Calling all Bracket Guys! Come through and make your bold claims for this, the best time of the entire calendar year!

I have very limited faith in my team. Hopefully they actually play like they care this weekend and we can make it to an inevitable drubbing at the hands of Houston in the Sweet 16. Then again, I lost my shirt on Houston vs. Miami last year, so anything is possible, I reckon. It is, after all, the time for madness.

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was hoping Tennessee could be in Houston's bracket, as that is the one-seed they match up best against

but also, Elite Eight matchups haven't been an issue for Tennessee to worry about in 14 years -- so one game at a time (c)

content to avoid UConn and the most dangerous SEC rematches (UK, bama, Auburn)

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Fuck a sig, my presence is enough.

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TBH the fact that you're even a mod here fits squarely within Jag's narrative of OK-sanctioned aggression, bullying, and toxicity. *shrug*

I’m focusing on the women’s tourney this year.

I'd be very surprised if they make it to Weekend 2-- they have somewhere between 3.5 and 4 players.

My movies: http://russellhainline.com
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>I'd be very surprised if they make it to Weekend 2-- they
>have somewhere between 3.5 and 4 players.

Yea, they're out of there

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Fuck a sig, my presence is enough.

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Fuck a sig, my presence is enough.

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TBH the fact that you're even a mod here fits squarely within Jag's narrative of OK-sanctioned aggression, bullying, and toxicity. *shrug*

<---
Fuck a sig, my presence is enough.

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TBH the fact that you're even a mod here fits squarely within Jag's narrative of OK-sanctioned aggression, bullying, and toxicity. *shrug*

They were at least 22 rankings lower in predictive metrics than all the 10s, not to mention ranked behind two 11s and three 12s. And they weren't even top 50 in the NET. So analytics didn't want them in. And Lord knows the eye test didn't want them in.

Their strength was their resume. 2 Quad 1 wins, 10-10 in Q1 and Q2, zero losses to Q3 and Q4, decent strength of schedule. Their strength of resume was ranked 32nd on the team sheets. And no high major conference team with 10 or fewer losses going into the tournament was left off.

The analytics would've preferred St. John's, Pitt, Oklahoma, Indiana State... but all of those teams either had worse strength of resumes, worse records against Q1/Q2, or both. And I think the whole world can agree we'd have preferred any of those teams to Virginia.

(Then again, Michigan State is definitely in due to analytics-- so the committee clearly wasn't applying any sort of consistent logic, they were just picking and choosing whoever they felt like. Which is what happens with a human committee that has no transparent consistent methodology of seeding.)

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he even admitted he has no idea about NET, KenPom, etc and said we need more basketball coaches on the committee.

Thing is, these coaches like Jim Boheim and Mike K are also bias af.

Just seems like it was easy to look at UVA and MSU and keep both of them out.

Pitt, Seton Hall, St Johns, Providence ALL had better arguments than these 2 teams.

19-14???? C’mon… there is no analytics that show they were worthy. .500 in the conference and 14 losses simply isn’t enough.

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TBH the fact that you're even a mod here fits squarely within Jag's narrative of OK-sanctioned aggression, bullying, and toxicity. *shrug*

>19-14???? C’mon… there is no analytics that show they were
>worthy. .500 in the conference and 14 losses simply isn’t
>enough.

Conference record and loss number has nothing to do with analytics. Those are pure resume numbers. (And, as we know, conference record really doesn't have any bearing in the selection process anyway.)

In analytics, however, MSU is still Top 20 in KenPom, even with the loss number so high, due to the strength of their schedule (second strongest combo of overall SOS and non-conference SOS in the field), the number of good wins they generated (7 Quad 1), and the fact that most of their losses this season were by single digits, including to some really good teams in really hard spots. Margin of victory comes into play in predictive metrics, and MSU benefits from that.

It's very funny to me that people associate UVA with "analytics" and MSU with "anti-analytics" because of who their coaches are... yet this season, UVA sucked in the analytics and MSU majorly benefited from analytics.

