Monthly Archives: March 2006

Duke 74, George Washington 61 [71 possessions] – A fairly easy win over the Great Unknown. It’s up to George Mason to represent our nation’s forefathers in the Sweet 16. Florida 82, UW Milwaukee 60 [66] – I’m starting to get a ‘97 Arizona vibe here – a few emerging pro players coming together and […]

A rundown of the “action” on a slow-paced Friday… Ohio State 70, Davidson 60 [68 possessions] – The Buckeyes put together another strugglicious performance on 3s (5-22), but only committed four turnovers and steadily pulled away in the second half. Northwestern State 64, Iowa 63 [64] – The March Madness Moment of ‘06. A classic […]

Let’s make something clear first. I am not predicting an upset here. I don’t do silly things like prognosticate. All I am saying is that it is a realistic possibility. I still stand by the 1-in-15 estimate from Monday. Vegas says Memphis is a 12-13 point favorite, and if you know anything about Vegas’ accuracy, […]

Wichita State 86, Seton Hall 66 [72 possessions] – Amid all of the Selection Show hullabaloo, it was mostly lost that Seton Hall had quite a shaky case for an at-large. With a bid seemingly on the line, they went to MSG and got beat easily by Rutgers. Wichita State has a great chance to […]

Old-timey basketball fans that lament the present-day lack of teamwork in the sport haven’t seen Boston College play. The Eagles aren’t very athletic, but score at will against just about everybody thanks to a five-man unit that can all dish the rock. Old-timey fans that decry the lack of defense in the modern game probably […]

One housekeeping note: The Duke/Miami game from the ACC Tourney was not in my possession stats database yesterday. I added it this morning, and that’s why UConn swapped spots with Duke in the Pythagorean order. It’s been a few weeks since I’ve been able to respond to every e-mail. But yesterday my e-mail volume exploded. […]

I really hate it when somebody says “This is the (fill-in-the-blank) ever.” Whatever is being said is most likely an exaggeration, and preys on the audience’s lack of memory. Case in point is how every year we have the “softest bubble ever”. People, we are dealing with teams ranked 40-50. Those teams are always soft. […]

Today we’ll get an honest assessment from the selection committee as to whether they feel the road-rage RPI really is better than the old version. If most of the bracketologists are correct, at least one of [Missouri State, Hofstra, George Mason] will not get a bid. All three are in the RPI top 30 and […]

I don’t have much substance to offer amid the tourney mayhem. I’ll get something up Sunday with comments about the last few days in addition to some bracket predictions. A couple of early ones: the Valley will get five bids and Gonzaga will slip to a 3 seed. For those of you wanting a tourney […]

Thanks to Richard Lipp and Ed Malczewski for contributing a log5 version of tournament odds for the Big 12 and Big Ten, respectively. Head on over to the Phog Blog for the Big 12 numbers. The Big Ten is below. Seed Quarters Semis Finals Champ 1 Ohio St. 100.00% 85.42% 60.64% 34.76% 3 Illinois 100.00% […]