You know what would have really been noteworthy?
Iowa State BEATING the eventual national champion in an earlier round.
Iowa State BEATING the eventual national champion in an earlier round.
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- Thread starter Cyclonz
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In a perfect world this wouldn't need a jimlad, but in this world it does.
If nothing else it is certainly bad luck that ISU may end up losing a 'road' game to the eventual champ in 4 out of its 6 last tournament appearances, playing a grand total of two games that could be considered home-ish themselves (as a heavily favored 2 seed in Minneapolis the first two rounds). Frustrating both modern era teams that were championship caliber had to run into a road game against a finals team before the Final Four.
It wasn't just UConn that got favorable placement as a low seed (Buffalo/New York City), Kentucky got it too (St.Louis/Indianapolis).
Wish ISU got this kind of love in tournament placement (or oversight, anyway).
Wish ISU got this kind of love in tournament placement (or oversight, anyway).
Baylor could have been national champ as a 6 seed playing 4 out of 6 games in Texas. As it is they played 2 out of 3 games in Texas as a 6 seed.
I feel like we'd have a million to one chance of being a 6 seed next year but still getting Omaha, yet that was them.
The NC and Kentucky games could have been played in Hilton and it wouldn't have mattered much. It's very difficult to beat better, and those teams were way better than ISU.
MSU was the 1 seed. That happens. Other teams were playing at MSG too.
MSU was the 1 seed. That happens. Other teams were playing at MSG too.
It's bad luck if nothing else. Uconn still has one more game, but it's not the norm to be eliminated in a road game almost every season, most of the time by the eventual champ.
For example, ISU has ended 4 NCAA tourney teams seasons in the past 3 years. None of those teams lost in a road atmosphere or to the eventual champs. It's some bad luck how frequently it's happened to ISU.
Even OSU made the Elite 8 last year.
So there's only one outlier here: the damned MEAC school which shall not be named.
So there's only one outlier here: the damned MEAC school which shall not be named.
I just think the NCAA tournament should be on neutral courts, not home/away. And like I said, it's not equitable when some teams (eg Duke, UNC) can play 20 minutes from their campus when other schools (eg ISU) will never be closer than 3 hours.
And saying no one will be complaining if ISU were to get Omaha next year is a ridiculous argument. I'd be perfectly fine if the NCAA changed this scheduling preference for next year and beyond even if it meant ISU would have gotten Omaha.
Kentuckville is more drivable to Dallas, more than Wiscy, UCONN, and maybe Florida. No real road games in six outings.
I get that in 2000, 2005 and 2012 we played #1 seeds - all three times I felt if we had been in any other spot those teams were good enough to go deep in the tourney (2000 you could argue all the way to the title). This year I felt we got a good draw for the first time in forever, but then George goes down.
I agree - we got a very good draw this year. Unlucky with the injury, but the path was there.
It seems to me that is was just unlucky that we lost to the eventual champion so frequently in a "home" game for them (and forgetting about Ohio State in Dayton, Ohio). As mentioned above, most of them were higher seeds.
That said, when was the last year that the state of North Carolina didn't have a tournament site? Maybe I'm wrong, but it seems like every year the ACC teams play in Charlotte, Raleigh, Winston-Salem, etc.
That said, when was the last year that the state of North Carolina didn't have a tournament site? Maybe I'm wrong, but it seems like every year the ACC teams play in Charlotte, Raleigh, Winston-Salem, etc.
When you are a 1 seed, you deserve to have a games closer to home and should be given a much greater opportunity to win a NC, so the 2000, 2005 and 2012 "trends" are just that. Now a 7 seed getting what UConn did in the S16 and E8 rounds is another story. Never the less, they beat the best team in the tourney last night, so they earned it.
This is the point I was going to make. It doesn't seem to work this way for us very often, as a lower seed playing close to home.
I had thought about this too. I don't believe in conspiracy theories, I just think it is very odd. Every year, six teams will be able to say that they lost to the eventual champions, but that is six teams out of 64, or a 9.35% chance of that happening. Having it happen four times in six tourneys, that has to be incredibly against the odds.
Any math majors out there that can figure out the odds of something like this happening?
Any math majors out there that can figure out the odds of something like this happening?
Since 2000, here are the number of times being defeated by an eventual National Champion. If UConn wins, Villanova will have 5 and Iowa State 4. If Kentucky wins, Wisconsin will have 4.
Most Times losing to eventual champion
| Team | Years |
|---|---|
| Villanova | 4 |
| Butler | 3 |
| Iowa State | 3 |
| Kansas | 3 |
| UCLA | 3 |
| Wisconsin | 3 |
I would guess most of those teams have had more opportunities of actually being in the tournament as well.
Geographic proximity is part of the rules used by the Selection Committee. If anything, we should be asking why we didn't get placed in St.Louis for the 2nd and 3rd rounds and in the Midwest Region. Of course, then we would be complaining about getting dumped into the "stacked" region. I do think we should have taken the place of KU. It seems that the committee gave KU favorable ranking because of the prospect of Imbid coming back.
Yeah, another reason geography hurts ISU so often is the density of good teams in the Midwest compared to the density of host sites. St Louis and Milwaukee were the Midwest areas, and KU, Wichita, Wisconsin, Michigan took those sites, leaving SA the next closest.
Then the regions were Indianapolis, Memphis, New York, Anaheim. We got stuck with New York, Duke got stuck with Indianapolis, Syracuse got stuck with Memphis and Creighton was thrown out west to Anaheim. Ideally they would put Duke in Memphis, Syracuse in NYC, and Iowa State in Indianapolis. (ISU was the western most team in the East Region, and the farthest from NYC. As a 3 seed)
Then the regions were Indianapolis, Memphis, New York, Anaheim. We got stuck with New York, Duke got stuck with Indianapolis, Syracuse got stuck with Memphis and Creighton was thrown out west to Anaheim. Ideally they would put Duke in Memphis, Syracuse in NYC, and Iowa State in Indianapolis. (ISU was the western most team in the East Region, and the farthest from NYC. As a 3 seed)
