NCAA Basketball Final Four Game Thread

Ale Xander

Hamilton
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Oct 31, 2013
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Saturday April 1st:

#9 Florida Atlantic University Owls v. #5 San Diego State University Aztecs, 6:09PM ET, 5:09PM CT/local, CBS

#5 University of Miami Hurricanes v. #4 Connecticut Huskies, 8:49PM ET, 7:49PM CT/local (or later, depending on finish of earlier game) CBS


Monday April 3rd:

Championship Game between the two Saturday winners, approximately 9:19PM ET, 8:19PM CT/local

Postgame: One Shining Moment montage video (the best 3-4 minutes of television)
 
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DennyDoyle'sBoil

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No two teams have been playing better than Miami and Connecticut. Both have played significantly better than their seeds. It looks as though Vegas likes UConn, but Miami is scoring at a really amazing pace and I think you can never count out teams that put it all together in March -- both UConn and Miami fit in that category. All four of the teams do really. I would not be surprised to see UConn Miami come down to the last couple of minutes in a very close one-possession game.
 

Kremlin Watcher

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I know this is the way bracketed tournaments work so not complaining, but the championship at this stage should (from my normative point of view as a generic sports fan) be between the two best teams still alive, UConn and Miami.

I'm all-in for FAU in any case. Would love to see a team named the Owls win it all.
 

BaseballJones

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It would be very easy to have the regional champions be regional champions, and then have the Final Four simply be the four regional champions arranged by seed. If you have two #1s, the NCAA tournament committee will have already decided how they are ranked - as in, they had an overall #1 seed in the tournament, so they know of the four #1s, what order they go in.

Just don't have the four regions already decided who will play who in the semis. Not hard to arrange it this way at all.

UConn - FAU
Miami - San Diego State

Winners play for the title.

Might make picking your bracket a little harder, of course, and maybe that's no small consideration here.
 

Kremlin Watcher

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Yes that's my point. They certainly could (and in my view should) do it that way, but they don't, so I'll just watch and hope to enjoy competitive games.

In this case, detractors will in years to come claim this somehow dilutes the quality of the championship, which is bullshit, but it will happen.
 

DennyDoyle'sBoil

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Might make picking your bracket a little harder, of course, and maybe that's no small consideration here.
Yeah, they know where their bread is buttered. Giving people the opportunity to fill out brackets before the tournament starts is such an integral part of the success of the tournament that they know they can't mess with it.

Even the first four is deliberately designed to ensure that they still preserve the ability to do a bracket.
 

The_Powa_of_Seiji_Ozawa

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I know this is the way bracketed tournaments work so not complaining, but the championship at this stage should (from my normative point of view as a generic sports fan) be between the two best teams still alive, UConn and Miami.

I'm all-in for FAU in any case. Would love to see a team named the Owls win it all.
Otherwise, potentially it's kind of like the NFC Championship games in the early 90s, which were about picking which team would be allowed to beat up the Buffalo Bills in the Superbowl.
 

54thMA

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Yeah, they know where their bread is buttered. Giving people the opportunity to fill out brackets before the tournament starts is such an integral part of the success of the tournament that they know they can't mess with it.

Even the first four is deliberately designed to ensure that they still preserve the ability to do a bracket.
Exactly, gambling takes precedent over the best match ups. which is why Aunt Agnes is four for four with her Final Four picks as she chose the four schools located in the areas she's considering moving to once she retires.

She's the same aunt who wins the football pool every week because she picks the team with the helmet she likes more.
 

tims4wins

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Yes that's my point. They certainly could (and in my view should) do it that way, but they don't, so I'll just watch and hope to enjoy competitive games.

In this case, detractors will in years to come claim this somehow dilutes the quality of the championship, which is bullshit, but it will happen.
Eh I don't think this really exists. E.g., in 2004 when UConn beat Duke in the semis while Georgia Tech was beating Oklahoma State, everyone knew that the UConn-Duke game was the de facto title game. To my knowledge no one has ever tried to detract from that title.
 

