Top 16: Reason to Worry or Nothing to See Here?

[SmellyCat]

The committee announced their top 16 today, and while it means nothing, lots of games left, blah blah blah, it is a bit worrisome that even Wisconsin didn't make the list. Is it a sign that the committee doesn't think the Big 10 is all that and that a certain purple team finishing 10-8 isn't going to be enough?

 

[mikewebb68]

Nothing to see here. This was done for TV and for TV only to generate excitement, There was stuff that happened TODAY (Butler and FSU losses) that makes any attempt to do this outdated almost as soon as it is released.

 

[Hungry Jack]

Definitely signals skepticism of the Big Ten among the committee. Confirms what most of us have said all along around here.

 

[mikewebb68]

Definitely signals skepticism of the Big Ten among the committee. Confirms what most of us have said all along around here.

Do you think Butler is better than Wisconsin? This should tell you all you need to know about the validity of this excercise, imo. And it was immediately worthless today with Butler and FSU losing. The BIG champion will be a top-4 seed.

 

[Sec.112]

I've been working with the theory that if NU is top 5 in the league, they will make the tournament, no matter what their record.

I could easily see only five B10 teams in the tournament.

 

[SmellyCat]

Do you think Butler is better than Wisconsin? This should tell you all you need to know about the validity of this excercise, imo. And it was immediately worthless today with Butler and FSU losing. The BIG champion will be a top-4 seed.

I definitely agree that the champ will be a top 4 seed, but I was worried today that they're signaling to the Big Ten that they don't think the conference is worth what it usually is.

And we've seen this before in football when NU is good, the national narrative is it must be a "down" year.

 

[olshin]

Absolutely meaningless. Narrative all along was that there's a collection of above average teams in the B1G, and really no great ones. If you watched Wisconsin play Rutgers, you'd agree they're not a Top 16 team.

At the same time, projections have 8 B1G teams making the tournament and the bubble as weak.

This gets back to me saying originally -- showing the last 8 teams IN and first 8 teams OUT would be a MUCH more interesting show.

This was harmless -- 16 locks for the tournament, in various seeding slots.