St. Mary's among the NCAA snubs

[sffanmike25]

Felt bad for St. Mary's, but they just fell on the wrong side of the numbers this time. Hopefully this serves notice to other schools that you have to book a strong non-conference slate, even if that takes going on the road a couple more times than you want to get a deal done.

With that out of the way...

Go Cats!

 

[sffanmike25]

I think both St. Mary's and San Diego St. were more deserving of Arizona. The problem with most mid-majors is that they can't get any of the big time schools to schedule a home-and-home series. For the most part, the big time programs just don't want to risk a loss to a mid-major.

If I were to tweak the criteria slightly, I would say that a team must be .500 team in their conference to qualify for the NCAA tournament. This year that would eliminate Maryland. Though I think they were more deserving than Arizona, I think teams should at least be .500 in conference.

Alex

Arizona played SDSU during the season and took home the victory. You figure Arizona would get the benefit of the doubt if they determined all other things to be relatively equal. St. Mary's is a tougher situation, losing their top guy for a stretch of time, but that was up to the committee.

 

[Brad]

For anyone saying Wisconsin didn't deserve to make it, you are wrong. They simply played a tougher schedule than St. Mary's.

St. Mary's had the 149th toughest schedule, Wisconsin had the 16th toughest schedule.

That right there is the reason St. Mary's is out and Wisconsin is in.

So for those who are all upset that St. Mary's got left out need to get over it, they didn't deserve it with the schedule they played.

It shouldn't just be strength of schedule but also how you did against that schedule. 26-6 against a lousy schedule is at least the 65th best season of any team in the nation.

News Flash; The top 65 teams do not make the tournament. The automatic bids gets teams who may not be as good in, so if you are not from a major conference, win yours so you leave no doubt.

 

[Wes]

For anyone saying Wisconsin didn't deserve to make it, you are wrong. They simply played a tougher schedule than St. Mary's.

St. Mary's had the 149th toughest schedule, Wisconsin had the 16th toughest schedule.

That right there is the reason St. Mary's is out and Wisconsin is in.

So for those who are all upset that St. Mary's got left out need to get over it, they didn't deserve it with the schedule they played.

It shouldn't just be strength of schedule but also how you did against that schedule. 26-6 against a lousy schedule is at least the 65th best season of any team in the nation.

News Flash; The top 65 teams do not make the tournament. The automatic bids gets teams who may not be as good in, so if you are not from a major conference, win yours so you leave no doubt.

No question - but there are NONautomatic bids that are in with worse - IMO - resumes than schools like St. Marys.

 

[aw00d05]

For anyone saying Wisconsin didn't deserve to make it, you are wrong. They simply played a tougher schedule than St. Mary's.

St. Mary's had the 149th toughest schedule, Wisconsin had the 16th toughest schedule.

That right there is the reason St. Mary's is out and Wisconsin is in.

So for those who are all upset that St. Mary's got left out need to get over it, they didn't deserve it with the schedule they played.

If they played who would win...St. Mary's would IMO...

 

[DRav87]

If they played who would win...St. Mary's would IMO...

No way would St. Mary's would beat Wisconsin or Arizona.

 

[Brad]

If they played who would win...St. Mary's would IMO...

Va Tech would beat St. Marys. They won at Wake and Clemson plus played UNC and Duke close. In everyone, except UNC fans eyes, Jeff Allen was hacked and it should have been a foul on Hansbrough or the 2 other guys around him instead of a jump ball so VT would be shooting 2, down 2 at the end of the second half. Against Duke, they were down 2 then Jon Scheyer took like 9 steps before getting a VERY questionable timeout rather than a traveling calling when Duke was up 2 late in the game. However, without either one of those wins, VT is not dancing again even though they are just as deserving as other teams and would beat St. Marys.

 

[Brad]

For anyone saying Wisconsin didn't deserve to make it, you are wrong. They simply played a tougher schedule than St. Mary's.

St. Mary's had the 149th toughest schedule, Wisconsin had the 16th toughest schedule.

That right there is the reason St. Mary's is out and Wisconsin is in.

So for those who are all upset that St. Mary's got left out need to get over it, they didn't deserve it with the schedule they played.

It shouldn't just be strength of schedule but also how you did against that schedule. 26-6 against a lousy schedule is at least the 65th best season of any team in the nation.

News Flash; The top 65 teams do not make the tournament. The automatic bids gets teams who may not be as good in, so if you are not from a major conference, win yours so you leave no doubt.

No question - but there are NONautomatic bids that are in with worse - IMO - resumes than schools like St. Marys.

Who then? And please list where their resume is better. You cannot say look at the record because winning at Oregon is nice, Oregon did not even get 10 wins this year. Southern Illinois was fifth in the Mizzou Valley so that is not too inspiring. Also, losing to Gonzaga 3 times including getting pounded in the last one does not inspire too much confidence

 

[DRav87]

Who then? And please list where their resume is better. You cannot say look at the record because winning at Oregon is nice, Oregon did not even get 10 wins this year. Southern Illinois was fifth in the Mizzou Valley so that is not too inspiring. Also, losing to Gonzaga 3 times including getting pounded in the last one does not inspire too much confidence

I agree, I would like you guys to show me where St. Mary's resume is better than Wisconsin's, Arizona's, Maryland's and any other team you guys keep complaining about.

I don't care if their record is 24-6 because I am pretty sure Wisconsin could have put up that record or even a better one with that schedule.

Wisconsin played Uconn, Texas, Marquette, Michigan State (Twice), Ohio State (Twice), Purdue (Twice), Michigan (Twice), Illinois (Twice), Minnesota (Twice) all of which are tournament teams. I wonder how St. Mary's would do against that schedule.