Pablo's TB Lover

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It would be very easy to have the regional champions be regional champions, and then have the Final Four simply be the four regional champions arranged by seed. If you have two #1s, the NCAA tournament committee will have already decided how they are ranked - as in, they had an overall #1 seed in the tournament, so they know of the four #1s, what order they go in.

Just don't have the four regions already decided who will play who in the semis. Not hard to arrange it this way at all.

UConn - FAU
Miami - San Diego State

Winners play for the title.

Might make picking your bracket a little harder, of course, and maybe that's no small consideration here.
Eh, unless you are talking 2 dominant #1 seeds on one side and 8/9 seeds that were seeded properly on the other, I think this is a solution in search of a problem. FAU was woefully under-seeded and they have proved this during the Tournament. Per Ken Pomeroy's ratings through yesterday's games (kenpom.com) and the NCAA NET rankings from all games prior to the Tournament (https://www.ncaa.com/rankings/basketball-men/d1/ncaa-mens-basketball-net-rankings), UConn is #1 amongst the 4 teams, FAU and San Diego St alternate between #2/3 between ratings, and Miami is the clear #4 on both.

What is amusing is that the NCAA has these in-house NET rankings which are supposedly an improvement on the old RPI comparisons, but then the committee ignores these when it comes to seeding:
UConn #8 NET = 4 seed vs follow BE team Marquette #12 NET = 2 seed
Florida Atlantic #13 NET = 9 seed
San Diego St #14 NET = 5 seed
Miami #35 NET = 5 seed (A "mis-seed" in the proper direction, apparently.)
 

BaseballJones

ivanvamp
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Eh I don't think this really exists. E.g., in 2004 when UConn beat Duke in the semis while Georgia Tech was beating Oklahoma State, everyone knew that the UConn-Duke game was the de facto title game. To my knowledge no one has ever tried to detract from that title.
Right. I mean, UConn-Miami is probably the best matchup of the remaining possible games, and probably should be the championship game. But for UConn to win it, say, they have to beat Miami and one of the other teams anyway, so what difference does the order make? Lots of times the conference championship is actually the de facto title matchup, in many sports. This is kind of like that.
 

tims4wins

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Eh, unless you are talking 2 dominant #1 seeds on one side and 8/9 seeds that were seeded properly on the other, I think this is a solution in search of a problem. FAU was woefully under-seeded and they have proved this during the Tournament. Per Ken Pomeroy's ratings through yesterday's games (kenpom.com) and the NCAA NET rankings from all games prior to the Tournament (https://www.ncaa.com/rankings/basketball-men/d1/ncaa-mens-basketball-net-rankings), UConn is #1 amongst the 4 teams, FAU and San Diego St alternate between #2/3 between ratings, and Miami is the clear #4 on both.

What is amusing is that the NCAA has these in-house NET rankings which are supposedly an improvement on the old RPI comparisons, but then the committee ignores these when it comes to seeding:
UConn #8 NET = 4 seed vs follow BE team Marquette #12 NET = 2 seed
Florida Atlantic #13 NET = 9 seed
San Diego St #14 NET = 5 seed
Miami #35 NET = 5 seed (A "mis-seed" in the proper direction)
Right, kenpom it is 1 v 22 and 14 v 17
 

BaseballJones

ivanvamp
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Oct 1, 2015
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Eh, unless you are talking 2 dominant #1 seeds on one side and 8/9 seeds that were seeded properly on the other, I think this is a solution in search of a problem. FAU was woefully under-seeded and they have proved this during the Tournament. Per Ken Pomeroy's ratings through yesterday's games (kenpom.com) and the NCAA NET rankings from all games prior to the Tournament (https://www.ncaa.com/rankings/basketball-men/d1/ncaa-mens-basketball-net-rankings), UConn is #1 amongst the 4 teams, FAU and San Diego St alternate between #2/3 between ratings, and Miami is the clear #4 on both.

