2013 NCAA Pods

[32NCAAs]

My wife and I attend the tournament each and every year.  When the calendar turns over to March I start this exercise in an effort to figure out where MU will be playing before the brackets are announced.  It's nice to get a head start on hotel reservations and tickets.  I'd love some help this year if anyone would like to chime in.  Based on the bracket project here are my current location projections:

Auburn Hills: #2 MSU; #3 MI
Lexington: #2 FL; #3 UL
Salt Lake City: #1 Gonzaga; #3 NM
San Jose: #3 AZ; #4 WI
Austin: #2 Miami; #4 SU
Dayton: #1 IN; #4 MU
Kansas City: #1 KU; #4 KSU
Philadelphia: #1 Duke; #2 Georgetown

Obviously a lot stands to change in the next 2 weeks but I think MU's best chance to play close to home is Dayton.  One bright spot this year is that 4 of the 8 locations are within a 9 hour drive from Milwaukee.

[The Process]

Dayton: #1 IN; #4 MU

As much fun as beating I4 sounds, the idea of going to Dayton might cause some people's heads to explode around here.

And if Dayton is excluded from the new conference by that point, they might run over our fans with their army of Cavaliers.

[MUMountin]

I wrote a post earlier today on this:  http://www.muscoop.com/index.php?topic=36279.0

This was my analysis, based on Lunardi's most recent S-Curve (not updated to reflect the UM-MSU game):  

Auburn Hills, MI (251 m): Michigan St. (8), Michigan (10)
Dayton, OH (284 m): Indiana (1), Florida (9)
Lexington, KY (381 m): Louisville (6), Miami (7)
Kansas City, MO (438 m): Kansas (3), Kansas St. (12)
Philadelphia, PA (688 m): Georgetown (4), Duke (5)
Austin, TX (1035 m): New Mexico (11)
Salt Lake City, UT (1244 m): Gonzaga (2),
San Jose, CA (1825 m):

Basically--I currently seeing us competing for a spot in Auburn Hills with the Michigan teams (but find that unlikely), a spot in Dayton with the Florida teams (most likely UF), or in Kansas City with K-State.  If we don't finish in front of any of them, then I think there is a pretty good chance that we end up in Austin this year.   We also have to be a little concerned about Ohio State and Syracuse finishing strong and maybe bumping us down the S-curve.

The biggest wild card for me is how the committee will approach the two Florida schools--any of the locations are decent hikes for them, and there may be some possibility that they'll send them both to Austin, which is not significantly further for either, given the number of midwest programs fighting for the spots in MI, KY, OH, and MO.

[jsglow]

The more I think about it, the less likely I think the committee will send FLA or Miami up to Dayton or even Lexington.  Especially as it pertains to Miami, they'll have to fly anywhere they might be assigned.  Once you get on a plane.... My one caveat would be that they will likely not be sent west of the central time zone.  I'll bet Austin for one or both Florida schools thereby keeping folks like Marquette, tOSU, etc. closer to home.

Again, the NCAA wants folks to be able to follow their teams.  That maximizes the revenue.

[jsglow]

As much fun as beating I4 sounds, the idea of going to Dayton might cause some people's heads to explode around here.

And if Dayton is excluded from the new conference by that point, they might run over our fans with their army of Cavaliers.

You understand that the other pod at a particular location is not in the same region.  So MU would not be playing #1 Indiana in the above example until later in the tourney.

[The Process]

That'd be what, our path to the elite 8? (1 vs 4 matchup)

I'm more concerned about the army of Cavaliers running us down.  And the hostile environment that angry Dayton fans might cause at games.

[BallBoy]

My wife and I attend the tournament each and every year.  When the calendar turns over to March I start this exercise in an effort to figure out where MU will be playing before the brackets are announced.  It's nice to get a head start on hotel reservations and tickets.  I'd love some help this year if anyone would like to chime in.  Based on the bracket project here are my current location projections:

Auburn Hills: #2 MSU; #3 MI
Lexington: #2 FL; #3 UL
Salt Lake City: #1 Gonzaga; #3 NM
San Jose: #3 AZ; #4 WI
Austin: #2 Miami; #4 SU
Dayton: #1 IN; #4 MU
Kansas City: #1 KU; #4 KSU
Philadelphia: #1 Duke; #2 Georgetown

Obviously a lot stands to change in the next 2 weeks but I think MU's best chance to play close to home is Dayton.  One bright spot this year is that 4 of the 8 locations are within a 9 hour drive from Milwaukee.

Why not book a hotel in each city and then cancel the others when it is announced. Hotels typically have a day of or 24 hr notice.  Airfare on the other hand is up in the air but I wouldn't book that until I was certain.

[AirPunches]

That'd be what, our path to the elite 8? (1 vs 4 matchup)

I'm more concerned about the army of Cavaliers running us down.  And the hostile environment that angry Dayton fans might cause at games.

Yes, it would be the sweet sixteen game but MU wouldn't play IU in Dayton. They would play the 13 seed then the 5/12. IU would be in the other session. They may play Indiana in Lucas Oil though if they were in the same regional.

[DoggyDaddy]

Why would folks from UVA be angry at us?  Are we thinking of perhaps of mad Flyer's?

[The Process]

Why would folks from UVA be angry at us?  Are we thinking of perhaps of mad Flyer's?

Yep - mad Dayton Flyers that are throwing a tantrum of epic proportion after finding out that they will not be leaving the A10 to be with the cool kids at the C7.