Looks like Stevie F.'s tallest starter is 6'6"; tallest on roster is 6'9".
Press & zone?
Hack a Jakob?
Looks like Stevie F.'s tallest starter is 6'6"; tallest on roster is 6'9".
Press & zone?
Hack a Jakob?
True. If you look at the RPI of the last 4 in and the last 4 out, they are all over the map.Originally Posted by chrisrenrut
As I predicted, Utah get's a five seed. Which is frustrating considering the Utes have two or three seed talent. It's in part coaching, but mostly, all of the blame belongs to NorthwestUteFan as I said it would ;-)
For the record, BYU always looked like a solid NIT team to me. I'm surprised they got in. Not as surprised as UCLA getting an 11 seed
Last edited by tooblue; 03-15-2015 at 06:32 PM.
They've gone from using the RPI directly to using it indirectly. Now they use it to say crap like "they are 5-7 vs the top 50" and "they don't have a road win vs the top 40." So they are just as married as ever to a bad metric, but they now can pretend that they aren't.
The UCLA thing is encouraging. I don't like UCLA and would have preferred CSU, but at least they didn't just use the same stale metrics that every bracketologist consider gospel. i hope that's a trend instead of an anomaly. Do I care if a team has quality road wins? No. I only care about getting the best teams in. There should be no necessary conditions to check off a list.
If I were not a Utah fan, SFA over Utah would be the first upset I would circle on the bracket. From SoCalPat:
SFA is the most dangerous type of 12 seed. I wish we'd drawn Wyoming instead. This is the type that gets a 12 mainly because they didn't have enough chances to beat good teams.There are three kinds of 12 seeds
1. Surprise tournament champions from multiple-bid leagues. I think these kinds of teams pose the least amount of threat in a 5-12 matchup.
2. Your last team in from a power league that has 3 or more berths that didn't win a conference tournament. These are the scary teams. They've had rest, they've been tested and they likely have multiple top 50 RPI wins (as well as multiple sub-150 RPI losses). Very unpredictable.
3. Your best teams (regular season and conference tournament winner) from one-bid leagues. Since the field expanded to 68, you're seeing this happen frequently. Last year, three of the five 12 seeds fit this bill (the other two 12 seeds were teams that fit No. 2 -- NC State and Xavier -- in a First Four game). THese teams are usually senior-laden and don't get rattled. They're not as talented, to be sure, but they can trump that with the intangibles.
That said, I think we lose to Duke in the sweet 16.
Ugh. My two schools seeded to play each other in round two. Ute first, Hoya second so I'll be wearing red Saturday if both advance, but either way I lose one team. Not cool.
Thursday, 4:27 pm PT, I believe.
“It only ends once. Anything that happens before that is just progress.”
Well, because he thought it was good sport. Because some men aren't looking for anything logical, like money. They can't be bought, bullied, reasoned, or negotiated with. Some men just want to watch the world burn.
On TruTV (705 on Comcast in PNW).
Anyone know what station Trutv is on cable in the San Diego area? I have to be at a sales meeting in San Diego this week. I know it won't be over until after 5:00 but I'm hoping I can at least catch the second half.
They used to stream all games on cbs. Are they not doing that? There's also the cbs app for viewing games.
Early line is Utah by 6.
https://twitter.com/ESPNStatsInfo/st...51197553401857
Utah, Stephen F. Austin are similar in efficiency ranks BPI SOS: Utah 79, @SFA_MBB 227 #BracketHelp
Lay the points. Utes by 15.
I have a feeling that record isn't going to be broken for some time.
I'm going to avoid listening or reading college basketball experts opinions on these games. All it does is cloud my bracket judgement and messes with my picks.
Right now you could easily find 5 experts that pick Utah to the sweet sixteen and 5 that think they wont make it past Stephan F. Austin.
Info from Phil Cullen
Stevie F. picks up full court, man & zone.
Princeton type offense with very good shooters from 3.
First team to 40 might win.
