=>Akron suffered prolly the worst beating a MAC school has ever suffered in the NCAA tournament.
In their defense, all of the 13/14 seeds lost and most were thrashed (closest was Yale losing by 9). But at a certain point a program has to get over the hump and they havenât.
Ohio lost by 30 to Notre Dame once. Akron is safe. Viva Ohio!
Edit: testicular state lost to Memphis State by 32.
Balls!
I really just meant we are high 3 point shooting team
Itâs not even the worst loss for Akron. VCU beat the Zips by 46 in 2013.
But, technically, your statement may still be valid, with Akron suffering the worst NCAA tournament loss in MAC history, itâs just not this yearâs Akron team.
Scroll up. Akron played like crap but alas the MAC never fails to disappoint.
I just think the impact of a totally free market has made the difference between the power 4s and the low to mid majors even greater. Akron lost by 30. Liberty lost by 30. Grand Canyon by 30.
For me this has already been the worst tournament I can remember and I dont think I will be watching much of the rest of it
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I agree ⌠the casual interest level in this tournament is not there for me. As noted, all these 30-point victories point to the major differences in the major-mid-major level. More importantly, who wants to watch these non-competitive games?
Iâd rather see a 32-team P4 Tournament, and a 48-team mid-major tournament, then let the top 4 teams from each division play for a national championship.
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Iâve yet to watch any games. Probably wonât until the final.
I just did a quick count on wiki and my lazy man stats say we have about as many close games as usual. I counted any game that ended within 10 or went to OT regardless of final score as a close game. Here are the round 1 counts (not counting first four) for post-COVID times:
| 2025 | 14 |
|---|---|
| 2024 | 10 |
| 2023 | 16 |
| 2022 | 15 |
| 2021 | 13 |
I do think it is an issue that this marquee event has a less than 50% close game rate in round 1, but thats not necessarily a brand new problem. College football also struggling with this in the playoffs too.
Maybe some of us are just getting a bit like Jerry, the astronaut in the current commercial who doesnât want to see another Earth rise because he has done 15 moon walks already because he failed to invest and couldnât retire. Maybe it is getting a bit repetitive - like F1 races last seasonâŚ
I always compare things to the 2000 tournament, which I consider to be the worst first round Iâve ever seen. In terms of âupsets,â that tournament only featured 11th-seeded Pepperdine beating Indiana and 10th-seeded Gonzaga beating Louisville. 10th-seeded Seton Hall also won but a 10th seed from the Big East (especially during that era) wasnât exactly busting many brackets and obviously Gonzagaâs win wasnât much of an upset at all (coming off the programâs run to the Elite Eight). That year we didnât even have a 12-seed winning. We did have several OT games that year, including eventual runner-up Florida beating Butler at the buzzer, which kind of started Butlerâs run for the next decade-plus.
But still, the only real âupsetâ was an 11 over a 6. At least this year we do have the standard pair of 12-seeds advancing, plus Drake as an 11. Honestly, the last 8 years have skewed how the tourney is viewed. During that time, we have had two 16-seeds advance and since just 2021, weâve seen THREE 15-seeds advance to the Sweet 16 (with St. Peterâs going to the Elite Eight). That recent madness was not just sustainable.
This tournament needs better names. Where is Ali Farokhmanesh when you need him?
There are two ways to think of parity in any league imo, competitive and championship. Is it relatively easy for teams in the lower division to improve and work their way up with competent management, or is it difficult? NHL and MLB are polar opposites, yes there are changes over time but youâre a lot more likely to see a hockey team rise from irrelevance and stay competitive than baseball. Then thereâs who actually wins it all, where the baseball postseason tends to have a lot of variation while something like the 2010s NBA is on the other side.
No clue honestly if the data supports that theory, just a hunch. What were seeing in college football and basketball is that both types of parity are decreasing for non-power programs (not that it was ever great to begin with).
=>Mount St. Maryâs had a kid named Xavier Lipscomb. How many players have you ever seen with a first and last name of two other teams in the tournament???
He should be on the all tournament team for his name alone.
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I think one thing to keep in mind is this is the last year for the COVID year, just like in football. The high major teams have a lot of experience. And tournament experience on top of that. This is also a rare year in recent times where you can think of a couple of guys who have stuck with the same team. I watched Marquette in Cleveland for the 3rd straight year with the same core group of guys, less Tyler Kolak.
Some of the other top teams: Florida, same group plus Martin from FAU. Tennessee, replacing Knecht with Lanier but a lot of the same group. Same for Auburn and Tennessee. Purdue, same group less Edey. Michigan St., same group plus Richardson the freshman. Houston, same group less Shead. Iowa St., same group minus their injuries.
And as far as Akron goes, too much height to deal with, bad draw.
My GoshâŚLetâs not forget God Shammgod!
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We need to find a kid named Valparaiso Tennessee Tech Davidson and recruit him IMMEDIATELY.
I am going to the games in Raleigh, and UConn has a guard named Solo Ball, so thereâs that.
If he hits a dagger 3, would Bill Raftery yell âOnionâ?