2017-18 Bracketology

MSU is team 10.

Michigan is team 11.

It is complicated stuff. I don’t know where we belong. We have some bad losses. I just don’t understand how MSU would be ahead of us with their lack of quality wins.

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There is a rooting guide on mgoblog in the diaries section. Don’t know how accurate it is.

Last year was an odd situation. To be a 7 seed with a 24-11 record isn’t necessarily an injustice, in itself, but it looked harsh in comparison to Minnesota (5 seed) and MSU (9 seed). Those two never made sense.

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Yes you are correct. I think 7 was what most were expecting, but I do remember being mad in the aftermath that the committee had not watched the Big Ten play all year, apparently.

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Problem last year was Michigan was a 20-11 bubble-ish team heading into selection Sunday. The committee does the S-Curve a couple days prior (with a few contingencies) so M did not get the full benefit of rising in the ranks.

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Ah thanks for confirming.

I agree, I honestly don’t care if it’s a 3 or 4 as long as MSU is behind Michigan. I would love for anybody to give a reason why they should be ranked ahead on the S curve.

It seems like every bracket that has us as the 3 seed has us playing Duke in S16. I’d much rather be a 4 against KU or X.

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This article provides decent insight. Basically our bad losses are the reason.

It’s really just Northwestern that’s a bad loss, right? LSU isn’t great or anything but it’s not that big of a blemish, is it?

Northwestern’s tank job is frustrating. As if we didn’t have enough reasons to be annoyed at Chris Collins.

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NW, LSU and Neb are all below the Kenpom 50 line.

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My thing is plenty of teams have bad losses, hell look at UNC. I understand UNC is propped up by their best SOS and number of Q1 wins, but that’s exactly my point. We’re not comparing Michigan to UNC, we’re comparing them to MSU and not just comparing bad losses. Michigan has more Q1 wins, a tougher schedule, better RPI, etc. It should mitigate that loss in my opinion.

Heck, if conference record doesn’t mean anything than you can’t prop up MSU for winning the Big Ten with the 13th best conference schedule.

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Here you go. The Team Sheets kind of tell the story why everyone has MSU as a lower seed. I personally think the NCAA sticks to their guns and makes them a 4. Half of their team sheet is worse than ours, but when you use other metrics it is better than ours. Flip a coin.

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A complete list of the Jerry Palm top 44 teams that have a losing record against quadrant 1 teams and also played 21 or more quad3 and quad 4 games:

1
2 MSU
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11

3 of the 4 projected 12 seeds do not even meet both of these criteria.

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What sort of teams do you guys want to avoid in the tourney? Not even specific teams, but what would be the worst sort of matchup for Michigan?

South Dakota State. Mike Daum is a matchup nightmare and destined to become a name in March. He’ll be an NBA player for sure. Imagine if Beilein could magically create the perfect 4 for his system…It’s Mike Daum.

Teams that play multiple defenses or primarily zone.

Teams that have an athletic post scorer that could get Moe in foul trouble.

Teams that have size at the guard positions and can switch everything.

Basically Duke.

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Such a good question…first it was teams that play a good zone (and that still might be my answer). Then it was teams that switch everything. Then it was teams with premier talent (i.e. Miles Bridges).

But honestly, I’m not sure that anyone presents a truly bad matchup for us. At least not a style that we haven’t seen and learned to counter…

I would say a team like Purdue - very good post player plus elite shooting - but we (and others) seem to have figured out a plan to stop them - let Haas get his, make sure their shooters are forcing contested shots.

I guess I would have to say a team like us. Very good defensive team, solid shooting team. Without looking at numbers, I’d say probably Virginia, Wichita St or Nova. Or a supremely talented team like Duke.

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I don’t fear a particular team, but I do fear someone like him

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Is that the ref from (at least) the Iowa game last week?