Sunday, March 16, 2008

IU an 8 seed!

An 8 seed? Oh and not just an 8 seed, but the "worst" 8 seed since UNC was the top 1 seed. #32 overall. 25-7, 3rd in the B10 and you end up an 8 seed? IU finished ahead of MSU in the B10 regular season and split with MSU and MSU gets a 5 seed. IU beat Purdue and finished 1 game back of them in the regular season and Purdue gets a 6 seed. Hmmm... guess they truly do only look at your last few games instead of the whole season.

For fun, take a look at some other teams seeded ahead of IU. Tell me that West Virginia's schedule is tougher than IU. USC has 11 losses and is a #6. They also went 6-4 their last ten. #6 Oklahoma also had 11 losses, finished 9-7 in the B12 with a 28 point loss to Texas in their Tourney. But they did go 7-3 in their last ten... and 7-6 in their last 13.

No matter what you think of Joe Lunardi, he actually has this "bracketology" thing understood. He pretty much nails the seeding every year. Yet this year he missed pretty handily on a few teams:

Wisconsin - 2 seed from Lunardi, 3 seed from the NCAA
Duke - 3 seed from Lunardi, 2 seed from the NCAA
MSU - 5 seed from Lunardi, 5 seed from the NCAA
Purdue - 6 seed from Lunardi, 6 seed from the NCAA
IU - 5 seed from Lunardi, 8 seed from the NCAA
Butler - 5 seed from Lunardi, 7 seed from the NCAA

Looks like Wisconsin got booted in favor of Duke... who didn't win the ACC regular season or conf tourney like Wisconsin did in the B10. Granted Duke beat Bucky in Cameron, but that was back in early December.

IU was definitely penalized for their late season losses at MSU, at PSU and to Minny on that last second shot.

Purdue wasn't penalized for their late season loss at OSU and to Illinois.

MSU wasn't penalized for their losses at Iowa, at PSU, at Purdue, at Indiana, at OSU and to Wisky on Saturday. Guess that Exhibition loss to Grand Valley State wasn't factored in either.

And Butler got absolutely HOSED! A 7 seed? Are you kidding me? 29-3, Great Alaska Shootout winner, beat OSU, Outright Horizon League Champ, Horizon League Tourney Champ, ranked in the top 20 all year including being #10 in the last coaches poll. The only negative, a "Bracket buster" a last second loss to Drake in the worst officiated game of the year. Guess the Bracket Buster moniker is correct, cause that single loss absolutely busted their bracket.

What about Kansas State? 3rd in the B12 at 10-6 and they end up as an 11 seed? That really makes no sense. And Wisconsin has to face the winner of Kansas State vs USC as a 3 seed... ouch!

Go Hoosiers! Beat the Razorbacks!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I was a little surprised by the 8 seed, but not completely. I was thinking the loss to Minny would put them at a 7. But IU had many things going against it when it came to selection time.

A while back I read an article (sorry, don't remember where) by a sports writer who got to attend a selection committee "simulation" to see how the process actually works. Two of the things I remember being specifically mentioned were the importance of RPI and record against the top 50 teams (based on RPI). This is where IU really got hurt. They had a weak RPI and a horrible records vs. top 50 teams. Add to that their late-season collapse and I can see justifying an 8 seed.

Anonymous said...

They sure didn't show up today, regardless of where they were seeded. This entire seaason has ended with a bitter blow. Why did the administration decide they had to deal with the Samsom issue right before the tournaments? In my opinion they have no business being in the power seats at IU or any college. They have set the basketball program back years. Why didn't the AD go out right with Samson? He is the one who hired him. Sad day for IU basketball.

hoosierun said...

Sorry, in my haste to vent my frustration with their game tonight I misspelled Coach Sampson's name. Gasp!