What is amusing is that the NCAA has these in-house NET rankings which are supposedly an improvement on the old RPI comparisons, but then the committee ignores these when it comes to seeding:
UConn #8 NET = 4 seed vs follow BE team Marquette #12 NET = 2 seed
Florida Atlantic #13 NET = 9 seed
San Diego St #14 NET = 5 seed
Miami #35 NET = 5 seed (A "mis-seed" in the proper direction)
Yeah I don't know that it needs to be adjusted. I was just pointing out that it wouldn't be hard for the NCAA tourney people to alter the tournament so that once you reach the final four, the teams are matched up according to their seeding instead of some pre-arranged deal like we have now.

It's fine the way it is.
 

54thMA

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Eh I don't think this really exists. E.g., in 2004 when UConn beat Duke in the semis while Georgia Tech was beating Oklahoma State, everyone knew that the UConn-Duke game was the de facto title game. To my knowledge no one has ever tried to detract from that title.
Certainly no one from UConn anyway.

This is the second time my best friends Son is going to win our bracket challenge because he picked UConn for no other reason than he went to UConn.
 

Ale Xander

Hamilton
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Exactly, gambling takes precedent over the best match ups. which is why Aunt Agnes is four for four with her Final Four picks as she chose the four schools located in the areas she's considering moving to once she retires.

She's the same aunt who wins the football pool every week because she picks the team with the helmet she likes more.
I don’t think Storrs is a retirement destination but I could be wrong
 

54thMA

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I don’t think Storrs is a retirement destination but I could be wrong
In the aftermath of September 2005's Hurricane Katrina, Slate named Storrs "America's Best Place to Avoid Death Due to Natural Disaster."

She's big on not checking out due to a hurricane, tornado, flood, blizzard or locusts.
 

DennyDoyle'sBoil

Found no thrill on Blueberry Hill
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One thing that's great about Storrs is that you have multiple ways to get to the 84. If you're going toward Hartford and points south, you can take the 195. If you're going up to the other New England states you can go the other direction to connect to the highway in Willington. So, you know, no backtracking, which is nice when you're old. You can save upwards of 10 to 15 minutes.
 

Jim Ed Rice in HOF

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One thing that's great about Storrs is that you have multiple ways to get to the 84. If you're going toward Hartford and points south, you can take the 195. If you're going up to the other New England states you can go the other direction to connect to the highway in Willington. So, you know, no backtracking, which is nice when you're old. You can save upwards of 10 to 15 minutes.
So the best thing about Storrs is there are multiple ways to away from Storrs?
 

JOBU

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One thing that's great about Storrs is that you have multiple ways to get to the 84. If you're going toward Hartford and points south, you can take the 195. If you're going up to the other New England states you can go the other direction to connect to the highway in Willington. So, you know, no backtracking, which is nice when you're old. You can save upwards of 10 to 15 minutes.
This isn’t socal. We don’t put “the” in front of our highway numbers ;)
 

DennyDoyle'sBoil

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This isn’t socal. We don’t put “the” in front of our highway numbers ;)
You fuckers that stayed behind can call it whatever you want in your provincial speak while you eat your grinders.

Those of us who efficiently got on the 84 and never looked back have bigger fish to fry.
 

54thMA

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Multiple efficient ways. Yeah, that was pretty much the best I could come up with on short notice after Basketball [Edit -- Baseball] Jones covered the ice cream.
There is nothing efficient about the road network in Connecticut, the entire state is a traffic jam 24/7/365, whenever I used to travel on business and did that death crawl from exit 93 to exit 1, it never failed I'd run into some disaster on 95 in CT, 90 to 84 to 81 to whatever was never much better.

Just a total shitshow of a state to have to travel in, through and around.

I went to NY last Saturday to pick up a collection, left MA at 6:00am, got to NY/my destination at about 9:30am, I was stunned, by the time I got back on the road, it was around noon; five and a half hours later, I got back to MA.

Not accidents, no construction, no nothing, just long stretches of good old fashioned bumper to bumper traffic for no apparent reason.
 

strek1

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There is nothing efficient about the road network in Connecticut, the entire state is a traffic jam 24/7/365, whenever I used to travel on business and did that death crawl from exit 93 to exit 1, it never failed I'd run into some disaster on 95 in CT, 90 to 84 to 81 to whatever was never much better.

