America East Conference: Stony Brook*
American Athletic Conference: Temple, Connecticut
Atlantic 10 Conference: Dayton, Saint Joseph's
Atlantic Coast Conference: North Carolina*
Atlantic Sun Conference: North Florida, Florida Gulf Coast
Big 12 Conference: Kansas*
Big East Conference: Villanova*, Seton Hall
Big Sky Conference: Weber State*
Big South Conference: High Point, North Carolina-Asheville
Big Ten Conference: Indiana*, Michigan State*
Big West Conference: Hawaii*
Colonial Athletic Association: Hofstra, North Carolina-Wilmington
Conference USA: Alabama-Birmingham, Middle Tennessee State
Horizon League: Valparaiso, Wisconsin-Green Bay
Ivy League: Yale
Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference: Monmouth, Iona
Mid-American Conference: Akron, Buffalo
Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference: Hampton*
Missouri Valley Conference: Wichita State*, Northern Iowa
Mountain West Conference: San Diego State, Fresno State
Northeast Conference: Wagner, Fairleigh Dickinson
Ohio Valley Conference: Belmont, Austin Peay
Pac-12 Conference: Oregon*
Patriot League: Bucknell, Holy Cross
Southeastern Conference: Texas A&M, Kentucky*
Southern Conference: Tennessee-Chattanooga*
Southland Conference: Stephen F. Austin*
Southwestern Athletic Conference: Texas Southern, Southern
The Summit League: Indiana/Purdue-Fort Wayne, South Dakota State
Sun Belt Conference: Arkansas–Little Rock*
West Coast Conference: Saint Mary’s, Gonzaga*
Western Athletic Conference: New Mexico State, Cal State Bakersfield
At-large: Virginia, Oklahoma, West Virginia, Xavier, Purdue, Iowa State, Miami, Duke, Arizona, Maryland, Iowa
More later. I can also go ahead and say that Middle Tennessee State beat Austin Peay State, 73-57, in Lexington, Kentucky, in the first round.
I, like you, think they should take both the season champ and the tournament champ. Of course the problem with this is that if you are the regular season champ why even try to win your tournament?
ReplyDeleteYou'll see why in my next CONTROVERSIAL proposal.
ReplyDeleteSo the deal is, in my pretend NC2A tournament, you have televised committee meetings all season long in which the Division I teams are ranked 1 to 351. The last ranking before the conference tournaments this season would've looked something like Ken Pomeroy's rankings.
ReplyDeleteOK, so there are 32 Division I conferences. The first 32 slots in the NC2A tournament go to the regular-season winners.
ReplyDeleteThen come the conference tournaments. But, as Matthew astutely asked, is there enough motivation for the top seeds to actually try to win the conference tournaments?
ReplyDeleteBOOM! There is if--and here's my most controversial proposal--double-winners host their pods of games on the first weekend of the NC2A tournament!
ReplyDeleteHere are our 10 double-winners this season.
ReplyDeleteAmerica East Conference: Stony Brook*
Atlantic Coast Conference: North Carolina*
Big 12 Conference: Kansas*
Big Sky Conference: Weber State*
Big West Conference: Hawaii*
Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference: Hampton*
Pac-12 Conference: Oregon*
Southern Conference: Chattanooga*
Southland Conference: Stephen F. Austin*
Sun Belt Conference: Arkansas–Little Rock*
The other six first- and second-round hosts are the top six conference regular-season or tournament champions per the committee's final ranking (which, again, would've been completed before the conference tournaments. (When I checked KenPom last night, those were Villanova, Indiana, Michigan State, Wichita State, Kentucky and Gonzaga.)
ReplyDeleteOK, so after you play those conference tournaments, all of the champions who didn't win their regular seasons get spots in the NC2A tournament. This year, that gets us up to 53 of 64 slots filled. The 11 at-large berths go to the top 11 in the committee's final rankings who aren't already in the field. I think this would be very exciting. Last team in this season would be Iowa; first out, Baylor.