So feel free to show where St. Mary's resume is better then Wisconsin's and Arizona's.

 

[DRav87]

Where are all the Wisconsin haters now? :lol:

 

[Wes]

If you guys honestly don't think St. Mary's was one of the top 64 teams in the country you're nuts.

Here is the full list of the teams that St. Mary's is better than:

Morehead St.
N Dakota St.
Robert Morris
Chattanooga
Northern Iowa
Cornell
Northridge
E Tennessee St
Portland St
American
Binghamton
Radford
Akron
Stephen Austin
Morgan St.

 

[BGSRCGUY]

If you guys honestly don't think St. Mary's was one of the top 64 teams in the country you're nuts.

Here is the full list of the teams that St. Mary's is better than:

Morehead St.
N Dakota St.
Robert Morris
Chattanooga
Northern Iowa
Cornell
Northridge
E Tennessee St
Portland St
American
Binghamton
Radford
Akron
Stephen Austin
Morgan St.

Note 64 teams make it but only the top 32 teams in the country get at large berths, there are 32 automatic berths, many of them are on that list so your argument is very flawed. I can't think of many at larges to replace, maybe Wisconsin but they are showing they are worthy.

 

[Wes]

If you guys honestly don't think St. Mary's was one of the top 64 teams in the country you're nuts.

Here is the full list of the teams that St. Mary's is better than:

Morehead St.
N Dakota St.
Robert Morris
Chattanooga
Northern Iowa
Cornell
Northridge
E Tennessee St
Portland St
American
Binghamton
Radford
Akron
Stephen Austin
Morgan St.

Note 64 teams make it but only the top 32 teams in the country get at large berths, there are 32 automatic berths, many of them are on that list so your argument is very flawed. I can't think of many at larges to replace, maybe Wisconsin but they are showing they are worthy.

My argument is against the system and the automatic berths.

 

[Brad]

If you guys honestly don't think St. Mary's was one of the top 64 teams in the country you're nuts.

Here is the full list of the teams that St. Mary's is better than:

Morehead St.
N Dakota St.
Robert Morris
Chattanooga
Northern Iowa
Cornell
Northridge
E Tennessee St
Portland St
American
Binghamton
Radford
Akron
Stephen Austin
Morgan St.

You just don't get it. The top 65 teams DO NOT make the tourny. If you are from a weak conference, win it. N. Dakota State could probably beat St. Mary's especially with the way they played vs. Kansas. Davidson is clearly better than Chattanooga having beat them twice this year, but they did not win their conference and did not perform so well against good team OOC so they are SOL. St. Mary's probably is a top 65 team, but they were not a top 34 of the available teams.

 

[KandKCards]

If you guys honestly don't think St. Mary's was one of the top 64 teams in the country you're nuts.

Here is the full list of the teams that St. Mary's is better than:

Morehead St.
N Dakota St.
Robert Morris
Chattanooga
Northern Iowa
Cornell
Northridge
E Tennessee St
Portland St
American
Binghamton
Radford
Akron
Stephen Austin
Morgan St.

Note 64 teams make it but only the top 32 teams in the country get at large berths, there are 32 automatic berths, many of them are on that list so your argument is very flawed. I can't think of many at larges to replace, maybe Wisconsin but they are showing they are worthy.

My argument is against the system and the automatic berths.

I hate that argument. The committee has enough trouble filling 32 at large berths; the last 2 or so in were not worthy, and the first few out were even less worthy. That means #64 would probably be a miserable high major from the bottom of their conference, like Seton Hall. I would much rather watch matchups of teams that don't know each other well (example: Cleveland state vs. Wake) that yield close games rather than a bunch of crappy teams sneaking in.

 

[DRav87]

You guys that still say St. Mary's should be in make me laugh.

Lets see, St. Marys played no one their schedule was very weak (hence their record). Even with their weak schedule they failed to win their conference tournament. There is no way they should have been it.

 

[andyduke86]

Even some of the worst teams from the ACC and Big East would be better than Saint Mary's. Virginia Tech or Miami would crush St. Mary's. Georgia Tech is probably better than Saint Mary's. If these small schools from scrub conferences played with the big boys they would be the conference bottom feeders. Honestly, I'd like it if the tournament was comprised of every team from the ACC & Big East plus 6 or 7 from the other major conferences (Pac-10, Big 10, Big 12, SEC) and only the 5 or so best non-power conference teams. If you really went on who the 64 best teams were in the country, that's how it would play out.

 

[KandKCards]

Even some of the worst teams from the ACC and Big East would be better than Saint Mary's. Virginia Tech or Miami would crush St. Mary's. Georgia Tech is probably better than Saint Mary's. If these small schools from scrub conferences played with the big boys they would be the conference bottom feeders. Honestly, I'd like it if the tournament was comprised of every team from the ACC & Big East plus 6 or 7 from the other major conferences (Pac-10, Big 10, Big 12, SEC) and only the 5 or so best non-power conference teams. If you really went on who the 64 best teams were in the country, that's how it would play out.

That's not even remotely exciting though. The Big East plays the rest of the Big East all year; it would be dumb to have the tournament be a bunch more big east teams.
The thing that makes March Madness great is that teams get matched up against teams they aren't familiar with. If Cleveland state and Wake were in the same conference, Wake would never lose to them. But they don't know each other that well, and it totally changes the game. You're seeing the same thing in this OKST/Pitt game right now. Pitt hasn't played a long, athletic, outside-shooting team like this, and it's made all the difference, even though if they played 10 times, Pitt would probably win at least 8.