Ha, reminds me of 25 years ago when cbs showed you one game, and that was it...... oh, and then they would show your team and pull away 5 minutes in and never come back......
The game is on Wednesday night at 9.10 EST. Our game is Friday at 4:30 EST, so hopefully, the game goes into OT and ends after midnight. Both teams will be tough.
I wonder this every year but haven't yet seen a rationale that makes sense to me... If Colorado and Boise State are both 10-seeds, that means they are both considered to be better than at least 24 other teams in the field. So why are they forced into a play-in game? Shouldn't that be for the true bottom-feeders that got in? Are they being punished for past sins or maybe just because it's somebody's idea of a joke?
The first version of the playoff games featured only the lowest seeds, which were all conference champions. A lot of people complained that conference champions should be in, and the playoff games should be at large teams.
Only explanation I can come up with is that some set of conference automatic qualifiers are exempt from play-in games. That was a surprise to me as I expected NC State to play in Dayton. But as an 11 seed they are not, but UVa, for example is a 10 seed and playing in Dayton. Weird
There was some sort of commitment to the number of at larges as the number of conferences expanded. Each auto Q takes a spot, so they added the playin game for the lowest at larges. Everything below a 10 seed are the automatic qualifiers this year. Usually that’s on the 11 or 12 line, but the number of conference tournament upsets this year were really high.
Incorrect. This year those four 10 seeds were the lowest four at-large bids. There were an abnormally large number of bid stealers this year, who filled in the 11 and 12 seeds where you're used to seeing the last at-large teams.
Side note: Tyrese Samuel had 16 points 11 rebounds and three blocks against Colorado last year in the NIT when playing for Seton Hall. Seton Hall lost by one point.
Here's the history: in the early 2000s, when the MWC split from the WAC and got a new automatic bid, the tourney expanded to 65 teams to avoid eliminating an at-large spot. So there was one play in game between the two lowest seed teams in the tournament. Fast forward to 2011, the P5 schools decided it would be cool to add 3 more at-large spots and expand to 68 teams. This obviously necessitated 4 play-in games now instead of 1. But there was pushback to just making 4 play-in games between the last 8 teams to get the 16 seeds. For one, an HBCU appeared in every play-in game since their conferences (the SWAC and MEAC) typically were rated at the bottom of D1, and some viewed the play-ins as just another barrier for them to appear in the full tournament (note: not all HBCU officials feel this way as some value the exposure and units they receive from the play-ins). Beyond that, there was a feel that the smaller conferences were being further marginalized in every expansion. So a compromise was reached: 2 play-in games for the last 4 auto qualifiers, and 2 play-in games between the last 4 at-large qualifiers. Keep in mind 3 of those last 4 at-large spots were being created by the extra play-in games, without the last expansion those teams aren't in the tournament at all. This is where we are today.
Read the Colorado had a lot of injuries this year and most, if not all, are back. Both CU and BSU will be tough
I love first weekend games because of upsets and unlikely battles. Sometimes talent disparities are clear. Sometimes it's all about hunger and shoulder chips. Our team is hungry and hopefully will rally around Micah and it sounds like relatively good news and outlook for him. I hope to see everyone step up their game, especially Samuel, Condon, and Haugh.
