So, here is the consensus starting lineup:
- Hall
- Johnson
- Robinson
- Saunders
- Fooss
Anyone know about Khalifa’s supposedly ankle injury and if he will play?
Big12 has 8 teams in the tournament. Surprised the OU wasn’t picked.
So why does BYU get a 6 seed and San Diego St get a 5 seed? BYU beat them and had a similar overall won/loss record and clearly played in a better conference. I think what is at play here is that BYU will always be punished in seeding due to not playing on Sunday. Sometimes it is a problem trying to figure out where to put them and I think it perturbs the committee having to deal with the no Sunday play issue. I don’t think the six seed was unfair but why does SDSU get a 5 seed? I think a 5 seed for BYU would have been fair as well but I wasn’t surprised at the 6. I was a little ticked off at SDSU getting a 5 based in only being about 4th place in the Mountain West. I know they were runner up last year but that should be irrelevant. If they had won either the conference title or tournament a 5 would have been ok.
At least the matchup seems okay. Duquesne is in the Atlantic 10 and that is an underrated conference that often does well in the tournament so BYU fans and players better be ready for a challenging game.
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We haven’t been in the tournament for a few years. Last couple of years really bad. So, playing somewhere they can focus on basketball will be a help. Maybe because Khalifa was injured they dropped them a peg. Don’t know if he will play.
Good question about the seed. I also noticed that BYU was the overall 17th seed of the tournament (according to CBS)—which should equate to a 5 seed. Yet they are a 6 seed (Gonzaga was 21 overall with a 5 seed).
That tells me BYU was penalized one seed for needing to play on Thursday/Saturday. Doesn’t seem fair.
Let’s have Lamier file a lawsuit against religious institutions 
Another oddity. Kansas gets a 4 seed and we beat them on their floor and they had a terrible finish to their season. I guess they get credit for their history. What rubbish. I wonder who is on this selection committee and if in some cases they ignore what happened during the season. New Mexico must be wondering why they got an 11th seed after beating SDSU 2 out of 3 this season.
Looks to me like you get brownie points for past year’s tournament performance. There isn’t
any rhyme or reason for some of the seeding. Texas Tech gets a 6 seed like us and they killed Kansas in Lubbock.
Kansas gets a 4 seed and they have 2 stars injured. They lost to us and Texas Tech and get seeded 2 spots higher than both. Makes no sense. Past tournament history should be irrelevant.
If we win 2 games we would be playing ISU again. We have to bring our “A+” game against Duquesne and probably Illinois.
Only one team can win the whole thing. You still like to go as far as you can and it gets more difficult with every game.
I agree with you Aro but we say the same thing every year and nothing ever changes.
Some experts were puzzled as to how Virginia even made it in, it makes no sense and there is no rationalization for a lot of the honest questions.
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- Because Pope followed the “wisdom” of the other coaches in the league and scheduled a patsy schedule pre conference season. The Clemson coach was not the only commentator in the country who noticed that B12 teams mostly beat up on a bunch of patsies.
Kansas arguably got overseeded at 4…but they played a legit pre-conference schedule.
If BYU had simply played a bunch of western teams MWC, WCC, Big West, and WAC with maybe another P12 thrown in, Pope could have gotten a soft schedule that was in the 150-200 range instead of the sub 300 range.
Beating up on sub300 teams did mean great stats, NET rating the whole year, admittedly only because BYU played them the way it should have played against the lower level of the WCC, play for a massive blowout instead of play not to lose…I don’t know how to run the stats in the alternative reality…but receding to the mean at a 12 end of season NET instead of the end of the non-conference number 2 NET might have been worth it…but the question needs to be looked at after the season ends before the next season schedule gets put together.
Why did the B12 end up with only 8 teams dancing? because so many of the coaches scheduled sub 300 strength of record non conference…if the conference has scheduled more like WVU KSU Baylor or Kansas the B12 probably would have had two more teams dancing.
And yes, BYU’s decision to not play on Sunday means 50% of the time they will be moved down a lseed in the bracket because it is morally correct to not punish other teams for BYU’s decision.
