bierce

How many years have you been saving that one?

Adrian Autry just avoiding being denied the 3 years to get it done rule, as Syracuse managed to not quite blow a 16 point second half lead against Florida State. I guess FSU will go to the NIT, so Hamilton's career isn't quite over yet, but we have to wait at least one more day for a final word on whether Autry gets another year at Syracuse. The funny thing is that while Boh-HEEM had a couple of Sweet Sixteens in his last 8 years at Syracuse, he had a .500 conference record in his last 9 years in the ACC, so it isn't like Autry inherited some kind of juggernaut.

Sad to see him go. I worked an election polling location with his wife a few years back.

UNC has a pretty young team as teams go in the portal era. It could be really good next year if most of the team returns and Wilson joins Denis and Dixon in the incoming class. UNC hasn't had quite the roller coaster that runner-up, miss tournament, Sweet Sixteen, bubble suggests. It wasn't that bad in 2023. It had 20 wins, was in the Pomeroy top 45, and barely missed the tournament. It was Pomeroy 30 and an 8 seed that got on a roll in 2022. That happens sometimes. I know the NCAA tournament didn't have nearly as many teams in the mid-late 70s than it does now, but undefeated National Champ, followed by 16-11 with no post-season and a 5th place finish in a Big Ten that had only 10 teams, followed by a Sweet 16, followed by another 5th place Big Ten team going to the NIT was a four year stretch for a pretty famous coach early in his career.

Tiebreaker was UNC's 1 point loss in Winston-Salem.

I'm not mad at Wake Forest. I'm just astounded that a team that poor is the 4th seed in the ACC tournament. Of course, last year the 3rd seed was Pomeroy 68 Virginia.

As of this morning, the last eight in are Utah State, Baylor (!), Arky, San Diego State, OU, Indiana, tOSU, and Xavier. The first seven out are UNC, Boise State, UC Irvine, Dayton, Texas, Wake Forest, and Colorado State. We'll call Cincy the eighth out for now. Tons of action involving those teams tomorrow, including possible double bubble games between Texas and Vandy, and between OU and Georgia. Cincy, Arky, tOSU, UNC, Baylor, and West Virginia also play tomorrow. Boise State faces SDSU Thursday in a MWC quarterfinal. Xavier plays Marquette Thursday in a Big East quarter.

I think Michigan State might have a complaint if it wins the Big Ten tournament and gets only a 2 seed, but I don't have much problem with Duke getting one of the 1 seeds right now. Auburn, Houston, Michigan State, and Duke are the only teams with at least 7 q1 wins and a 70%+ winning pct in q1 games.

Capel was signed to an extension last spring to keep him in Pittsburgh through 2029-30 season, so I guess he's safe despite Pitt taking a big step backward this year and him having made just one NCAA tournament in 7 years. Unless the Pitt AD decides to drop an overdosed hooker in Capel's hotel room tonight or something.

Pitt guard stepped out while driving baseline with 19.2 seconds left in a tie game. ND shot a runner, missed, got an offensive rebound, fouled on the putback. Refs reviewing to see if clock expired before the shot. Obviously no. ND shooting a pair with 0.5 seconds left. Made first. Missed second. 85 foot heave winds up short. South Carolina would have beaten these guys by 20.

Pitt-Notre Dame is a terrible game. South Carolina would clobber either of these teams. If Pitt wins, it would face UNC in the second round. Wake f'ing Forest got a double bye, showing just how ugh the ACC was this year. It would be Pitt's next opponent if it wins today and tomorrow.

Cincy dispatched Okie State with ease. Gets Iowa State tomorrow. A win there could start earning it a vote or two. Follow it up with a win over BYU in the quarterfinals, and it will get on 1/4 of the brackets. Follow that with a win over Houston, it will be looking like a serious candidate to make the tournament.

Pepperdine wasn't in the game in the second half against Gonzaga. San Fran went to the half up 2, was behind by only 1 before Ike completed an and one with 6:45 to go, and Gonzaga slowly pulled away from there. So the only risks for dance crashers now will come from the AAC (only Memphis is worth an at-large bid), the Big West (UC San Diego), the A-10 (VCU), and the more unlikely scenario that a multi-bid conference has a team come from nowhere to get multiple wins over tournament quality teams to claim a bid. No bubble teams in action today, unless you think Pitt and Cincy can still get in without an autobid. Both are in first round conference tournament action.

I guess Brownell isn't big enough of a name, but he has a buyout around 3.3M.

San Fran won last night, so there is at least one team with the ability to challenge St. Mary's and Gonzaga in the WCC semis. I really don't give Pepperdine much of a chance today. It will be on its fourth game in 4 days, and it lost to St. Mary's by 30 and 24 already this year. San Fran beat St. Mary's once and stayed within 11 @ Gonzaga. Nothing else of bubble interest on the slate today.

Maybe now that May has gone 0-4 against ranked teams since receiving a contract extension, Michigan will pay us to take him off their hands.

Pepperdine (4-14 in the WCC and playing its third game in three days) was trying to upset Santa Clara in the WCC quarterfinals, and nearly pissed the game away. Up 5 with the ball and a little over a minute to go, it lost the dribble without pressure on the perimeter, giving Santa Clara a breakaway to cut it to three. Then Pepperdine ran the entire clock down without even remotely trying to work offense. Shot clock violation with 17 seconds left on the game clock. SC with a chance to tie. SC got an open three. Missed the rim completely. Pepperdine got the rebound and made a pair of ft to clinch it with 2.8 seconds left. So much for one (Santa Clara) of the two WCC teams I thought might be a risk to manage to crash the dance. San Fran is up next against Washington State.

So has Dan Hurley for most of his career.

He would, but Luke Murray probably wouldn't. He would have the same pedigree as a top assistant at a perennial power before taking a head coaching role.

Gene Hackman and Flip Wilson are gone, but Gabe Kaplan is still around.

The Beard myth will never go away. We should always remember Beard got us only to the round of 32. The next year he lost the only game we played outside of Austin against a team with a pulse.

Drake won with ease today. That makes for one less dance crasher for bubble teams to worry about.

Something that also would not be a problem for a school hiring Wade, McCollum, Pitino, Odom, or Murray.

Texas is on 1 of 43 brackets that updated this morning. TheNightVenom is the weirdo. But here is the thing. How far out are we? Boise State had 4 votes. UNC had 6. Nebraska had 2 but it lost today and missed the B1G tournament, so it can't climb up. I'd say we are pretty far out. The matrix is in almost complete accord for keeping those teams out and everyone who is in the matrix in. Xavier and tOSU are each on 34-35 of the 43. Everyone else is nearly unanimously in or out. So Texas has to jump teams two teams that get a few more votes today than Texas does, has to jump at least one team is running at 80% in, and has to jump another team each time a dance crasher shows up. A win over A&M could do that, but it might not be enough. I think 14 SEC teams in the field would be ridiculous. The SEC has a few great teams (Auburn, Florida, Alabama, maybe Tennessee), a few really good teams (Missouri, A&M, Kentucky, maybe Mississippi), and a bunch of mediocre teams (Miss State, Arky, Georgia, Vandy, OU, Texas). All the mediocrity should not be rewarded at the expense of more deserving mid-majors that might play a bad game in their conference tournaments.

Nebraska nadired in dramatic fashion by losing to Iowa 83-68 for its fifth straight loss and fourth straight loss in Lincoln. Horrible season end for Hoiberg. NU was a near cinch to get in and found the only way to play itself out. B1G will have five teams tie for 12th-16th at 7-13.