2021-22 Games of Interest Thread

[SteinPizza]

I watched parts of Iowa/Richmond and heard others on radio. It reminded me some of our Loyola game in STL. In your face D forcing the other team out of their comfort zone.

[QCPanther05]

St Peters should have been a hell of a lot better than a 15 seed. #118 in Kenpom before the game. That was a tough draw for Kentucky.

A team like Kentucky should be able to handle a 118 in Kenpom.

[Username]

One of the most interesting first round NCAA tournament games might be a battle between 2 teams we lost to very early on which would be a 4-13 matchup between Arkansas and Vermont

I don't think Arkansas is by any means a weak 4 seed, but they kinda got a tough draw. Metrics are split on Vermont. Evan Miya has them as high as 27 with a ridiculously efficient lineup, but KPI has them at 89. Net ranking is about in the middle at 52. They've also only had 3 quad 1 and 2 games combined with us being the only win. It makes me grateful we get a decent amount of opportunities here. We had 11 quad 1/2 games and went a respectable 5-6. Quad 3 is what really hurt us going 6-4.

Arkansas was able to pull out a close one. While Wyoming kinda fell flat, we saw Richmond get a pretty big win. Getting to play 4 teams in the OOC that made it in the tournament should be the goal every year to give a shot for an at large.

[Username]

A team like Kentucky should be able to handle a 118 in Kenpom.

Right. I mean I heard decent things about St. Peters, but it wasn't like they were underseeded by anything by more than a line maybe.

A couple of those 4 seeds had some actual nasty matchups and were able to take care of business today.

[vbfan19]

St Peters should have been a hell of a lot better than a 15 seed. #118 in Kenpom before the game. That was a tough draw for Kentucky.

so the Wildcats were denied entry through the pearly gates, eh?

[vbfan19]

It happened and we won by 17. Fyi

I said it WILL never happen (future tense), not that it hasn't ever happened (past tense)

[Username]

Our new friends Murray State who probably got underseeded are in an absolute dog fight after blowing a small slight lead with San Francisco who is absolutely underseeded

[not a drake fan]

A team like Kentucky should be able to handle a 118 in Kenpom.

Sure, that doesn't change the fact that it was a tough draw for Kentucky. College basketball on a neutral floor is far from a sure thing. I didn't look at the Kenpom projection before the game but I'm guessing it gave Kentucky a 70-80% chance of winning as opposed to the other 2 seeds that were probably in the 90s. Just a guess, I don't have the model.

A lot of these games come down to luck and whether a ball bounces off a rim or goes in. This isn't tennis, where the best player almost always wins. Teams like Kentucky lose to teams in the 100-125 range all the time if they're on the road or a neutral floor. It's why teams like that only play UNI on their home floor when it's their choice.

[UNIChippewa]

Sure, that doesn't change the fact that it was a tough draw for Kentucky. College basketball on a neutral floor is far from a sure thing. I didn't look at the Kenpom projection before the game but I'm guessing it gave Kentucky a 70-80% chance of winning as opposed to the other 2 seeds that were probably in the 90s. Just a guess, I don't have the model.

A lot of these games come down to luck and whether a ball bounces off a rim or goes in. This isn't tennis, where the best player almost always wins. Teams like Kentucky lose to teams in the 100-125 range all the time if they're on the road or a neutral floor. It's why teams like that only play UNI on their home floor when it's their choice.

KenPom gave Kentucky a 91% chance of winning that game. T-rank was 90%. It was a huge upset however you look at it. And while I had Kentucky going to the Final Four in 3 of my 4 brackets I loved seeing it.

[DownGoesKansas]

Sure, that doesn't change the fact that it was a tough draw for Kentucky. College basketball on a neutral floor is far from a sure thing. I didn't look at the Kenpom projection before the game but I'm guessing it gave Kentucky a 70-80% chance of winning as opposed to the other 2 seeds that were probably in the 90s. Just a guess, I don't have the model.

A lot of these games come down to luck and whether a ball bounces off a rim or goes in. This isn't tennis, where the best player almost always wins. Teams like Kentucky lose to teams in the 100-125 range all the time if they're on the road or a neutral floor. It's why teams like that only play UNI on their home floor when it's their choice.

Maybe they should have been a 14 seed. I'm not sure. But the big takeaway is that with the Play in games. You get a lot more capable teams in the 14/15 range now. Moving a few teams down gets some duds off the 15 line to the 16

[not a drake fan]

KenPom gave Kentucky a 91% chance of winning that game. T-rank was 90%. It was a huge upset however you look at it. And while I had Kentucky going to the Final Four in 3 of my 4 brackets I loved seeing it.

I'm curious, is there a way to actually see thatb after the game or did you happen to look that up before?

And you're right, assuming that's true, that's a bit higher than I would have guessed but I've been wrong before.

[UNIChippewa]

I'm curious, is there a way to actually see thatb after the game or did you happen to look that up before?

And you're right, assuming that's true, that's a bit higher than I would have guessed but I've been wrong before.

Yes and yes to your questions. If you're a paying subscriber (which I am) you can look up every single Division I team's chances to win every single game on their schedule, both before it's played and then after it's done. Pretty cool feature.

[SteinPizza]

Loyola is about to tip off against Ohio State. I listened to a few minutes of the morning show on The Score (670 AM) from Chicago earlier. They spent a few minutes breaking down this game due to one of the hosts being a Loyola grad. I didn’t know much about Ohio State, but the host expected OSU’s two best players to be covered by Uguak and Williamson. Both solid defenders as we know. Sounds like a good matchup player for player for Loyola, and they’re perfectly capable of pulling off the mild upset (10 vs 7) in this game. Vegas thinks so too. This game is currently a pick ‘em on Draft Kings.

[vbfan19]

Loyola is about to tip off against Ohio State. I listened to a few minutes of the morning show on The Score (670 AM) from Chicago earlier. They spent a few minutes breaking down this game due to one of the hosts being a Loyola grad. I didn’t know much about Ohio State, but the host expected OSU’s two best players to be covered by Uguak and Williamson. Both solid defenders as we know. Sounds like a good matchup player for player for Loyola, and they’re perfectly capable of pulling off the mild upset (10 vs 7) in this game. Vegas thinks so too. This game is currently a pick ‘em on Draft Kings.

if Loyola could make wide open layups instead of missing them, they'd have the lead at the half

[Username]

Loyola's defense keeps them in games and ensures they don't get blown out but my god watching them try and get a solid shot offensively is mind boggling.

There's been some really poor played games in this round, I feel we could have shredded a team in this tournament if we got going.