ReplyDeleteSo, instead of that horrible CBS selection show that shows teams gathered around the TV deciding whether some committee went into a dark room and decided they got in the bracket, we would definitively know which teams were on the bubble all weekend long and each conference-tournament championship would have that much more intrigue.
ReplyDeleteOK, and then we tune to CBS on Sunday night for a blind draw. I imagine Jim Nantz in a tuxedo, cranking a big, beautiful drum of ping-pong balls. But, in fact, for the purposes of this post, I used RandomNumberGenerator.com to slot the 16 first-weekend hosts and then this site to create a Randomly Scrambled List of Numbers 17 through 64. I then plugged those in three at a time amid the 16 hosts, with only one redo to avoid two teams from the same conference ending up in the same first-weekend pod of games.
ReplyDeleteBoom.
ReplyDeleteI figured out the bracket last night, and I plan to create and post an original graphic here later tonight.
ReplyDeleteYeah, sorry for the delay. It's in the post now. I used PrintYourBrackets.com to get a blank, 64-team bracket.
ReplyDeletevillanova 92, wagner 61 ...
ReplyDeletetexas southern 77, new mexico state 65 ... gonzaga 80, belmont 65 (Wiltjer goes for 35!) ... florida gulf coast 71, high point 64 ...
ReplyDeletemichigan state 80, dayton 75 ... miami 68, csu-bakersville 60 ... maryland 70 at hawai'i 65 ... uab 78, valpo 68 ...
ReplyDeletetemple 64 at ualr 57 ... unc-wilmington 81, virginia 78 ... connecticut 70 at wichita state 62 ... iowa 73, unc-asheville 56 ...
ReplyDeletenorth carolina 83, ipfw 74 ... green bay 93, iowa state 91 ... oklahoma 83 at oregon 72 ... duke 89, north florida 80 ...
ReplyDeleteKENTUCKY 89, st. joe's 65 ...
ReplyDeleteBucknell 72 at Stephen F. Austin 65 ... Saint Mary's 75, Fresno State 60 ...
ReplyDeletechattanooga 80, fairleigh dickinson 61 ... yale 71, southern 48 ... stony brook 94, west virginia 70 ... xavier 80, purdue 72 ...
ReplyDeleteindiana 85, monmouth 64 ... buffalo 78, south dakota state 72 ... texas a&m 79 at hampton 64 ... iona 65, northern iowa 61 ...
ReplyDeletesan diego state 70 at weber state 59 ... akron 69, holy cross 57 ... arizona 95 at kansas 91 ... seton hall 86, hofstra 56 ...
ReplyDeletearizona 76, seton hall 73 ... san diego state 70, akron 50 ...
ReplyDeletetexas a&m 80, iona 70 ... indiana 80, buffalo 60 ...
ReplyDeleteXavier 79 at Stony Brook 70 ... Chattanooga 72, Yale 61 ...
ReplyDeletest. mary's 78, bucknell 59 ... KENTUCKY 75, mtsu 71 (PHEW! big 10 points off the bench from Isaac Humphries) ...
ReplyDeleteduke 75, oklahoma 70 ... north carolina 72, green bay 61 ...
ReplyDeleteiowa 80, uconn 49 ... temple 65, wilmington 63 ...
ReplyDeletemaryland 73, cab 48 ... michigan state 84, miami 60 ...
ReplyDeletegonzaga 76, fgcu 63 .. villanova 99, texas southern 61 ...
ReplyDeletesweet 16 ...
ReplyDeletein louisville: villanova vs. gonzaga, michigan state vs. maryland
in anaheim: temple vs. iowa, north carolina vs. duke
in philadelphia: kentucky vs. st. mary's, chattanooga vs. xavier
in chicago: indiana vs. texas a&m, san diego state vs. arizona
villanova 72, gonzaga 62 ... michigan state 78, maryland 68 ...
ReplyDeleteiowa 65, temple 63 ... north carolina 103, duke 98 ...
ReplyDeleteHURRAH! Kentucky 71, Saint Mary's 67.
