I was at Madison Square Garden when we played UConn during their Natty year in 2014.
That was bad enough.
Although the Michigan State/Virginia fans were all rooting for us.
One of the great single games by a Cyclone. Dustin Hogue.
Bracketology 2024
- Thread starter CoachHines3
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That was bad enough.
Although the Michigan State/Virginia fans were all rooting for us.
One of the great single games by a Cyclone. Dustin Hogue.
Just because ISU gets a good geographic regional draw doesn't mean they will automatically move along (2016 and 2022 for example).
My point is that ISU in the Elite 8 vs. ANY team in ANY venue works for me, as we have only seen that one time in the Modern Era (2000).
I'll allow it!
@brentblum @ChrisMWilliams
This was discussed on Sunday's podcast. Here is how it lays out currently. Note the situation with Baylor as it relates to Memphis (closest) and Omaha (2nd):
First weekend assignments based on the Saturday reveal would shake out as follows. If BU is above Bama, BU goes to Memphis, Bama goes to Pittsburgh, ISU goes to Omaha. If ISU gets ahead of BU, ISU goes to Omaha. And ISU needs to stay ahead of Wisconsin as well to get to Omaha. This is all assuming ISU is amongst the Top 16 on Selection Sunday.
Purdue - Indy
UConn - Brooklyn
Houston - Memphis
Arizona - SLC
North Carolina - Charlotte
Tennessee - Charlotte
Marquette - Indy
Kansas - Omaha
Alabama - Memphis
Baylor - Omaha
Iowa State - Pittsburgh
Duke - Pittsburgh
Auburn - Brooklyn
San Diego St - SLC
Illinois - Spokane
Wisconsin - Spokane
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Just because ISU gets a good geographic regional draw doesn't mean they will automatically move along (2016 and 2022 for example).
My point is that ISU in the Elite 8 vs. ANY team in ANY venue works for me, as we have only seen that one time in the Modern Era (2000).
I'll allow it!
I mean I get all of that but my point still stands. UCONN would be the worst draw for us.
With Houston still having to play Kansas and Baylor, ISU is in a tricky situation where we want Houston to win those games to help our chances at getting Omaha but want KU/Baylor to win those games to help our chances at a Big 12 regular season title. Of course, that all becomes much easier if we somehow just pull off the win vs. Houston tonight.
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Honestly, if we can find a way to win tonight anything else is gravy. We need Baylor to lose a couple.
Winning or sharing the B12 title trumps everything else, even if it somehow would cost ISU the first weekend at Omaha.
I see three avenues to Omaha currently.
1.) Beat Houston tonight and finish strong so we lock down two seed ahead of Kansas and/or Baylor
2.) Lose tonight but still finish strong. Houston beats Kansas and/or Baylor so it’s a wash. Baylor and/or KU stumble once or twice more
3.) Alabama stumbles down the stretch so Baylor secures Memphis ahead of them (Memphis is 200 miles closer than Omaha to Waco). Need to root against Bama
I don’t think we need to worry about Wisconsin stealing Omaha, they’re probably 6 or 7 spots behind us on the S curve now. Marquette is probably locked into Indy at this point.
Illinois could be a dark horse to steal Omaha, but Omaha is fourth in their pecking order behind Indy, Memphis, and Pittsburgh. They’d also need to jump quite a few spots in the S Curve and I doubt they have enough quality win opportunities to be able to do that..
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Why in the heck is the SEC getting any love. Can anyone explain Auburn & Alabama's high NET ranking.
- Alabama (18-7)
- NET Rank: 5
- Quad 1: 2-6
- Record against NET Top 25 (as of 2/18): 2-4
- Win: #7 Auburn
- Losses: #2 Purdue, @ #13 Creighton, #3 Arizona, @ #6 Tennessee
- Auburn (20-6)
- NET Rank: 7
- Quad 1: 2-5
- Record against NET Top 25 (as of 2/18): 1-3
- Win: #5 Alabama
- Loss: #11 Baylor, @ #5 Alabama, #22 Kentucky
So be it! It's still an ELITE 8 problem, and playing in the Elite 8 is tough for all teams on a good day. I would still take a guarantee of ISU playing UConn @ Boston in the Elite 8 right now - if I could snap my fingers and make it happen. That would be a GREAT day of opportunity for ISU MBB.
FWIW, UConn could also lose and open up that door for ISU as a #2 or #3 seed in the East. I'm not worried about a potential Elite 8 match with UConn @ Boston at all, as getting there in the first place is hard enough (and far from a given) + in order to be the best, a team is going to have to face the best anyway.
Let's Go State!
Baylor will be an underdog in 4 of their remaining 6 games
My take on this for a while now has been that the NET formula (they won't actually release it) is really heavily weighted to offensive and defensive efficiency ratings and less weighted to Quad records. Without looking, I would suspect Alabama is # 1 (or close to it) in offensive efficiency. Just my take.
Years past I was always looking at the brackets dreading we'd get stuck playing a certain team. Not this one. I think we have the talent and depth to beat anyone. Not saying we're the best team every night, but the pieces are there to go toe to toe with anyone. This may not be the best starting 5 we've had which is arguable, but it's definitely the deepest ISU team I've seen.
Yes. If ISU wins B12 reg season, we're going to Omaha (barring some combination of unlikely factors).
With the exception of UCONN I am fine with who ever the committee put's in ISU's bracket. This team forces other teams to play the style they want and the pressure perimeter defense is hard for any team to be ready for especially the first time they see it.
ISU is the team that other fanbases are worried will be in their bracket and drawing early. It is a great to be feared as we move closer to March.
Fran's Iowa teams showed for a few years how much NET loves offensive efficiency. Ultimately though, those Q1a, Q1b, Q2a and Q2b wins will matter though. Bama and Auburn are both getting a lot of mileage out of a bunch of soft Q2 wins.
Holy cow, their remaining schedule is brutal...they could easily lose 4-5 of those games.
I don't want to see Zona or Purdue either, but if this team's reaching it's potential it's going to have to run through a school like that eventually. If we're worthy comes selection weekend we won't see them anyway. They'll be east and we'll be in the midwest.