2024-2025 B1G Basketball Thread

[847badgerfan]

Wisconsin got fucked, as usual.

[Temp430]

Hard to make sense out of how Big Ten teams were seeded.  Was it decided a couple weeks ago?  I guess the most important thing is just getting the invite.

[betarhoalphadelta]

Despite a late season collapse, Purdue still managed a 4 seed? 

I had thought they were slipping all the way down to the 6 line. 

[bayareabadger]

So there's San Diego, UCSD, and San Diego State?

That's a lot of San Diegos

It's a hub of learning. Even if UCSD is 10 miles out of the city in another city, and SD State is a big ole party school.

[medinabuckeye1]

Ok, who has been to the opening round of the tourney and what suggestions or advice do you have? Always been on my bucket list so this Friday the box is getting checked.

I assume you are going to the Cleveland games or are you following your Wolverines to Colorado?

I went to Cleveland games a few years ago when Ohio State was playing there and thought it was so fun that I'd go back even if Ohio State wasn't there. Albeit, that was before I had kids which is why you won't see me there this year.

If my local assumption was correct you've got on Friday:

• #2 Bama vs #15 Robert Morris, 12:40
• #7 St Mary's vs #10 Vandy, 3:15
• #7 Marquette vs #10 New Mexico, 7:25
• #2 Michigan State vs #15  Bryant, 10pm

One of the most fun things is crowd watching because the mix of fans of those eight programs plus random BB fans plus some locals is interesting. I remember walking the (then) Gund Arena halls and seeing all that plus mascots, cheerleaders, band members, etc.

Tickets are for two-game sessions of course so they'll clear the arena between the St Mary's/Vandy and Marquette/NM games but if you do the math, they will not have much time. St Mary's/Vandy will end around 5:15 and MarquetteNM tips off barely two hours later. That isn't much time to clear out 20k people, clean the arena, and get them back in. They'll probably be in a hurry to push you out.

One tip, when the 3:15 game ends a little after 5 about 20k hungry BB fans are going to walk out looking for somewhere to grab a beer and some grub. The nearby bars will get overwhelmed quickly. Either get out early to beat the rush or plan to get away from that immediate area.

The 1st round of the ncaa is like attending a convention.  People are coming and going, unless there's a very close school it's almost never close to full.  It's also overwhelmingly attended by men.

I agree with all of this. It is OVERWHELMINGLY attended by men, much more than bowl games. I figure it isn't hard to convince a wife/gf who isn't into sports to tag along to SoCal (Rose), NOLA (Sugar), Miami (Orange), or Arizona (Fiesta) in January but unless she is a skier, Denver in March doesn't have the same appeal.

[medinabuckeye1]

I'm not terribly upset in general about Ohio State missing the Tournament. They had their chances, crapped all over themselves at home against Northwestern, peed down their pants against Iowa in the BTT, and ended up 17-15 so it is what it is.

What bothers me is the message sent by the committee. Ohio State went 9-3 OOC. According to KenPom they played the #90 OOC SoS. Oklahoma was undefeated OOC. One of the talking heads on CBS's selection show excitedly mentioned that the Sooners were undefeated OOC. I should f*$king hope so. According to KenPom their OOC SoS was #319.

As a fan I love that Ohio State played a challenging OOC but if I were tOSU's AD I'd never schedule that again.

If Ohio State had scheduled a bunch of HS teams as their OOC then:

• They'd have gone 12-0 instead of 9-3.
• They'd have finished 20-12 instead of 17-15.
• The talking heads on CBS would have excitedly pointed out that they went undefeated OOC as if that was an accomplishment.
• @CatsbyAZ wwouldn't be able to say that they were "barely over .500".
• They'd be in the Tournament.

Apparently the Bill Snyder school of scheduling is the best plan for CBB as it is for CFB.

[SuperMario]

I assume you are going to the Cleveland games or are you following your Wolverines to Colorado?

I went to Cleveland games a few years ago when Ohio State was playing there and thought it was so fun that I'd go back even if Ohio State wasn't there. Albeit, that was before I had kids which is why you won't see me there this year.

