# Championship Week Thread 2011



## bball2223

Championship Week is here! We are 8 days away from selection Sunday. As always this is the thread to discuss conference title games and track the automatic bids obtained from the conference tournaments. 

Automatic Bids:

ACC:
American East:
Atlantic 10:
Atlantic Sun: Belmont
Big 12:
Big East:
Big Sky:
Big South: UNC-Asheville
Big Ten:
Big West:
Colonial: Old Dominion
C-USA:
Great West (No Auto Bid):
Horizon:
Ivy:
MAAC: St. Peters
MAC:
MEAC:
Missouri Valley: Indiana State
Mountain West:
NEC:
Ohio Valley: Morehead State
Pac-10:
Patriot:
SEC:
Southern: Wofford
Southland:
Summit:
Sun Belt:
SWAC:
WAC:
WCC: Gonzaga


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## bball2223

First automatic bid this year is UNC-Asheville who won the Big South conference tournament.


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## bball2223

Other bids to be awarded tonight:

Atlantic Sun: Belmont vs North Florida
Ohio Valley: Tennessee Tech vs. Morehead State


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## bball2223

Belmont wins the Atlantic-Sun conference final over North Florida 87-46.


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## HB

UNC ACC outright winners. See you in the tourney


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## bball2223

^^^Yeah buddy


Morehead State gains the Ohio Valley Auto-Bid with a 80-73 win. Watch out for Kenneth Faried from Morehead State, one of the best big guys in college basketball.


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## apelman42

Milwaukee looks like a serious bubble buster on Tuesday night.


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## apelman42

Can a mod please open the 'Conference & NCAA Tournament' forum?

Thanks


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## bball2223

Ohio State with a 28 point thrashing of Wisconsin. Jordan Taylor only had 8 points. Jon Diebler is 17-20 from 3 point land in his last 2 games. Absolute best shooter in the country.


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## Nimreitz

Diebler has never scored in double figures against Wisconsin, so it looks like he decided to make up for being ass on senior night. Sucks to lose by such a huge margin, but Sullinger is unguardable and tOSU set an NCAA record for three point shooting. It happens. More concerned that Taylor never looked to take over, but then again maybe that is the deciding factor for him not testing the waters this summer.


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## SheriffKilla

Ohio State is the best team in the NCAAs this year, imo. The only ones that could beat them in a 7 game series is Duke with Kyrie Irving.
Of course the tournament is one game elimination but Buckeyes have got to be the favorites.

As far as conference tourneys, Belmont is really impressive, they are going to make some noise in the NCAAs


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## Nimreitz

Yeah there are a few very under the radar teams that can make some real noise. Belmont, Utah State, George Mason, maybe UNLV. Usually when mid-majors are doing as well as this people are talking about them, but not this year. I think SDSU and BYU have stolen all the mid-major face time.


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## bball2223

Indiana State wins the Missouri Valley tournament.


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## croco

bball2223 said:


> Ohio State with a 28 point thrashing of Wisconsin. Jordan Taylor only had 8 points. Jon Diebler is 17-20 from 3 point land in his last 2 games. Absolute best shooter in the country.


They made Wisconsin look like an average team, I actually think Ohio State is living up to that No. 1 status and can be considered prohibitive favorites. Teams will only have a chance if you have enough size to battle Sullinger inside, it almost didn't matter how many guys Wisconsin threw at him. Their versatility is what separates them from almost everyone else.


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## Nimreitz

Wisconsin's glaring weakness is that we're not a good defensive team. After last night we finish the regular season at the 70th best defensive team in the country according to kenpom. When we're going against a team that is good offensively, unless we're just making everything it's not going to matter what we do. We still went for 1.12 points per possession on the road at Ohio State, which is really pretty good. Bad defense (a serious problem) and record breaking lights out shooting (not so serious a problem; we would have probably lost any game this year if the opponent made 14/15 from behind the arc) made this one a blowout.

The teams that will give Wisconsin trouble are: Ohio State, Kansas, Duke, and Pitt. If we avoid those 4 teams we could make a run, but I just don't see us knocking off either one under any circumstances. Anyone else we can.

And holy ****, Purdue is up to #4 in the kenpom rankings? WOW!


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## croco

Yeah, I don't know how many times it was mentioned during the broadcast that Wisconsin had not allowed more than 70 points all year. The notion that Wisconsin is stellar on defense might be the biggest misconception in all of college basketball right now. You have to adjust for pace, that is even more apparent and necessary when you get 35 seconds per possession. Wisconsin plays so incredibly slow that the raw totals are misleading. For a team that is so efficient offensively, they are downright awful defensively compared to other teams who have won as many games.


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## bball2223

St. Peters wins the MAAC tournament, while Old Dominion wins the Colonial. So Con and WCC finals to be played tonight as well.


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## bball2223

Wofford won the SoCon, Gonzaga won the WCC finals tonight.