Here is a handicapper's analysis someone just sent to me:
(5) Utah versus (12) Stephen F. Austin
ORtg Rank DRtg Rank Tempo Rank nERD Rank UTAH 113.0 18 90.6 8 61.2 322 16.75 8 SFA 113.0 19 99.1 103 66.8 75 9.03 49
Both Utah and Stephen F. Austin boast good offenses, ranking in the top 20 in the nation. However, the difference between the two teams is on the defensive side of the ball. Utah is even better on that end -- eighth in the nation in defensive efficiency -- while Stephen F. Austin is outside of the top 100.
Our numbers are actually really high on Utah this year. We have them as our eighth-best team overall with a 16.75 nERD, which would put them right on par with the 2 seeds of the tournament. They were incredibly underrated this season.
In fact, I found that over 85% of teams to make the Final Four have finished the season with a top-10 Pythagorean Rating (Pythagorean Rating courtesy ofkenpom.com). Utah, despite being a 5 seed, is one of those teams. They do get one of the tougher 12 seeds in Stephen F. Austin -- their nERD of 9.03 is way higher than Wofford or Wyoming's -- but Utah is in another class this year. If they can get past first-round jitters and avoid losing to the Lumberjacks, they could make a long run in the tournament.
https://www.numberfire.com/ncaab/news/4722/march-madness-ranking-the-most-likely-12-5-upsets?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_te rm=numberfirecom&utm_campaign=3%2F16%20Mon
I agree with all of this, even point #3 under the heading Underseeded. I'm calling for an upset of the Utes by SF. Austin:
http://sportswire.usatoday.com/2015/...rseeded-teams/Shelby Mast, who provides bracketology analysis for USA TODAY Sports, identifies some of the odd decisions the NCAA men’s basketball selection committee made Sunday:
Overseeded
- UCLA (South No. 11) — No way this team should be included in the field. Too many other teams with more deserving résumés.
- Georgetown (South No. 4) — Nice team, but is closer to a 6 seed than a 4 seed. The Hoyas only four top 50 RPI wins, watch for a second-round upset here.
- Xavier (West No. 6) — A 6 seed is awfully generous for a team with four losses outside the top 100 RPI.
- LSU (East No. 9) — I felt this team was closer to the bubble than the committee did. Not a bad team, but very inconsistent.
- Louisville (East No. 4) — This team is so different without Chris Jones, very unpredictable. It finished the season going 5-5, which isn’t necessarily criteria for the committee anymore, but I felt West Virginia, which has seven top 50 RPI wins compared to Louisville’s three, was more deserving.
NCAA TOURNAMENT: Bracket Hub | Printable bracket
Underseeded
- Wichita State (Midwest No. 7) — I cannot understand why a team that passes the eye test with flying colors, has four total losses, none of them bad, and comes from a conference that had a better year than it did last year, falls so far.
- Northern Iowa (East No. 5) — See above.
- Stephen F. Austin (South No. 12) — If you watch this team play, it is 10 seed worthy, at least. I’m picking a Sweet 16 run here.
- Dayton (East play-in) — This team is better than a play-in game, maybe not 2-3 seed lines, but it could cause problems for Providence if it gets past Boise State.
- Oregon (West No. 8) — The Ducks tied with 5 seed Utah in the Pac-12 standings and beat the Utes twice in the past few weeks. With that in mind, I would think that would deserve being seeded closer to the Utes, instead of three lines below.
The only one I disagree with there is UNI. I think a 5 is good for them.
Georgetown, Xavier, and UCLA all turned their conference tournament performances into better than deserved seeds. That's one thing you can count on every year from the committee.
PAC-12 Hoops today:
Read the whole thing.So they’re not the hottest team in the country and have slumped to the point that my March 2014 prediction of the Utes being a four-seed was narrowly missed. I’ve been further off on other predictions – I see you 2015 Buffs – so I won’t soon lose any sleep over this. What I might lose some sleep over is how tough these Utes really are. There’s a je ne sias quoi that I’m going to try to sais quoi: They don’t have it. Whatever that gene is that allows you to flush goldfish down the toilet or take the last piece of cake at not your birthday party or win a close basketball game, that seems to be missing for the Utes. They’re just 4-11 the last two years in games decided by 6 points or fewer. Sometimes in a tournament you’ve got to be able to do that. Can the Utes? My hope is that the imminent finality of these fantastic two years instills some of that DGAF in Delon Wright. He’s too good to play just one more time for us.