ReplyDeleteTied at 27 at the half. Kentucky gets out as far as 10 on a couple of occasions in the second half.
Furious stretch ...
4:54 Murray knocks in the step back jumper on a great look from Ulis. 54 - 46
4:28 54 - 48 Fitzner is fouled on the perimeter shot from the left side and the shot drops! Foul #2 on Marcus Lee, team foul #5.
4:28 54 - 49 Evan Fitzner makes FT 1 of 1.
4:17 Briscoe hits the 3 from straight away on a good pass by Ulis. 57 - 49
3:53 57 - 52 Hermanson makes the contested 3 pointer with the assist by Naar.
3:39 Poythress slams it home on a nice dish from Murray. 59 - 52
3:31 59 - 55 Fitzner hits a 3pt jumper from the left corner.
3:24 Poythress drills a jumper near the basket on a pass from Ulis. 61 - 55
3:0061 - 58 Fitzner connects on the 3pt shot from the right wing, assist to Rahon.
2:45 Briscoe drills a pull-up jumper. 63 - 58
Briscoe and Lee in the final minute ...
0:52 Isaiah Briscoe misses the front end of the one-and-one. 65 - 61
0:51 65 - 61 Evan Fitzner snags the rebound.
0:28 65 - 61 Rahon comes up short on a bank shot.
0:27 Isaiah Briscoe comes up with the rebound. 65 - 61
0:26 Lee is fouled by Evan Fitzner on the floor. Foul #3 on Fitzner, team foul #9. 65 - 61
0:26 Marcus Lee makes the front end of the one-and-one. Marcus Lee makes the back end of the one-and-one. 67 - 61
Young Humphries comes up huge at the end ...
Jamal Murray makes FT 1 of 2. Jamal Murray makes FT 2 of 2. 69 - 64
0:11 69 - 67 Naar knocks in the 3pt jumper from straight away off the feed from Fitzner.
0:08 Humphries is fouled by Calvin Hermanson on the floor. Foul #4 on Hermanson, team foul #11. 69 - 67
0:08 Isaac Humphries makes FT 1 of 2. Isaac Humphries makes FT 2 of 2. 71 - 67
0:00 71 - 67 Fitzner clanks the 3pt jumper.
xavier 92, chattanooga 74 ...
ReplyDeletetexas a&m 77, indiana 74 ... arizona 77, san diego state 66 ...
ReplyDeletearizona 83, texas a&m 75 ... arizona goes to the final four ...
ReplyDeleteYEAH! KENTUCKY 81, xavier 75! Ulis and Murray go for 19 and 21 points, and uk shoots 11 of 25 on 3s ... xavier trailed seven at half ... gets to within one with 13:59 to go, and Murray hits a 3 ... gets to within two with 13:02, and Murray hits a 3 ... KENTUCKY'S GOING TO THE FINAL FOUR!
ReplyDeleteiowa 87, north carolina 84 ... iowa goes to the final four ...
ReplyDeletevillanova 82, michigan state 80 ... villanova goes to the final four ...
ReplyDeletefinal four in houston: villanova vs. iowa, kentucky vs. arizona ...
ReplyDeleteHow are you simming the games?
ReplyDeleteiowa 84, villanova 78 ...
ReplyDeleteOH, MY!
ReplyDeleteHalftime: Arizona 43, Kentucky 29.
ReplyDeleteHumphries has been key this whole tournament ...
ReplyDelete19:48 Ulis clanks the 3pt shot from straight away. 29 - 43
19:47 Isaac Humphries comes up with the offensive rebound. 29 - 43
19:36 Poythress hits a shot following a nice pass from Ulis. 31 - 43
Phenomenal defense ...
ReplyDelete17:03 Jamal Murray makes FT 1 of 2. Jamal Murray misses FT 2 of 2. 35 - 47
17:02 35 - 47 Kaleb Tarczewski takes down the rebound.
16:55 35 - 47 Trier misses the 3pt shot from straight away.
16:54 Tyler Ulis grabs the rebound. 35 - 47
16:37 Murray hits a 3pt attempt from the right wing following a nice pass from Lee. 38 - 47
16:24 38 - 47 Tarczewski misses a contested floater.
