Big East 2024 Offseason

[Nukem2]

The selection criteria really aren't that ambiguous. Otherwise why would the 200 brackets a part of Bracket Matrix get almost everything correct?  Of the 200 brackets, all but two of the schools were listed on 190+. Texas A&M on 167 and Virginia on 20. (UVa is an obvious head scratcher.)

Schedule tough non-conference games. Win most of them. Perform well in conference.

And the conference shouldn't say anything because the reasons SJU and SHU were excluded were pretty obvious. What Pitino wants to for the committee to ignore the beginning of the year and look at the latest results. Well unfortunately that's not how it works.  The late season eye-test can't cancel out your horrid start.

Yep, performance over the season counts. Win some games.

[StillAWarrior]

The selection criteria really aren't that ambiguous. Otherwise why would the 200 brackets a part of Bracket Matrix get almost everything correct?

Yeah, it's hard to argue that it's impossible to understand the criteria (i.e., that it's "ambiguous") when the bracketologists pretty much correctly predict the entire field before it is announced. Take out UVA - which pretty much everyone seems to agree is inexplicable - and bracketmatrix project nailed the entire field.

[WhiteTrash]

Don't you just miss the wonderful annual Jim Boeheim crying over the selection committee? 

That guy was a whinny mess his last few years. Good riddance.

[Scoop Snoop]

Don't you just miss the wonderful annual Jim Boeheim crying over the selection committee? 

That guy was a whinny mess his last few years. Good riddance.

His nickname was "Cryin' Jim". Successful coach, but really hated listening to the guy.

[rocket surgeon]

Pitino opting out saying he is going to focus on Portal

https://nypost.com/2024/03/17/sports/rick-pitino-rails-on-fraudulent-march-madness-metrics-with-st-johns-out/

Crean outraged at Teams declining NIT invite. 

https://nypost.com/2024/03/18/sports/furious-tom-crean-goes-off-on-teams-declining-nit-invite/

What Crean is missing is with Portal the way it is now, a team can completely turnover ever year. So his logic of working with players doesn't make sense for teams that are going to do a wholesale change of roster.

  cream: oh sh!t, that's right...never mind

[Tyler COLEk]

According to The Athletic's model, MU has a 1.4% chance of winning the tournament, 3.7% chance of making the finals, 9.1% chance of making the Final Four, 23.4% chance of making the Elite 8, 46.3% chance of making the Sweet 16 and 86.&% chance of winning Friday.
Has WKU has the 15 seed most likely to win.

Seems down on MU and strangely high on the WCC (St. Mary's and Gonzaga with a 13.1% and 9.4% chance of making the Final Four, respectively).
Also has Tennessee as the third mostly likely to win it all and make the Final Four. The model apparently wasn't fed Rick Barnes' record in March.

https://theathletic.com/5351206/2024/03/18/ncaa-tournament-projections-model/

If only the betting lines reflected these projections!

[Pakuni]

To be honest, I'm a little surprised that the conference hasn't responded to the snubbing(whether real or perceived).  Obviously there isn't much Val or the BE can do after the fact to change anything, but I do think showing member institutions that you have their back is important.  In their statement, I would also push for selection criteria to be less ambiguous too.

The most frustrating aspect of the bubble ever year is pointing to specific criteria for one team's resume while ignoring it for another's resume.  If you're going to value metrics, then use them for everyone and not just some.  I heard the chairman yesterday point to a couple MW schools metrics(Colorado St and Boise St) while ignoring St Johns who has better metrics than both.  If you're going to value Q1 wins, then take teams who have more Q1 wins(SH and Prov) before taking one's with less(Dayton, Mich St., and VA).  Dayton doesn't even have a single win over a tournament team.  And lastly if you're gonna value non-con scheduling and wins, don't put half of the Mountain West in who played few games of quality outside of their conference.  The Big East is right to be pissed about the snubbing, but the ham-handed nature of the selection process is only going to lead to calls for expansion of the tournament which I think everyone agrees is a bad idea.

Ask and ye shall receive.

https://twitter.com/John_Fanta/status/1769851269525504314/photo/1

[willie warrior]

Both the Johnnies and SH were screwed. Best BB conference in country only gets 3 bids? Must be payback by the committee for MU sandbagging Kolek. Or they think that the conference is really weak after UConn. some real head scratchers in the selections.

