Cornell - Ivy League (4th in school history, went in 2008)
ETSU - Atlantic Sun (8th in school history, first since 2004)
Radford - Big South (2nd in school history, first since 1998)


[Edited on March 7, 2009 at 8:46 PM. Reason : 3]

3/7/2009 8:39:03 PM

Morehead State - Ohio Valley (6th in school history, first since 1984)

NCAA Tournament Record - 10 games played, 4 wins, 6 losses

1956 - L to Iowa 97-83 in Midwest Region Semifinals (2nd round back then)
1957 - L to Pittsburgh 86-85 in Mideast Region Quarterfinals (1st round back then)
1961 - L to Kentucky 71-64 in Mideast Region Semifinals (2nd round)
1983 - L to Syracuse 74-59 in East Region 1st Round
1984 - L to Louisville 72-59 in Mideast Region 1st Round

3/7/2009 11:00:41 PM

who've they beaten

3/7/2009 11:02:14 PM

i'd say thus far out of the 4 qualifiers that cornell has the biggest chance of the bunch to make some noise

although thats not saying much

3/7/2009 11:10:54 PM

1956 - Quarterfinals: beat MARSHALL (107-92), Regional 4th place game: beat WAYNE STATE UNIV OF MICHIGAN (95-84)

1961 - Quarterfinals: beat XAVIER (71-66), Regional 3rd place game: lost to LOUISVILLE (83-61)

1984 - Preliminary Round: beat NORTH CAROLINA A&T (70-69)

Before expanding to 64 they had what were known as "preliminary rounds". These were basically play-in games to get the chance to play in the round of 48. There were 5 preliminary round games in the 1984 NCAA Tournament. Rather than 64 teams there were 48 teams with the 1-4 seeds getting first round byes. There were 53 teams in the NCAA tournament.

[Edited on March 7, 2009 at 11:21 PM. Reason : ]

3/7/2009 11:16:34 PM

Cornell - Ivy League (4th in school history, went in 2008)
ETSU - Atlantic Sun (8th in school history, first since 2004)
Radford - Big South (2nd in school history, first since 1998)
Morehead State - Ohio Valley (6th in school history, first since 1984)
N. Iowa - Missouri Valley

[Edited on March 8, 2009 at 4:20 PM. Reason : 3]

3/8/2009 4:19:20 PM

Cleveland State - Horizon League (2nd in school history, first since 1986)

In their only previous NCAA Tournament appearance the Vikings of Cleveland State became the first #14 seed to reach the Sweet Sixteen. They beat #3 seed Indiana 83-79 in the first round, then beat #6 seed St. Josephs 75-69 in the second round, and lost to #7 seed Navy by one point 71-70 in the Sweet Sixteen.

That Navy team was one of their best ever. It had David Robinson (1983-87), who was named one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History and is the CAA's all-time points leader (2,669). Alongside Robinson was Cliff Rees (1984-88), who scored over 1,100 career points at the Naval Academy, Doug Wojcik (1982-86), who is the current head coach at the University of Tulsa. They were trounced by #1 seed Duke in the Elite Eight though, 71-50.

For reference to what State did that year in the tournament we were a 6 seed in the Midwest Region and lost to #1 seeded Kansas in the Elite Eight. KU would go on to lose to Duke in the Final Four, who lost to Louisville in the championship game. It was State's second Elite Eight in as many years.

3/10/2009 11:22:40 PM

God I wish they would do away with automatic bids. I would much prefer the top 65 ranked teams.

3/11/2009 8:17:56 AM

Quote :

"God I wish they would do away with automatic bids. I would much prefer the top 65 64 ranked teams."

Seriously, what purpose does the fucking play-in game serve? Another scrub ass team from the Johnny Eats Shit Conference deserves a chance to get their shit packed in by UNC (or another #1)? Please.

Is it because we really need that 1 additional at-large bid? I for one will not be disappointed if some bubble team destined for an 11 or 12 seed doesn't get in and has to play in the NIT. Fuck 'em.

