Bubble Watch

CatManTrue

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The Redhawks were the final team selected and are a play-in versus SMU.

Basically a home game for them in Dayton.

The best of all worlds?
 

Secho99

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Dec 12, 2001
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Yes, to make a point. If one is measuring the quality of a team as a function of its wins, who they are winning against matters as a first principle.
There's a metric called "wins above bubble" that evaluates about how many more or less games a team would be expected to win than an average bubble team against the same schedule that team played. Miami has a WAB of 1.69, which means that because they went 31-1 an average bubble team would be expected to go about 29-3 against the same schedule. So it suggests that Miami is slightly on the good side of the bubble, which is where they ended up.

It's not perfect (no metric is) but it attempts to address the issue of schedule quality.
 

CatManTrue

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They got a last four in spot
No they got the VERY LAST spot.

If Auburn or Oklahoma had gotten won more SEC tournament win, they would have been out. SD State too in the MWC - and they are arguably the better team than Miami (although Miami’s record is much more impressive even when accounting for zero Quad 1 teams on the schedule).

Thankfully we made Indiana a non-starter 🐑
 
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CappyNU

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Gotta say, showing that the Selection Committee made Miami OH the last team in with Auburn being the second team out, and then immediately cutting to Bruce Pearl for comment was incredible television.
 

CatManTrue

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Gotta say, showing that the Selection Committee made Miami OH the last team in with Auburn being the second team out, and then immediately cutting to Bruce Pearl for comment was incredible television.
Notice he diplomatically chose SMU as his “first team out”, but mentioned Oklahoma before Auburn 🤷‍♂️
 

GatoLouco

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Nov 13, 2019
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I would love to ban all P4 teams from being bubble teams. They are likely not better than several mid majors, who happened to not win their conference tournament.

I am much more interested in seeing, on any given year, say VCU, instead of Auburn, try to eliminate Michigan State. And I suspect most people do too. The chance of a Cinderella is such a big part of the allure of the tournament.
 
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CatManTrue

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The committee chair corrected them in an interview. Three teams were added after Miami. He said SMU was the last team voted into the field.
Interesting. And that makes sense.

SMU’s record is unimpressive but slightly better than the four left out.

Feels like the committee got this right.
 

Jonny2TheP

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Dec 11, 2007
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Gotta say, showing that the Selection Committee made Miami OH the last team in with Auburn being the second team out, and then immediately cutting to Bruce Pearl for comment was incredible television.
I mean, for "incredible television" I get it, but for the first 1-2 minutes after the entire field was selected to have a conversation that focused on Auburn (it adjacently discussed the first teams out) on the selection show, was a bit weird.
 

AdamOnFirst

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I mean, for "incredible television" I get it, but for the first 1-2 minutes after the entire field was selected to have a conversation that focused on Auburn (it adjacently discussed the first teams out) on the selection show, was a bit weird.
The point of the post selection conversation is kind of debate snubs before we focus on the selected teams for several weeks
 

Purple Pile Driver

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fyi, their first round game is on Friday.
Don't care. The debate was whether they belonged in the field. They spanked another team that was in that same debate. A win in the next game is very unlikely, this play in game in my mind validated my thoughts that they belonged in the field. It’s not a confirmation that they are a great team and no one ever said so. 30 wins should mean something! We don’t need an 11th team from the SEC.
 
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CappyNU

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I'm as much of an analytics guy as anybody, but I've come around much more to thinking that it should matter more who wins games than who plays well in a loss or against tougher teams. Give me Belmont over SMU, or Tulsa over NC State.
 
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EagerFan

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Don't care. The debate was whether they belonged in the field. They spanked another team that was in that same debate. A win in the next game is very unlikely, this play in game in my mind validated my thoughts that they belonged in the field. It’s not a confirmation that they are a great team and no one ever said so. 30 wins should mean something! We don’t need an 11th team from the SEC.
I'm glad you found evidence to feel validated. I think they're a good team and I'm glad they won the play-in game that allows them to play in their first tournament game tonight. Good luck to them!
 

CatManTrue

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And Miami (OH) already won an NCAA Tourney game, proving that they belong.
they won their play-in game against the lowest ranked seed

They’re down 21 to #6 Tennessee in their March Madness opener.

Would Auburn or Oklahoma have given them a better game?
 

AdamOnFirst

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they won their play-in game against the lowest ranked seed

They’re down 21 to #6 Tennessee in their March Madness opener.

Would Auburn or Oklahoma have given them a better game?
I’ve been one of the bigger critics of Miami not being very good, and they’re not, but Indiana or Auburn could have gone ahead and not done something like lose to us in their tournament too. Miami is lucky to have gotten their spot, though.
 

Purple Pile Driver

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they won their play-in game against the lowest ranked seed

They’re down 21 to #6 Tennessee in their March Madness opener.

Would Auburn or Oklahoma have given them a better game?
Winning needs to count fot something or why play the game.

Miami is right in the team picture with 8-11 seeds. Its easy to second guess, teams like Georgia, Villanova didn't look good either. Clemson, Miami, FL , Mizzou are not world beaters either.

its not about validation. I 100% believe they were as deserving as almost every other team ranked 8th or lower.
 
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EagerFan

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Losing by 20ish points in the first seeded game is pretty on par for the mid range seeds.
 

CatManTrue

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Losing by 20ish points in the first seeded game is pretty on par for the mid range seeds.
Uhhh… what?

6/11 games are usually very competitive. Two other 11 seeds won yesterday (VCU & Texas), and the other 11 seed lost by 4.

as I PREDICTed… Miami (OH) went undefeated against a Charmin’ Soft schedule and was quickly ousted.

They’re raising $280M for a brand new stadium largely due to said regular season, so good for them and the construction companies in Southwest Ohio
 

loyolacat

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The crux of the issue here is did they have a chance to prove themselves in the regular season?. Their version of the story was that none of the big boys would schedule them. This is an issue. Some of the teams including NU in some past seasons have pathetic non con schedules...if you took out their conference schedules they would look just like Miami of Ohio undefeated against a bunch 2oo plus kenpoms.....and they didnt lose to Chicago State! ( side note I may be the only person in American who saw Chicago State beat NU and LU. They should hire me as a good luck charm)
As far as I am concerned the committee should look carefully at the big boys non-con schedules and if they suffer from avoidance syndrome..send them to the NIT
 

EagerFan

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Uhhh… what?
I think, I haven't actually counted, that if you look at all of the games played between the 5 thru 12 seeds on Thursday and Friday, losing by about 20 points is not unusual. I don't mean just the 5-12 games, also the 6-11, etc.