Brown: "Committee Didn't Have A Lot of Respect for our Conference"

[upstater]

If SMU wanted to be in the tournament, they shouldn't have lost to South Florida, Temple, and Houston. I feel bad for Larry Brown and co. but SMU wasn't any sort of outrageous snub - their RPI was 57 and they had 3 really bad losses.

Can you say that about BYU and the other last ins too? Loyola Marymount, Pepperdine, Portland St., Pacific, etc., these are all BYU losses.

 

[upstater]

I think Cincy was ranked 19th on their list and UConn was 26th.

UMass is 23rd!!

And tomorrow, when the rankings come out, a four-seed will be ranked third in the country.

This was willful.

You can tell especially it was willful because they were put up against Wichita St.
Money is involved here, and they are taking away $$ from conferences by giving their favorites easier roads.

 

[upstater]

I can't really complain. Teams have known forever that you have to schedule tough OOC games especially in a non-power conference like the AAC where the bottom half of the conference will destroy your SOS. SMU learned this lesson again - in addition to their horrible losses - they don't really have a bone to pick.

As for Louisville, they beat two tournament teams all year (us three times, Cincy once). The only other tournament teams they faced they lost to: UNC, Kentucky, Memphis twice and Cincy once. Their SOS was terrible (150's something?) and they lacked impressive wins. Their schedule was weak and the eye-test they've been passing the last few weeks has been against scrubs and us - who we all know they are a bad match up for us this year. A four-seed is probably too low but a 3 sounds right.

Memphis is a middle of the road team like they've been the entire time under Pastner (yet still KO'd Louisville twice) and Cincy is a one-man team that'll likely lose in the first weekend. The AAC just isn't that good.

So, why did UConn get the cold shoulder?

 

[August_West]

UConn was knocked down two seeds "just because" - they reaped nothing from their out of conference schedule. I wonder what our seed was prior to beating Cincy on Friday...

I wonder that if we lost to Memphis and smu won 2 games that uconn would've been out! I'm only half joking. There seems to be an axe to grind with the AAC .

 

[storrsroars]

Lunardi's rep is built on fact he's usually right on who gets in, though not actual seeds. In Lundardi's world, NC State leapfrogged seven teams to get in.

For all the griping about SMU's OOC sked, NC State LOST to NC Central (RPI 102), with in-conference losses to Wake (112) and Miami (110). And the lost at home to Mizzou, one of the teams they leapfrogged. Three of NC State's wins were against teams with RPIs of 300+.

Whatever one's argument over SMU not doing enough to get in, NC State did even less.

This is all about politics, from K's whining to who's on the committee.

 

[upstater]

Lunardi's rep is built on fact he's usually right on who gets in, though not actual seeds. In Lundardi's world, NC State leapfrogged seven teams to get in.

For all the griping about SMU's OOC sked, NC State LOST to NC Central (RPI 102), with in-conference losses to Wake (112) and Miami (110). And the lost at home to Mizzou, one of the teams they leapfrogged. Three of NC State's wins were against teams with RPIs of 300+.

Whatever one's argument over SMU not doing enough to get in, NC State did even less.

This is all about politics, from K's whining to who's on the committee.

Look at BYU. Don't even need to look at NC St. to compare. BYU had hideous losses.

 

[uconnfan68]

Stashing a whole conference in one regional is the ultimate in dismissal. That's so bad, it's not just insulting, it's destructive to the sport itself. Ever feel like fodder?

I love you guys' draw. Wish it was us, lol. We're in a wringer.

A lot of us are shocked at UL as a #4, but we also expect to see you at the FF. Just keep winning, make them regret their choices.

 

[pj]

SMU is the only one that really got screwed. Everyone else has a chance to prove their merit on the court.

 

[mauconnfan]

We need to be one of the teams that helps disprove the committee's hard on for the A10……….they must have a had a circle jerk in that room while discussing the A10 so there's another reason to have a chip on our shoulder while playing Thursday………..

