I have to admit, the Tourney rarely disappoints!!

[recruitsreadtheseboards]

+ a 15 over a 2!! Kentucky down and out. Another sign how the one and dones just aren't working.

+Not just one, but two 12 seeds over 5's. Happens every year. Anyone who plays brackets knows they have to at least select one of these upsets.

+ An 11 over a 6 seed, but honestly Michigan as an 11, this hardly qualifies as an upset.

+ the two 13 seeds gave UCLA and Arkansas all they could handle.

+ Alot of good games, enough to turn away from blowouts.

+ The ND/Rutgers play in game was epic.

 

[wbrpanther]

+ a 15 over a 2!! Kentucky down and out. Another sign how the one and dones just aren't working.

+Not just one, but two 12 seeds over 5's. Happens every year. Anyone who plays brackets knows they have to at least select one of these upsets.

+ An 11 over a 6 seed, but honestly Michigan as an 11, this hardly qualifies as an upset.

+ the two 13 seeds gave UCLA and Arkansas all they could handle.

+ Alot of good games, enough to turn away from blowouts.

+ The ND/Rutgers play in game was epic.

I watched more hoops last night than I have all year, outside of the Panthers. Some great games involving lower seeded teams in upsets. Lotsa fun.

 

[TheSpecialSauce]

The best sporting event IMO. It never disappoints and provides the most unexpected drama.

 

[TheWerewolfFromTwilight]

It's fantastic and obviously never going away.

But in some ways... in a sport where anybody can beat anybody (within reason) if they're shooting well enough, I don't know how "fair" a single-elimination tournament really is, so perhaps the drama is systemically manufactured just a smidgen.

But I still think it's pretty great, and - as it's now been woven into our society - certainly here to stay. Basketball isn't my favorite sport, but the first weekend of the tournament is still about as good as it gets.

 

[Joe the Panther Fan]

I don't know how "fair" a single-elimination tournament really is

Single elimination tournaments are never really "fair", but what's the alternative?

 

[TheWerewolfFromTwilight]

Single elimination tournaments are never really "fair", but what's the alternative?

There are 1,001 alternatives; they just wouldn't look anything like people have grown accustomed to seeing. I'm not advocating for them or anything. If you really wanted to, you could make it a game of haves and have-nots and find a way to have eight teams play in a best of 3 or best of 5 tournament or something.

 

[recruitsreadtheseboards]

We need to get past this new thing that has to make everything "fair". Life is not fair.

 

[Ski11585]

I can't tell if this is good defense or bad offense in the Loyola-OSU game, but at least it's high energy.

 

[upj87]

+ a 15 over a 2!! Kentucky down and out. Another sign how the one and dones just aren't working.

+Not just one, but two 12 seeds over 5's. Happens every year. Anyone who plays brackets knows they have to at least select one of these upsets.

+ An 11 over a 6 seed, but honestly Michigan as an 11, this hardly qualifies as an upset.

+ the two 13 seeds gave UCLA and Arkansas all they could handle.

+ Alot of good games, enough to turn away from blowouts.

+ The ND/Rutgers play in game was epic.

but when it does you must be a Marquette fan...

 

[Joe the Panther Fan]

There are 1,001 alternatives; they just wouldn't look anything like people have grown accustomed to seeing. I'm not advocating for them or anything. If you really wanted to, you could make it a game of haves and have-nots and find a way to have eight teams play in a best of 3 or best of 5 tournament or something.

OK, maybe I should have said "realistic" alternative, because there is a 0.0000000% chance that something like that would ever happen.

And even then, best of three certainly isn't "fair" either. And neither is best of 5 really. In either case the sample size is simply too small to reliably split the difference between between two teams that are 55-45 or 60-40 in a "fair" system.

 

[TheWerewolfFromTwilight]

OK, maybe I should have said "realistic" alternative, because there is a 0.0000000% chance that something like that would ever happen.

And even then, best of three certainly isn't "fair" either. And neither is best of 5 really. In either case the sample size is simply too small to reliably split the difference between between two teams that are 55-45 or 60-40 in a "fair" system.

I mentioned it would never happen initially. To be clear, I'm also absolutely fine with the current system.

But if you don't think Kentucky would have beat St. Peter's in a best of 3, much less a best of 5, then we strongly disagree. Obviously things aren't always going to be chalk, but it would certainly eliminate some of these David-over-Goliath outliers. They'd never happen in the first place, though, because you couldn't allow 68 teams into the field if you had to play that many games.

 

[tjb]

It’s much “worse” than most of our intuitions can conceive.

Imagine a two team baseball league, in which one team (let’s call them The Yankees) finished 89-73 and the other (let’s call them The Bucs) finishes, naturally, 73-89 - 16 games back.

If the World Series between those teams would be required to reach a statistically significant result (that is, 95 percent of the time, the best team wins), it would take a best-of-269 series. Even the 162-game season is not long enough to determine with 95 percent certainty that The Yankees are the better team.

 

[Joe the Panther Fan]

And if you don't think Kentucky would have beat St. Peter's in a best of 3, much less a best of 5, then we strongly disagree.

Well they almost certainly would. But how often would an 11 seed still beat a 6 (assuming that the NCAA actually got the seedings correct)? Or a 10 seed still beat a 7? Certainly way more often than if the system were somehow completely "fair".

 

[TheWerewolfFromTwilight]

Well they almost certainly would. But how often would an 11 seed still beat a 6 (assuming that the NCAA actually got the seedings correct)? Or a 10 seed still beat a 7? Certainly way more often than if the system were somehow completely "fair".

I've never suggested it would be bereft of upsets. That's assuming teams are even seeded correctly in the first place, given that they've often played completely different schedules, may have dealt with or benefited from injuries, etc. But the more games you play, the closer teams will perform to what the theoretical outcome "should" be. In the case of a 15 over a 2 or a 16 over a 1 (has only happened once, to my knowledge), I believe you would only have to go as far as the first team to two wins instead of the first team to one win.

It's also different from other sports in that certain teams wouldn't even have an opportunity to compete for a title in the first place. 16-seed UMBC over 1-seed Virginia wouldn't even be like the Lions beating the Rams in the playoffs this past year; it would be more like Alabama beating the Rams. That wouldn't even be a possibility in my sports' postseasons.

 

[recruitsreadtheseboards]

And then there is today.

ZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

 

[TheSpecialSauce]

And then there is today.

ZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

There is a full day of basketball. Patience.

I was outside all day enjoying this beautiful weather and now I’m going to settle into some basketball. The good games can commence now.

 

[recruitsreadtheseboards]

There is a full day of basketball. Patience.

I was outside all day enjoying this beautiful weather and now I’m going to settle into some basketball. The good games can commence now.

And they are

 

[pittchagg]

ACC looking good, and largely outperforming their seed (which should have been expected)

 

[recruitsreadtheseboards]

VT is getting smoked...... So the ACC will be 4-1

 

[NCanton Panther]

VT is getting smoked...... So the ACC will be 4-1

So you’re counting the Duke win already. Coach K won’t be pulling a Kentucky.

 

[NCanton Panther]

So you’re counting the Duke win already. Coach K won’t be pulling a Kentucky.

Check that, ND’s won twice so ACC has 4 already.

 

[Joe the Panther Fan]

I was outside all day enjoying this beautiful weather and now I’m going to settle into some basketball. The good games can commence now.

Oh, so it's your fault the early games were boring. Thanks a lot!

 

[TheSpecialSauce]

Illinois on Upset Alert

I predict Duke makes a good run. Final 4