Mawien had 16 Points, 9 Rebs, and 3 blocks for Kansas St today in a win over TCU.
“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.
“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.
As I think about, I think Gonzaga might be foolish to want out anyway. They've had top seeds, they are an absolute lock to go dancing every year, they played for the title last year. I mean, if it ain't broke...
I also think BYU might benefit from Gonzaga leaving. BYU has always thrived in the big fish/little pond scenario. They could become a team with an annual free pass to the tournament.
Gonzaga never would have become what it is in the MWC. It climbed out of nothing by being the only team in the WCC and getting an annual invite to the dance. Seeds were bad initially, but in time, they were getting decent OOC schedules and good seeds. Wouldn't BYU fill that role if Gonzaga leaves? Maybe it's harder now. Maybe with new conference schedules going to 20 games, it will be harder for mid majors.
Gonzaga is the Little School That Could. It is hard to think of the biggest private school in the country, with relatively unlimited resources, fill that same niche.
The Aggies take out Boise St.
“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.
ASU in, USC out.
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“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.
USC doesn't make the tournament, and ASU does. It's funny, but it's also completely insulting to the Pac-12.
"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
I guess it can be both insulting and awakening.
I'm a spirit of the law person, so it's hard for me to see sports lock itself into letter of the law interpretations all the time. I think if we just allowed a little common sense wiggle room, all kinds of things - selection, replay, etc - would be better. Perhaps part of the problem is that people making decisions - execs, ADs, referees - are not strong on common sense.
In this case, not one person outside of Tempe believes ASU has a better basketball team than USC. Ultimately, the point of all our criteria is to find the best teams for at-large bids. When we get married to the criteria instead of the bigger goal, we can sacrifice quality.
Last edited by sancho; 03-11-2018 at 07:49 PM.
Silver lining: we know now that there was nothing Utah could have done in terms of scheduling to make the tournament this season. If we hadn't played the two teams that dragged our RPI down, we'd have ended in the low 40's, which wouldn't have been enough with our lack of quality wins. USC set a new record for a high major, 34 RPI and out.
Seems clear that the only way we could have made the tournament as an at large was by beating Arizona at least once. No other team in the conference really gave us a chance at a quality win.
Last edited by sancho; 03-11-2018 at 07:55 PM.
So it's March. Here are the regions:
South: UVa, Cincy, Tennessee, Arizona, Kentucky. Thoughts: tough region. They didn't do UVa any favors here.
West: Xavier, UNC, Michigan, Gonzaga, OSU. UNC with a great opportunity to return to a final four. 2nd weakest region.
East: Villanova, Purdue, Texas Tech, Wichita, West Va. The weakest region. Purdue, TT, WSU is a pretty weak 2-3-4. The Shockers repeatedly played with fire against bad teams this season.
Midwest: Kansas, Duke, Michigan State, Auburn, Clemson. Toughest region. Go Duke!
USC got in the play-in game recently, maybe even just last year. Won two games. If ASU does likewise, this will quickly be forgotten.
I think what's important to see, is that the Pac-12 will never be consistently on the same level as the ACC or Big East, or even the Big 12. As a result, you have to schedule up every year. And I don't care how young your team is -- they need to be rewarded when they arrive a year ahead of schedule. That happens a lot in college hoops.
The local guys know that Utah State is a very tough job.
Plus AD up at USU is going to hire national search firm to conduct a national search. He's going to CYA and get some up and comer using a "search firm" that will ultimately help him get his next AD job. Local contacts won't mean that much in this search.
The 538 probability bracket is nonsense, but it's still fun:
https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com...espn:ncb:index
1-seeds by probability: UVA 18%, Nova 17%, Kansas 7%, Xavier 3%.
2-seeds: Duke 10%, Cincy 6%, Purdue 5%, UNC 5%
3-seeds: Michigan St 6%, Tennessee 2%, Michigan 2%, Texas Tech 1%
4-seeds: Gonzaga 4%, Arizona 1%, WSU 1%, Auburn 0%
5-seeds: WVU 2%, Kentucky 2%, Clemson 0%, Ohio St 0%
Everyone else is at 0% (rounding down).