2018 NCAA Tournament Most Choatic Ever?

Submitted by saveferris on

Can anyone recall a more choatic first weekend for the NCAA Tourney?  Certainly there have been tournaments in the past where the brackets came out pretty busted after the first weekend, but I can't recall a more choatic weekend where when the dust clears so many of the top seeds have been cleared out.  Nine of this tourneys Sweet 16 are seeded 5th or higher, which has to be some kind of record.

Not that I'm complaining, since I think chaos tournament is good for Michigan.

FreddieMercuryHayes

March 19th, 2018 at 7:57 AM ^

Some analyst pointed out that it's the lowest average seed since 2000; something like 5.31 ave seed to the sweet sixteen (also 5.31 in 2000).  Most chaotic was sometime late 80's or something and the most chalk=y was 2009 with ave seed somewhere in the 3's.  General ave seed in sweet sixteen is 4 something.

Perkis-Size Me

March 19th, 2018 at 8:17 AM ^

At this point, all I would really be bummed to see is a Duke-Kentucky final. Almost any other combination would be fine. Duke-Gonzaga. Gonzaga-Villanova. Kentucky-Villanova. Michigan-anyone. 

I just don't want to see two bluebloods who we're so used to already seeing in that position. Don't care about "ratings" or any of that crap. Just want to see someone win who we're not already used to seeing win every 3-4 years. 

L'Carpetron Do…

March 19th, 2018 at 9:29 AM ^

For real.  I hear ya.  Especially because those blue blood programs have sold their soul and now, I would bet, are in hot water with this FBI thing.  I don't think there's a college hoops fan out there who trusts Coach K, Bill Self or Calipari.  A tournament in which State, UNC, Arizona and UCLA get eliminated is a great tournament.  One in which Kansas, Kentucky and Duke get eliminated is even better.  

 

Cali Wolverine

March 19th, 2018 at 11:04 AM ^

also heard many analysts say it is the most chaotic tournament ever....but while the early rounds have been crazy...we will have to wait and see how Final Four turns out first before proclaiming this the most choatic or chaotic tournament ever.

M-Dog

March 19th, 2018 at 10:27 AM ^

In 1986, teams like Providence learned to use the new three point shot as part of their regular offensive scheme.  They came out of nowhere to a Final Four.

It took a while for seeding perception to catch up with the reality that the three point shot was a game changer.

So you had a lot of underseeded / overseeded teams verus the reality of how they played in the tournament.

 

 

SerbianHitMan

March 19th, 2018 at 2:18 PM ^

'86 was the 4;13 game of Cleveland St. defeating Bobby Knight and Indiana.  The final four that year was in Dallas I think.  It was Duke, Kansas, LSU and Louisville with Denny Crum and the Cards winning it all as the #7 seed over #1 Duke.  I think Kansas was also a #1 seed and LSU a #13.  Someone correct me if I am mistaken on this.

bluesalt

March 19th, 2018 at 10:04 AM ^

For the West region, just above UNC and us, and a decent amount ahead of Xavier. There’s obviously no one ranking system that is perfect, but KenPom is very good, and certainly people used that to say that Gonzaga was the top team in the West.

SerbianHitMan

March 19th, 2018 at 2:23 PM ^

On paper Gonzaga is the better team in the West region.  However that doesn't always translate to game time.  But we should keep an eye open for them because although we're on a 11 game win streak, Gonzaga has now won 16 straight since the regular season.  And, I picked Michigan over Gonzaga in the Elite 8 game to win the West.  By far they are the 2 best teams in the west.  UNC was grossly over seeded and it showed.  How do you finish 6th in the ACC during the regular season, lose 10 games overall and get a #2 seed?  That's garbage and the selection committiee giving Roy Williams and the Heels special treatment.  Well they got special treatement yesterday.  Got their asses paddled, rinsed with white wash and paddled some more.  Nothing better that UNC, Duke or Sparty getting a well deserved ass paddling or well deserved loss in the tourney.

ijohnb

March 19th, 2018 at 9:31 AM ^

were gift wrapped a trip to the Sweet 16.  Yeah, they had a put up or shut up game coming against Duke, but Bucknell and Syracuse..... in Detroit?  Yes, they got preference.

