seeds: Arkansas, Florida Atlantic, Michigan State, West Virginia
9 Seeds: Penn State, Maryland, Auburn, Iowa
10 Seeds: Boise State, Utah State, Illinois, USC
11 Seeds: Rutgers, NC State, Nevada/Providence, Mississippi State/Arizona State
12 Seeds: Oral Roberts, College of Charleston, VCU, Drake
13 Seeds: Iona, Kent State, Louisiana-Lafayette, Grand Canyon
14 Seeds: Princeton, Furman, UCSB, Kennesaw State
15 Seeds: Colgate, Montana State, UNC-Asheville, Vermont
16 Seeds: Northern Kentucky, Farleigh Dickinson, Howard/SE Missouri State, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi/Texas Southern

Last Four Byes:
Illinois
USC
Rutgers
NC State

Last Four In:
Nevada
Providence
Mississippi State
Arizona State

First Four Out:
Pitt
Vanderbilt
Oklahoma State
North Carolina

Next Four Out:
Clemson
Wisconsin
Oregon
New Mexico

[100% pro-life no matter what]

I expected we were probably going to be left out because of the stupid NET, but I wasn't expecting to not even be one of the First Four Out.

[100% pro-life no matter what]

I expected we were probably going to be left out because of the stupid NET, but I wasn't expecting to not even be one of the First Four Out.

I'm not a NET defender per se, but it's not like KenPom or Torvik ranks Vanderbilt any higher. If you judge the entire season equally rather than weighting the end higher, Vanderbilt's resume just doesn't cut it.

If only they still used RPI.  Our RPI was #39.  Metrics like Strength of Record also had us in the Top 50.  Plus, we had both the conference record and the Quad 1 wins.  Oh well, let's win the NIT.  Basically, all metrics that use scoring margin didn't like us, while those that don't use it thought we were a tournament team.

[100% pro-life no matter what]

UNC declines a NIT bid:

https://twitter.com/UNC_Basketball/status/1635058825916186624?s=20

[100% pro-life no matter what]

Does any other Atlas poster see a map like this and instantly start wondering which ones are red "states" and which ones are blue?

https://www.reddit.com/r/CollegeBasketball/comments/11psc4h/closest_2023_ncaa_tournament_team_to_each_us/

[100% pro-life no matter what]

It's official, Ole Miss has hired Chris Beard as their next head coach.

Issues aside, this is a fantastic hire. Beard has won everyone he's gone, and should be able to bring Ole Miss to near the top of the SEC.

Other than the hire of Mike White at Georgia, there's been a string of great hires at SEC schools lately.

Following the SEC only getting three teams in the NCAA Tournament in 2016 (one of which was Vandy, who lost in the First Four), there was a SEC basketball summit where the athletic departments collectively made a decision to prioritize basketball.  Showing the SEC's NCAA Tournament bids since the SEC expanded to 14 teams in 2012-13 really shows that:

2013: 3
2014: 3
2015: 5
2016: 3
----------
2017: 5
2018: 8
2019: 7
2021: 6
2022: 6
2023: 8

Over the last 5 NCAA Tournaments, the SEC is averaging exactly 7 bids.  Over the previous 5 (including the "transitional year" of 2017), it averaged just 3.8 bids.

[100% pro-life no matter what]

It doesn't really feel like it because they've also had extended periods of not being relevant, but UConn has already won the most championships of any school in my lifetime.  And they're probably minutes away from extending their lead.