[Cracked Sidewalks] Barkley continues to be shut out in college game with BE criticism

[CrackedSidewalksSays]

Barkley continues to be shut out in college game with BE criticism

Written by: jpudner@concentricgrasstops.com (bamamarquettefan1)

Please skip below this article to read about why Marquette beat Xavier, but I had to take a second (and that’s about all it would really take) to answer the charge Charles Barkley is leading on the Big East being the most overrated conference this year.  To back up his case that the Big East was overrated, he boldly predicted the Big East would not have six Sweet 16 teams.

He is correct, but the fact that no conference will have six teams in the Sweet 16 this year, and the fact that the Big East just set the all-time record with FIVE Sweet 16 teams two years makes this a silly standard.  The Big East will have between two and five teams, easily maintaining the lead it has in Sweet 16 teams since 2000:


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Sweet 16 since 2000NowBestcase200920102011 (possible)[/tr]

Big East	31	36	Lville, Uconn, Syr, Pitt, Vill (5-record)	Syr, WVU (2)	ND, WVU, Marq, Syr,Cin,Uconn,Pitt (2-5)
Big 12	25	28	KS, Mizz, Okl (3)	KS, Bay (2)	Kan, KState,TX (3)
Big Ten	22	27	MSU, Purd (2)	MSU, OSU, Purd (3)	Ill, Purd,OSU,Mich,Wis (5)
ACC	21	24	UNC, Duke (2)	Duke (1)	FloSt, UNC, Duke (3)
Pac10	21	24	AZ (1)	Wash (1)	Wash,AZ,UCLA (3)
SEC	19	21	None (0)	Tenn, KY (2)	KY,Flo (2)
Conf USA	9	9	Memphis (1)	None (0)	None (0)

Charles Barkley was a great NBA player and is a great NBA analyst, but after leading Auburn to ZERO NCAA tourney wins during his career there it appears his college knowledge is lacking.

In addition to apparently not realizing how outlandish the Sweet 16 prediction was, his first couple of days of commentary included:

1. Predicted Clemson would upset West Virginia, then after he was wrong cried that Clemson had not had enough rest because of the play-in game.  That argument looked even more silly when the other play-in winner VCU destroyed Georgetown.

2. Said Marquette did not deserve a bid, only to be proven wrong by MUs 11-point win over 6-seed Xavier. (come on Dwyane, can’t you work on him?)

The fact is the only Conference with an argument with the Big East as top conference was the Big Ten, which was rated slightly higher in Pomeroy because his system kills a conference for one terrible team (DePaul).  However, Sagarin rated the Big East as by far the best, and take DePaul out and Pomeroy does as well.  It should be noted the Big East went 5-2 against the Big Ten this year, just as it dominated the rest of college basketball.  No other conference was close to the Big East.

Critics were waiting to jump on any Big East loss in the NCAA tournament, and so far two teams have lost with big injuries (Lville and SJU), two that combined to lose their last 9 Big East games lost (Gtown and Nova) and the other seven won to give the Big East two more 3rd round teams than anyone else.  My formula picked the Big East to go 14-11 in the tourney and picked the Big 10 to go 13-7, and if that plays out it would give them a better tourney record, but I would have to believe if the Big Ten had sent 11 teams the best case would have been one win from Northwestern to match the Big East’s 14-11 mark.

You can argue that DePaul is so bad that the Big Ten nudges the Big East if you want, but otherwise the conferences dominance of the regular season and continued ability to advance more teams to the second weekend than any other conference makes them the best â€" and Sir Charles arguments weak.

http://www.crackedsidewalks.com/2011/03/barkley-continues-to-be-shut-out-in.html

[GGGG]

I think Clemson has a right to feel a little screwed.  They played late Tuesday night, yet had to play the first game on Thursday.  VCU played late Wednesday night, but didn't have to tip until the last game Friday night.  They got about 10 hours more rest, which meant that they didn't have to mess with their sleep schedules or anything.

[ChicosBailBonds]

I'd say Barkley looks like a genius right now.  I totally believe the NCAA is a crapshoot, but most of the nation is going to drill the Big East and you can't blame them.

[brewcity77]

I'd say Barkley looks like a genius right now.  I totally believe the NCAA is a crapshoot, but most of the nation is going to drill the Big East and you can't blame them.

Depends. An (incredibly unlikely) MU/UConn game in 2 weeks would do a lot to shut people up. As would ND completing an (incredibly unlikely) comeback.

[ChicosBailBonds]

Depends. An (incredibly unlikely) MU/UConn game in 2 weeks would do a lot to shut people up. As would ND completing an (incredibly unlikely) comeback.

I'd love to see both.

[MUFC9295]

Teams can beat any team on a given night.  But would most of these same teams who defeat BE teams survive the Conference season?  Doubtful.  But c'mon FSU!

[IAmMarquette]

My major beef with Chuck is that he couldn't understand the complaints against VCU's bid, citing their advancement to the Sweet 16 as validation of that bid, but somehow Marquette's trip to the Sweet 16 didn't provide similar validation.

Conclusion: Chuck is turrrible.

[El Duderino]

My only issue with Barkley and Smith is that overall, i don't think they work well talking about the college game. When they do studio work on TNT for NBA games, they are as much in place to say entertaining things vs analyzing what happened in the NBA game that night, especially Barkley. For covering the NCAA Tournament though, i think more serious commentating works better. Plus, those two don't follow college ball super close as others do. I'd rather see a Seth Davis or Gottlieb type who really knows all the college teams.

As for Barkley dissing the Big East, well, the conference hasn't played well overall. When that happens after 11 teams get selected, some mocking will ensue.

That said, i don't believe it means the Big East was way overrated. Louisville would beat Morehead St. 8-9 times out of 10, they just picked a bad time to lose.

If that Pittsburgh guard makes the second free throw with 1.4 seconds left, odds are about 99% they win.

Villanova could have pretty much iced the game at the line with in the last 60-75 seconds, but they missed two and then the front end of the bonus twice.

None of that happened though and in turn it makes the conference look bad. In all of the really close games, Big East teams make killer mistakes and thus lost every one of them.

[whodem]

Neither Barkley, or Kenny Smith have a clue in what they're saying. Barkley though is right as of now regarding the Big East, and not only is he right as of now he's extremely entertaining. His little back and forth with Pitino after the MU-SU game was pretty hilarious.