March Madness Pick'em

[Rich]

lol @ "we're actually better we just didnt feel like winning".

Pretty much. It's the NIT.
Let Manhattan play MD first game of the season next year and I'll put my life's assets on MD.

[Joust Williams]

No, you beat BC when everyone in the ACC was. That was your lone great win and it was before they were clicking.

Also, I believe Louisville was #4 at the beginning of the year. Worked out great for them. When you're a storied program with a not-obviously-terrible team, you start with a high ranking and people drink the Kool-aid when you win some games.

[Rich]

The only suspect team BC lost to was Goergia Tech, 2 months into the season; their other losses were NC State, Michigan State, Maryland with McCray, and Duke. (and Virginia at the very end of the season)

We had a good team with McCray. We climbed up the rankings week after week and didn't start dropping until McCray left.

[Joust Williams]

They lost their first 3 ACC games. Their non conference schedule (wins, anyway) was junk (here's who they beat: RPI of 311, non D1 school, 129, 175, 89, 262, 307, 214, 308, 152, 131 111). Their first good win was in late JANUARY against North Carolina. Regardless of ranking, BC didn't do anything until late in the year. I think they are good, but MD beating them says more about BC then than Maryland, IMO.


Here were MD's wins when they were "good":

Fri Nov 18 Maryland 111, (145) Fairleigh Dickinson 85 Home 1-0
Mon Nov 21 (10) Gonzaga 88, Maryland 76 Neutral (Lahaina, HI) 1-1
Tue Nov 22 Maryland 98, (NR) Chaminade 69 Away
Wed Nov 23 Maryland 75, (45) Arkansas 62 Neutral (Lahaina, HI) 2-1
Sun Nov 27 Maryland 88, (294) Nicholls St. 56 Home 3-1
Wed Nov 30 Maryland 83, (83) Minnesota 66 Home 4-1
Mon Dec 5 (37) George Washington 78, Maryland 70 Neutral (Washington, DC) 4-2
Wed Dec 7 Maryland 87, (265) Western Carolina 57 Home 5-2
Sun Dec 11 Maryland 73, (22) Boston College 71 Home 6-2 1-0
Fri Dec 23 Maryland 81, (206) American 55 Home 7-2
Wed Dec 28 Maryland 68, (123) Delaware St. 54 Home 8-2
Sat Dec 31 Maryland 99, (318) Virginia Military Inst 68 Home 9-2
Wed Jan 4 Maryland 99, (201) Texas A&M Corpus Chris 73 Home 10-2


Didn't beat shit...an Arkansas team that got hot at the end of the year (that's why their RPI is decent), BC of course, and that is it. I don't see this as a reason to think they are one of the top 15 teams in the NCAAs. It's all about where you start and who you are. You get much more of a pass than a team that no one knows about. Even the end of the season is shady.

[Diff-chan]

I chose not to get into the vagaries of early rankings but Joust did just fine. Your rankings early on are almost totally based on your preseason rankings. Just ask Auburn football.

You move down slightly when you lose once or twice, but you move up with wins. When you are a prestigious program and you play horse shit teams early on and you have a 10-2 record or whatever you will have a high ranking, it doesnt mean its deserved, or justified, or means you belong in the NCAA Tournament. Once the losses started piling up on UM they dropped down and that is where they belonged.

[Rich]

The 2 losses we have there we played really close with GW and Gonzaga, despite the scores. We were something near 13-3 with 2 of our losses to GW and Zags in close games, then we lost McCray. It went downhill.

We are a shell of what we were with McCray now, and wound up having to bring in Mike Jones to start.

[Joust Williams]

You're missing the point...you didn't beat anyone good

It went downhill because then you started to play good teams

[Klonoa]

go nova

[Diff-chan]

The 2 losses we have there we played really close with GW and Gonzaga, despite the scores. We were something near 13-3 with 2 of our losses to GW and Zags in close games, then we lost McCray. It went downhill.

We are a shell of what we were with McCray now, and wound up having to bring in Mike Jones to start.

You didnt beat anyone good, and your program is regressing. Your nonconference schedule sucked ass and let you pile on the wins. I would expect a lot more NIT if I were you, at long as you're an undergrad.

[Timber]

Well I think we've all hit our max scores and it looks like I lost out to CypherUppercut by a single point. This was one crazy tournament, none of us had more than one of our Final 4 picks make it and only about half of us got that far.

I'm hoping for a UCLA -v- George Mason championship. This has been one of the best tournaments in recent memory.