2025 NCAA Tourney Thread

[GoldenEagles03]

Speaking of the Badgers, their fans are not happy.

Wisconsin snubbed from playing in Milwaukee in March Madness 2025 and fans don't like it

https://www.jsonline.com/story/sports/college/uw/2025/03/16/wisconsin-basketball-fans-upset-over-badgers-march-madness-placement/82478340007/

Not really snubbed IMO

[CountryRoads]

Speaking of the Badgers, their fans are not happy.

Wisconsin snubbed from playing in Milwaukee in March Madness 2025 and fans don't like it

https://www.jsonline.com/story/sports/college/uw/2025/03/16/wisconsin-basketball-fans-upset-over-badgers-march-madness-placement/82478340007/

That's a good illustration of their entitlement that I've alluded to in the past about this. For those attending the games, it'll be 10x better without them. They eat up all the tickets and completely sit on their hands silently the other 3 games creating the worst atmosphere possible. Milwaukee got a great draw. Unfortunately, MU fans are put in a bad spot as they may need to miss 2 out of the 3 sessions (if good fortune has us playing on Sunday) due to conflicts with the MU games. I understand hosting brings a lot of benefits to the city, but it sure as hell didn't benefit the fans and is a disadvantage to the team as well with the closest spot being unavailable. Not complaining about MU's draw though.

[HowardsWorld]

That's a good illustration of their entitlement that I've alluded to in the past about this. For those attending the games, it'll be 10x better without them. They eat up all the tickets and completely sit on their hands silently the other 3 games creating the worst atmosphere possible. Milwaukee got a great draw. Unfortunately, MU fans are put in a bad spot as they may need to miss 2 out of the 3 sessions (if good fortune has us playing on Sunday) due to conflicts with the MU games. I understand hosting brings a lot of benefits to the city, but it sure as hell didn't benefit the fans and is a disadvantage to the team as well with the closest spot being unavailable. Not complaining about MU's draw though.

I don't disagree it will be better but they really do have a point. If Wisconsin/Iowa state and Kentucky all go into their conference tournaments on level field. Iowa state beats a bad Cincinatti team loses to BYU. Kentucky beats an average at best Oklahoma team then blasted by Alabama by 30. Wisconsin beats a bad Northwestern, average UCLA and then great MSU team, loses close game to Michigan and then take last out of the 3 teams I spoke about. Michigan 11 quad 1 wins. Beat Purdue, Wisconsin and Maryland and actually go down seed lines compared to prior to the tournament?

All this screams is that the bracket is already selected before conference tournaments start.

There seem to be issues every year after the bracket comes out but the love affair with the SEC is ridiculous this year. I get the conference was great, some say the best in the history of college ball. But if you are 6-12 in conference you should not be in the dance. I'm sorry you are just bad at that point.

[wisblue]

That's a good illustration of their entitlement that I've alluded to in the past about this. For those attending the games, it'll be 10x better without them. They eat up all the tickets and completely sit on their hands silently the other 3 games creating the worst atmosphere possible. Milwaukee got a great draw. Unfortunately, MU fans are put in a bad spot as they may need to miss 2 out of the 3 sessions (if good fortune has us playing on Sunday) due to conflicts with the MU games. I understand hosting brings a lot of benefits to the city, but it sure as hell didn't benefit the fans and is a disadvantage to the team as well with the closest spot being unavailable. Not complaining about MU's draw though.

I am 10x more enthusiastic about attending the games for the reasons you give, plus the fact that the atmosphere for the games they're in is not what you want for an NCAA game. It's fun having a game with large contingents of fans for both teams and 3 of the 4 protected seeds will have that, and if UNC or Xavier get here there will be more.

I wish MU were at a Thursday site but it doesn't bother me if I can't see their game on TV. It's easy enough to follow the scores and maybe watch some on TV's in the concourses or the phone. NCAA games are even more drawn out than normal games because of longer timeouts and halftimes.

There might not be a conflict even if MU plays Sunday because the Cleveland or Milwaukee games might be the ones they choose for the 2 early slots.

Also, MU getting to Cleveland is much better for MU fans who want to travel to attend the games than several of the other sites. It even crossed my mind at one point to try to go to the Friday game, but I'll stick with going to the games here.

[wisblue]

I don't disagree it will be better but they really do have a point. If Wisconsin/Iowa state and Kentucky all go into their conference tournaments on level field. Iowa state beats a bad Cincinatti team loses to BYU. Kentucky beats an average at best Oklahoma team then blasted by Alabama by 30. Wisconsin beats a bad Northwestern, average UCLA and then great MSU team, loses close game to Michigan and then take last out of the 3 teams I spoke about. Michigan 11 quad 1 wins. Beat Purdue, Wisconsin and Maryland and actually go down seed lines compared to prior to the tournament?

