My Morning Bracket

[ericm]

Isn't the whole point of having the tournament at different locations to have a neutral court for each team? How does Louisville and Butler get to play in Lexington? California in San Jose, Michigan and Michigan State in Auburn Hills, Kansas and Kansas St. in Kansas City, Georgetown in Philadelphia, etc?? Some aren't exactly "home court" but its not far from it.

Next weekend will be more of a neutral site deal. A few years ago the NCAA decided it would be best to keep teams closer to home where possible for the early rounds both to keep travel costs down,and play to more filled arenas. I couldn't cars less about their travel, but gotta admit I like  seeing the arenas pretty packed, and loud for the most part.

[capt. scotty]

Plus I think those highly seeded teams earned the right to play closer to home the 1st couple rounds to give them an added advantage of getting to the Sweet 16. Once there, its up to them to advance, and no team is really playing all that close to home at that point.

[Mahgeetah34]

Meh, I semi agree, but the top seeds are already rewarded by getting to play the "weakest" teams in the opening rounds. Who knows, if Kansas had to play in San Jose, then maybe we would've seen the first 16 over 1 upset in history! 

[Crispy]

Plus I think those highly seeded teams earned the right to play closer to home the 1st couple rounds to give them an added advantage of getting to the Sweet 16. Once there, its up to them to advance, and no team is really playing all that close to home at that point.

Yeah, like that 5 seed Oklahoma State traveling two time zones west to play 12 seed Oregon in San Jose. It didn't hurt Syracuse much, but they had to travel all the way to San Jose too, while another 4 seed in Michigan plays a home game. I know it's impossible to get it all set totally fairly, but I think the selection committee screwed the pooch in a couple of places this year.

[Tracy 2112]

Louisville and Michigan looked the best today.

Not surprised the Zags lost. Everyone seemed to forget pretty soon that #16 SU gave them a run on Thursday.

Butler/Marquette was an amazing game (until the last 30 seconds)

If Ole Miss plays great and Marshall goes off, they get to the Great 8. 

Totally not out of the question seeing Florida Gulf Coast going to the Great 8.

[capt. scotty]

Plus I think those highly seeded teams earned the right to play closer to home the 1st couple rounds to give them an added advantage of getting to the Sweet 16. Once there, its up to them to advance, and no team is really playing all that close to home at that point.

Yeah, like that 5 seed Oklahoma State traveling two time zones west to play 12 seed Oregon in San Jose. It didn't hurt Syracuse much, but they had to travel all the way to San Jose too, while another 4 seed in Michigan plays a home game. I know it's impossible to get it all set totally fairly, but I think the selection committee screwed the pooch in a couple of places this year.

Im not going to pull out my GPS, but Im guessing a flight from Stillwater or Eugene to San Jose isnt that different. Also, the cut off is at the 4 seed because those are the teams "expected" to make the S16. True with Syracuse on their early games, but they did get put in the East region so their next game is in DC, the closest it can be.

[Tracy 2112]

Im not going to pull out my GPS, but Im guessing a flight from Stillwater or Eugene to San Jose isnt that different.

Stillwater to San Jose- 1370
Eugene to San Jose- 465

I'm not going to pull out my calculator, but that's like 7x further...

[Crispy]

You need to look at a map, cap'n. True enough about the pods, but a 12 seed shouldn't be that much closer to home than the 5 it plays. Oregon has plenty of alumni in the Bay Area, and outnumbered OSU fans about three to one at the game. Yeah, sour grapes.

[Clarkwork]

Well, like Kramer says in the masturbation episode....I'M OUT!!!

[Tracy 2112]

You need to look at a map, cap'n. True enough about the pods, but a 12 seed shouldn't be that much closer to home than the 5 it plays. Oregon has plenty of alumni in the Bay Area, and outnumbered OSU fans about three to one at the game. Yeah, sour grapes.

Fun with numbers!