"It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."
--Antoine de Saint-Exupery
"Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold."
--Yeats
“True, we [lawyers] build no bridges. We raise no towers. We construct no engines. We paint no pictures - unless as amateurs for our own principal amusement. There is little of all that we do which the eye of man can see. But we smooth out difficulties; we relieve stress; we correct mistakes; we take up other men's burdens and by our efforts we make possible the peaceful life of men in a peaceful state.”
--John W. Davis, founder of Davis Polk & Wardwell
The close games statistic is what worries me most about whomever we face in the round of 32. I think we grind one out against SFA -- we see a double digit lead for the first time at the under 8 media timeout of the second half and slowly build on the lead from there. But we haven't won consecutive games in over a month. Our inconsistency worries me and can be exploited. We should feel a little at home in Portland, but our second-round opponent either has P5 talent (Georgetown) or a potential home-court advantage (Eastern Washington). Feeling a little nervous about some who are saying we're underseeded -- we didn't back luck our way into a 5 seed. We flat out earned it by being a .500 team over our last 8 games.
I freaking love the tournament. I'm pretty sure Utah can take Duke, but I have no idea if they can take Stephen Eff Austin.
I'm thinking either out in Round 1 or Elite 8.
I love the mystery. None of these dudes have any experience whatsoever in the tournament. I don't even know if that matters, but the Eff Austin people have it coming out the wassenschnichter.
How is Delon going to play? His entire legacy as a Ute will be determined in the next 48 or 96 game minutes.
Will Jordan Loveridge be able to hit a fat man in the ass with a handful of sand? His parents' names are Bill and Latrill. Will that rhyming be an advantage?
Will JakPot hit consecutive free throws for the third time all year?
Will Brandon Taylor do Brandon Taylor type stuff?
Will Thyroid end some plucky 6'4" forward's career with an "unintentional" elbow?
The game can't get here fast enough!
Post made me laugh out loud---very nice.
Agree on all points. One ray of hope: We were terrible in close games last season (I think we were oh-fer) but we have improved somewhat this season, to 2-4 by my count. So there is an upward trend, sort of. But at least the guys know they can win a close game. Last season that monkey was still on their backs.
"It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."
--Antoine de Saint-Exupery
"Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold."
--Yeats
“True, we [lawyers] build no bridges. We raise no towers. We construct no engines. We paint no pictures - unless as amateurs for our own principal amusement. There is little of all that we do which the eye of man can see. But we smooth out difficulties; we relieve stress; we correct mistakes; we take up other men's burdens and by our efforts we make possible the peaceful life of men in a peaceful state.”
--John W. Davis, founder of Davis Polk & Wardwell
Interesting statistical drill-down by Light the U blog:
http://lighttheu.com/2015/03/quick-look-utah-sfa/
"It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."
--Antoine de Saint-Exupery
"Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold."
--Yeats
“True, we [lawyers] build no bridges. We raise no towers. We construct no engines. We paint no pictures - unless as amateurs for our own principal amusement. There is little of all that we do which the eye of man can see. But we smooth out difficulties; we relieve stress; we correct mistakes; we take up other men's burdens and by our efforts we make possible the peaceful life of men in a peaceful state.”
--John W. Davis, founder of Davis Polk & Wardwell
Hampton advances...look out Kentucky.
“It only ends once. Anything that happens before that is just progress.”
Well, because he thought it was good sport. Because some men aren't looking for anything logical, like money. They can't be bought, bullied, reasoned, or negotiated with. Some men just want to watch the world burn.
IMO...BYU does a pretty good job blocking-out for boards. Only if Utah players would do as much.
I haven't seen BYU this year, but I imagine they would have a harder time boxing out against Arizona than they do against Loyola Marymount.
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