Pitt Fans: The Armpit of the Big East

[sam]

People nowadays are always bringing “facts” into arguments, and since I’m a sucker for fads (anyone wanna compare pogs later?), I’ll go ahead and share a few for you all to wrap your heads around (literally).

Three of the four national semifinalists a year ago were conference tournament champions. UCLA - which lost to California in the Pac-10 quarterfinals - was the lone exception.

There were 12 conferences that sent multiple teams to the NCAA Tournament in 2007. Of those 12, only three (WAC, A-10, Pac-10) had a team that didn’t advance to its conference tournament championship game advance further in the NCAA Tournament than a team that did. Of those three teams, only UCLA won more than one game.

All six BCS conference tournament champions advanced to the Elite Eight last season. The other two quarterfinalists were Memphis - which won the Conference USA Tournament - and UCLA.

The combined NCAA Tournament record of the six BCS conference tournament champions in 2007 was 24-5. Of those five losses, only one (Kansas’ Elite Eight loss to UCLA) came against a non-fellow BCS conference tournament champion.

Seven of the last ten national champions have won their conference tournament. North Carolina in ‘05, Syracuse in ‘03 and Maryland in ‘02 are the exceptions.

Ten of the last 16 Final Four teams have been conference tournament champions, and three of those six teams that didn’t win their league title played in the same conference as the fellow semifinalist which did.
Now I’m not saying that you should write this team off if it stumbles on Thursday or Friday, I’m just saying that there should be no small part of your brain quietly wondering if winning this thing is going to have a detrimental affect in the succeeding weeks. Don’t give it a second thought; we want to win the Big East Tournament.

From http://www.cardchronicle.com/story/2008/3/10/11653/1132

And you think conference tourneys don't matter?

[edit] And MUDish- If you hate Pitt so much, why is your avatar a Pitt graduate?

[DegenerateDish]

For those who use this site regularly (ie, not Pitt fans) probably know why Ditka is up there. I worked in the Bears front office, I've worked with Ditka countless times, he's a great guy. So he went to Pitt, who cares? Wade went to Marquette, if you're a fan of his, that's great.

What was the point of your thread? Oh yeah, good teams win conference tournaments. You know what? Good teams win during the regular season too! All of those teams mentioned, do you honestly believe they did well because they won their conference tournament? They did well BECAUSE THEY ARE GOOD TEAMS! I know, you're from Pitt, it's hard to comprehend that.

I'll say it again, slowly so you can understand, ...conference....tournaments...are....pointless. Unless you're a smaller conference school and have no other way to get in, or you're a Georgia or Illinois, what purpose does it serve? You improve your seed line a few lines? I'll take a Sweet 16 run over winning a BE Title crown any day of the week.

Teams that win four games in four days usually don't do so hot. Here's some facts back at ya.

Charlotte '97 (lost in 2nd round to Utah)
Arkansas '00 (lost in 1st round to Miami FL)
Syracuse '06 (lost in 1st round to Texas A&M)

With all the Pitt people signing up on our board, we should be selling ad space over here. MUScoop.com...#1 on your internet in Pittsburgh!

[sam]

What makes you think I'm a Pitt fan?  I root for Louisville (if you didn't notice, that information came from a Louisville site).  The point of my post was to show that most of the teams that make it to the Final Four won their respective conferences, and that half of the Final Four teams that didn't win their conference were runners-up to another Final Four team.

The regular season champion is generally the most consistent team, while the conference champion is the hottest.  For teams like Louisville and Pittsburgh, both of which had major injuries through the season, you should be more concerned with their play of late, as opposed to a few months ago.

[chapman]

From http://www.cardchronicle.com/story/2008/3/10/11653/1132

And you think conference tourneys don't matter?

[edit] And MUDish- If you hate Pitt so much, why is your avatar a Pitt graduate?

To my knowledge, nobody here has said they hate Pitt.  We just hate their fans, who are classless enough to wish serious injuries on our players and accuse our coach of being a drug addict.  There may be exceptions, but we've yet to see fans of other teams do these things, or come en masse to our message board to make attempts to defend themselves that instead further prove our point, and no other fans have come here trying to convince us their team is better than we think.

Thanks for referencing a blog post for "proof" that conference tournaments matter.  While some of the statistics were interesting, it doesn't tell me anything besides UCLA, Memphis, and the Kansas/Texas winner are poised to make a run in the NCAAs.  Duh!  These teams have been head and shoulders above everyone else all year long.  Where are the statistics for the teams like Syracuse two years ago that "sneak up" on everyone and win their tournament by surprise after an unspectacular regular season?  While tournament winners might make it to the later rounds, they are typically 6 major conference powers seeded 1-3, which Pitt won't be.  And the article also doesn't mention the teams that crap out-Wisconsin last year, Iowa and Kansas the year before, Syracuse the year before.  Having the title is nice, but Pitt doesn't fit the mold of the teams in the article, and it's going to take at least through next weekend to prove they're legit.

[sam]

Thanks for referencing a blog post for "proof" that conference tournaments matter.

Does the source really matter? Fact is fact.  If someone did original research and posted it here, would you disregard it because it was a forum post?

[New Era Warriors]

My fellow MARQUETTE fans...don't let these pitt fans get in your heads. Let their stupid talk go in one ear and out the other. They are arrogant just like Notre Dame people...nothing else to say. Don't get too worked up about it.
Go Marquette!

[DegenerateDish]

Card fan, Pitt fan, whatever, I'll stand by conference tourneys not mattering. Bob Knight has been preaching all week on ESPN how useless the conference tournaments are. I think he's won a few games in his day.

I actually have to correct myself, further proving my point. Marquette actually won four games in a row in the C-USA '97 tourney (Charlotte didn't win four in a row that year, but played four in a row, still lost to Utah). While it was a nice accomplishment by MU, obviously it wasn't so great that it was the first thing that came to my mind. Getting torched by Providence four days later sure does though. Fact is, I have fonder memories of MU going to the Sweet 16 in '94 than I do of our C-USA tourney title. Perhaps I'm in the minority here though.

This is all beside the point. The whole point of this thread is that most Pitt fans are idiots. If someone wants to come here and defend what they say about MU's players and coaches, then that'll just prove my and everyone else's points. There's no justification at all in saying things like that about a 20 year old kid. To say it in the first place is moronic, to come over here and defend just makes someone look like a bigger idiot.

I actually hope Pitt does well in the tourney. I hope all 7 BE teams go far. Makes the conference look better, gets all the schools/programs more cash, it's all good.

Go Marquette.