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## Rather Unique

apelman42 said:


> Can a mod please open the 'Conference & NCAA Tournament' forum?
> 
> Thanks


this.


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## JuniorNoboa

Villanova is brutal. They got enough quality wins in OOC and first half of Big East schedule to get in, but they deserve an awful seed - 10 or so.


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## JuniorNoboa

RPI #162 South Florida has knocked off Villanova - they were down 16 at the half.


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## EpicFailGuy

JuniorNoboa said:


> RPI #162 South Florida has knocked off Villanova - they were down 16 at the half.


Is it possible to leave a ranked team out of the NCAA Tournament? Villanova has no business in the Tourney at this point.


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## FSH

JuniorNoboa said:


> Villanova is brutal. They got enough quality wins in OOC and first half of Big East schedule to get in, but they deserve an awful seed - 10 or so.


I dont think Nova gets in and really they dont deserve it...And beating Temple,Penn and UCLA OOC i pretty sure wont get them in


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## FSH

BustedDreams49 said:


> Is it possible to leave a ranked team out of the NCAA Tournament? Villanova has no business in the Tourney at this point.


Nova isnt ranked


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## JuniorNoboa

FSH said:


> I dont think Nova gets in and really they dont deserve it...And beating Temple,Penn and UCLA OOC i pretty sure wont get them in


You need to have 68 teams in the tourney. Alot of bubble teams do not have the OOC resumes that Nova has. The thing is you have to have some teams that are .500 in Power Conferences to fill this crappy field up. And your going to take the team from the Big East who has won at Syracuse, and beat West Virginia, Lousivlle and Cincy.

That being said, I am sure 6,7, or 8 seeds are hoping to be matched up against them in the first round.

Quite a few bubble teams would have went 0-4 or 1-3 down the stretch before tonight. Their schedule to end the year was brutal.... of course they would not have lost tonight.


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## Rather Unique

BustedDreams49 said:


> Is it possible to leave a ranked team out of the NCAA Tournament? *Villanova has no business in the Tourney at this point.*


Body of work. they're a lock but damn have they been terrible lately...


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## Bubbles

Rutgers just got ****ed over big time by the refs. Down by two with 4.9 seconds, Rutgers tosses it down the court, turnover, then player from St. Johns traveled with the ball, stepped out of bounds at 1.7 seconds, and then tossed the ball into the rafters. Refs just stopped officiating at that point. Just awful. I hope this gets reviewed.


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## Rather Unique

Quite Frankly said:


> Rutgers just got ****ed over big time by the refs. Down by two with 4.9 seconds, Rutgers tosses it down the court, turnover, then player from St. Johns traveled with the ball, stepped out of bounds at 1.7 seconds, and then tossed the ball into the rafters. Refs just stopped officiating at that point. Just awful. I hope this gets reviewed.


Rutgers got ****ed indeed, that was just pathetic officiating down in crunch time, and it wasn't only the series of events you mentioned. DJ Kennedy clearly fouled Rutgers PG on his attempt their previous offensive possession, and then right after they blew an obvious over the back...Frischilla was even talking about it. Then that whole debacle happened. Horrendous...****in Tim Higgins.


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## HB

LOL at Colorado not even playing defense on that possession.


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## apelman42

ESPN coming up gold again with their theme song for the Big East tournament, it's been in my head since Tuesday.


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## croco

UConn is a pretty good team when Napier is playing well.


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## croco

Pitt/UConn tied at 69 with 3:39 to go


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## bball2223

Napier/Lamb are going to be a great combo in the future. Oriakhi will only add to it if he consistently rebounds like he is capable of.


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## bball2223

74-71 UConn with a minute to go. Big offensive board and putback by Oriakhi.


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## bball2223

Ashton Gibbs playing out of his mind. Career high 27 so far today and the game tying 3 with 47 seconds to go.


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## bball2223

Kemba Walker with the step back game winner. What a shot and what a game.


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## croco

WOW! That was cold blooded.


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## apelman42

Kemba taking over like he did in Maui.


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## Rather Unique

****!! Again we get screwed on the switch late in a game...when are you going to learn Jamie Dixon! He's a fantastic coach but his stubborness has cost us 2 games with this bull****. JN you think PITT holds on to that 1 seed? 

I miss the days when we used to run MSG :sad:

Happy for Kemba tho, that dude is the man.


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## SheriffKilla

uab just lost
that probably means they are done


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## Rather Unique

Welcome to college basketball Fab Melo. Dude has been HUGE down the stretch for Cuse today!!


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## croco

Ohio State just barely escaped Northwestern in OT. Once the game went into OT and some players fouled out, they just threw it into the post to Sullinger every single time and let him go to work. Some coaches would never do that, but that's why you have guys like Sullinger. If that strategy is successful, why overthink?


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## HB

We dodged a bullet today, but they fought hard in the second half. Excellent work from the boys.


