Brackets and Rankings: 2024-2025

[HenryMuto]

Georgia was up 39-13 vs Florida at one point now lead 51-35 at the half.

[Xville]

Realistic that if Baylor loses tonight, they end up 17-14. That’s gotta be bubblicious I’d think

[Xville]

Seems that there are going to be quite a few teams with some pretty shitty records in the tournament this year, more than usual. And they are talking about expanding it… what a joke

[HenryMuto]

Well Georgia beating Florida does not help Xavier's cause

[X-band '01]

Did Georgia not have enough money on hand for a court storming? Their PA told them to stay off the floor and they actually obeyed.

[MHettel]

I did a very light review of the SECs performance today. Undoubtably, they are loaded at the top with Auburn, Bama, Florida and Tennessee. 4 legit top 10 teams.

But what interested me was their non-conference winning percentage. They won 88% of their non conference games. 88%

Do you understand what that does to their collective SOS once they start playing each other? There is no wonder that there is talk of them getting up to 13 of 16 teams in the dance.

I looked at the non-conference SOS and records of the bottom 5 SEC teams. Without the specifics at hand, let’s just say it was typical that this group had an SOS of about 300 and a record of roughly 11-2 or 12-1. These are the BOTTOM FEEDERS of the SEC and they are bringing in an 80%+ winning percentage into the conference soup. Brilliant.

By the way this group of bottom feeders were all like (on average) 4-9 in conference play. But that record gets overlooked because their opponents are so “hard”. But they play each other. And they beat a bunch of cupcakes. And suddenly, beating a team that beat a bunch of cupcakes is considered a good win.

I did t look at all of the SEC. I’m sure the top 4-5 teams had challenging non-conference schedules. And they all met the challenge.

But getting a bunch of worthless wins and then finishing 5-11 in conference is NOT tournament worthy under any measure. Let’s hope the committee digs into this. This is akin to what the BE did in the early 2000s to “game” the RPI.

And again, I’ll point to the fact the SEC plays 18 conference games and as a result gets to schedule more “wins” for their SOS soup. They nailed it this year.

Conversely, the BE won about 66% of our non-conference game, which I think was 4th. We had several teams not pulling their weight in the non-conference, XU among them. Once conference play starts, the die is already cast. Non-conference record means EVERYTHING. And it doesn’t really matter who you played.

[xukeith]

Maybe X is cutting corners and tightening spending on entertainment, fun atmosphere, etc. All to keep the X program competitive with other BE schools.

I doubt a dollar here or there impacts Miller recruiting but every dollar helps.

[Xville]

Correct in saying the non-con is where all of the cake is baked so to speak. If you think about it, kind of crazy that the first two months of the season (when teams are still trying to figure things out) determines the conference strength for the remaining 3 months.

Big East did not do its job in the non-con this season nor last. That needs to change, along with some leadership at the top of the conference, but that's my soapbox and a different story.

[Xville]

Maybe X is cutting corners and tightening spending on entertainment, fun atmosphere, etc. All to keep the X program competitive with other BE schools.

I doubt a dollar here or there impacts Miller recruiting but every dollar helps.

You can enhance the fan experience without spending hardly any more money. That's what corporate sponsors are for. And, if you can't get a corporate sponsor, then you need a new marketing department. And if you can't get a new marketing department, then t-shirts cost about 3-4 dollars at a group rate...so you're talking 30-40k for the biggest game of the regular season in a very long time. Do that a couple of times a year for the big games...dollar beers, enhanced experiences etc. If X can't scrounge up that kind of money for the fans, then maybe X should reevaluate where they are spending money. Maybe stop spending money on unnecessary things like 1980s style mall food courts.

[Xavier]

I think if you’re making a big deal about a white out, just put shirts on the chairs. You see it everywhere in CBB. It’s lazy and cheap. Having said that I couldn’t care less if you have a white out or not, but if you do- just do it right. The marketing department as a whole is underwhelming. Even in A10 they’d do a game a year with towels on the chair. When they played Florida, they had gator in concession stands. Game day experience seems lacking,