Bracketology 1/11

[Xville]

I think this would be a dream scenario for Xavier and I hope it comes to fruition. First two games in St. Louis, then on to Louisville to maybe play duke (everyone besides Duke fans would be rooting for us) and then possibly Kansas (see comment about Duke).

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/bracketology

As I said, dream scenario.

[Muskie]

I think this would be a dream scenario for Xavier and I hope it comes to fruition. First two games in St. Louis, then on to Louisville to maybe play duke (everyone besides Duke fans would be rooting for us) and then possibly Kansas (see comment about Duke).

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/bracketology

As I said, dream scenario.

Something is up. Bracketology has two #2 seeds in St. Louis? (X and UK). Is that possible? I know they pod now, but I didn't think you had those types of situations.

[xubrew]

Something is up. Bracketology has two #2 seeds in St. Louis? (X and UK). Is that possible? I know they pod now, but I didn't think you had those types of situations.

That's absolutely allowed.

[GoMuskies]

Something is up. Bracketology has two #2 seeds in St. Louis? (X and UK). Is that possible? I know they pod now, but I didn't think you had those types of situations.

I'm not sure why you think that would be a problem?

[GoMuskies]

Kansas and Wichita State AGAIN?!? That is so last year.

[muskiefan82]

Why do I think it would be hilarious if UC ended up in the play in game against Monmouth and got absolutely schooled?

[xubrew]

I still think Monmouth is being grossly undervalued by pretty much everyone.

[GoMuskies]

I still think Monmouth is being grossly undervalued by pretty much everyone.

Their bench is worth at least one seed line.

If they're worth a shit, they'll get the auto bid out of the MAAC anyway.

[Xavier]

Maybe dream scenario in terms of location but I would much rather be in the Midwest in terms of possible teams they would play.

[xubrew]

Their bench is worth at least one seed line.

If they're worth a shit, they'll get the auto bid out of the MAAC anyway.

Maybe, but they really do belong inside the bubble. They deserve a seed that doesn't match them up against a top fifteen team in the round of 64. Winning the auto bid isn't easy even for a team that dominated the league. If they have a bad night during the conference tourney, Monmouth still belongs in. This isn't last year's Murray State team that beat up on crappy teams. Monmouth went out and played on the road, and even if the teams they beat aren't top ranked teams, they're still teams that win the vast majority of their home games. They deserve credit for that even if they lose in the conference tourney.

[xumuskies08]

Still has Nova getting the auto-bid. Assuming the S-curve on this bracket does this mean X would be the overall #8 seed?

[Xville]

Maybe dream scenario in terms of location but I would much rather be in the Midwest in terms of possible teams they would play.

I don't want to be any region that has kentucky in it. I know they are not as good as usual but any game they are in during the tourney turns into a home game. Their fans will travel anywhere and they will bring a lot with them. I'd like to avoid them.

[THRILLHOUSE]

Still has Nova getting the auto-bid. Assuming the S-curve on this bracket does this mean X would be the overall #8 seed?

And X is in the Kansas region, who would be the #1 overall seed. So your assumption is most likely correct.

[Xavier]

I don't think they are a final four team this year and that's where X would meet them (in this bracketology)

[Muskie]

I'm not sure why you think that would be a problem?

I didn't think you could have #2 seeds playing in the same region. I guess I'm thinking before the Pod system went into effect. I've never paid that much attention before.

[X-band '01]

I didn't think you could have #2 seeds playing in the same region. I guess I'm thinking before the Pod system went into effect. I've never paid that much attention before.

You obviously don't pay attention to one of the bracketing rules which dictate that Duke and North Carolina must host a pod located in North Carolina. This year, Raleigh is the lucky host city.

[XU '11]

Still has Nova getting the auto-bid. Assuming the S-curve on this bracket does this mean X would be the overall #8 seed?

They don't S-curve anymore.

They rank the top 16 teams, place the top 4 in different regions, then attempt to place most teams in the closest geographic region while keeping competitive balance between them. They add up the true (1-16) seeds of the teams and each region needs to be within a certain number of the rest. That's why Kansas Xavier and Iowa are in Louisville and Maryland, Providence and West Virginia are in Philadelphia.

[D-West & PO-Z]

They don't S-curve anymore.

They rank the top 16 teams, place the top 4 in different regions, then attempt to place most teams in the closest geographic region while keeping competitive balance between them. They add up the true (1-16) seeds of the teams and each region needs to be within a certain number of the rest. That's why Kansas Xavier and Iowa are in Louisville and Maryland, Providence and West Virginia are in Philadelphia.

Yeah that is what I thought.

[X-band '01]

They don't S-curve anymore.

They rank the top 16 teams, place the top 4 in different regions, then attempt to place most teams in the closest geographic region while keeping competitive balance between them. They add up the true (1-16) seeds of the teams and each region needs to be within a certain number of the rest. That's why Kansas Xavier and Iowa are in Louisville and Maryland, Providence and West Virginia are in Philadelphia.


Yeah that is what I thought.

They could have placed Kentucky and Virginia (#1 and #5 on last year's S-Curve) if geography were the only consideration; but as you noted, that didn't happen because placing those two teams together makes it almost impossible to achieve region and conference balance. If you add up the numerical S-Curve balances of the top four teams in each region, there can't be a difference of more than 5 between the easiest and hardest regions.

There was an uproar in 2014 when Wichita State had a loaded region, but it wasn't explained to the public that they only considered the top 4 teams in each region when computing regional balance.

[bobbiemcgee]

Palm still loves the BE:

http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/bracketology