 

[BoatShow]

Dear BC, Washington, Indiana, Maryland thank you for absolutely sucking.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

What does Lunardi have to do with this?

The committee rated UMass higher than UConn.

If you think that's okay...

Normally I would not view that as acceptable but I do love our draw.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

Brown's comments sound like those of someone who is about to bail out.

 

[upstater]

Dear BC, Washington, Indiana, Maryland thank you for absolutely sucking.

Um, Maryland beat #1 seed Virginia.

 

[BoatShow]

Um, Maryland beat #1 seed Virginia.

I'm surprised that and being in the ACC wasn't enough for a bid.

 

[TRest]

I'm surprised that and being in the ACC wasn't enough for a bid.

That was Seth Greenberg's argument every year at VT.

 

[Vuder]

UConn was knocked down two seeds "just because" - they reaped nothing from their out of conference schedule.

I wonder what our seed was prior to beating Cincy on Friday...

Luckily we beat Memphis and Cincy, otherwise we would have been left out of the tournament. [/sarcasm]

 

[tdrink]

Louisville is partly to blame here. They are the measuring stick for the conference as a whole and played two ranked teams OOC and lost to both of them. That killed the RPI they carried into conference play.

A-10 was over rewarded for early season play.

 

[willie99]

if a member from an AAC school was on the committee, especially the chair, SMU is in and somebody else is out. Louisville is a 2, Cinci & CT 5's.

 

[upstater]

Louisville is partly to blame here. They are the measuring stick for the conference as a whole and played two ranked teams OOC and lost to both of them. That killed the RPI they carried into conference play.

A-10 was over rewarded for early season play.

UConn didn't have a bad OOC.

 

[UChusky916]

SMU is the only one that really got screwed. Everyone else has a chance to prove their merit on the court.

Uhhh kinda. 3 of 4 teams all got lumped into one region to prevent the conference from doing exactly that... proving itself.

 

[upstater]

SMU being out is awful but seeding is a big problem. When you're a lower seed, you make less $$ for the conference.

 

[Deadrody]

We were only "knocked down" two seeds relative to the imaginary seedings in Joe Lunardi's head.

Hardly. They got knocked down two seeds from where the entire rest of the universe would project them to be.

 

[pj]

Uhhh kinda. 3 of 4 teams all got lumped into one region to prevent the conference from doing exactly that... proving itself.

Memphis gets an opportunity to beat GW and Virginia before it would meet an AAC team. Cincy gets the opportunity to beat Harvard and Michigan State. UConn gets the opportunity to beat St Joe's and Nova and UNC or Iowa State before it could meet an AAC team. Ville has to go through the whole field before it could meet an AAC team.

If AAC teams win sufficiently to start beating each other up, they'll already have proven themselves.

 

[pj]

SMU being out is awful but seeding is a big problem. When you're a lower seed, you make less for the conference.

Only if you lose ... and seeding was random enough that, with parity already present in college ball, there's not a lot of difference in facing a higher seed than a lower seed. Many of the high seeds were overseeded. I think each of the AAC teams has the potential to make a run. Cincy has the hardest road relative to seed, having to face B1G champ Michigan State in the second round. Other than that I don't think there's any great ground for complaint. Yes, UConn was underseeded at 7, but we were gifted with an overseeded Nova at 2, so it's not so bad. Yes, Memphis is an 8, about what they deserve, but they have the type of team speed that could create trouble for UVa, just as they were able to create trouble for Louisville. I feel for Cincy but their road is hard because MSU was underseeded as much as because Cincy was underseeded. SMU has the major ground to complain.

 

[tdrink]

UConn didn't have a bad OOC.

But Uconn lost 3 times to a team that did have a bad OOC. I'm not defending the rationale, just showing how the case is made. Ville's OOC losses dragged down the RPI of the whole conference.