If my local assumption was correct you've got on Friday:

• #2 Bama vs #15 Robert Morris, 12:40
• #7 St Mary's vs #10 Vandy, 3:15
• #7 Marquette vs #10 New Mexico, 7:25
• #2 Michigan State vs #15  Bryant, 10pm

Staying local. Taking some of my guys on my team and surprisingly, my wife is a little unhappy she's not going haha. So i think i'll owe her a future trip to a game. 

We're doing session 2, aka the Friday evening games and you brought up a great point about clearing out the first session and the timing of the 2nd and that leads me to believe that parking and traffic are going to be an absolute disaster.  We were hoping for St. Mary's Vandy, but Marquette v New Mexico isn't a bad 7/10 either.. I'm not exactly thrilled for the MSU Bryant game as that's probably going to be as ugly as it gets. It will be nice to MSU up close and personal as we were lucky to snag floor seats.  That part I haven't shared with the wife yet. 

[medinabuckeye1]

We're doing session 2, aka the Friday evening games and you brought up a great point about clearing out the first session and the timing of the 2nd and that leads me to believe that parking and traffic are going to be an absolute disaster.  

One thing that will make it worse for you is that I would guess that most of the fans will be attending both sessions so they will be parked LONG before you arrive.  

One thing that helps is that the Friday evening games start late enough that you *SHOULD* be able to get a parking spot vacated by someone who works downtown so there *SHOULD* be spots coming available as you arrive.  Just don't plan on finding a seat at a bar anywhere near the arena before you go in because those seats will all be filled with all the people waiting out the break between sessions.  

I took the train.  It drops you at Tower City which is basically right there and parking is free and readily available just North of the Airport at Brookpark Road.  

[medinabuckeye1]

Yeah, and honestly a dearth of Southern sites.

Texas Tech is the most western top-15 team. Arizona is 16, Oregon at 19, BYU at 22, then UCLA at 25.

I track this by timezone which is obviously E-W and not N-S so I don't have much data on N-S.  I will also say, in defense of the NCAA, that the sites are selected at least a year in advance and the SEC suddenly being REALLY good at BB wasn't something they could reasonably have foreseen.  

The East/West issue is something that a blind man could have seen coming because it is this way nearly EVERY FREAKING YEAR.  I've tracked it dating back to the 2004 Tournament so that is 21 Tournaments (2004-2025, no 2020) and the numbers are:
Eastern Time Zone:

• 8.62 top-4 seeds average
• 11 max (2012 and 2011)
• 6 min (2024, 2023, 2022, 2021)

Central Time Zone:

• 5.29 top-4 seeds average
• 9 max (2024, 2021)
• 2 min (2017)

Mountain Time Zone:

• 0.62 top-4 seeds average
• 1 max (most years)
• 0 min (some years)

Pacific Time Zone:

• 1.48 top-4 seeds average
• 3 max (2017, 2008, 2007)
• 0 min (2025, 2024, 2012, 2010)

Mountain and Pacific Time Zones COMBINED:

• 2.10 top-4 seeds average
• 4 max (2017)
• 0 min (2012)

Based on that history, there should be seven sites in the Eastern and Central Time Zones and one in the Mountain and Pacific Time Zones and you see it this year:
Top-4 seeds from the Eastern Time Zone:

• Florida
• St. Johns
• Tennessee
• Kentucky
• Purdue
• Maryland
• Dook
• Michigan State

Top-4 seeds from the Central Time Zone:

• Houston
• TxTech
• Auburn
• Bama
• Iowa State
• Wisconsin
• aTm

Top-4 seeds from the Mountain Time Zone:

• Arizona

Top-4 seeds from the Pacific Time Zone:
crickets

But the sites are:
Eastern:

• Providence, Rhode Island
• Raleigh, North Carolina
• Cleveland, Ohio
• Lexington, Kentucky

Central:

• Milwaukee, Wisconsin
• Wichita, Kansas

Mountain:

• Denver, Colorado

Pacific:

• Seattle, Washington

There are eight pods in the Mountain and Pacific Time Zones but only one team from that area among the top-4 seeds.  