16:23 Jamal Murray comes down with the rebound. 38 - 47
16:11 Briscoe is fouled on the shot from 14 ft. Foul #2 on Kadeem Allen, team foul #2. 38 - 47
16:11 Isaiah Briscoe misses FT 1 of 2. Isaiah Briscoe misses FT 2 of 2. 38 - 47
16:10 38 - 47 Kaleb Tarczewski takes down the rebound.
15:53 38 - 47 Ulis knocks it away from York and recovers it.
15:49 Ulis makes the reverse layup. 40 - 47
15:38 40 - 47 York comes up short on a step back jumper from 18 ft.
15:37 Tyler Ulis gathers the rebound. 40 - 47
15:27 Briscoe clanks the jumpshot from the right wing. 40 - 47
15:26 40 - 47 Ryan Anderson wins the battle for the rebound.
15:09 40 - 47 Anderson misses the floater.
15:08 Isaiah Briscoe clears the rebound. 40 - 47
14:51 Ulis drills a 3 from the left corner, assist to Lee. 43 - 47
Completing an 11-0 Kentucky run ...
ReplyDelete14:19 Tyler Ulis makes FT 1 of 2. Tyler Ulis makes FT 2 of 2. 45 - 47
Murray answers, just as it feels things are slipping back away ...
ReplyDelete10:50 50 - 57 Ryan Anderson makes FT 1 of 2. Ryan Anderson makes FT 2 of 2.
10:33 Murray hits the 3pt shot from the right wing. 53 - 57
Huge surge from Briscoe puts Kentucky in the lead ...
ReplyDelete8:27 Ulis connects on the 3 from the left corner, assist to Briscoe. 58 - 59
8:16 58 - 59 York misses the open 3pt jumper.
8:15 Isaiah Briscoe takes down the rebound. 58 - 59
8:04 Briscoe is fouled on the jumpshot from just inside the 3pt line and the shot drops! Foul #4 on Parker Jackson-Cartwright, team foul #8. 60 - 59
8:04 Isaiah Briscoe makes FT 1 of 1. 61 - 59
GET ON THE BOARDS!
ReplyDelete7:49 61 - 59 Tollefsen can't connect on the 3 pointer from the left corner.
7:48 61 - 61 Anderson tips in the miss.
ARGH!
ReplyDelete6:29 65 - 64 Tarczewski puts in the follow.
5:55 Briscoe's pass is taken away by York. 65 - 64
5:46 65 - 67 Trier scores on the 3pt jumper from straight away.
5:27 Poythress's pass is too high and out of bounds. 65 - 67
ARRRRRRRRRGH!!!
ReplyDelete5:08 65 - 69 Anderson buries a turnaround from 3 ft.
4:52 Allen picks Ulis's pocket. 65 - 69
4:47 65 - 71 Allen makes the the scoop shot.
Another key 3 from Murray ...
ReplyDelete3:48 67 - 74 Jackson-Cartwright can't connect on the pull-up jumper from just outside the paint.
3:47 Isaac Humphries wins the battle for the rebound. 67 - 74
3:30 Murray makes a 3pt attempt from straight away, credit an assist to Briscoe. 70 - 74
My main man from Richmond, Dominique Hawkins ...
ReplyDelete3:23 70 - 74 Dusan Ristic misses FT 1 of 2. Dusan Ristic misses FT 2 of 2.
3:22 Dominique Hawkins takes down the rebound. 70 - 74
3:05 Ulis connects on the jumpshot from just inside the 3pt line, assist to Murray. 72 - 74
2:40 72 - 76 Trier hits a shot from 19 ft on a great look from York.
2:32 Murray hits the 3 pointer from the left corner with the assist by Ulis. 75 - 76
2:15 75 - 76 Ristic hits the front of the rim on the driving attempt in the paint.
2:14 Skal Labissiere rips down the rebound. 75 - 76
1:51 Hawkins drills a 3pt shot from the left corner. 78 - 76
Doesn't anyone want to win this game?