3/11/2009 8:52:22 AM

N

D

STATE


N D STATE

3/11/2009 10:07:41 AM

Quote :

"Seriously, what purpose does the fucking play-in game serve? Another scrub ass team from the Johnny Eats Shit Conference deserves a chance to get their shit packed in by UNC (or another #1)? Please. Is it because we really need that 1 additional at-large bid? I for one will not be disappointed if some bubble team destined for an 11 or 12 seed doesn't get in and has to play in the NIT. Fuck 'em."

When they added the 65th team it's because they added an extra division. They kept the same amount of at-large teams. If there was no play-in game last year, Villanova would have been left out, so I'm sure Clemson fans agree with you.

3/11/2009 10:10:36 AM

Quote :

"God I wish they would do away with automatic bids. I would much prefer the top 65 ranked teams."

we could probably have a 20-page debate on why your post is shit

if it were the top 64 ranked teams, there would be no more Cinderella factor. there would be no more Davidsons, George Masons, Weber States, Gonzagas, etc.

it would turn into another football BCS type of situation. and we ALL hate the BCS

leave well enough alone

3/11/2009 10:15:20 AM

maybe you guys can settle on just having the automatic bids come from regular season champs of the conferences instead of from conference tourneys? that would probably get you more early round upsets as well

3/11/2009 11:03:04 AM

then all the conference tournaments would be meaningless and roy williams would rawr over it even more

3/11/2009 11:10:16 AM

oh, i just assumed the conference tourneys would just be dropped, which is why it won't happen

3/11/2009 11:14:48 AM

Quote :

"if it were the top 64 ranked teams, there would be no more Cinderella factor. there would be no more Davidsons, George Masons, Weber States, Gonzagas, etc."

Why? Gonzaga and Davidson would both still be in the tournament. I could care less about George Masons and Weber States. You honestly believe East Tennessee State University who is 14-6 in the damn Atlantic Sun Conference is better competition than a (conference/overall) 9-7/20-10 Texas team or a 9-9/19-12 Arizona team who won't make the tourny? No way.

3/11/2009 2:36:10 PM

Why the fuck would you want to drop the conference tourneys?

This is among the worst ideas of all-time.

Quote :

"I could care less about George Masons"

REALLY?

THEY MADE IT TO THE FINAL FOUR

AS AN AT-LARGE BID

AND YOU DON'T WANT THESE GUYS IN THE TOURNEY

AND WEBER STATE BEAT CAROLINA

JESUS

[Edited on March 11, 2009 at 2:41 PM. Reason : ]

3/11/2009 2:38:34 PM

ernie and ncstatetke have it right, the reason I watch the early rounds is just to see if there is going to be a Cinderella team. Thats the main reason for march "MADNESS" that everyone talks about.

3/11/2009 3:14:45 PM

I realize that. I just would just prefer a higher level of competition to the novelty of a mid major making it to the final four once every decade. I have some shiny keys I can waive around for you if that is the type of thing that gets you excited.

3/11/2009 3:51:56 PM

If you want a 19-12 Arizona team in, why even have the mid majors? Just send 'em all to D-II. Fuck it, why even have a regular a season. Let's just play a 60-odd team tournament with all the BCS teams every March.

Fucking great idea you've got here.

3/11/2009 5:21:14 PM

UofA is awesome! They beat PAC-10 champ Washington, Big-12 champ Kansas and West Coast champ Gonzaga

3/11/2009 5:27:30 PM

abolish all teams i've never heard of!

3/11/2009 5:32:44 PM

Ernie you are looking at this the wrong way. Getting rid of the Automatic bids would not take away spots for mid majors. It would ensure the best teams get in. This is a tournament for the National Championship. Not the Make a Wish Foundation Tournament. I posted previously that Davidson will be in the tournament this year. Well, that is wrong. Chattanooga with an 18-16 overall record and an 11-9 conference record beat Davidson in the conference championship and got the automatic bid. Now Davidson will need some help to get one of the 34 at large bids. If there were no automatic bids Davidson would be in because they are surely one of the 64 best teams.

This would keep the amount of mid major teams about the same. But the best would get in. It would affect major schools as well. For example the Georgia team last year. They were not good at all but won the SEC and got into the tournament that way. St. Marys isn't going to get in the tourny this year because they lost their conference tournament. But they are one of the 64 best. With best 64 system a 16 has a much better shot to beat a 1 and cause even more 'madness'.


