AAC in March Madness 2023

[tulaneoutlaw]

Good riddance you bunch of bums. Couldn't even make a final four run to help us on your way out.

I kind of kid. I know they had injuries. But they also played great against Auburn and had a weeks rest. All in all a very disappointing March for the AAC. Had a chance for Memphis to make a deep run like fau has. Had a #1 seed with a very clear path to the final 4. Finished with just 2 wins.

Oh and uconn looks like the team to beat. Boo.

[Baywave1]

Go owls!

[Baywave1]

Guerry has an interesting tweet that no defense oriented team with a haphazard offense made the quarterfinals. Another observation about potential caps on this style of coaching?

More likely it’s just a statistical anomaly but still interesting

Meanwhile go owls.

[waverider]

Also the first ever Elite 8 with no #1 seeds. If that defense stat means anything it is that we may be the 4th or 5th best team in the new conference even with Houston leaving.

[PeteRasche]

I can't wait to see the changes to the tourney the P5 will propose with only 3 teams making the Elite 8 and only two possible to make the final four..

[waverider]

Watching FAU and the two things they have that we don’t is size and offense. Without sounding like Yogi Berra, the teams advancing are the ones that just outscore their opponents.

[waverider]

FAU heads to the Final Four.

[waverider]

Per Chris Vannini

The triple crown is STILL alive for Conference USA

- FAU in the Final Four

- UAB and North Texas in the NIT semifinals

- Charlotte won the CBI

[waverider]

Oh and uconn looks like the team to beat. Boo.

UCONN currently up 80-47 with 3:11 left. Safe to say they are moving on.

[PeteRasche]

One of those articles this past week in the PAC realignment thread (don't remember which) postulated that if SMU leaves, the AAC would backfill with any of several teams, one of which was UConn. I read that and was like, uh.... you KNOW they just left the AAC, right?

[Baywave1]

One of those articles this past week in the PAC realignment thread (don't remember which) postulated that if SMU leaves, the AAC would backfill with any of several teams, one of which was UConn. I read that and was like, uh.... you KNOW they just left the AAC, right?

Hurley laid out the juju against his own team with his postgame comments about big East and the rest of college basketball. We’ll see next week

Maybe Big 12 backfills with UConn if 4 Corners stay put in PAC(That’s a joke but at least one 12-anon has promoted it. )

[tulaneoutlaw]

Oh and uconn looks like the team to beat. Boo.

UCONN currently up 80-47 with 3:11 left. Safe to say they are moving on.

It'll be a little bit of a disappointment after all the chaos of this tournament if uconn claims another title for the blue bloods. Not unlike 2007 football which after all kinds of upheaval ended with lsu winning the title. Yuck

[PeteRasche]

One sports guy tweeted yesterday about the P5 only having 3 in the elite 8 and I expected the comments to be P5 fans talking about schools getting lucky or about basketball not mattering or any of the usual tripe, but instead the backlash in the comments was all from Big East fans stating they were a power league and that it's 6 conferences in basketball. It wasn't worth trying to explain to them that the media regularly uses "P5" for basketball and the football bias continues to creep into everything else.

Hurley's comments after the game last night were truly appalling. What an *ss.

[tulaneoutlaw]

One sports guy tweeted yesterday about the P5 only having 3 in the elite 8 and I expected the comments to be P5 fans talking about schools getting lucky or about basketball not mattering or any of the usual tripe, but instead the backlash in the comments was all from Big East fans stating they were a power league and that it's 6 conferences in basketball. It wasn't worth trying to explain to them that the media regularly uses "P5" for basketball and the football bias continues to creep into everything else.

Hurley's comments after the game last night were truly appalling. What an *ss.

What did he say?

[PeteRasche]

What did he say?

Basically something to the effect of "everyone knows the Big East is the best conference in basketball. We struggled a little during conference play but now that we're back playing out of conference, it's much easier." It wasn't just the words but the arrogance in his voice when he said it.

