2025-2026 B1G Basketball Thread

[MaximumSam]

Let's review:

They won a de facto home game over an 11-seed.  Then they lost by 22 points to an 11-7 SEC team.  The loss was as an 11-seed to a 6-seed so expected but compare to the other 11-seeds:

• Texas was a 2 point underdog to BYU and won by 8, overperformed by 10
• VCU was a 2.5 point underdog to UNC and won by 4, overperformed by 6.5
• USF was a 4.5 point underdog to Louisville and lost by 3, overperformed by 0.5
• Miami was an 11.5 point underdog to Tennessee and lost by 22, underperformed by 10.5

The proof that they didn't belong and certainly shouldn't have been an 11-seed is the fact that they were BY FAR the biggest underdog of the 11-seeds and still managed to perform even worse than expected. 

Their brand of basketball isn't "terrible" but they simply aren't on the same level as even middling power conference teams. 

I amazed at your commitment to the bit. Miami WON A GAME and still showed they were undeserving by the fancystats. Amazing. True commitment to a lost cause.

[medinabuckeye1]

Feels like shitting on winners while championing mediocre teams from power conferences is a real losing position today

This certainly aged poorly.  

The 13-16 seed "winners" went 0-16.  

Even the 12 seed "winners" were only 1-3 this year.  

Two of the 11-seeds won but they were a .500 SEC team - pretty much the definition of a "mediocre team from a power conference" and VCU which earned the A10 auto-bid but would have been a legit NCAAT team even without it.  The big "winner" amongst the 11-seeds was 31-1 (entering the NCAAT) Miami which won a de facto home game against a mediocre team from a power conference then promptly demonstrated that they didn't belong and were overseeded by getting smoked by an 11-7 SEC team in the R64 (see above).  

The tallest midget "winners" proved that they didn't belong while a few of the "mediocre teams from power conferences" (Texas and Iowa being the best examples) showed that they unlike the seal clubber "winners" they actually could win against high-end opposition.  

Shitting on "winners" from crappy conferences while championing mediocre teams from power conferences was a real winning proposition in this tournament as it always is.  

[medinabuckeye1]

I amazed at your commitment to the bit. Miami WON A GAME and still showed they were undeserving by the fancystats. Amazing. True commitment to a lost cause.

Lost, show me how?

How about you address the points instead.  

Home court matters.  Miami won a game less than an hour's drive from their campus in an arena filled with Miami fans against one of the worst at-large teams in the field.  Then they got to the R64 and:

• Were BY FAR the biggest underdog of the 11-seeds demonstrating that they were overseeded.  
• Actually underperformed even compared to that extremely large point spread.  
• Got smoked by a mediocre team from a real conference.  

What is all proves is that the ability to club 31 baby seals shouldn't be confused with the ability to actually play bb against legit competition.  

[ELA]

13-16 seeds played teams that legitimately deserved to be in.  Nobody argued otherwise

[betarhoalphadelta]

Eh. There are no 11 seeds left in the tournament. Since 1985, only ten 11 seeds have made the E8, only six the F4, and none have progressed beyond that.

They're all trying to be Cinderella. But no matter how much you dress them up, Miami is the 6 from Podunkville, Nowhere who due to a low bar was the prettiest girl in town and thought she was a 10. While Auburn is the 7 from the shitty suburban dive bar that everyone is comfortable with (because they've all had carnal knowledge of her on random nights and twice on Sunday). She thinks she's special because she gets their attention but it's just because she's an easy lay.

For neither of them does the glass slipper fit. So who cares?

[MaximumSam]

Lost, show me how?

Let me refer you to your statement here:

"Miami won a game"

[medinabuckeye1]

Let me refer you to your statement here:

"Miami won a game"

Please be a respectable human and stop lying.  Leaving out the qualification that the game that they won was a de facto home game is lying.  

[MaximumSam]

Please be a respectable human and stop lying.  Leaving out the qualification that the game that they won was a de facto home game is lying. 

Counterpoint: There is no reason to qualify it because Miami won. So everything after "Miami won a game" is irrelevant and we need not think about it.

[Wildcat4E]

Eh. There are no 11 seeds left in the tournament. Since 1985, only ten 11 seeds have made the E8, only six the F4, and none have progressed beyond that.

They're all trying to be Cinderella. But no matter how much you dress them up, Miami is the 6 from Podunkville, Nowhere who due to a low bar was the prettiest girl in town and thought she was a 10. While Auburn is the 7 from the shitty suburban dive bar that everyone is comfortable with (because they've all had carnal knowledge of her on random nights and twice on Sunday). She thinks she's special because she gets their attention but it's just because she's an easy lay.

For neither of them does the glass slipper fit. So who cares?

I don't even know what you're talking about.  But it's entertaining, anyway.  Which is the point of this joint.

[medinabuckeye1]

Eh. There are no 11 seeds left in the tournament. Since 1985, only ten 11 seeds have made the E8, only six the F4, and none have progressed beyond that.

They're all trying to be Cinderella. But no matter how much you dress them up, Miami is the 6 from Podunkville, Nowhere who due to a low bar was the prettiest girl in town and thought she was a 10. While Auburn is the 7 from the shitty suburban dive bar that everyone is comfortable with (because they've all had carnal knowledge of her on random nights and twice on Sunday). She thinks she's special because she gets their attention but it's just because she's an easy lay.

For neither of them does the glass slipper fit. So who cares?

While I agree with your characterizations of Miami and Auburn and I agree that neither is going to win the Tournament and I'll add that I have no love for Auburn but here is why this matters to me:


First, I don't like the double standard.  Auburn and a whole bunch of other mediocre teams from power conferences are EASILY better than Miami and yet the committee chose to give out an emotional charity bid to the crap conference school.  

Second, I hate the message that was sent here.  Four of Auburn's losses were to:

• #1 Seed Arizona - in the E8.  
• #1 Seed Michigan - in the S16, favored for the E8 tonight.  
• #2 Seed Purdue - in the E8.  
• #2 Seed Houston - made the S16.  

With those four losses Auburn was 17-16 on Selection Sunday.  Anyone looking at this honestly will admit that if they had replaced the four great opponents listed above with four of the baby seals that Miami clubbed they'd have been 21-12 on Selection Sunday and they'd have gotten a bid.  That sends a message loud and clear to avoid tough games OOC because you will not be forgiven for losing even if the losses are to extremely good teams.  

Third, I just like good basketball.  Nobody needed to see Tennessee annihilate a crappy Miami team by 22.  Auburn lost to Tennessee by 8 on Tennessee's court and by 10 on a neutral court.  That is better basketball and much more entertaining than watching Tennessee lead by 19 at the half and by double digits for the entire second half in a game that was literally never in doubt.  

[medinabuckeye1]

Counterpoint: There is no reason to qualify it because Miami won. So everything after "Miami won a game" is irrelevant and we need not think about it.

You are entitled to your ignorance but you are not entitled to misquote me, liar.  

[MaximumSam]

You are entitled to your ignorance but you are not entitled to misquote me, liar. 

I look forward to the 900 page treatise on how quoting you makes me a liar.

[medinabuckeye1]

I look forward to the 900 page treatise on how quoting you makes me a liar.

MIS quoting me makes you a liar.  

[utee94]

Man it's getting salty up in here.  I had no idea anyone cared enough about basketball to argue this passionately...