2012 NCAA Tournament

[zacharync]

If you forget the names on the jersey's and look at team play, I dont think UK's draw is the toughest. Duke for example is the weakest of the 2 seeds.

In your opinion they're the weakest 2, but not according to the committee who actually makes the decisions.

http://www.cbssports.com/collegebask.../post/17734843

[ervinsm84]

In your opinion they're the weakest 2, but not according to the committee who actually makes the decisions.

http://www.cbssports.com/collegebask.../post/17734843

2's
OHio ST Kpom 2, LRMC 2, Sagarin 2, Sagarin Predictor 1


Kansas kpom 4, LRMC 3, Sagarin 4, Sag Predictor 4

Mizz kpom 8, LRMC 7, Sagarin 7, Sag Predictor 7

duke Kpom 17, LRMC 12, Sagarin 11, Sag Predictor 12


Oh and ryan Kelly is still coming off an injury. Duke, by all objective measures is definitely the weakest 2 seed in terms of "how good they are." The committee doesnt rank teams based off of "how good they are" but rather pure results "resumes" where they consider 1 point wins the same as 25 point wins, which hopefully everyone understands is silly if were trying to project how teams will finish.


Luckily for Duke, they get a really soft 10 or 7 seed according to Kpom, so they effectively should walk into the sw16 despite being the smallest favored 2 seed to get out of rd 1 (only a 12-13 point favorite).

[SunDeck]

My wife picks her teams by the design of their uniforms.
And routinely does better than I do in our pool.

[Boston Red]

When Duke is not a 1 seed, they are generally not very good and go out early.

[Roy Tucker]

My wife picks her teams by the design of their uniforms.
And routinely does better than I do in our pool.

I'm going to pick a bracket based on which mascot can beat up the other teams' mascot.

http://www.smargon.net/nicknames/

[bucksfan2]

When Duke is not a 1 seed, they are generally not very good and go out early.

The thing with Duke ever since Battier and Williams left is Coach K hasn't really recruited the top tier of high school players. It hasn't been until the last few years that he had anything close to a one and done type player. He has built his team around good solid players who are going to stay 2+ years. The problem with that is they don't have the athleticism that other teams have. A few years ago when they won the national title their road to the title was paved by good solid teams, but not teams that had the athletes who could overpower Duke. When they match up with an OSU, UNC, FSU, this year or in years past like Arizona their lack of athletes really shows. They play good team basektball, probably the best in the NCAA, but don't have the horses to match up against the top teams.

[dabvu2498]

I'm amazed that so many people seem to be sleeping on Syracuse. They're 31-2 against a rugged schedule. They're deep. They play tough defense. I guess they don't have that "star" type player, but man, I look at them and I see a Final 4 team.

[cumberlandreds]

My chalk Final Four is Kentucky, Syracuse, North Carolina and Missouri.

I could see a team like Vandy making a big run in the NCAA's. They are a veteran team that has good talent. If they can get over that first round hurdle they could do some real damage.

[Hoosier Red]

I like Cincinnati's draw. Sure we can go out and lose our 1st round game, but I think the matchup is still nice for us. We're so inconsistent that I have no faith in our ability to string some good games in a row, but I would love to get to the Sweet 16 for what would more than likely be a pretty cool matchup against the Buckeyes.

I'm not sure why people are saying Kentucky got a tough draw. Sure UCONN is a scary 8/9 seed, but they still aren't that good this year, and Kentucky is playing their first two games in Lville. Duke is easily the worst 2 seed, and Baylor at the 3 has struggled with most of the good teams they've played this year. Oh and Indiana at the 4 isn't bad at all, they're mainly just dangerous at home. I predict Kentucky to win the region with ease.

I agree with this. Kentucky's draw is tough if they have to play the best team from each school's history. But this isn't the 1999 UCONN Huskies, 1976 Indiana Hoosiers, or 1992 Duke Blue Devils.

For a top seeded team, having troublemakers just one sub bracket over can do a lot of good as the lower seeds can do some dirty work. I seriously doubt Duke makes the elite 8.

I believe Kentucky's the most talented team in the region anyway, but the road could potentially be paved to make it all the more certain.

[TeamSelig]

What do you guys think about Virginia? My initial gut reaction was to have them lose to Florida in the opening game. Then I started looking at stats.....


Opponent Shooting %

FL 43.3%
VA 39.6%

Shooting %

FL 46.1%
VA 46.0%

[ervinsm84]

What do you guys think about Virginia? My initial gut reaction was to have them lose to Florida in the opening game. Then I started looking at stats.....


Opponent Shooting %

FL 43.3%
VA 39.6%

Shooting %

FL 46.1%
VA 46.0%

Should be a fun battle of contrasting styles. Virginia has an extremely underrated coach, is one of the best defenses in the country on a points per possession basis, and then when we throw in they play one of the slowest paces, this game is probably gonna be a low scoring game that comes down to half court execution. Virginia imo, will make this an ugly, ugly game.

Its a lot easier to slow a game down, than to speed one up.

Florida, imo has more talent at probably every position but one, but they may not even have the best player on the floor. Mike Scott for Va, was arguably the best player in the ACC this year, but he didnt win POY bc his team's level of success wasnt the same as Zeller.

Virginia though, is really shorthanded with injuries right now. I think they only have 7 scholarship guys left able to play, and of those really only 5 are guys they want on the floor bc there is a pretty massive dropoff. However, with the longer TV timeouts, I dont think depth is as big of a deal in the tournament and it may even benefit them to have their best players on the floor 37-40 minutes a piece.

Fla is still the favorite, but its pretty close to a coinflip.

[dabvu2498]

Agreed on the UF-UVa matchup. It's a tough one.

If Florida can dictate tempo, they win by 15. But I think UVa will impose their will to slow it down. They kept it close with almost every good team on their schedule.

If I were picking an official bracket, I'd think long and hard about UVa.

[Stray]

I'm amazed that so many people seem to be sleeping on Syracuse. They're 31-2 against a rugged schedule. They're deep. They play tough defense. I guess they don't have that "star" type player, but man, I look at them and I see a Final 4 team.

I know Boeheim won it all with Carmelo Anthony not too long ago, but other than that they fizzle out in the tournament more often than not.

They don't score particularly well in a halfcourt set, they don't rebound out of their zone very well at all, and if you have shooters you can get some good looks against them. I guess for me it's just the eyeball test...every game that I've watched of them was far from impressive.

[ervinsm84]

In general, I think if the public breakdown is heavily in support of one team ( idk many people picking VA and the breakdown on yahoo was 76/24 in favor of Fla), but you feel the game is relatively close, I think it's better to go with the team not as many people will be picking to win but still has a really good chance for the W.

So yea, i did pick Va in my for $ brackets, but I still think Fla is slightly better.

[RichRed]

I'd like to see UVA win but one thing to consider is that they're only 4-6 in their last 10 games. I know that doesn't necessarily mean anything come tourney time but they're definitely not playing as well as they were earlier in the season, which is partly attributable to injuries.