It is often a sacrifice, but worth it, to hold to important principles.
I didn’t think the 6 seed was unfair. I did think Kansas was seeded too high based on how they finished the season. I have heard in the past that the committee considers how you finish. SDSU was over seeded as well. It turns out they were 5th in the MWC and a couple of teams in their own conference probably should have been given a higher seed. Their seed was based in part on what they did last year. There were a few quirks and inconsistencies.in the whole process. I see what you are saying and I wasn’t surprised at BYU’s seed but surprised by a few teams who ended up higher.
The only B12 team that didn’t make it who may have had an argument was Oklahoma, however, with all the bid stealers that got in I am not surprised. Nobody else really had a good argument. Eight teams is really good. Anybody know how many the SEC, Big Ten, and ACC got?
I kind of felt the same way, until I heard Pope mention that the NCAA released its list of 64 teams they were having come to the dance and BYU was the top of the 5 seeds.
I do not think it had anything to do with Sunday play, or which site they were going to play at. I think whoever on the selection committee had a dislike for BYU.
Not sure if this is true overall, but this year, we are talking “Seeding” and not like in past years “teams that got screwed out of the tournament”. That has to say something.
BYU got what seems like a good draw in Duquesne but BYU has a history of not doing well in the NCAA and the Atlantic 10 has always been an underrated conference.
I think USU was also a victim of their past tournament history which is probably worse than BYU. Most people had USU better than an 8 seed. How do you win your conference outright and get a lower seed than the 5th place team in your conference. Makes no sense except SDSU gets blue blood treatment based on their past history.
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From what I have learned about the view of the Sabbath Day by other Christian denominations is that most of them don’t view the Sabbath Day as a special day anymore. They may go to church but it isn’t because taking the sacrament is as important and that Christ fulfilled all those rules including the Sabbath Day. It’s a bit strange to me as I’m a Jewish Convert and member of the Church that still reveres the Sabbath as a holy day. But many Churches also do their Sacraments during the week like Catholics do. So, to the committee made up of Christians and atheists, it’s likely they did punish us for having a different belief about the Sabbath Day. Just a thought.
Watch BYUSN today. You will get the answer. It was simple. We came in #17 which was a 5 seed level. But, we had to go to Omaha over Salt Lake City because in SLC, the Thursday - Saturday I the first rounds, the winners go to the Friday - Sunday game for the Suite 16. Omaha the Saturday winner goes to the Thursday for the Suite 16. The preseason is factored into all the metrics including being #17.
I also liked the statement that no other team asks for no Sunday play. So, when you ask for special consideration, simply expect to go down a seed because of the way teams that play on the first Saturday will play on Friday for the Suite 16. So, it’s not an attack on BYU, the Church or no-play on Sundays.
And, Dusquene is a good draw for BYU. Better play like it.
I was wondering about that. It makes complete sense now. I do not understand why they change the playing days to Friday/Saturday for some of the sweet 16 games but they always have so it makes a challenge for the committee when seeding BYU. Fortunately no more Sunday play after the sweet 16. Probably won’t matter. BYU has only made it past the sweet 16 once.
It’s probably why Kansas got bumped up as they are just trying to get the teams in somewhere.
Boils down to Kansas. A 4 seed getting SL City and 2 teams from the same conference not being in the final 16 quadrant. Kansas got preference. Sucks
Saw the same things you point out. BYU is #12 in the net, TTU is #28 in the net. TTU had underperformed until the Big 12 tourny, whipped BYU good so they rose from a 8 to a 6 seed. BYU would of been a 4 if they could of beat TTU.
True
IF Duquesne and NC St had not won their tourneys and possibly another, Oregon (all three of these teams had zero chance of a bid) these bubble teams like OK would be in the Dance.
Duquesne is almost all Seniors and super motivated. On paper, BYU is supposed to win by 10 or so, this is a trap game, they will come loaded for bear!
It reminds me a little of the Iona matchup in 2012. They jumped out to a 25 point lead using speed and quickness and a frantic pace. BYU wore them out with a much better bench and much better inside players
I hope BYU doesn’t pull something like that this time.