(Also, Tom Izzo is *such* a moron with the stupid-ass shit he says about not just analytics, but basically anything he says about how the sport should be run.)

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trying to go back and forth for why they are based on each is some lame shit

stop trying to make excuses for bad selections

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TBH the fact that you're even a mod here fits squarely within Jag's narrative of OK-sanctioned aggression, bullying, and toxicity. *shrug*

You said UVA is in because of analytics, when analytics said UVA should be out.
You said no analytics say MSU should be in, when analytics say exactly that.

I agreed that UVA should be out, and I said above MSU would be in my First Four if anything. I'm just trying to help clarify the difference between resume metrics and analytical metrics and which teams benefit from either. If you never had any interest in understanding that, that's fine, and I'm sorry for attempting to explain.

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I’n just talking shit

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TBH the fact that you're even a mod here fits squarely within Jag's narrative of OK-sanctioned aggression, bullying, and toxicity. *shrug*

not trying to be cute or anything. I literally might have watched 5 college games, this season. I think I'm sports-involved enough to know that Tony Bennett is generally respected as a good coach and a decent human being....and UVA has played this type of style for some time. Was this year worse than most? Even for them, was this an anomaly? How do you score FOURTEEN points in an entire half of basketball? They went the final 10 minutes of the game without a field goal? How can that be possible?

...I'm from the era when A.I. was the answer, now they think ai is the answer - Marlon Craft

over an hour in real time 😂

WHAT A TIME TO BE ALIVE

http://i.imgur.com/vPqCzVU.jpg

At least not since, like, 2013.

He has a future pro on his team in Ryan Dunn, but Dunn is not a scorer at *all* right now, just an absurdly gifted defender. Reece Beekman just Isn't That Guy, as much as they wanted him to be-- feels very much like a G-League/Euro dude at absolute best. McKneely's a really good shooter, but he's not a self-creator at all... like, it's just a very mid roster for a high major given that teams have to be able to score.

And when you look back, Bennett's success has always been built on having guys that can score. Joe Harris, Justin Anderson, Ty Jerome, Kyle Guy, Malcolm Brogdon, Anthony Gill-- like, he's had a number of NBA guys on his roster. And he deserves credit for building them into pros. (Honestly deserves credit for bringing this roster this year to a 3rd place ACC finish-- although that's also an indictment of what was another very mediocre ACC this year.)

But I wonder in the portal era if Bennett has the juice. It's one thing if you think playing in that system for four years will develop you into a future pro... but if you're looking for 1-2 years somewhere, why bother with them? It's unpleasant to watch, its offense is always limited and slow. Not a sexy style in the slightest.

There have been retirement rumors out there this offseason. Maybe he won't wanna end on this particular note... but if he comes back, they've gotta find ways of attracting more offensive talent, either through NIL or bringing in an offensive guru or something.

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Can’t adjust to teams that speed them up and play at a high pace. Thats exactly what Colorado State did to them

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they should have never been in it to begin with.

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TBH the fact that you're even a mod here fits squarely within Jag's narrative of OK-sanctioned aggression, bullying, and toxicity. *shrug*

Feels like every single one of them is decided by 1 or 2 points.

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Rather watch both of them than Virginia or 16 seeds.

Erik Reynolds on St. Joes….im a fan. Cuse needs a guard, throw a bag at him!

Great first round for them. It's a shame nobody watches.

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TBH the fact that you're even a mod here fits squarely within Jag's narrative of OK-sanctioned aggression, bullying, and toxicity. *shrug*

and even if the coach agreed they needed to go in another direction. This tourney run makes the AD look foolish.

I wish I made a bracket with them getting a first round upset. Thought they played purdue but I think its Arizona.

AD actually said he eas trying to give the team a spark with the firing and it worked.. lmao.

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TBH the fact that you're even a mod here fits squarely within Jag's narrative of OK-sanctioned aggression, bullying, and toxicity. *shrug*

Not especially optimistic that they can beat UNC, but Izzo can be feisty, and Mississippi State is such a bad shooting team that I had zero faith in them in a UNC matchup, so I'm happy with the early outcome today.

