Actually, we have a pretty easy path to the Elite 8
- Thread starter wvpaper
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My prediction is Elite Eight and IMO a possible final four is not out of the question. At minimum though Elite Eight.
I think OU has the easiest path, and they play at home. ND will be a tough out as will Xavier.
See ya in the Elite Eight. The Paperboy's got it right ..................this time. He a shiny shoes.
definitely on ou... ou got the duke bracket and the duke treatment.
xavier is always a tough tournament team. if memory serves,the last few years they played elite teams to the edge and only lost because of bad calls. they are scrappy and tough, and as we know, refs have a hard time keeping up with teams that play extra hard.
if we win, it will be decided the last minute.
Looks like I'm the only person on the board who thinks WVU and everyone else in the East Region got absolutely bent over and reamed by the corrupt committee.
Relatively speaking, the other regions are all mostly navigable. A few genuinely tough teams, with only a couple schools per region who have even won the tournament at all.
Meanwhile, we got sentenced to the Group of Death with a combined 18 national titles between the 1-4-5 seeds and a #7 who's been to consecutive Final Fours.
We've had better draws in years when we were only a 5-seed. It's like our school actually got punished for having a stronger season. As soon as I saw the first 2 soft regions yesterday--each with virtually no traditional powers--I knew we'd get crammed in with a bunch of them and have our dreams essentially dashed before they even started.
The whole tournament looks like a setup to me. The basketball team of this past 2 seasons remains among my favorites of all time and that won't change even if they go out in the first round, but their draw just reeks.
I wasn't asking the committee to fight FOR us, but damn...don't fight against us, either.
Relatively speaking, the other regions are all mostly navigable. A few genuinely tough teams, with only a couple schools per region who have even won the tournament at all.
Meanwhile, we got sentenced to the Group of Death with a combined 18 national titles between the 1-4-5 seeds and a #7 who's been to consecutive Final Fours.
We've had better draws in years when we were only a 5-seed. It's like our school actually got punished for having a stronger season. As soon as I saw the first 2 soft regions yesterday--each with virtually no traditional powers--I knew we'd get crammed in with a bunch of them and have our dreams essentially dashed before they even started.
The whole tournament looks like a setup to me. The basketball team of this past 2 seasons remains among my favorites of all time and that won't change even if they go out in the first round, but their draw just reeks.
I wasn't asking the committee to fight FOR us, but damn...don't fight against us, either.
Last year, they went wire to wire with 2 seed Arizona.
2 years ago, Xavier got blown out in a 5/12 matchup against a 12 seed NC State....
the year before that, in 2013............. they didn't attend a post season tournement (17-14)
2012, X had a good run into the Sweet 16, losing to Baylor
in 2011, they got beat easily in a 6/11 matchup to 11 seed Marquette
They are pretty hit and miss........ much like WVU. I just don't think we'll see them in the Sweet 16, with Wisconsin standing in their way. Now, having typed that....... watch Wisky get blown out by Pitt....
2 years ago, Xavier got blown out in a 5/12 matchup against a 12 seed NC State....
the year before that, in 2013............. they didn't attend a post season tournement (17-14)
2012, X had a good run into the Sweet 16, losing to Baylor
in 2011, they got beat easily in a 6/11 matchup to 11 seed Marquette
They are pretty hit and miss........ much like WVU. I just don't think we'll see them in the Sweet 16, with Wisconsin standing in their way. Now, having typed that....... watch Wisky get blown out by Pitt....
I really like our draw.........
Game 1 - WVU lite.......... same style and pace..... smaller scale (smaller guys too)
Game 2 - 2 day prep time - ND/Michigan/Tulsa.......... The first two teams don't bother with defense. Michigan has 1 ball handler and leans on streak shooters (will be their 3rd game in a week too). Tulsa is a bad team........... like Oklahoma State bad. ND is going to try to slooooooooow it down. I don't respect Mike Brey as a coach in March either.
Game 3 - Wisconsin or Xavier............. Wisky has no depth (only 7 guys above a 10 minute average). Xavier will be a real show down.
Game 4 - UNC/UK/IU - 2 day prep time - If UNC, I think our dance ends, barring some really poor guard play. UK? Bring it. Streaky shooters and under-developed interior athletes coexisting with the nation's best PG. Miles sticks to Murray like he did with Hield...... UK also only plays 7 guys. IU - well, it's Tom Crean.... they've overachieved as it is.