All this screams is that the bracket is already selected before conference tournaments start.

There seem to be issues every year after the bracket comes out but the love affair with the SEC is ridiculous this year. I get the conference was great, some say the best in the history of college ball. But if you are 6-12 in conference you should not be in the dance. I'm sorry you are just bad at that point.

Kentucky, Iowa State, and Wisconsin were not even going into the conference tournaments.

And the Big 10 tournament final isn't going to affect the seeding because it is played so late unless a team that isn't going to get an at large bid gets the auto bid.

Neither Wisconsin nor Michigan has a beef about their placement. They earned what they got in the 30 plus games before the conference tournaments, including all the games they lost in the two weeks before them.

Badger fans who feel snubbed don't know how the process works and that the teams that are higher on the seed list get priority. The Committee placed Iowa State and Kentucky ahead of Wisconsin so they got the preferred location.

[HowardsWorld]

Kentucky, Iowa State, and Wisconsin were not even going into the conference tournaments.

And the Big 10 tournament final isn't going to affect the seeding because it is played so late unless a team that isn't going get an at large bid gets the auto bid.

Neither Wisconsin nor Michigan has a beef about their placement. They earned what they got in the 30 plus games before the conference tournaments, including all the games they lost in the two weeks before them.

Badger fans who feel snubbed don't know how the process works and that the teams that are higher on the seed list get priority. The Committee placed Iowa State and Kentucky ahead of Wisconsin so they got the preferred location.

I'm not really sure how you can disagree when their finalized Net says exactly what I said. Regardless, Big 10 aside, alot of questionable snubs. In fact, this year seems to have alot of normal logic thrown out the window.

If you cannot play .500 in conference it should be an automatic DQ unless you win your conference tournament.

[wisblue]

I'm not really sure how you can disagree when their finalized Net says exactly what I said. Regardless, Big 10 aside, alot of questionable snubs. In fact, this year seems to have alot of normal logic thrown out the window.

If you cannot play .500 in conference it should be an automatic DQ unless you win your conference tournament.

I'm not following your comment about the teams being even going into the conference tournaments.

It is not a secret that the NCAA Selection Committee develops its preliminary seed list before Thursday and there is no such thing as a tie there. The question then is whether games in the conference tournaments would affect the seed list when they do their final scrubbing.

Every year it is shown that results in the conference tournaments do not have as much impact as many fans and some analysts think.

It's possible that UW moved up a spot or two from the preliminary seed list as a result of beating MSU. Most Bracketologists had UW as a 4 seed before the weekend so maybe they moved from 13 or 14 to their final spot of 12.

The Committee placed Iowa State, Kentucky, and Wisconsin at 10,11, and 12 on their final seed list. It's hard to argue that that is unreasonable. If it weren't for the fact that there are games in Milwaukee nobody would be thinking anything about it because the teams are all 3 seeds.

 In the final NET, ISU is at  9, UK is 14, and UW is 15.

The snubs relating to the last teams in the field are a completely different issue, and there are good arguments that UNC, Texas, and Xavier shouldn't have gotten into the Dayton games.

[The Sultan]

Speaking of the Badgers, their fans are not happy.

Wisconsin snubbed from playing in Milwaukee in March Madness 2025 and fans don't like it

https://www.jsonline.com/story/sports/college/uw/2025/03/16/wisconsin-basketball-fans-upset-over-badgers-march-madness-placement/82478340007/

Again, people should read up on how this works. They don't care about what makes sense for Milwaukee.

[The Sultan]

If you cannot play .500 in conference it should be an automatic DQ unless you win your conference tournament.

So teams from tough conferences should be penalized?

Conference record should never enter the picture. It's completely irrelevant. 

[The Sultan]

All this screams is that the bracket is already selected before conference tournaments start.

It's been obvious for awhile that the committee doesn't pay much attention to the conference tournaments. When they end their championship game twenty minutes before the brackets are revealed, I don't know how you can expect them to make a bunch of wholesale changes based on the results of that game.

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

MSU has been to the second weekend once in the last four tournaments (we know which one).
Izzo is no bogeyman.

He must pay with too high of a handicap if hes a man who never gets a bogey

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

Yep.  Crack Sidewalks, my bad

That result not only knocked Marquette out of the Big East Tournament, but coupled with Louisville's win over Clemson  pushed them down to an 8-seed.