[The Hippie Satan of Hyperbole]

Both the Johnnies and SH were screwed. Best BB conference in country only gets 3 bids? Must be payback by the committee for MU sandbagging Kolek. Or they think that the conference is really weak after UConn. some real head scratchers in the selections.

Nope. It was obvious why neither was chosen.

[Uncle Rico]

Both the Johnnies and SH were screwed. Best BB conference in country only gets 3 bids? Must be payback by the committee for MU sandbagging Kolek. Or they think that the conference is really weak after UConn. some real head scratchers in the selections.

Big XII was better by every metric

[Hards Alumni]

Nope. It was obvious why neither was chosen.

Interesting, what was obvious about it?  And then explain to me why Virginia is in the tournament.  Saint John's has a much better resume than Virginia, and it's not particularly close.

Team A: Virginia
Won 3 of their last 7 games
NET 54
Q1 record -2-7
Kenpom - 69
NCSOS - 236

Team B: St. John's
Won 6 of their last 7 games
NET 32
Q1 record - 4-10
Kenpom - 25
NCSOS - 145

Why on earth is Virginia in, and St. John's staying home?  Show me, please.

[Herman Cain]

https://nypost.com/2024/03/17/sports/dan-hurley-on-how-many-big-east-teams-should-make-ncaa-tourney/

[The Hippie Satan of Hyperbole]

Interesting, what was obvious about it?  And then explain to me why Virginia is in the tournament.  Saint John's has a much better resume than Virginia, and it's not particularly close.

Team A: Virginia
Won 3 of their last 7 games
NET 54
Q1 record -2-7
Kenpom - 69
NCSOS - 236

Team B: St. John's
Won 6 of their last 7 games
NET 32
Q1 record - 4-10
Kenpom - 25
NCSOS - 145

Why on earth is Virginia in, and St. John's staying home?  Show me, please.

I'm not saying Virginia deserved it. Pretty much everyone is scratching their heads over that one. But that doesn't mean SJU did - it was obvious why the committee didn't think much of them or Seton Hall. Their OOC results were terrible, and their performance in conference wasn't enough to make up for it.

[JamilJaeJamailJrJuan]

I'm not saying Virginia deserved it. Pretty much everyone is scratching their heads over that one. But that doesn't mean SJU did - it was obvious why the committee didn't think much of them or Seton Hall. Their OOC results were terrible, and their performance in conference wasn't enough to make up for it.

A 13-7 Big East team with wins over UCONN and Marquette should be plenty to get in the tournament. Yes, they had a poor non-con, but a 13-7 BE team should be in comfortably.

[HowardsWorld]

I am really really really against tournament expansion. I even hated when they added the first four just because it messed with something that I felt was perfect. I am not for changing it to 96 or whatever the number is. However, I believe they could solve some issues by doubling the play in games from 4 to 8, 4 games a day Tuesday/Wednesday at 2 different locations. This will allow 6 more power conference or bubble teams to get in. It would also allow teams grabbing bids in the 15 seed that should be in the 16/16 play in to be put in the 16/16 matchup and push 2 on the play in teams from the 10/10 11/11 12/12 to actual first four byes

[The Hippie Satan of Hyperbole]

A 13-7 Big East team with wins over UCONN and Marquette should be plenty to get in the tournament. Yes, they had a poor non-con, but a 13-7 BE team should be in comfortably.

You can't just throw out "yes they had a poor non-con."  It was dreadful. They lost to USC, Iowa and Rutgers - two of which finished under .500.

And, with all due respect to the BE, its a top-heavy conference this year. Racking up wins v. Butler and Xavier doesn't do a lot to move the needle.

Did SHU deserve to get in over Virginia? IMO yes. But it was obvious why they didn't get the nod in the end - especially with the bid stealing going on out there.

[JamilJaeJamailJrJuan]

You can't just throw out "yes they had a poor non-con."  It was dreadful. They lost to USC, Iowa and Rutgers - two of which finished under .500.

And, with all due respect to the BE, its a top-heavy conference this year. Racking up wins v. Butler and Xavier doesn't do a lot to move the needle.

Did SHU deserve to get in over Virginia? IMO yes. But it was obvious why they didn't get the nod in the end - especially with the bid stealing going on out there.

Butler and Xavier are 56 and 67 in Kenpom and 68 and 64 in the NET.  Might not move the needle, but hardly games that are a drag on your schedule - all the other major conferences have plenty of teams that ranked out worse. 