[Edited on March 12, 2009 at 7:57 AM. Reason : gh]

3/12/2009 7:55:37 AM

Quote :

"Well, that is wrong. Chattanooga with an 18-16 overall record and an 11-9 conference record beat Davidson in the conference championship and got the automatic bid."

no they didn't. they beat college of charleston who beat davidson in the semis.

Quote :

"If there were no automatic bids Davidson would be in because they are surely one of the 64 best teams. "

oh really? their pomeroy rating is 71. it's not as clear as you're making it.

their biggest wins were over west virginia and us. and that was a wvu without their star player. and a close game against us.

[Edited on March 12, 2009 at 8:23 AM. Reason : .]

3/12/2009 8:21:21 AM

True, but Davidson or CofC would still get in before any of the other schools from that conference. As they deserve to from playing a good 3 months instead of a great 3 days.

3/12/2009 8:31:24 AM

you could say that about many of the opening rounds of the tournament.

basically if you haven't played well enough to get in outright, your conference tournament becomes a play-in tournament. it's a way of letting teams that are doing well at the end of the year who didn't do so well earlier on, a slim chance to make it into the tournament.

^except that CoC has NO quality wins outside their conference. basically the southern conference is garbage this year adn davidson didn't do enough in OOC to make the case they're relevant.


[Edited on March 12, 2009 at 8:37 AM. Reason : .]

3/12/2009 8:35:04 AM

I dislike the automatic bids to the tournament, although I can see both sides of the argument. It can be fun to watch Cinderella stories like George Mason, but in general I favor letting in the best teams that have proven it throughout the season, and not ones that just got lucky in their conference tournament in a conference that most of us couldn't name 3 teams.

I admit I'm biased though, because my team (FSU) has been hosed several times by mid-majors being selected over us. The most obvious case was in 2005-2006 when we went 9-7 in ACC play (19-8 overall), including a win over #1 Duke at the end of the season, and 1-point losses during the season to both UNC and AT Duke, and we still weren't selected for the tournament. Our RPI was like 31 or 33 I think, I can't remember.

I think any team that goes over-.500 in conference play in the ACC should be in the tournament. If that leaves a mid-major out, I'm ok with that. TWW's servers would melt if NC State went 9-7 in the ACC and didn't make the tournament.

Quote :

"if it were the top 64 ranked teams, there would be no more Cinderella factor. there would be no more Davidsons, George Masons, Weber States, Gonzagas, etc."

Someone else has already addressed this, but having the top 64 teams doesn't mean you can't have any mid-majors. In the current RPI rankings, there are 23 teams in the top 64 that are mid-majors (according to this definition of mid-major http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mid_Major). They are:

8. Memphis
12. Utah
15. Xavier
19. Siena
21. BYU
23. Dayton
24. Butler
27. Gonzaga
28. Utah State
39. Creighton
40. Temple
43. San Diego State
44. UAB
45. Western Kentucky
46. Saint Mary's
47. Illinois State
50. VCU
51. Niagara
53. George Mason
55. Cleveland State
58. New Mexico
60. Northern Iowa
62. Tulsa

In the age we're in now of computer rankings it is possible to sort the best 64 teams in the country regardless of conference, so that I believe it's no longer necessary to grant an automatic bid to every conference in D-1, just ensure that some mid-majors get in. If we did it that way this year, 23 of them would make it in by virtue of their ranking, and that seems like a sufficient number.

3/12/2009 11:16:48 AM

I can't believe you guys want to turn the NCAA Tournament into the BCS

--

Memphis, Utah, Gonzaga, BYU and New Mexico are not mid-majors

[Edited on March 12, 2009 at 12:41 PM. Reason : ]

3/12/2009 12:39:57 PM

RPI is fine for the teams that didn't win their conference tournament, but automatic bids need to stay. One (worse RPI nontheless) team performed under pressure. The "better" team folded.

3/12/2009 12:44:43 PM

This would not turn it into the BCS. What the hell are you talking about. Your posts make no sense.

3/12/2009 12:53:02 PM