Bracketology / Bubble Watch Thread (2016-17)

A loss to MSU tomorrow night would be crushing, but I agree. Even a win tomorrow and I think we are right back on the good side of the bubble. Gonna be a lot of flipping back and forth though I think

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Yeah definitely agree, put up or shut up game tomorrow. Even if they lose, thereā€™s still theoretically enough time to make a last effort run, but I couldnā€™t see that happening at all.

Itā€™d be real nice if they can get to 8, or at least 7 wins, going into the Purdue game. Those Northwestern and Nebraska game arenā€™t going to be bubble games anymore, which should help big time.

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Im not saying we make the tourney, and who would after Saturday, but three things we know about tomorrow:

  1. MSU isnā€™t that amazing

  2. We seem to always have a snap back game when we shoot ourselves in the foot a few times or the guys feel embarrassed about how poorly they played (as frustrating as this is)

  3. Its at Crisler which probably meant a lot more a few years go, but still is better than a neutral ct

Win tomorrow, win one of Purd/Wisc at home, and go 3-2 on the road where 3 are games we probably should win (complete mental letdowns not withstanding)ā€¦ 9-9 with conf tourney to come and a weak bubble.

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Have to win at least one of the next two to stay in the discussion, but not too bad a day for rooting against the bubble.

Very bubbly teams in Wake Forest, Clemson, Arkansas, Georgetown and Georgia lost.

Marquette losing is a wash. Iowa St also lost at Texas, but they would have to free fall after the KU win in Allen.

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I know we just eked out the Texas win, but I wish we wouldā€™ve gotten a chance against a tournament-bound Big 12 team. Their collective NCAA tournament performance suggests theyā€™re perpetually overrated (save Kansas), but that could be used to our advantage when it comes to selection committee counting statistics.

Semi-same note, but I donā€™t get those who have Wichita St or Illinois St in their projected at large field. Iā€™ll add theyā€™re both also overrated like the Big 12 (or at least on paper).

Yeah, at-large bids from teams who only play 3-4 games vs top 50 teams seems counter-intuitive, but I guess itā€™s just so much more fun when a mid-major team pulls off the upset, instead of the 7th best team from a P5 conference.

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Another win for Furmanā€¦ On the verge of the RPI Top 100

http://warrennolan.com/basketball/2017/schedule/Furman

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Amazingly could be a key decider to making the tournament. What a gift.

That was maybe their toughest game left tonight too.

Palm has us at a 10 seed- side note MSU/OSU ā€œlast teams inā€

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Palm is quite the outlier, at least with respect to the B1G.

Ohio State made 1 of the last 99(!) brackets on Bracket Matrix. MSU has us beat in RPI, SOS, away wins and top-50 wins. Bracket Matrix has MSU 15 spots ahead of us.

Palm isnā€™t as high on MSU because of the number of losses. I think the big takeaway with his brackets is he likes to compare bubble resumes with historical at-large bubble teams. Thatā€™s why heā€™s also down on Wichita St and Illinois St as compared to others.

As an example, hereā€™s what he says about MSU:
"Only seven teams in the 24 seasons that I have been tracking tournament selections have received at-large bids with 14 losses. MSU will need to finish well to avoid that number. "

One other thing to keep in mind about our resume, is RIGHT NOW we donā€™t have a bad loss. With Iowa in the top 100 our resume looks worthwhile.

I agree with Palm that with 14 losses no way MSU makes it. @Purdue, @Maryland, vs Wisconsin, 1 Big ten tournament loss and theyā€™re there. And thatā€™s if they happen to not stumble elsewhere tooā€¦I just donā€™t see it happening

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Wow, a Syracuse vs. Michigan State play in game, like Palm has projected, would be something. Nobody would want the winner of that!

Since thereā€™s some talk on how heavily RPI should be weighted. Also, some disbelief, including myself, at how some bracket experts see Michiganā€™s resume, thought itā€™d be fun to do a blind resume test against similar bubble teams. Itā€™s still early to do but not THAT early anymore.

Keep in mind, this is strictly a basic tourney resume and doesnā€™t include Kenpom and advanced metrics, which should help us.

More importantly, this doesnā€™t include where those wins were, home/road/neutral.

Michiganā€™s Resume as of 2/10:
Overall Record: 15-9 (5-6)
RPI: 74
SOS: 47
Record Vs. 1-25: 1-4
Record Vs. 26-50: 1-2
Record Vs. 51-100: 5-3
Record Vs. 101-200: 3-0
Record Vs. 200+: 5-0

Team A:
Overall Record: 16-9 (8-4)
RPI: 62
SOS: 46
Record Vs. 1-25: 2-3
Record Vs. 26-50: 2-2
Record Vs. 51-100: 4-1
Record Vs. 101-200: 4-3
Record Vs. 200+: 4-0

Team B:
Overall Record: 22-4 (12-1)
RPI: 52
SOS: 177
Record Vs. 1-25: 0-1
Record Vs. 26-50: 1-3
Record Vs. 51-100: 0-0
Record Vs. 101-200: 12-0
Record Vs. 200+: 8-0

Team C:
Overall Record: 15-8 (5-6)
RPI: 37
SOS: 39
Record Vs. 1-25: 1-5
Record Vs. 26-50: 1-0
Record Vs. 51-100: 4-3
Record Vs. 101-200: 2-0
Record Vs. 200+: 7-0

Team D:
Overall Record: 14-10 (6-5)
RPI: 50
SOS: 19
Record Vs. 1-25: 2-5
Record Vs. 26-50: 1-0
Record Vs. 51-100: 4-4
Record Vs. 101-200: 3-1
Record Vs. 200+: 4-0

Either sweep the home games and win @Rutgers, or spli the home games, split @Northwestern/Nebraska, and win @Rutgers.

Huge win today for their psyche and tournament hopes!

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Or we can just keep playing hard and win every road game since none of them imo are better than us. If they keep playing hard I donā€™t see why we should lose to nw, Nebraska, Or Rutgers.

That SMU win is gonna look real nice

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Michigan needed these last two, but the next two are juicy RPI opportunities. Top-25 team at home and top-25 team on the road.

Big opportunity and a split would be solid, but two in a row would have Michigan in a great spot.

If Michigan some how beats Purdue and Wisconsin theyā€™d need a pretty big meltdown to miss imo. Weā€™d have a real nice resume of wins at that point. Particularly if the Hoosiers find a way to get hot and push back towards the bubble.