ReplyDelete1:21 Jamal Murray makes FT 1 of 2. Jamal Murray makes FT 2 of 2. 80 - 77
1:14 80 - 77 York misses a contested jumper from the left side.
1:13 Isaac Humphries comes up with the rebound. 80 - 77
1:05 Allen intercepts the pass. 80 - 77
1:00 80 - 77 Allen blows the dunk attempt.
0:59 Tyler Ulis comes down with the rebound. 80 - 77
0:25 Briscoe misses the shot from the right wing. 80 - 77
0:24 80 - 77 Ryan Anderson takes down the rebound.
0:16 80 - 77 York hits the front of the rim on the 3pt attempt from the right wing.
0:15 Isaac Humphries rips down the rebound. 80 - 77
0:13 Briscoe is fouled by Gabe York on the floor. Foul #3 on York, team foul #11. 80 - 77
0:13 Isaiah Briscoe misses FT 1 of 2. Isaiah Briscoe misses FT 2 of 2. 80 - 77
Look out for the 3!
ReplyDelete0:12 80 - 77 Ryan Anderson clears the rebound.
0:07 80 - 77 Trier misses the 3pt attempt from the left corner.
GET THE REBOUND!
ReplyDelete0:06 80 - 77 Ryan Anderson clears the offensive rebound.
WATCH OUT FOR THE 3!
ReplyDelete0:01 80 - 77 Anderson comes up short on a 3 pointer from the right corner.
What a game.
DeleteKENTUCKY'S GOING TO THE CHAMPIONSHIP!
ReplyDeleteI'm using WhatIfSports.com.
ReplyDeleteThis is amazing. The Internet is amazing.
ReplyDeleteLuis finished with 29 in that game.
ReplyDeleteUlis, not Luis.
ReplyDeleteOh, I'm so nervous. I can barely type.
ReplyDeleteKentucky vs. Iowa for the national championship ...
Well, heck.
ReplyDeleteTrailed only 36-34 at half, but Kentucky falls to Iowa, 77-68, in the final. The Wildcats' three-point shooting fails them (four of 14), and Briscoe fouls out after playing only 19 minutes. Iowa surged ahead by 10 five minutes into the second half and never looked back.
ReplyDeleteThat was great. The Internet ... wow.
ReplyDeleteInteresting tourney
ReplyDeleteIt was so much fun.
ReplyDeleteHere's the Mideast Region if you still picked the tournament like they did before 1975, when no conference could have more than one team in the tournament. (For purposes of this analysis, I'm using the conference memberships as they existed in 1973 -- so WKU is still in the OVC, but Belmont is not.) Also, I'm designating the team with the best record on Ken Pom as the conference champ:
ReplyDeleteSEC Champ: Kentucky
Big 10 Champ: Michigan St.
MAC Champ: Ohio
OVC Champ: Middle Tennessee St.
At-Large: Xavier
At-Large: Miami (Fla.)
UK and Michigan State get byes to the regional semi-finals, while the other teams meet in the first round.
Here's the East:
ReplyDeleteACC Champ: N. Carolina
Southern Champ: William & Mary
Ivy Champ: Yale
Mid-Atlantic Champ: St. Joseph's
At-Large: Villanova
At-Large: W. Virginia
At-Large: Seton Hall
UNC gets a bye to the regional semi-final. Everyone else plays in the first round.
Here's the Midwest:
ReplyDeleteBig 8 Champ: Kansas
Missouri Valley Champ: Wichita St.
Southwest Champ: Texas A & M
At-Large: Stephen F. Austin
At-Large: Tulsa
At-Large: Cincinnati
Kansas and Wichita St. get byes to the regional semi-finals. Everyone else plays in the first round.
And here's the West:
ReplyDeletePac-8 Champ: Oregon
West Coast Champ: Saint Mary's
WAC Champ: Arizona
PCAA Champ: San Diego St.
Big Sky Champ: Gonzaga
At-Large: Hawaii
Oregon and Saint Mary's get byes to the regional semi-finals. Everyone else plays in the first round.
