Interestingly, the Elite Eight is entirely composed of 1 and 2 seeds. You don't see that very often.

(03-31-2019 08:45 AM)TFW Wrote:  Interestingly, the Elite Eight is entirely composed of 1 and 2 seeds. You don't see that very often.

Actually, in WBB, it's not that unusual. Quite frequently you see a final 4 composed of all 1 seeds. This year, with UConn and Stanford as unaccustomed #2 seeds, that trend may be broken, but neither of those two are playing particularly well at the moment.

(03-31-2019 08:50 AM)waltgreenberg Wrote:  

(03-31-2019 08:45 AM)TFW Wrote:  Interestingly, the Elite Eight is entirely composed of 1 and 2 seeds. You don't see that very often.

Actually, in WBB, it's not that unusual. Quite frequently you see a final 4 composed of all 1 seeds. This year, with UConn and Stanford as unaccustomed #2 seeds, that trend may be broken, but neither of those two are playing particularly well at the moment.

Just wondering, who is the lowest seed ever to win the women's championship?

The gap between haves and have-nots is greater in women's basketball than men's. That's one thing that makes Tina Langley's accomplishments even more impressive, and one more reason why we should do all that we can to keep her.

Since the tournament expansion to 64 teams (1994), the lowest seed to win was 3 (North Carolina in 1994, Tennessee in 1997). The lowest seed to make the championship game was 5 (Louisville in 2013), and the lowest seed to make the Final Four was 9 (Arkansas in 1998).

Back in the early days of the tournament, I don't recall how the seeding was done. But I vividly recall a lot of very small schools were in the Final Four. Back in 1984, UCLA hosted the Final Four at Pauley Pavilion and my brother and I worked the event as student assistant SID's. USC won (with Cheryl Miller and the McGee twins) over Tennessee in the finale, but the other two Final Four teams were Louisiana Tech (then a powerhouse) and Cheney State (also a very strong team then). Northeast Louisiana also was an early Final Four team - both of those latter two schools don't even go by those names anymore (NE Louisiana is now Louisiana-Monroe).

Today’s Elite Eight games are:
2UConn V 1 Louisville (about to tip at 11amCT)
2Oregon V 1 MSU (1pm CT)
Interesting that both 2 seeds have a geographical “home court” edge

UConn holds on to "upset" #1 seed Louisville, who beat them in the regular season. UConn was in control until the final 1:47 of the game, when they nearly blew an 11 point lead. Louisville closed to within 2 points with 20 seconds remaining, but UConn then scored 5 unanswered point (all FTs).

And Oregon "upsets" Mississippi State, though Oregon was playing in front of a overwhelmingly home crowd in Portland, OR. Not exactly a fair deal for MSU. And while Albany is certainly closer to UConn than Louisville, I would not call that a home game for UConn. I mean it's not like playing in Madison Square Garden or Hartford, CT. Albany is a 4-hour drive from Storrs, and I doubt there are many UConn alums living in upstate NY.

(03-31-2019 04:33 PM)waltgreenberg Wrote:  And Oregon "upsets" Mississippi State, though Oregon was playing in front of a overwhelmingly home crowd in Portland, OR. Not exactly a fair deal for MSU. And while Albany is certainly closer to UConn than Louisville, I would not call that a home game for UConn. I mean it's not like playing in Madison Square Garden or Hartford, CT. Albany is a 4-hour drive from Storrs, and I doubt there are many UConn alums living in upstate NY.

Storrs is closer as the crow flies to Albany then Eugene is to Portland.

It’s about a 1:50 min drive from Hartford (and a ~2:10 drive from Storrs).

(03-31-2019 04:38 PM)ExcitedOwl18 Wrote:  

(03-31-2019 04:33 PM)waltgreenberg Wrote:  And Oregon "upsets" Mississippi State, though Oregon was playing in front of a overwhelmingly home crowd in Portland, OR. Not exactly a fair deal for MSU. And while Albany is certainly closer to UConn than Louisville, I would not call that a home game for UConn. I mean it's not like playing in Madison Square Garden or Hartford, CT. Albany is a 4-hour drive from Storrs, and I doubt there are many UConn alums living in upstate NY.

Storrs is closer as the crow flies to Albany then Eugene is to Portland.

It’s about a 1:50 min drive from Hartford (and a ~2:10 drive from Storrs).

How much you want to bet there are many, many more Oregon alums living in the Portland metro area than UConn alums living within an hour of Albany?

I’ll bet there are only many more, but not many, many more.

So 2 2 seeds on the women's side make it to the Final Four. I predict the 1 seeds (Baylor and Notre Dame) will win tomorrow, but I guess we'll have to wait and see.

But only 1 seed (Virginia) on the men's side - also a 2, 3 and a 5. On the men's side, four different conferences are there. And Mike Kryzewski can't pass John Wooden for most Final Four's by a coach quite yet.

(03-31-2019 07:06 PM)Fort Bend Owl Wrote:  So 2 2 seeds on the women's side make it to the Final Four. I predict the 1 seeds (Baylor and Notre Dame) will win tomorrow, but I guess we'll have to wait and see.