Don't let any State fans tell you that Syracuse was under-rated or any such non-sense.  They had seven total players with game experience.  That was a full-on bed shitting by MSU.

In reply to by ijohnb

saveferris

March 19th, 2018 at 10:28 AM ^

Don't let any State fans tell you that Syracuse was under-rated or any such non-sense. They had seven total players with game experience. That was a full-on bed shitting by MSU.

And they basically play with their starting five the whole way, which they weren't able to do on Sunday because they got into foul trouble early; so yeah, Sparty completely shit the bed on this one, no excuses (not that Izzo and his minions won't be throwing them out there anyway).

ijohnb

March 19th, 2018 at 11:35 AM ^

have two sparty die hards at my office.  The first pointed to the free throw discrepancy and said the refs "stole the game." 

The other went with "Jackson and Ward were given limited playing time due to the disciplinary reasons."  Yes, a State fan allegedly suspects that Jackson only played 15 rotation minutes because he was being disciplined for an unannounced violation of an unspecified rule, and that explains why Carter played so much, and thus, why State lost. 

When I reminded this person that Izzo did the same thing with Devonte Davis two years ago in their last humiliating defeat, and asked whether that was a disciplinary thing also, he mumbled something about Dantonio and football and walked away.

SMH.

 

In reply to by ijohnb

SerbianHitMan

March 19th, 2018 at 2:27 PM ^

How about this.  Sparty was over seeded and shouldn't have been a #3, or a basic home game in Detroit.  No one has done less with more than Izzo.  9 Final Fours and 1 title.  Says it all right there.  Izzo had no clue how to coach around that 2-3 zone.  Egg on the selection committee's faces with this seeding.

LSAClassOf2000

March 19th, 2018 at 9:18 AM ^

At least insofar as I recall, you would probably have to go back about ten years to find a Tournament that was even kind of wonky and chaotic as this one has been. I think in 2009 there were quite a few early upsets, and I can remember a couple in the 1990s and around 2000 where there was outright chaos on opening weekend, but this one is definitely right up there among the most chaotic ones I can remember. 

WindyCityWolverine

March 19th, 2018 at 9:21 AM ^

In the history of the tournament, there has never been a region that has featured none of the top 4 seeds in the Sweet 16.



Until now.



The South Region in Atlanta will feature (5) Kentucky, (11) Loyola Chicago, (7) Nevada and (9) Kansas State.

mgobleu

March 19th, 2018 at 9:25 AM ^

There's still a lot of really good teams left in it, but can't help but feel like they're mostly on the other side of the bracket, which is awesome. If we can take care of business on our end, it's going to be a hell of a lot of fun watching all those blue-bloods destroy each other across the street.

MaladjustedStrong

March 19th, 2018 at 10:50 AM ^

All the pundits will be out there screaming that NO ONE WILL WATCH a tournament with so many Cinderelly type stories!

ijohnb

March 19th, 2018 at 11:55 AM ^

Duke, Kentucky, and Villanova are still alive in the tournament.  There are some cinderellas but there are also a lot of teams left that generate national intrigue (including Michigan, to a certain degree).

B-Nut-GoBlue

March 19th, 2018 at 12:56 PM ^

I'm torn on this notion. I took the entire weekend starting Thursday off, so I was watching all of it. Loyola being the first upset and amazing finish (that I picked!) told me "It was on" and that's with me already thinking this tourney was going to be a shitshow. Fastforward to Friday night and the first 16 seed ever wins. I mean, how crazy is that, history was made. That's after an Arizona team with a NPOY candidate for murdered by a MAC team.

Recapping it again does make it a crazy weekend. But the dilution of the game and widespread talent these days (good basketball players have to go play somewhere, after all as the roster spots at Duke, Kansas, Michigan, Xavier, etc. fill up) leaves me feeling years past were more exciting. And maybe that's what's keeping me from jumping on the "craziest weekend ever"...the fact that there were so many blowouts and instead of an extra couple buzzer beaters over the likes of UVA and Arizona.

Overall it was damn good fun!