Quote:
Originally posted by LDUB
I don't think Maryland should even be in the NCAA tournament. I know everyone will say they won the ACC so they are in. But the won the ACC tournament. Any middle of the road team with a little bit of luck will has a chance at winning a tournament.
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LDUB, kindly explain how on earth MD does not belong in a 64 team field. And while you at it, please summarize the drug testing policies of your current employer - they may be very relevant to this discussion.
Maryland beat Wisconsin, the Big Ten champ. They beat Florida at Florida, when Florida was ranked
#1. They beat Duke once, NC state twice (including at NC St), they beat Wake, G tech, UNC. They lost 2 non-conference games in a schedule that included 4 tournament teams. All year, they did not lose any games to teams that are out of the post-season. Their RPI is 18 (probably represents some ACC bias), which would justfiy a solid 5 seed, but you can easily go 1 up or 1 down from your RPI (that means 4 or 6 for the mathmatically challenged among you - there appear to be many out there who lack basic computation skills), based on where the committee finds it best to place you without shaking the overall bracket too much.
I can see an argument against MD being a 4 - I agree that it is a stretch at best. Even the committee chair admitted that the 4 move for MD was based on convenience as well as their win - the brackets worked better for some reason if they did this (maybe because they keep WI at home, a huge advantage compared to being a 4 seed on the road or neutral). Based on the tournaments I have seen, there is a lot of danger for 4 and 6 seeds in the tourney, and it is hard to say who has the easier path sometimes, especailly when you are talking different regions.
I cannot believe that a Big Ten guy like me feels compelled to defend the ACC against the total insanity that passes for debate on this board. I would love for the Big Ten to have put forward some sort of credible product that would justify defending its honor. Unfortunately, this year it did not. It stunk. Deal with it - I realized it months ago and have moped ever since.