But only 1 seed (Virginia) on the men's side - also a 2, 3 and a 5. On the men's side, four different conferences are there. And Mike Kryzewski can't pass John Wooden for most Final Four's by a coach quite yet.

Baylor really hasn’t looked vulnerable, but ND sure did yesterday.
I’ll predict the (probably) first ever women’s final four with only one #1 seed (Baylor).

(03-31-2019 08:02 PM)owl at the moon Wrote:  

(03-31-2019 07:06 PM)Fort Bend Owl Wrote:  So 2 2 seeds on the women's side make it to the Final Four. I predict the 1 seeds (Baylor and Notre Dame) will win tomorrow, but I guess we'll have to wait and see.

But only 1 seed (Virginia) on the men's side - also a 2, 3 and a 5. On the men's side, four different conferences are there. And Mike Kryzewski can't pass John Wooden for most Final Four's by a coach quite yet.

Baylor really hasn’t looked vulnerable, but ND sure did yesterday.
I’ll predict the (probably) first ever women’s final four with only one #1 seed (Baylor).

ND might not have played their best yesterday, but they sure played better than Stanford did against Missouri State. I think the Cardinal shot 27% from the field, and most of those were wide open 3s and a bunch of missed layups.

(03-31-2019 04:56 PM)owl at the moon Wrote:  I’ll bet there are only many more, but not many, many more.

(03-31-2019 08:22 PM)waltgreenberg Wrote:  

(03-31-2019 08:02 PM)owl at the moon Wrote:  

(03-31-2019 07:06 PM)Fort Bend Owl Wrote:  So 2 2 seeds on the women's side make it to the Final Four. I predict the 1 seeds (Baylor and Notre Dame) will win tomorrow, but I guess we'll have to wait and see.

But only 1 seed (Virginia) on the men's side - also a 2, 3 and a 5. On the men's side, four different conferences are there. And Mike Kryzewski can't pass John Wooden for most Final Four's by a coach quite yet.

Baylor really hasn’t looked vulnerable, but ND sure did yesterday.
I’ll predict the (probably) first ever women’s final four with only one #1 seed (Baylor).

ND might not have played their best yesterday, but they sure played better than Stanford did against Missouri State. I think the Cardinal shot 27% from the field, and most of those were wide open 3s and a bunch of missed layups.

On the one hand... I think 27% shooting is easier to correct in two days. On the other... I had forgotten about the ND home area advantage. So on second thought, you’re right it’ll probably be ND & Baylor.

First, second, and third team All America selections came out today.

12 of the 15 selections played in the Sweet Sixteen. The other three played into the second round.

Looks more like an “all-tournament team” to me, but whatevs.

The Big East player of the year was not selected, nor was the CUSA player of the year, nor the CUSA Tournament MVP.

(03-31-2019 04:40 PM)waltgreenberg Wrote:  

(03-31-2019 04:38 PM)ExcitedOwl18 Wrote:  

(03-31-2019 04:33 PM)waltgreenberg Wrote:  And Oregon "upsets" Mississippi State, though Oregon was playing in front of a overwhelmingly home crowd in Portland, OR. Not exactly a fair deal for MSU. And while Albany is certainly closer to UConn than Louisville, I would not call that a home game for UConn. I mean it's not like playing in Madison Square Garden or Hartford, CT. Albany is a 4-hour drive from Storrs, and I doubt there are many UConn alums living in upstate NY.

Storrs is closer as the crow flies to Albany then Eugene is to Portland.

It’s about a 1:50 min drive from Hartford (and a ~2:10 drive from Storrs).

How much you want to bet there are many, many more Oregon alums living in the Portland metro area than UConn alums living within an hour of Albany?

There are not many, but UConn fans travel well for women's basketball so we had a solid contingent. It was kind of unfair for UL given that they were the 1 seed.

Baylor just squeeeeks by Oregon by 5 to advance to the final.


In the other semi, it’s a barn burner, too. UConn leads Notre Dame by 2 starting the 4th quarter

(04-05-2019 09:47 PM)owl at the moon Wrote:  Baylor just squeeeeks by Oregon by 5 to advance to the final.


In the other semi, it’s a barn burner, too. UConn leads Notre Dame by 2 starting the 4th quarter

Notre Dame wins 81-76

(04-05-2019 10:15 PM)graceful Wrote:  

(04-05-2019 09:47 PM)owl at the moon Wrote:  Baylor just squeeeeks by Oregon by 5 to advance to the final.


In the other semi, it’s a barn burner, too. UConn leads Notre Dame by 2 starting the 4th quarter

Notre Dame wins 81-76

UConn blew it down the stretch. They had their biggest lead of the game, 9 points, with about 4:00 remaining...quickly squandered that within the next minute...then traded the lead multiple times with ND until the 1:30 mark, when they collapsed again, missing 3 consecutive offensive trips, including 2 layups....and then ND made their FTs in the final 45 seconds.