Brackets and Rankings: 2024-2025

[Xavier]

For as good as the last couple weeks has been for X (in regards to bubble teams around them) last night was a bad one. But I won’t be surprised to see Baylor play themselves out at this point, so maybe it isn’t as bad as it looks.

SEC is going to be real interesting case. Georgia is 17-11 (5-10) with wins over St John’s, Kentucky, Florida. Oklahoma is 17-10 (4-10) with wins over Michigan and Miss St. Frankly they aren’t as interesting, Georgia has some damn good wins though.

[GoMuskies]

Oklahoma also has wins over Louisville and Arizona on neutral floors. They're pretty interesting.

[xubrew]

I am SO tired of our season depending on how someone not named Xavier plays.

You're in luck, Paul. If we win out in the regular season, we will make the tournament.

There are 346 teams that are still playing and who have not yet been mathematically eliminated from their conference tournament. They all still have a shot, and they are all in a position of being able to play their own way in regardless of what happens. Xavier really doesn't need to depend on anyone other than themselves.

[Xavier]

Oklahoma also has wins over Louisville and Arizona on neutral floors. They're pretty interesting.

Yep, missed that combing through the schedule.

[GoMuskies]

But getting a bunch of worthless wins and then finishing 5-11 in conference is NOT tournament worthy under any measure. .

Who is this hypothetical team you're talking about? The only two teams that sort of fit that bill are Oklahoma and Georgia. Georgia, the 13th best team in the SEC, beat the best team in the Big East. Oklahoma, the 14th best team in the SEC, beat the second best team in the ACC, the second best team in the Big Ten, and the second best team in the Big XII without losing a single non-conference game. Perhaps the SEC gamed the system some, but show me the other conference that has multiple teams in the bottom quarter of the league with wins over top teams from other power conferences.

[Xville]

Feel gross saying this but we are all butler fans tonight. If they win that game at hinkle probably becomes a q1.

[GoMuskies]

Looking at tonight:

UConn/Georgetown - I THINK we want UConn to win to keep one of our good wins looking nice. But also UConn might be a fellow bubble team, so a loss here could actually help. So maybe a bit indifferent on this one.
Vandy/A&M - Go Aggies
Dayton/Rhody - Go Rhode Island! No bubble implications, just fuck Dayton
Drake/Evansville - Hate to cheer against the mid-major potential at-larges, but an Evansville win could help us. Hopefully Drake just wins the MVC Tournament and Drake is irrelevant to us then.
Penn State/Indiana - Go Nittany Lions!
Kentucky/Oklahoma - Go Sooners! (Just on principle; others might want Oklahoma knocked down a peg)
UVA/Wake - Go Hoos! At least if Wake wins there is SOME benefit to us, but I'd rather they lose ground in the at-large push.
DePaul/Creighton - Need Creighton to avoid a slip-up here so as not to tarnish our win over them this weekend.
Texas/Arkansas - Indifferent? I guess I'm team Horns in that I don't like Calipari and would prefer him deeper on the bubble.
Utah State/Boise - Utah State knocking off Boise would be nice. Boise REALLY helps themselves with a win here, and we don't want that.
SMU/Cal - Go Bears! SMU isn't very good, and I can't believe they are competing for an at-large. Hopefully that ends tonight.

[paulxu]

Should it be a rule that you have to at least have a .500 conference record?

[xubrew]

Who is this hypothetical team you're talking about? The only two teams that sort of fit that bill are Oklahoma and Georgia. Georgia, the 13th best team in the SEC, beat the best team in the Big East. Oklahoma, the 14th best team in the SEC, beat the second best team in the ACC, the second best team in the Big Ten, and the second best team in the Big XII without losing a single non-conference game. Perhaps the SEC gamed the system some, but show me the other conference that has multiple teams in the bottom quarter of the league with wins over top teams from other power conferences.

To further your point, the SEC was 185-23 in OOC games, and if I counted right 31-17 against the top 50 of the NET out of conference. That's a 64.5% winning percentage in OOC games against the NET top 50, an average of 3 top 50 opponents per team, and basically 2 wins per team. I think literally every team had at least one.

No other conference did that. No other conference came anywhere close to doing that. That is STUPID good!!!

[xubrew]

Should it be a rule that you have to at least have a .500 conference record?

I wouldn't vote against it, but I kind of go both ways with it. The SEC basically played 50 games out of conference against teams that will be either safely in the field or at least on the bubble, and won over 30 of them. I mean if teams go out there and play an absolute killer OOC schedule and manages to do well against it, that should count for something.