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March Madness -- Truly

IdaGriz01

IdaGriz01

Well-known member
Conference tournament status as of right now (31 tourneys, since Ivy doesn't have one).

Fifteen tournaments have started or are done. All told, NINE #1 seeds (regular season champions or co-champions) have already been eliminated. Of the six championships decided so far, none has been won by the #1 seed. Two #1 seeds are in action right now: St. Mary's is leading by around 10 points with about 4:30 to go in the game. But Chattanooga is leading by only 4 points with about 6 min to go.

So far, it has not been a good thing to be a #1 seed. :lol: :lol:

GO GRIZ!
 
Okay, now we have one (the only one, so far) #1 seed that won its conference tournament -- Chattanooga has punched its ticket to the dance.

Of the nine #1 seeds out already, maybe three could be "bracket busters" (although I rather doubt there'll be more than one make it). The rest are on their way to the NIT.
 
And another one bites the dust! :o :lol:

Wagner, the regular season winner and #1 seed in the Northeast Conference, lost in the championship game to Fairleigh Dickinson ... so another one is on its way to the NIT. That makes 10 out of 15 early-playing #1 seeds that have been eliminated.

Also, Gonzaga leads #1 WCC seed Saint Mary's at the half, by 8 points. Long way to go there.

Also, FWIW, Sac State leads the kitties by 12 points midway thru the second half.
 
AND ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST! :o :o

This is getting ridiculous! Gonzaga is going dancing again ... they knocked off Saint Mary's, another #1 seed.

So far, of the fifteen #1 seeds that have played any games, only one has actually won their conference tournament, while 11 have been eliminated. Three are still alive. (Of those who lost "early," one or two should get auto-bids anyway.)
 
Lots of people think of March Madness as the NCAA tournament itself, but it truly starts during the craziness of the conference champion tournaments.

Besides so many #1 seeds going down so far, we now have two really low seeds going to the dance. Each had to win four games. First was Austin Peay, which ended the regular season at 14-17 (7-9 in conference). With four wins in the tournament, they at least go into the NCAA championship with a winning record, 18-17.

Just now, we added Holy Cross, which was 10-19 (5-13) in the regular season. But, wildly enough, they will go dancing with a 14-19 overall record. Incredible.

Like it or not, it's stories like these that "justify" conferences when they let everyone into their conference tournament.
 
And another one ... oh wait, I already said that. But it's again true as UAB, the #1 seed in Conference-USA, lost today.

Still, after a 1-12 run (one #1 seed champion, 12 eliminated), other #1 seeds are starting to do better. Three that have played today have won their games (but have more to play). Four, including Weber State, are in action now and are leading at the half or just into the 2nd quarter. Hawaii plays later. The rest don't play until tomorrow or Saturday.
 
Here we go again .. Yep, "another one bites the dust" (heard that somewhere before :lol: ).

The much more desperate Michigan team (#8 seed) knocked off #1 seed Indiana. Indiana will get a bid anyway, so they won't end up in the NIT. But Michigan was very much on the bubble, so when it came down to crunch time, they played just a little harder. That makes 13 of the #1 seeds to go down so far.

The other two #1 seeds that have played so far today won handily. There are like another dozen playing today, so seems like we're bound to get some more. Go North Dakota! :)

And GO GRIZ! :egriz:
 
UN-F***IN' BELIEVABLE! :o

What's better than a buzzer beater? Two buzzer beaters.

Louisville hits a desperation trey to take the lead in TRIPLE OVERTIME. Looks like that's it (finally), because UConn has just 0.8 sec to get a shot off. But then a UConn player launches a "Steph Curry" from the back court, 3-4 yard behind the mid-line ... and it goes in! Now in the 4th OT.

Personally, with both teams more or less on the bubble, I'd be inclined to give them both -- winner and loser -- a bid just on the incredible effort.
 
Hard to keep track between TV and following the Griz on the computer, but it has been an incredible day of BBall. Today, three more #1 seeds were eliminated (and Weber had to go into overtime not to join them).

Beside buzzer-beaters, low-seed upsets, overtimes (4 in one game), we just had an almost-buzzer-beater that would have won it for Oklahoma over West Virginia. The OK shot went in from mid-court and the OK team and fans went wild. But the slo-mo replay showed that the ball had not quite left his hand when the buzzer went off.
 
Lots and lots of BBall going on today. I'm a bit surprised no one else has commented on this thread (hint, hint).

I was glad to see Gonzaga keep their string of NCAA appearances intact. Nothing in particular against St. Mary's but the consensus was the Gonzaga needed to win the conference tournament ... so they did. Did not get to see a lot of Gonzaga games over the season, but my impression is that they have improved significantly since early on. Anyone who takes them lightly because they didn't have their usual powerful regular season had better watch out.

So far today, two #1 seeds have won their conference championships ... but two more have been eliminated. That brings us to a total of 16 of the 31 #1 seeds that have been eliminated, and only one or two of those are likely to get at-large bids to the big dance. I wonder if we've ever had that many #1 seeds knocked off before.

And there are almost certain to be a few more, since twelve still have more work to do. Here's hoping Weber gets added to those #1's eliminated -- and I truly believe the Griz can do it!
 
Well, I'm still here on my "solo" thread. Been trying to find out if there has ever been another year when the #1 seeds have gone down in flames so much. All I've found so far was this http://www.ncaa.com/news/basketball...s-upsets-top-seeds-becoming-common-conference

As of this moment, 19 top seeds have been eliminated from their tournaments while only 6 have won the championship. Of the games going on right now, two have the favorite well ahead. A third is fairly close with the score the wrong direction for the #1 seed. One hasn't started yet, and won't for another hour.

There are five championship games tomorrow, but only two have the #1 seed playing.

So far, a #9, a #8, and five #4 seeds have won auto-bids. Pretty incredible.
 
OK, all together now, for one last time: "And another one bites the dust!"

Two #1 seeds played today. One won (Ark-Little Rock) and one (Texas A&M) lost. So of 31 top seeds, ten won their conference tournaments while 21 (over two thirds) did not. Waiting for some stat-head on a sports show to tell us whether or not anything like that has ever happened before. I suspect not.

Good chance that a half dozen or so will get at-large bits anyway. Sure clogs the NIT field though.
 
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