ESPN Re-Seeding

[Clam Crowder]

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/tournament/2013/story/_/page/expertMedcalf130325/2013-ncaa-tournament-how-selection-committee-reseed-sweet-16

Last 4 seed...so much love for the Golden Eagles as always...Unfortunately I can't argue it too much given the circumstances.

[awilhelmscream]

Can't wait to be number 8 in the reseeded Elite 8 field...

[brewcity77]

More motivational material. We win two games and they think we're worse than we were a week ago when the bracket came out? I'd be fine if after Thursday, we were the worst #2 seed, and after Saturday, the worst Final Four team, and after the following Saturday, the worst national finalist, and after Monday, the worst national champion.

[dw3dw3dw3]

Keep bringing the doubters.... the more bulletin board material the better.

I thought we actually played really well in the second half, which was the point of the article, how well teams are playing now. If we play that well, those 15 teams aren't beating us.

[MileHigh]

We really are flying under the radar right now.  We just outlasted two dog fights and moved on to the Sweet 16.  Everyone is talking about FGCU and LaSalle making moves.  Then you have the IU, Duke, tOSU, Miami, etc...who they have talked about all season.

I feel really good right now, much better than the previous two years.  We have a chance to knock off Miami IMO.  Then a potential rematch with Syracuse or IU...I like where we are at.

[Wally Schroeder]

Left for dead again. Buzz and the staff must be eating it up.

[brewcity77]

We really are flying under the radar right now.  We just outlasted two dog fights and moved on to the Sweet 16.  Everyone is talking about FGCU and LaSalle making moves.  Then you have the IU, Duke, tOSU, Miami, etc...who they have talked about all season.

I feel really good right now, much better than the previous two years.  We have a chance to knock off Miami IMO.  Then a potential rematch with Syracuse or IU...I like where we are at.

It may be good that we're playing a 2-seed this year as well. Last year I think there was a lot of expectation that our two likely pros would lead us over Florida, who lucked into not playing Missouri thanks to NSU. This year we are definitely the underdog, and this is a team that thrives in that role. No matter who we play, even Syracuse I suspect, will be favored over us next weekend. I'm good with that.

[MUMonster03]

I know our games were close but that may work to our advantage. This team is already tested and knows how to keep its composure down the stretch in a win or go home game.

[hairy worthen]

What else would you expect from ESPN?  They are not going to give credit to a new big east team.

[The Lens]

We were 5-6 on the road and 2-2 on Neutral courts.  Is that really that bad?

MSU was 6-6 and 2-2.  Nobody talks about their struggles. 
Michigan was 5-5 on the road
UW was 5-6 on the road

It's like we're punished for winning at home, if IU protected their home court like we did they'd be playing in Indy this weekend. 

We lost to:

@Florida (Sweet 16)
@Gtown (Big East Co-Champ)
@Louisville (Big East Co-Champ)
@Cinci (NCAA team)
@Nova (NCAA team)
@UWGB (really BAD Loss that looked not as bad as year went on)

We dropped 1 game we shouldn't have.  Seeding us 16th is a joke.  We're Big East Co-Champs.  We're good.

[BlindboyPatSmith]

What else would you expect from ESPN?  They are not going to give credit to a new big east team.

WINNER WINNER WINNER.....give that man a chicken dinner

[dwaderoy2004]

I feel really good right now, much better than the previous two years.  We have a chance to knock off Miami IMO. 

Definitely.  Miami is good, but whatever mojo they had going in January when they were blowing teams out of the water is gone.  They are playing slow, grind it out games now, and that is to MU's benefit. 

[Norm]

Left for dead again. Buzz and the staff must be eating it up.

Yeah, and I'll be shocked if MU get much press attention compared to th eother 3 teams going to DC: Indiana, Syracuse and Miami. The press in DC love Jim Larranga from his days at George Mason, and the national media will focus on the fact that Miami is playing in the East Regional at the Verizon Center - just like his George Mason team did.