Game 5 and 6 - just happy to be here, don't care about the matchup
Game 1 - WVU lite.......... same style and pace..... smaller scale (smaller guys too)
Game 2 - 2 day prep time - ND/Michigan/Tulsa.......... The first two teams don't bother with defense. Michigan has 1 ball handler and leans on streak shooters (will be their 3rd game in a week too). Tulsa is a bad team........... like Oklahoma State bad. ND is going to try to slooooooooow it down. I don't respect Mike Brey as a coach in March either.
Game 3 - Wisconsin or Xavier............. Wisky has no depth (only 7 guys above a 10 minute average). Xavier will be a real show down.
Game 4 - UNC/UK/IU - 2 day prep time - If UNC, I think our dance ends, barring some really poor guard play. UK? Bring it. Streaky shooters and under-developed interior athletes coexisting with the nation's best PG. Miles sticks to Murray like he did with Hield...... UK also only plays 7 guys. IU - well, it's Tom Crean.... they've overachieved as it is.
Game 5 and 6 - just happy to be here, don't care about the matchup
I get it but dude we don't have a chance to play any "blue bloods" until the Elite 8. ND is over seeded and as a legit title contender we should not act like that matchup will be the reason we fail. We might lose but I'm not going to cry about a bad draw if we do. The alternatives to Xavier would be Michigan State or Villanova (excluding OU because the committee would have never paired them with us). I have to say I'm glad we drew X instead of those two. The Elite 8 will be a challenge regardless of who we play, should we have hoped for UVA who already dismantled us on a neutral floor? We didn't get the best draw IMO but we certainly weren't "screwed".
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honestly, who cares about national titles between them? Bobby Knight winning in the 70s is hardly relevant in today's game. I actually like our path. Much rather have Xavier than Mich State or OU as the 2 in our bracket.
I think we'll let WVU play the games anyway, to see how they turn out.
With the way this crazy season has gone, egg on face is a real possibility if a team looks beyond the team it's playing next. And woe to the team that disrespects and overlooks its opponent.
As I said in another post, if you go by seeding, which is far from perfect in predicting winners in a normal season, which this is not, then WVU beats Stevie Austin, probably Notre Dame, then Xavier, thenn faces North Carolina. Not predicting, just bracketing by the seeding.
As I said weeks ago, #3 seed has about the same path as #1, #2 and #3 for the first 2 or 3 games.
Let's wait till 11 p.m. Friday before we crow, lest we're forced to eat crow.
I 100% agree. It's all about who they want to matchup teams against. Just look at the potential UK-Indiana matchup. Or how about a rematch between Texas and Texas AM? Or perhaps Oklahoma vs an old Big 12 foe? Many others too. But for some odd ball reason, they never place UNC and Duke in the same region.
They never correctly seed teams. They will cheat and bump a team up few spots or back a few spots to get their matchups. All about the TV ratings. I absolutely hate subjectivity in sports. Has no business in sports. That's why I hate the new Playoff format, it's all subjectivity too. I like how pros have it set it up. You get into post-season with your records. There's nobody deciding who should or shouldn't get in.
I disagree, lol. Even if I think we should win, I never say it. Perhaps, I am superstitious. But in March, anything can happen. Been many good teams over the years who get stunned. And if our guys struggle to make shots like they did against Kansas, then it's going to be awful tough. Even more so if the guys cannot somehow magically start making some foul shots. Giving away too many freebies.
Never say anything is going to be easy in life especially beforehand. Maybe being superstitious isn't real but it seems many times when an announcer says this guy is great at foul shots, they miss them or this is a chip shot field goal and the kicker pushes/pulls it or an announcer says this is a gimme-putt that ends up being pushed/pulled. lol
The East region as of now before we get started is loaded. Definitely agree. We are currently ranked 8th & have a monster resume out of the No. 1 league. What did that earn? 1st RD vs No. 30/33 with a 20-game win streak no matter if weak wins. Likely 2nd RD vs No. 27/26 Notre Dame. All I see that WV was rewarded with was playing in Brooklyn for Tarik, Jaysean & Teyvon.
Just don't yet know how the paths will unfold. Upsets will happen again. Fact is just one team from that top half would be faced & not all of 'em. Have to agree in looking ahead that Xav should be less difficult than Mich State. If that's what might happen. But of course what you think will happen probably won't.