Travel Distances for #1
Kansas- 30 miles
Louisville-70
Indiana- 130
Gonzaga- 550

#2
Ohio State- 60
Georgetown- 120
Duke- 330
Miami- 1,100

#3
Michigan State- 70
Marquette- 390
New Mexico- 480
Florida- 920

#4
Michigan- 30
Kansas State- 100
Saint Louis- 1,700
Syracuse- 2,410

#5
Wisconsin- 375
UNLV- 390
VCU- 450
Oklahoma State- 1,370

#6
Butler- 140
Arizona- 590
Memphis- 630
UCLA- 1,220

Fun Facts!

The #4 seed had the longest travel average of the top 6 seeds at 1,060 miles.

I had a hunch the NCAA is in the bag to help the Big 10 (so they will maybe become relevant again in something) and these numbers back that up. Look closely at the travel distances for the Big 10 teams; you'll find an average distance of 134 miles; the Big East average is 750 and the Big 12 is 500. In fact, the travel distance for the top 4 seeds in the Big 10 is a total of 290 miles! Check out how far Miami, Florida and Syracuse had to go!

[ericm]

Nice work Tracy.   

I agree with you on the NCAA and Big 10. If you take your work a step further, and drop #5 Wisconsin, the average distance their top 4 had to travel is 72.5 miles! Hell, I can drive that in an hour easy. 

[capt. scotty]

Temple really choked at the end there, Wyatt with some poor attempts. I thought they were gonna pull it off, damnit.

[Tracy 2112]

Temple really choked at the end there, Wyatt with some poor attempts. I thought they were gonna pull it off, damnit.

I didn't see Temple all year, so didn't know about Wyatt. I also never saw a team's star just stop playing. During some of the late game sets, he just simply quit moving. Granted, Oladipo was playing great D, but there were a couple of no calls and Wyatt just sat there and pouted and stopped and watched. Bizarre. Plus, their #2 scorer Randall was 0-18 from the floor. 

[Crispy]

Damn, Tracy, You're a fellow geographer! I use travel distance as a component in the spreadsheet I use to predict tournament results, which of course is very hit and miss, but pretty interesting, I think (it's serving me pretty well so far this year). I also make some maps with the data showing where everybody goes along with the predictions. Your stats are great, I'm going to start compiling those in my spreadsheet too.

[Tracy 2112]

Damn, Tracy, You're a fellow geographer!

[tdb810]

Damn, Tracy, You're a fellow geographer!

Get a room. And let us know the mileage.

[capt. scotty]

Kansas in the 2nd half looked like the team that I think can/will beat Louisville in the championship.

Man, Im all aboard the Florida Dunk Coast bandwagon. So fun to watch. Hopefully they can hold on for the win vs SDSU. A S16 matchup vs Florida would be awesome.

[capt. scotty]

Temple really choked at the end there, Wyatt with some poor attempts. I thought they were gonna pull it off, damnit.

I didn't see Temple all year, so didn't know about Wyatt. I also never saw a team's star just stop playing. During some of the late game sets, he just simply quit moving. Granted, Oladipo was playing great D, but there were a couple of no calls and Wyatt just sat there and pouted and stopped and watched. Bizarre. Plus, their #2 scorer Randall was 0-18 from the floor.

Yeah, Wyatt seemed to half ass it down the stretch, and that was part of why he wasnt getting high percentage shots - or at least as good of looks as many of the ones in the 1st half. The Randall thing is weird, I think I saw someone say his worst game prior to this he went 3-10, which wouldve been enough for Temple to get the win. Temple also missed a handful of uncontested layups in the 2nd half it seemed.

Gotta give credit to Indiana though. They probably expected a comfortable win. Hulls brought them back down the stretch, Oladipo hits a huge 3, and Watford seals the win plus a great block on D.

[ericm]

Kansas in the 2nd half looked like the team that I think can/will beat Louisville in the championship.

Man, Im all aboard the Florida Dunk Coast bandwagon. So fun to watch. Hopefully they can hold on for the win vs SDSU. A S16 matchup vs Florida would be awesome.

I don't think they get by Michigan. So far L'Ville, and Michigan have looked like the best two teams in the tourney,IMO.

I am with you on FGC though. Fun to watch, and  love to see them get another win tonight.

[capt. scotty]

And after posting that Florida Gulf Coast goes on a 17-0 run to seal the game essentially. Their server is down on their athletics website right now. DUNK COAST BABY!!!!!