Doesn't matter much in the end though, just play their guts out on Thursday and hopefully return to play on Saturday.

[frozena pizza]

This is perfect for us. Just more motivation.  Miami is a very good team that is very beatable right now.

[thekahoona]

It just drives these guys nuts that ridiculously hard work can overcome sheer talent sometimes. As Buzz has said on numerous occasions, "This team doesn't have the talent to blow anybody out. If we can make it fight though, we have a good chance of winning."

Hey blue bloods...meet the Rocky Balboa of this tournament.

[muwarrior69]

Well, CBS gave us their prime time spot on Saturday featuring two teams from next seasons Big East. We gave CBS the best game of the tournament thus far. Who cares what ESPN does!

[MarquetteMAN]

Thank you, Myron Medcalf, for writing us off. Time to show everyone how dangerous we are with a win on Thursday.

[wardle2wade]

Pretty ridiculous that we're at 16 here.

Also, the writer of the article is Myron Medcalf who recently joined ESPN.  Prior he was the Gophers' beat writer, so don't be surprised if there is a B1G bias or if he comes off as anti-Big East (cuse at 12?).

[statnik]

More motivational material. We win two games and they think we're worse than we were a week ago when the bracket came out? I'd be fine if after Thursday, we were the worst #2 seed, and after Saturday, the worst Final Four team, and after the following Saturday, the worst national finalist, and after Monday, the worst national champion.

So you tell me which teams should be behind us?  I think the ranking is fair considering we squeaked by both of our first two opponents, both lower seeds, and we got a slightly generous seed to begin with.

[tower912]

Fuel for the fire.   

[Coleman]

Pretty ridiculous that we're at 16 here.

Also, the writer of the article is Myron Medcalf who recently joined ESPN.  Prior he was the Gophers' beat writer, so don't be surprised if there is a B1G bias or if he comes off as anti-Big East (cuse at 12?).

Medcalf has been pretty dismissive towards MU on espn and Twitter throughout this whole tournament, so this article really isn't surprising. Don't know why he is grinding this ax, buts its pretty clear there is some bias.

I don't buy the argument that there is an "ESPN bias" against MU or the new Big East. You need to look at the writers. Some writers are relatively favorable to MU (Eamonn Brennan and Dana O'Neil come to mind), some are not. Medcalf is probably the most anti-MU you can get, along with Doug Gottleib.

[MerrittsMustache]

Medcalf has been pretty dismissive towards MU on espn and Twitter throughout this whole tournament. This really isn't surprising. Don't know why he is grinding this ax, buts its pretty clear there is some bias.

Or maybe he just doesn't think MU is all that good.

[Benny B]

Medcalf also stated in his chat today that Marquette was the team of the last four most likely to go to the Final Four... for what that's worth.

[The Process]

So you tell me which teams should be behind us?  I think the ranking is fair considering we squeaked by both of our first two opponents, both lower seeds, and we got a slightly generous seed to begin with.

I'd say LaSalle should be behind us.  Wichita State as well.  I love how he's slobbering all over Wichita State for beating an overrated Gonzaga team and LaSalle for beating Old Miss - a 12 seed - to make the Sweet 16.

[statnik]

I'd say LaSalle should be behind us.  Wichita State as well.  I love how he's slobbering all over Wichita State for beating an overrated Gonzaga team and LaSalle for beating Old Miss - a 12 seed - to make the Sweet 16.

I read on Scout's board that we were re-seeded at 13, so it surprised me admittedly clicking the link and seeing we're 16, which I would argue is a tad low.  However, I don't think the Zags were that overrated, and they beat Pitt by a decent margin in the first game, so going by their opponents and margins of victory they could be argued to be playing better right now.  That said, I agree with most experts that the Butler-Marquette was one of the better quality games of the tournament, and winning the game, no matter the margin, was pretty impressive.