Lunardi's latest bracket (today)

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SelectionSunday

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Gophers still one of the first 4 out. I have no problem with his placement of the Gophers, but for the life of me I can't figure out why he still has Kentucky in the field.

I would love his Metrodome pairings. Getting both Kansas (defending champs & Aldrich) and Michigan State (Big 10 champs) here would be hitting the jackpot.

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/bracketology
 

I was just about to post about Kentucky before I saw your edit. Is he a wildcat alumnus or something? And at a 10 seed, no less.
 

And he doesn't even have Kentucky as dropping! Kentucky has nothing going for them. They go a load of bad losses, their SOS is bad, they have no signature victories and they've lost a ton of games at home. Not only that, but they're playing badly right now. I think Lunardi is trying to protect Kentucky for whatever reason. I thought he was pretty unbiased and fair, but there's not a single legitimate reason why he's got Kentucky in.
 

SelectionSunday said:
Gophers still one of the first 4 out. I have no problem with his placement of the Gophers, but for the life of me I can't figure out why he still has Kentucky in the field.

I would love his Metrodome pairings. Getting both Kansas (defending champs & Aldrich) and Michigan State (Big 10 champs) here would be hitting the jackpot.

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/bracketology
Click to expand...

Kentucky is doing no worse than the Gophers .
The Gophers have lost 6 out of their last 10, The same as Kentucky
Kentucky has also lost 2 of those games within the last 10 seconds
to the Sec division leaders. ( South Carolina & LSU )
Kentucky did beat Tenn. when they were ranked just as the Gophers
beat Louis. Louis. has indeed done better as the season has progressed.
Also remember this:
The NCAA Tourn IS about making money. Kentucky WILL draw a lot of fans
and it also is a bigger TV draw than others schools doing as well or as bad.
When you consider that factor, the NCAA would be more inclined to give the
nod to a school with a lot of tradition like Kentucky.
 

24KGOPHER said:
Kentucky is doing no worse than the Gophers .
The Gophers have lost 6 out of their last 10, The same as Kentucky
Kentucky has also lost 2 of those games within the last 10 seconds
to the Sec division leaders. ( South Carolina & LSU )
Kentucky did beat Tenn. when they were ranked just as the Gophers
beat Louis. Louis. has indeed done better as the season has progressed.
Also remember this:
The NCAA Tourn IS about making money. Kentucky WILL draw a lot of fans
and it also is a bigger TV draw than others schools doing as well or as bad.
When you consider that factor, the NCAA would be more inclined to give the
nod to a school with a lot of tradition like Kentucky.
Click to expand...

Thanks Kentucky fan for letting us know. But you guys will lose to Florida, so you'll be toast. Also, you neglect to mention that you had some BAD losses, like VMI, Vandy, etc. And no one cares if you lost the game in the final minute. W or L is all that matters. One thing about it, there'll be pitchforks in Lexington if you guys don't make the tourney, that's for sure. The pressure cooker is at high steam right now.
 


Don't forget Jodie Meeks is #4 scorer in the land and in the hunt for POY. If Kentucky is "in", Meeks pulled them in....ie Stephon Curry. :cool:
 

KyGopherfan said:
Thanks Kentucky fan for letting us know. But you guys will lose to Florida, so you'll be toast. Also, you neglect to mention that you had some BAD losses, like VMI, Vandy, etc. And no one cares if you lost the game in the final minute. W or L is all that matters. One thing about it, there'll be pitchforks in Lexington if you guys don't make the tourney, that's for sure. The pressure cooker is at high steam right now.
Click to expand...

Actually, I am a fan of both schools. Just pointing out that UK and Minn.
are in the same boat. UK lost to VMI which now has a 22-7 record and may
make the tourney. themselves. Minn has a bad loss also ( Northwestern )
Vandy ? UK also beat Vandy. Until Billy Gillispie arrived UK had not beaten
Vandy for 4 games in a row under a different coach.
While UK is not playing up to UK standards at the moment, they in fact are
doing just like they did during the final 2 years of Tubby. During Tubby's final 2 years he had 11 and 10 regular season losses and finished in the middle of the SEC. Just like now. This season UK did beat Tenn. when they were ranked. Unlike the final season of Tubby when UK did not have
1 single victory over a ranked team.
I am not trying to be harsh, only pointing out that UK is doing almost exactly what they did during the final 2 years of the Tubby tenure and during both of those seasons, UK made the Tourney.
As for Florida, UK may lose and they may win. That's why they play the game.
 

Defining a bad loss (Northwestern doesn't qualify)

Bad losses are defined by the Selection Committee as teams with RPI's exceeding #100. Kentucky has 2 such losses (#104 Vandy, #132 VMI in Lexington), while Minnesota has zero losses outside the top 100. Minnesota's worst loss was at #80 Northwestern.

Kentucky's tradition or for that matter Minnesota's lack thereof will have no impact on whether these teams earn at-large bids. It's nice you think that way, but's that's total bunk.
 

Just to point out -

Minn has a bad loss also ( Northwestern )
Click to expand...

At the time, and yes, it's certainly changed, Northwestern was hardly a bad loss as I believe Northwestern still had an RPI in the low 40's. Whereas the VMI loss for Kentucky was devastating and maybe still is as VMI is 133rd on CollegeRPI. At the time Kentucky lost though I believe VMI was a hideous low 200's. I think Minnesota and Kentucky are in the same boat. Take care of business and they'll be in, fail, and they'll be in the NIT together. That would be interesting.
 



Here are Kentucky's and Minnesota's "selection sheets." I pulled them off bbstate last night, so I don't know if the rpi values have changed at all. How could KY possibly be ahead of MN at this point, especially since Lunardi seems to think they're at least 10 teams ahead?

Also, I think 24K should consider the strengths of schedule that Tubby had his last 2 seasons vs. Gillespie's first 2. I don't know the numbers (though I'm sure FoT could tell us) but I'd be shocked if they were anywhere close to each other in difficulty.

Edit: wow, didn't realize the compression would create such bad resolution. Hopefully they're still easily readable.
 

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