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## JuniorNoboa

Wow the Big East Refs are awesome. The worst ever call at the end of the game against Rutgers.

In tonights game, over the span of 10 minutes they managed to make the worst offensive charge call I have ever seen and one of the worst missed defensive basket interference calls I have ever seen.

DIRECTLY cost Syracuse four points. ****


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## HB

Ot!


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## JuniorNoboa

****ing Kemba did us in. What a performance - third game in three nights, and he still had amazing motor and played harder then anybody else out there. Depaul doesn't count as a game


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## JuniorNoboa

Friday of conference week is probably the day that has the most going on with respect to the bubble every single year.

No different today.

Colorado lost to Kansas - Can't fault them for the loss, but they would have loved the breathing room. They were in entering today, but the bubble has certainly tightened today.

Florida beat Tennessee - Florida is now 11-2 vs RPI Top 50 Teams. If they win the SEC Tournament they are a 2 seed (especially with Purdue sliding, and Syracuse not rising)

Penn St up 20-16 over Wisconin AT THE HALF. Nothing else to say on the game itself. But if Penn St wins no matter what the score, their bubble profile wlll improve alot.

USC down 3 at Arizona nearing the end of the first half. They need this game to get in, IMO.


Some people are saying Duke/UNC winner as a #1 seed, and both are progressing along . I'm not buying it. I still think those spots are reserved for Notre Dame and Pitt. I have no clue if Smith is hurt but if he is that would have to hurt their seed - make it a 3.

Michigan St wins by 18 in a totally unexpected result over Purdue. If there were any doubts about them, this locks it up. 

Michigan beats Illinois. Their RPI is up to 47, 4 top 50 wins (albeit 9 losses). However, they may get credit for hanging with Kansas and Ohio St earlier this year. They should be in. As I said its a big day for the Big Ten, espeically if Penn St can finish it off.


MOVING THIS TO MY OTHER THREAD.....


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## apelman42

JuniorNoboa said:


> Depaul doesn't count as a game


Haha


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## croco

36-33???


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## croco

I'm not sure yet whether I like the idea of adding Kerr to the broadcast. Nantz and Kellogg have very good chemistry and more than two announcers can also take away from the actual game at times.


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## HB

Kendall Marshall is just a freshman guys....just a freshman. Guy is putting his stamp on this game just like he did yesterday. With him and Barnes, the future is bright for the tar heels.


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## HB

OT baby! What a game

Harrison Barnes is a stud period (40pts 8rebs 1ast ACC Freshman record)

Gotta give it to Clemson, they have played an excellent ball game.


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## 36 Karat

Clemson did a great job of keeping it within grasp towards the end.. real impressed.


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## HKF

Florida has the talent to get to the Final Four. Their guards are good and so are their bigs.


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## HB

Lorenzo Romar' daughter is hot!


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## HB

Doug Johnson is going bonkers because of this Was-Ariz game.


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## bball2223

HKF said:


> Florida has the talent to get to the Final Four. Their guards are good and so are their bigs.


If Boynton, Walker and Tyus all come to play I could definitely see them making a run.


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## Jonathan Watters

HB said:


> Doug Johnson is going bonkers because of this Was-Ariz game.


GUS


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## HB

My bad, I ran three names in my head before settling on Doug. Yeah Gus Johnson is the one. The game is fun.


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## croco

In other news, Rick Barnes is now 0-6 in Big 12 Tournament Championship Games...


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## HB

Wow at this game. Clutch baskets galore. Its March madness baby!

Wow!!!! Isaiah just hits a cold blooded 3. Watch Espn tonight!


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## HB

Whoa I didnt know Kemba could dunk. The guy is pumped. Uconn is toying with Louisville right now.


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## HB

Peyton Siva is legit. Closing in on a triple double. Is it possible that he could be Kemba in 2 years time? Just as dynamic a scorer?


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## croco

Remarkable to win five games in five days. It will be very interesting to see if this run can translate into success in the tourney, they have thrived in the underdog role during the week and that most definitely won't be the case now.


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## croco

Wow... Strickland just had a ridiculous dunk over Singler that got waved off. Feels like Duke is already up by 20 points.


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## croco

Duke is getting good looks on almost every possession so far, UNC has been struggling to get any.


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## HKF

Duke is going to be a #1 seed and will get Notre Dame as the #2. Pitt/San Diego State will be paired up as the #1/#2 seed. I also feel that UNC is a firm #3.


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## JuniorNoboa

Your probably right HKF. This morning I hate Pitt ahead of Duke, and Duke as the last number one seed if they won today. But I remembered the EXACT same scenario last year when Duke leaped Syracuse on the one line. 

San Diego St is locked into Anaheim, as would be Pitt.


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## HB

Welp Duke has outplayed us today. They are the better team, with that said proud how far the team has come within the span of one season. Despite the adversity they faced going into the season, to be in the position says a lot about the coach and his team.


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