They interviewed him today at halftime of the UT/UM game and baited him into the same topic. He said effectively the same thing again though in slightly "softer" words. But both times it wasn't like he was just trying to say the Big East is good, he was bluntly saying the teams they were playing in the tourney were nowhere near as good as the Big East.

[wavedom]

Here's the interview:

https://www.si.com/college/2023/03/26/u ... eclaration

[Roller]

What did he say?

Basically something to the effect of "everyone knows the Big East is the best conference in basketball. We struggled a little during conference play but now that we're back playing out of conference, it's much easier." It wasn't just the words but the arrogance in his voice when he said it.

They interviewed him today at halftime of the UT/UM game and baited him into the same topic. He said effectively the same thing again though in slightly "softer" words. But both times it wasn't like he was just trying to say the Big East is good, he was bluntly saying the teams they were playing in the tourney were nowhere near as good as the Big East.

SEC football coaches are the same way.

[ml wave]

Oh and uconn looks like the team to beat. Boo.

UCONN currently up 80-47 with 3:11 left. Safe to say they are moving on.

It'll be a little bit of a disappointment after all the chaos of this tournament if uconn claims another title for the blue bloods. Not unlike 2007 football which after all kinds of upheaval ended with lsu winning the title. Yuck

Duke winning the next 5 NCAA Tournaments wouldn't be as upsetting as 2007 was.

[Baywave1]

UConn is definitely interested in AAC membership for football only. It proposed that when it left and keeps asking for a football only invite. So it’s not absurd to see speculation connecting them to AAC again.

[tulaneoutlaw]

UConn is definitely interested in AAC membership for football only. It proposed that when it left and keeps asking for a football only invite. So it’s not absurd to see speculation connecting them to AAC again.

Would we care? Basketball is where they add value. Football doesn't add much in my mind.

[Baywave1]

That’s why they remain a football indy

[PeteRasche]

So the inevitable columns are coming out about how people hate having the underdogs in the tourney and ratings go down when underdogs win. And the media assumes it's because everyone wants to see the blue bloods (or in the case of the story here, wants to root against them). Did anyone even consider the thought that people watch when teams they have in their pools are playing, and most people pick the highest seeds? That every single year, hundreds of millions of people tune in ONLY because they have a vested (gambling) interest in the games, and keep watching as their high seeds they picked keep winning, but when they no longer have anything in the game, they don't bother watching? Nah, that makes too much sense (and is too harmful to the sparkling reputations of the big name brands).

https://www.si.com/extra-mustard/2023/0 ... tings-2023

[Baywave1]

Interesting point linking viewing to gambling. Obvious reply is why do they stop betting then? Is it because their favorite teams ain’t there no more?

Otherwise go Owls.

[PeteRasche]

Interesting point linking viewing to gambling. Obvious reply is why do they stop betting then? Is it because their favorite teams ain’t there no more?

Absolutely. I would bet a large number of Americans - more than the NCAA and the networks want to admit - don't watch any college hoops all year, but will watch during the tourney because they filled out brackets at work, school, with family, or with friends. (Same situation as the Super Bowl, you can't tell me those millions or billions of people were NFL fans all year, they're watching because it's a social event.) So all these "rookies" who filled out pools purely based on seeds and maybe some high-level knowledge of "who is good" overall are now without any teams left, and have already lost (or even won!) their pools, and just plain don't care. One thing I've learned is that sports fans, such as people on this forum, often tend to overestimate the amount of people out there who actually care about sports, or who will watch a game that doesn't involve "their" team. You tend to assume people are like you, ya know? Heck, I'm a basketball guy and I don't think I watched a second of last year's Final Four.

[TU77CAL82]

Of the six schools coming into the conference next year:

Charlotte won the CBI
North Texas and UAB will be playing in the NIT Title Game
FAU, of course, in the Final Four