My movies: http://russellhainline.com
My movie reviews: https://letterboxd.com/RussellHFilm/
My beer TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thebeertravelguide

My movies: http://russellhainline.com
My movie reviews: https://letterboxd.com/RussellHFilm/
My beer TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thebeertravelguide

<---
Fuck a sig, my presence is enough.

And I don’t know a thing about Duquesne.

But I know all I need to about BYU. 6 seed, get the fuck outta here. That’s an NIT team at best, fuck is wrong with these people?

UK couldn't buy a three until the last few minutes, in which their last 6 makes have been 3PT.

Oakland has a player, Golke(sp), who has like 12 3PTs to this point.

78-74 with 29.0 sec left.

<--- Me when my head hits the pillow

just maybe.

https://x.com/bturner23/status/1770986451125014786?s=20

Braiden Turner
@bturner23
·
9m
Kentucky the last 4 seasons

2020-21: 9-16 record missed the tournament
2021-22: lost to 15 seed St Peters in the round of 64
2022-23: lost in the round of 32 to K-State
2023-24: lost to 14 seed Oakland in the round of 64

<--- Me when my head hits the pillow

... is this team was insanely young and lost to an old team. So maybe you could say, "Hey, young teams don't perform as well in this NIL/extra COVID year era, because players with more age and experience have an advantage over younger more talented players!"...

... but in 2022, six of the seven rotation pieces were upperclassmen, and five of them were transfers-- including the Player of the Year-- and they *still* lost in the first round.

So it's not like one can say "oh it's how he recruits, oh it's how he constructs a roster," etc. He's done it a variety of ways, had stars of a variety of ages. The only common denominator? The coaching.

My movies: http://russellhainline.com
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tawmbout maybe I need to add a couple of older guys to the mix.

...I'm from the era when A.I. was the answer, now they think ai is the answer - Marlon Craft

They were dropping big bags before most anyone else could, and then he’d show up at the NBA draft like a fucking weirdo “all in the videos, dancin’” and spreading that narrative that HE put guys in the NBA, and dumbasses bought into it.

All those guys were pros regardless of where they went, and he ain’t shit on that sideline. Fuck him. He’s really good at cheating, that’s what got him over at UMass in the first place. Everywhere he’s been with a level playing field, he doesn’t do a damn thing.

I wish John Chaney slumped his corny ass 30 years ago, and he went away.

>They were dropping big bags before most anyone else could,
>and then he’d show up at the NBA draft like a fucking weirdo
>“all in the videos, dancin’” and spreading that
>narrative that HE put guys in the NBA, and dumbasses bought
>into it.

LOL

>
>All those guys were pros regardless of where they went, and he
>ain’t shit on that sideline. Fuck him. He’s really good
>at cheating, that’s what got him over at UMass in the first
>place. Everywhere he’s been with a level playing field, he
>doesn’t do a damn thing.
>
>I wish John Chaney slumped his corny ass 30 years ago, and he
>went away.

One of the greatest moments is sports history

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TBH the fact that you're even a mod here fits squarely within Jag's narrative of OK-sanctioned aggression, bullying, and toxicity. *shrug*

The buzz is out there on Cal though

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How the hell is Shepard a top 5 pick? I know it’s a weak draft, but damn! That kids looked so shook.

I get he’s a50% 3pt shooter this year, but boy I’ve never seen someone obviously scared of the moment like that in a minute. Not wearing a Purdue jersey at least ( I see you Fletcher, Mason)

https://twitter.com/JonRothstein/status/1770991285026914519

Jon Rothstein
@JonRothstein
REMINDER: John Calipari's current buyout at Kentucky is $33,375,000.

He's going to be Kentucky's head coach unless someone paid him just south of $34 MILLION DOLLARS.

<--- Me when my head hits the pillow

holy.

Cal has been in "fuck you, pay me to leave" mode since Kentucky did that

him not getting an all-time recruiting class out of the first round is unbelievable even for him

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>just maybe.

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I wanna go to where the martyrs went
the brown figures on the walls of my apart-a-ment...

worst refs in all of basketball.