Two disclaimers:1. The "Would you do..." Tournament will continue tomorrow.
2. It's March. It's fucking March! You know what that means?! March Madness! Do you have it? We do! (FYI, the beginning of this post is overly punctuated with exclamation points. Sorry. But hey, we're excited!)
Anyway, this time of year we get very wrapped up in both the bubble watch and also the small conference tourneys. The NCAA Tournament is hands down the most exciting sporting event of the year, so any opportunity to talk, think or read about it, we jump on. So today, we're going to play a little game, that you might or might not be familiar with.
We'll present two bubble teams' resumés. Your job is simple. In the comments, say which team deserves to get in and which one doesn't. (If you think both are in -- or out -- suggest who you view as the better team). Also, throw out your best idea of who these resumés belong to.
Since this is one of those blind item things -- sorta like they do over at the wonderful site The Big Lead from time to time -- we won't tell you who the teams are. Check back at 5 p.m. Pacific for an update revealing the teams.
OK, folks. Let's play...BLIND RESUMÉ!
Team A:
Record: 19-11 (7-9 conference)
RPI: 46
Strength of schedule: 22
Against RPI Top 50: 4-11
Last 10: 5-5
Team B:
Record: 24-8 (15-3 conference)
RPI: 33
Strength of schedule: 91
Against RPI Top 50: 3-2
Last 10: 9-1
*Computer numbers as of late Sunday.
Who dances?
[Update: Sorry, 5 p.m. turned into 6:04. Our bad. You generously-endowed devils are good! Team A is Florida State. Team B is Old Dominion. Will ODU get the at-large? Will the Seminoles get one if they don't win the ACC Tourney? We'll find out in less than a week!]
13 comments:
I have to go with Team B...#1, they are clearly the hotter team...sure their SOS is not that good, but their RPI is higher than team A...
Team B gets my vote
Team A, obviously a team from a major conference, is going to be left out this year. Team B is definitely headed to the tournament. When you look at their record against the RPI Top 50 and their recent record, it's a shoe-in. I don't think any major conference team will get in this year with a sub-.500 conference record. Even going .500 in conference is going to be dicey.
As for the teams (and with absolutely no checking) I'm going to guess Team A is Oklahoma State, and Team B is Southern Illinois.
I would give it to Team A...they obviously play in a tougher conference, which skews their record. Team B might be hot, but Team A has beaten more good teams and has played a far tougher schedule.
Guesses: I'm pretty sure Team B is Old Dominion.
I'm not so sure about Team A...Florida State maybe.
I'm gonna say team B should get in, then when I see who they are I'm gonna think how silly it is that some crappy school from a shitty conference will get in and a big school will be left out. But I guess George Mason taught us that we SHOULD let the little schools in.
I'm definitely giving it to team B. Hmm that came out wrong.
They are hot, they win a higher % of their games against better teams, and they dominated their conference. To own your conference like that is impressive; we all know that conference games are tough, no matter who they are against.
I can't stand when people talk about strength of schedule, especially when the team loses all the games!
Just like the previous poster I'm guessing that team A is someone like Florida State and B is someone like Old Dominion, VCU, or Drexel.
Team A is the choice. I do know who they are, but i don't want to spoil the secret, however, i'll give you a hint of who team A is. Team A defeated Florida.
2nd Hint: Team B lost its conference tournament game in the semis.
anonymous at 6:37 am, you are correct! I checked and confirmed that your choices are correct. Which site did you get that from?
Team A. That schedule strength sucks for Team B.
Neither of these teams gets in.
A 7-9 record doesn't cut it in a major conference. And it shouldn't be rewarded for playing lots of RPI top 50 teams and losing. Strength of schedule arguement is bogus for that reason.
Team B, unfortunatley, would've had to win its conference tourney to get in. I like their resume and think they're more deserving than a team like Purdue, but knowing who this team is, being the third team in a mid-major won't get you a ticket.
I didn't get it from any site...I knew Florida State had played some top teams (Florida, Wisconsin, Pittsburgh, North Carolina) so their SOS would be good, and I knew they weren't too great in conference. For some reason, I knew ODU was riding a winning streak until their loss yesterday and I remembered seeing their conference record as 15-3.
ODU can breathe easy now that VCU held on. They should get in based off there record and last year
dead on, Sparky. GMU winning woulda been bad for bubble teams everywhere.
team b. no brainer
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