What If - Sweet 16 and Title Chance or Final 4

[Jeremy]

There are several ways I thought about posting this and what options to use, but settled on this.

Which would you pick and why?

1 - Guaranteed spot in the Final 4 that would end in a loss.
2 - Guaranteed spot in the Sweet 16 with no predetermined outcome on win/loss going forward.

 

[JP4CY]

Final Four loss 1000000000000000%

You've made it to the last weekend.

 

[goody2012]

Final Four loss 1000000000000000%

You've made it to the last weekend.

Sweet 16. If you ain't first, you're last.

 

[coolerifyoudid]

I want one Final Four first. After that, give me option #2

(please ignore any possible edits to this post on April 6th)

 

[JM4CY]

All depends on if the ass holes finally let Omaha play or not.

 

[Gunnerclone]

I’m not getting all the way to the Final Four to have a guaranteed loss. That’s ridiculous.

 

[JP4CY]

I want one Final Four first. After that, give me option #2

That's a huge reason for me as well.

 

[Jeremy]

I knew this would have some wildly different opinions. Helps keep me to stop obsessing over last night's devastation.

 

[Gunnerclone]

That's a huge reason for me as well.

I know UCONN won last year. I can’t name all of the Final 4 off the top of my head.

 

[chuckd4735]

With this team, I'd take the guaranteed Sweet 16.

 

[JP4CY]

I know UCONN won last year. I can’t name all of the Final 4 off the top of my head.

Stop doing so many whippets.

 

[WhatchaGonnaDo]

The way this staff would turn a F4 appearance into recruiting wins...easy answer

 

[cytor]

Is this for the NIT? Asking for Fran.

 

[alarson]

I think you have to take the final 4 loss

Not just strictly from an odds perspective (making the sweet 16 your chance of making a final 4 is what, 25%? And less to get farther?), but I think it would mean a lot for the program to get there and also to end the drought of E8\Final 4 appearances, since we're kind of on the upper end of those droughts compared to many of our conference peers.

 

[Clone95]

I took the guaranteed Final 4. Just think of the hype for 2024-25 with the guys we have returning, and also think of who may decide to return, based on wanting to come back and be in the title conversation all season.

 

[Spam]

Sweet 16. Once you are in the Sweet 16, anything is possible. Sky is the limit.

 

[KennyPratt42]

If I was a fan of Houston, UConn, or Purdue this year I would take the Sweet 16 option. For everyone else, including us, the Final 4 option seems pretty clear cut. For any 2, 3, or 4 seed type team the odds of making the Championship game is a single digit percentage.

 

[Cyclonepride]

I know UCONN won last year. I can’t name all of the Final 4 off the top of my head.

I can't either, though my memory is usually jogged when announcers are talking about teams that did, because they usually mention it.

 

[coolerifyoudid]

I’m not getting all the way to the Final Four to have a guaranteed loss. That’s ridiculous.

Like getting Scarlett Johansson to come over at 3AM and getting friend-zoned, huh

 

[Jeremy]

I concur (hesitantly) with the Final 4 option.

1 - It's a huge validation of TJ's philosophy (for those stupid remaining doubters).
2 - It's massive for recruiting, especially with our NIL struggles.
3 - It demonstrates that if we can get to a Final 4 with the current roster, the future is incredibly bright.
4 - We've done the Sweet 16 and the odds from there get so much tougher.