What's the home-court/neutral-court setup for these games?
ReplyDeleteAll games played on neutral courts. First round games played in Raleigh, Dayton, Kansas City,and Provo. Regionals played in Philly, Louisville, Chicago, and Anaheim.
ReplyDeleteFirst round in the MidEast (in Dayton):
ReplyDeleteXavier 86, Ohio 85 (OT)
Miami (Fla.) 70, MTSU 68
First Round in the East (Raleigh):
ReplyDeleteVillanova 75, Yale 70
W. Virginia 76, William & Mary 64
Seton Hall 86, St. Joseph's 68
First Round in the Midwest (Kansas City):
ReplyDeleteTexas A & M 85, Stephen F. Austin 83
Cincinnati 85, Tulsa 74
First Round in the West (Provo, Utah):
ReplyDeleteHawaii 79, Arizona 70
Gonzaga 74, San Diego St. 64
Mideast Regionals (in Louisville):
ReplyDeleteKentucky 71, Xavier 66
Michigan St. 80, Miami (Fla.) 66
Michigan St. 86, Kentucky 77
Ulis had 25 points, but Murray was 2-11 from the field and finished with only 8 points.
DeleteEast Regionals (in Philadelphia):
ReplyDeleteN. Carolina 72, Seton Hall 63
Villanova 81, W. Virginia 76
N. Carolina 91, Villanova 73
(I treated the Villanova games as neutral-court games, even though they were in Philly. I didn't think Nova would have much of an advantage in the tournament.)
Midwest Regionals (in Chicago):
ReplyDeleteCincinnati 91, Kansas 82
Texas A & M 75, Wichita St. 62
Texas A & M 66, Cincinnati 53
West Regionals (in Anaheim):
ReplyDeleteHawaii 92, Oregon 90
Saint Mary's 77, Gonzaga 67
Saint Mary's 82, Hawaii 71
Poor old Saint Mary's didn't even get into the real tournament.
So that's your Final Four:
ReplyDeleteN. Carolina v. Michigan St.
Texas A & M v. Saint Mary's
I can really see why the NCAA changed how they put together the tournament. There just aren't enough good teams out west, and there are way too many good teams in the east.
ReplyDeleteI'm for Texas A&M and Rick Stansbury.
ReplyDeleteYou're going to be disappointed, because I'm not going to play it out. It's bad enough having to watch UNC win in real life.
DeleteBut I am really, really happy we don't have this system any more. Last year, under this system, we would have had to beat Notre Dame, Wisconsin, and Duke just to reach the national title game.
No, that's fine. Texas A&M won!
DeleteThey ran the tournament like this from 1956 until 1974. Kentucky made it to the Final Four only twice: in 1958 and 1966.
Delete1956 Regional Final: Iowa 89, Kentucky 77
1957 Regional Final: Michigan St. 80, Kentucky 68
1958: NATIONAL CHAMPIONS
1959 Regional Semi-Final: Louisville 76, Kentucky 61
1960: Did not qualify
1961 Regional Final: Ohio St. 87, Kentucky 74
1962 Regional Final: Ohio St. 74, Kentucky 64
1963: Did not qualify
1964 Regional Semi-Final: Ohio 85, Kentucky 69
1965: Did not qualify
1966: NATIONAL RUNNERS-UP
1967: Did not qualify
1968 Regional Final: Ohio St. 82, Kentucky 81
1969 Regional Semi-Final: Marquette 81, Kentucky 74
1970 Regional Final: Jacksonville 106, Kentucky 100
1971 Regional Semi-Final: W. Kentucky 107, Kentucky 83
1972 Regional Final: Florida St. 73, Kentucky 54
1973 Regional Final: Indiana 72, Kentucky 65
1974: Did not qualify
The next year, 1975, they changed the tournament -- expanding it to 32 teams. UK went to the Finals.
DeleteI plan to do another tournament this coming weekend, the U.S. Department of College Basketball Tournament.
ReplyDelete