Just a total shitshow of a state to have to travel in, through and around.

I went to NY last Saturday to pick up a collection, left MA at 6:00am, got to NY/my destination at about 9:30am, I was stunned, by the time I got back on the road, it was around noon; five and a half hours later, I got back to MA.

Not accidents, no construction, no nothing, just long stretches of good old fashioned bumper to bumper traffic for no apparent reason.
Oh there are plenty of accidents and construction, but yeah there is so much volume now it's miserable. You can move around OK between Midnite and 5 AM but at those times you have to be concerned about a drunk wrong way driver getting you.
 

Spud

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Nov 15, 2006
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Oh there are plenty of accidents and construction, but yeah there is so much volume now it's miserable. You can move around OK between Midnite and 5 AM but at those times you have to be concerned about a drunk wrong way driver getting you.
Route 8 from Waterbury to Winsted always flows nicely, assuming there's something in Winsted that interests you or you live in Winsted and need to get to Waterbury. And while I don't share the overall doom and gloom about traveling the state, I do agree that it is very annoying at times, given the frequency in which you're sitting in barely moving traffic, wondering why, and then never discovering the reason. Happens with great frequency on the Merritt. It might help if the average speed in moving traffic was less than 75 or 80, but some folks have a need to make up for all the delays!
 

54thMA

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Oh there are plenty of accidents and construction, but yeah there is so much volume now it's miserable. You can move around OK between Midnite and 5 AM but at those times you have to be concerned about a drunk wrong way driver getting you.
Exit 93 to about 50 or so is usually a piece of cake or 50 to 93 heading home...............50-1 or 1-50 is absolute torture.
 

54thMA

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I do agree that it is very annoying at times, given the frequency in which you're sitting in barely moving traffic, wondering why, and then never discovering the reason.
That gets me every time; crawling along for miles, then boom, it opens up and there is no evidence of anything that caused the delay.
 

HomeRunBaker

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What a post-season the underrated Conference USA has had. Not only does FAU make it to Houston but UAB and North Texas, both fresh off being snubbed (esp UAB), meet in the NIT Final tonight. This just days after Charlotte runs through the CBI.

17-1 in the postseason with the only loss thus far being Rice losing by 2 in the second round of the CBI on a buzzer beater.
 
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Ale Xander

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What a post-season the underrated Conference USA has had. Not only does FAU make it to Houston but UAB and North Texas, both fresh off being snubbed (esp UAB), meet in the NIT Final tonight. This just days after Charlotte runs through the CBI.

17-1 in the postseason with the only loss thus far being Rice losing by 2 in the second round of the CBI on a buzzer beater.
I saw the North Texas game (@FAU) in person in January. very competitive. They seemed evenly matched at least on that day
 

HomeRunBaker

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I saw the North Texas game (@FAU) in person in January. very competitive. They seemed evenly matched at least on that day
Should be a great Final (well, competitive anyway. UNT isn’t the most fun team to watch for many). It’s the 4th time this year these contrasting styles have met with UAB getting their first win last time out. I think the familiarity factor of these styles favors UAB in this one.
 

canderson

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What a post-season the underrated Conference USA has had. Not only does FAU make it to Houston but UAB and North Texas, both fresh off being snubbed (esp UAB), meet in the NIT Final tonight. This just days after Charlotte runs through the CBI.

17-1 in the postseason with the only loss thus far being Rice losing by 2 in the second round of the CBI on a buzzer beater.
UNT would've won the B1G, I'm convinced.
 

Humphrey

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All 3 of those teams are headed to the AAC, which is a big help to that league, considering they're losing Houston and Cinci (also UCF).
 

HomeRunBaker

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I think San Diego St and UConn are heads and shoulders better than their opponents this weekend. Shooting in an 80,000 seat arena is different however so the teams that adjust best to these unusual backdrops are likely the ones to advance. Can’t wait for Saturday.
 

DukeSox

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