The way this season has gone, I'm surprised there's so much chalk talk. All year it was written and talked about how wide open this season has been going with ranked teams losing weekly, No. 1s going down left and right. Then brackets come out Sunday & most of the consensus favors chalk & the typical names. I doubt it's going to go down like that.
Let's get these Friday-Sunday Ws! Cannot wait to get the week over & shift the talk on wins 27, 28.
Just don't yet know how the paths will unfold. Upsets will happen again. Fact is just one team from that top half would be faced & not all of 'em. Have to agree in looking ahead that Xav should be less difficult than Mich State. If that's what might happen. But of course what you think will happen probably won't.
The way this season has gone, I'm surprised there's so much chalk talk. All year it was written and talked about how wide open this season has been going with ranked teams losing weekly, No. 1s going down left and right. Then brackets come out Sunday & most of the consensus favors chalk & the typical names. I doubt it's going to go down like that.
Let's get these Friday-Sunday Ws! Cannot wait to get the week over & shift the talk on wins 27, 28.
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Regardless of whether Notre Dame is overseeded, every Mountaineer fan should be dreading a possible second-round game against a school that has been a massive thorn in our sides over the years. Among all schools we've played more than 25 times in basketball, guess who owns the best record against us?
It is relevant for one simple reason--the most likely champion by far is a school who has already won before. Nine titles in a row have gone to previous winners, which is why I'm upset we got thrown into the region that has won a collective 20 when the other regions hold just 11, 9, and 4.
To put it another way, Numbers: Do you honestly believe all that lineage of previous titles and Final Fours wasn't relevant each time we got knocked out of the tournament by a Duke or Kentucky? We were able to get them once, too, but there's a reason schools like that are blue bloods...they beat you far more often than you beat them, and their greater numbers of previous successes perpetuate themselves. To dismiss their histories as irrelevant is essentially the same thing as arguing that there are no traditional powers, which is clearly absurd.
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SFA is not 30/33, I dont care what the polls say. A team whose only wins against the RPI top 100 were Texas A&M Corpus Christi and their only bout with a team in our level talent-wise (Baylor) they lost by 42 is not the 30th best team in the country, period.
It's not like we're not used to playing against good competition day-after-day, right?
Every player in our program right now has never faced Notre Dame. Last time Huggins coached against Brey we were not a 40 minutes of pressure team. Notre Dame under Brey has been a traditional underachiever in March. Just because you personally are freaked out at the prospect of playing the Irish doesnt mean anyone else is. There is also a strong chance we play Michigan or Tulsa which would be a great matchup for us.
So what? To win we have to beat these type of programs, we dont face our first program like that until probably the Elite 8, that is a good draw. UNC has to play UK or IU in all likelihood in the Sweet 16, you wanna switch positions with them?
I never said we weren't.
However, now that you raised that point...did being battle-tested day after day help the two #3 seeds out of the Big 12 last year who wet the bed against #14 seeds from weaker conferences?
Nor was our season & we still did okay.
5 of 8 Ls came against no. 1 or 2 seeds.
Two of those teams we did beat once each, as well.
5 of 8 Ls came against no. 1 or 2 seeds.
Two of those teams we did beat once each, as well.
We could've made basically the same statement going into the Kentucky game in last year's tournament. The unfamiliarity and change in style didn't help us one bit. I appreciate trying to make the case that each occasion is tabula rasa, but the reality is otherwise.
Could be, but they're now coming off an Elite Eight appearance and gave Kentucky ten times more competitive a game last season than we did.
Any Mountaineer fan who doesn't dread the possibility of a game against one of our school's biggest personal nemeses is either oblivious of our history or too cavalier about it.
The last thing in the world we should want is for a media-darling school we all despise to deliver yet another dose of heartbreak to WVU, particularly if ND is a "perennial underachiever in March".
As much as I also don't want a 4th meeting in 7 seasons with Kentucky, at least if they beat us it happens at the hands of one of the sport's true superpowers. I sure as hell don't want our team to get upset earlier than it should by a school we loathe more than Satan.
My biggest hope is that, if we get past SFA, the opponent waiting is Tulsa. No storylines, no history, no bad blood...just a game without baggage.
we are going to have to beat teams better than ND if we want to reach the FF. The Irish are the least of my worries.
Every fan of every team that makes the Tourney wants there road to the final four to look like this
Paper....................the players are blaming the loss to SFA on you! Yes, you lead them down the path to destruction by making them believe they could coast into the Final Four. It's all on the PaperBoy. Extra Extra.................read all about it.
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