Studio 46 - Non-TPiR Discussion > Out In Left Field
The 2023-2024 College Hoops Season
SeaBreeze341:
The most recent rankings include Houston, Connecticut, Purdue, North Carolina, & Tennessee rounding out the Top 5 within the Associated Press' Top 25 Poll. During Championship Week in College Football, the care for an AP poll isn't really there, but in College Hoops there isn't a CFB Playoff Rankings. Instead, my go-to people include Joe Lunardi & Jerry Palm & the Bracketology.
There will be a committee choosing the teams, but the daily updates from those two mentioned above & others are rather interesting. For what it's worth, Jerry and Joe both have Purdue as their Top overall seed, and North Carolina as a 2 seed amongst those AP Top 5. So UNC winning the ACC Tournament probably will change nothing.
The fifth & sixth bids in the 2024 Men's NCAA Tournament will be decided tonight. Well, TBH, people know of several teams that will be dancing in a week, but none of them are official until Sunday (03.17.24) unless they win their conference tournament in advance. Basically the teams whose tournament finals are early in the week will have to win their game if they want to be one of 68 teams vying for the 2024 National Championship.
By the way, there has been some talk about expansion. If so, that's great. It's not a super big deal unless 4 of the non-power conference winners get to bypass a date in Dayton in advance of the tournament proper. Overall, expansion of anything isn't very good early on, but then I can respect & adapt in the long run. Given the new super conferences, I think it might be necessary going forward.
SeaBreeze341:
As of around 5 PM Eastern, it appears that 30 of the 32 automatic spots have been disclosed. As is the custom, the Big Ten Tourney winner will fill out the last spot. It looks like UAB might be okay over Temple. I do believe that Illinois & Wisconsin will definitely be fine if one of those two end up being the runner up in the Big 10 Tournament Final.
If I made a typo in the following, blame me (and CBSSN LOL):
Akron, Auburn, Charleston Colgate, Connecticut, Drake, Duquesne, Grambling State, Grand Canyon University,Howard, Iowa State, James Madison, Long Beach State, Longwood, McNesse State, Montana State, Morehead State, New Mexico,North Carolina State, Oakland,Oregon, Saint Mary's, Saint Peter, Samford,South Dakota State,Stetson, Vermont, Wagner, Western Kentucky, Yale
Barring Overtime, there should be enough time for filler prior to the Selection Show, which will feature the other 36 or so at-large bids. That number, I think, is a tad bit confusing at this minute since the committee still sends a couple (4) low major winners to Dayton in advance of the Tournament Proper.
Finally, I never thought I'd ever type in Duquesne in terms of people dancing.
jmorgan:
The Sweet 16 is all set in this year's men's tournament. They are:
Arizona (21st; 2022)
Gonzaga (14th; 2023)
North Carolina (35th; 2022)
Iowa State (7th; 2022)
NC State (14th; 2015, and also the last double-digit seed remaining)
Tennessee (10th; 2023)
Illinois (12th; 2005)
Creighton (6th; 2023)
Marquette (17th; 2013)
Purdue (14th; 2022)
Duke (33rd; 2022)
Clemson (5th; 2018)
Alabama (11th; 2023)
UConn (20th; 2023)
Houston (16th; 2023)
San Diego State (6th; 2023)
SeaBreeze341:
Here are tonight's lines:
Connecticut favored by 8.5 over Illinois (154.5 O/U)
Alabama favored by 3.5 over Clemson (164.5 O/U)
Purdue favored by 3.5 over Tennessee (147.5 O/U)
Duke favored by 6.5 over North Carolina State (142.5 O/U)
UCONN is halfway home toward a successful title defense, but they will be facing some very decent competition going forward. They're still rolling, until proven otherwise, their margin of victory should remain decent enough to avoid stress.
Feels like a College Football Playoff game between the Tide and Clemson, down to the spread. Of course, subtract 100 from the over/under.
Purdue & Tennessee get more praise Gonzaga. Yeah the former beat them, but they also haven't been this far or had as much success over the past quarter century.
Revenge or not for Duke over NC State. We shall see.
SeaBreeze341:
Almost forgot the tip times for this weekend's action, which can be found right here
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