The Big East had a really poor non-con in general.  I was worried about a 4 bid league heading into league play.  A few weeks ago it looked like as many as 8 teams could dance. It ultimately was a bit of a perfect storm with UCONN, Depaul and Gtown. But 3 bids is ridiculous.  Seton Hall might have the best resume of the four bubble teams due to their 13-7 record in BE play, but they're probably the 4th best team including SJU, Providence and Villanova.  All those teams could make the 2nd weekend.  Its a shame none of them will get the chance.

[The Hippie Satan of Hyperbole]

Oh I have no doubt whatsoever that SJU especially could have made the second weekend. But their resume was worse than Seton Hall's - they just couldn't overcome the damage done to their resume during the non conference portion of their schedule.

[Juan Anderson's Mixtape]

Let's face it, the committee was prepared to put Seton Hall in the field.  The first three out were 1) Oklahoma, 2) Seton Hall, and 3) Indiana State.

Those three teams lost their spots to Oregon, New Mexico, and North Carolina State.  Three improbable autobids from multibid conferences.

I won't even include the A-10 and AAC tournaments.  Dayton and FAU were the only two at large teams from those conferences.  In those situations, I expected the field to win both of those tournaments.  Dayton and/or FAU winning autobids would have been a bonus for bubble teams.

[Galway Eagle]

FAU didn't deserve that auto bid.

Couldn't we also use this argument about MSU? Dreadful non con, but they didn't have near the marquee wins as SHU.

[Hards Alumni]

I'm not saying Virginia deserved it. Pretty much everyone is scratching their heads over that one. But that doesn't mean SJU did - it was obvious why the committee didn't think much of them or Seton Hall. Their OOC results were terrible, and their performance in conference wasn't enough to make up for it.

No, that's what you're saying when you say it was obvious why St. John's was left off.  The implication is that the team that got in got in for an obvious reason.

Virginia doesn't deserve to be in, and St. John's should have been invited.  It's pretty cut and dry.

If not St. John's, then who?

For the record, using the same metrics outlined before:

Seton Hall
Won 4 of their last 7 games
NET 67
Q1 record - 5-8
Kenpom - 62
NCSOS - 242

[Uncle Rico]

FAU didn't deserve that auto bid.

Couldn't we also use this argument about MSU? Dreadful non con, but they didn't have near the marquee wins as SHU.

Metrics loved Sparty.  The biggest fraud is Virginia who after their great January were terrible.  69th in KenPom and blown out in multiple games.  They don’t remotely pass the sniff test.  Hope Colorado State takes cares of business tonight

[Dr. Blackheart]

Oh I have no doubt whatsoever that SJU especially could have made the second weekend. But their resume was worse than Seton Hall's - they just couldn't overcome the damage done to their resume during the non conference portion of their schedule.

I think this brings up a good question and that of conference strength. The Committee clearly stated that conference affiliation and balancing is NOT a consideration (to be fair to non-Power conferences).  But why not when conference schedules expand to more teams and earlier games while the # of OOS games shrink? 

The answer is expansion.

[MU82]

Metrics loved Sparty.  The biggest fraud is Virginia who after their great January were terrible.  69th in KenPom and blown out in multiple games.  They don’t remotely pass the sniff test.  Hope Colorado State takes cares of business tonight

Only 2 teams in the field lost to Notre Dame: Clemson and Virginia. And Va lost to ND by 22 effen points. That should have eliminated Bennett's band right there.

[The Hippie Satan of Hyperbole]

I am really really really against tournament expansion. I even hated when they added the first four just because it messed with something that I felt was perfect. I am not for changing it to 96 or whatever the number is. However, I believe they could solve some issues by doubling the play in games from 4 to 8, 4 games a day Tuesday/Wednesday at 2 different locations. This will allow 6 more power conference or bubble teams to get in. It would also allow teams grabbing bids in the 15 seed that should be in the 16/16 play in to be put in the 16/16 matchup and push 2 on the play in teams from the 10/10 11/11 12/12 to actual first four byes

Any expansion IMO can't take away from the first and second rounds on Thursday and Friday. That's why an expansion to 96, where the 9-24 seeds in each region play on Tuesday and Wednesday, is just a bad idea IMO.

Anything they do should try to generate the interest and urgency on a smaller scale - something like the NBA play-in games. For example, turn the conference champion play-in games to a Monday through Wednesday play in tournament for the eight worst conference champions for one spot. You could still have play-in games for the at-larges as well.

Something that will be fun for the die-hards to watch, but not take away from that first four-day weekend.