Seemed pretty certain.

Pushed them down to an 8 seed....in Cracked Sidewalks' projection. It sounds certain because it is a fact. Those results did push MU down in one projection, but its still just a projection

[TheGym]

It's been obvious for awhile that the committee doesn't pay much attention to the conference tournaments. When they end their championship game twenty minutes before the brackets are revealed, I don't know how you can expect them to make a bunch of wholesale changes based on the results of that game.

This, the committee has said several times over the years that the conference tournaments have minimal impact on seeding.

[tower912]

Xavier is playing in Dayton.  That will be noisy, and maybe not in a good way.  Short drive for Xavier fans, but Dayton fans loathe Xavier.   In the worst little brother way. 

[Newsdreams]

It's been obvious for awhile that the committee doesn't pay much attention to the conference tournaments. When they end their championship game twenty minutes before the brackets are revealed, I don't know how you can expect them to make a bunch of wholesale changes based on the results of that game.

Yes people don't pay much attention, the committee members in the reveal explained the bracket was mostly set by Saturday, with a major contingency bracket as backup in case Memphis lost. They said if that happened one or two of the last 4 in would have changed.

[MU82]

Nobody should feel bad for West Virginia, Indiana or any of the other supposed snubees. If any of them had simply won one more game, they'd have gotten in. I mean, maybe if Indiana hadn't lost at Iowa by 25 points and at home to Illinois by 25 points within a 72-hour span, and hadn't played so poorly for weeks and weeks that their coach had to resign under fire, they'd have been looked on more kindly by the committee.

Same goes for those supposedly underseeded or sent to a regional far away. The Weasels don't like going to Denver instead of Milwaukee? Well, maybe don't cap your regular season by losing at home to Penn State.

[MU82]

Wofford center Kyler Filewich was shooting under 30% from the FT line so he finally decided to go Rick Barry style - helped by Barry, who flew to Spartanburg to personally coach Filewich for 2 days.

It hasn't been a miracle cure - Filewich is only shooting 35% since making the change. But he has had games of 6-for-10, 4-for-6 and 3-for-7. I admire him for at least trying something different.

[pbiflyer]

[GoldenEagles03]

https://x.com/ryanhammer09/status/1901649352885411987?t=7F46uBWJOrSy8qPfOEfQOQ&s=19

Let's be on the right side of one of these "surprise" runs! Come on!

[82fanatic]

Xavier is playing in Dayton.  That will be noisy, and maybe not in a good way.  Short drive for Xavier fans, but Dayton fans loathe Xavier.   In the worst little brother way. 

Isn't that like saying if Madison played in Milwaukee, MU fans would be noisy against Bucky?   Xavier fans will buy the tickets!

[MU Fan in Connecticut]

https://x.com/ryanhammer09/status/1901649352885411987?t=7F46uBWJOrSy8qPfOEfQOQ&s=19

Let's be on the right side of one of these "surprise" runs! Come on!

Does Iowa State have the asterisk because of the injured player?

[GoldenEagles03]

Does Iowa State have the asterisk because of the injured player?

Good question

[rocky_warrior]

Does Iowa State have the asterisk because of the injured player?

Yes.  Background:

[Juan Anderson's Mixtape]

I'm not really sure how you can disagree when their finalized Net says exactly what I said. Regardless, Big 10 aside, alot of questionable snubs. In fact, this year seems to have alot of normal logic thrown out the window.

If you cannot play .500 in conference it should be an automatic DQ unless you win your conference tournament.

I will explain why the arbitrary cutoff for .500 conference records makes no sense, using Oklahoma as an example.

Oklahoma beat 4 seed Arizona, 5 seed Michigan, and 8 seed Louisville in non-conference play. Let's change these three wins to losses, but give Oklahoma wins against 3 seed Kentucky, 6 seed Mississippi, and LSU (not in tournament).

I kept Oklahoma's overall record exactly the same, but instead of being 6-12 in the SEC, they're 9-9. So they meet this hypothetical criteria of being .500 in conference play. But their overall profile is now worse! Oklahoma would have one fewer win against the field, yet some people think this would be somehow better than their actual resumé.

That is why the whole body of work has to be analyzed without creating arbitrary criteria.

[Jockey]

The pompous, look-at-me fools speak out.

On Monday, West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey said that the state's attorney general will launch an investigation into the NCAA Tournament selection process after the West Virginia Mountaineers were left out of the 68-team men's bracket unveiled Sunday.


This will follow the inquiry into why it rains so often on weekends.