[medinabuckeye1]

So the B1G got:

• #2 Michigan State
• #3 Wisconsin
• #4 Maryland, Purdue
• #5 Michigan, Oregon
• #6 Illinois
• #7 UCLA

Based on the 39 Tournaments since expansion to 64 teams in 1985 (1985-2024, no 2020) those seeds should result in:

• 5.88 teams in the R32 (ie, 2 or maybe three are likely to lose their opening game)
• 3.28 teams in the S16
• 1.35 teams in the E8
• 0.65 teams in the F4
• 0.27 teams in the CG
• 0.10 NC's

A guide by seed for our teams:
#2 seed Michigan State:

• 92.95% win their opener, 145-11
• 63.46% make the S16, 99 of 156
• 44.23% make the E8, 69 of 156
• 19.87% make the F4, 31 of 156
• 7.69% make the CG, 12 of 156
• 3.31% win the NC, 5 of 156

#3 seed Wisconsin:

• 85.26% win their opener, 133-23
• 52.56% make the S16, 82 of 156
• 25.64% make the E8, 40 of 156
• 10.90% make the F4, 17 of 156
• 7.05% make the CG, 11 of 156
• 2.56% win the NC, 4 of 156

#4 seeds Maryland and Purdue:

• 78.85% win their opener, 123-33
• 47.44% make the S16, 74 of 156
• 16.03% make the E8, 25 of 156
• 9.62% make the F4, 15 of 156
• 2.56% make the CG, 4 of 156
• 1.28% win the NC, 2 of 156

#5 seeds Michigan and Oregon

• 64.74% win their opener, 101-55
• 34.62% make the S16, 54 of 156
• 7.69% make the E8, 12 of 156
• 5.77% make the F4, 9 of 156
• 2.56% make the CG, 4 of 156
• NONE have ever won the NC

#6 seed Illinois:

• 60.90% win their opener, 95-61
• 28.85% make the S16, 45 of 156
• 10.90% make the E8, 17 of 156
• 1.92% make the F4, 3 of 156
• 1.28% make the CG, 2 of 156
• 0.64% win the NC, 1 of 156

#7 seed UCLA:

• 61.54% win their opener, 96-60
• 18.59% make the S16, 29 of 156
• 6.41% make the E8, 10 of 156
• 1.92% make the F4, 3 of 156
• 0.64% make the CG, 1 of 156
• The one that did make the CG, won the NC so same 0.64%, 1/156

[CatsbyAZ]

Five biggest "left-outs" according to YahooSports:

1. West Virginia (19-13) - in if they don't blow their conference tournament opener to B12 last place finisher Colorado

As a bubble team, you simply can't do this and then complain. 

And now West Virginia's idiot governor is opening an investigation. "This was a miscarriage of justice and robbery at the highest levels," the idiot whines. He makes West Virginia look worse for this.

I just so happened to have completed my own investigation into this "miscarriage of justice."

The key finding is that bubble teams who lose the first round of their conference tournament to the last place finisher, such as 3-17 Colorado, aren't entitled to a bid.

I am available to be reached by Governor Morrisey to assist with his sophomoric investigation.


https://twitter.com/awfulannouncing/status/1901682324992917879

[bayareabadger]

I mean, they probably got a raw deal, and the committee complicated it by screwing up the explanation.

[LittlePig]

https://www.insidethehall.com/2025/03/18/darian-devries-named-31st-head-coach-of-indiana-basketball/

Looks like it's official.  Indiana has hired West Virginia head coach Darian DeVries as Indiana's new head coach.  Devries was previously the head coach at Drake for 7 years before leaving for West Virginia last year. 

[Kris60]

And now West Virginia's idiot governor is opening an investigation. "This was a miscarriage of justice and robbery at the highest levels," the idiot whines. He makes West Virginia look worse for this.

I just so happened to have completed my own investigation into this "miscarriage of justice."

The key finding is that bubble teams who lose the first round of their conference tournament to the last place finisher, such as 3-17 Colorado, aren't entitled to a bid.

I am available to be reached by Governor Morrisey to assist with his sophomoric investigation.


https://twitter.com/awfulannouncing/status/1901682324992917879

Embarrassing.