Look, I'll give Wright credit for digging his team out of one hell of a hole this year, but you can not absolve him from blame for getting in the hole in the first place.
Buzz Williams came to MSG last night and tonight to scout the opposing teams. Now that's dedication. They just interviewed him at the end of ND's win over Rutgers.
I don't know how much you know about the behind the scenes stuff from last year's team but while you can't absolve him of everything, there's a lot of stuff that I can't fault him for.
They are in, yes they have some bad losses early in the season but 4 wins over the RPI top 20 is better than any other bubble team. I'll take them over Kentucky who has 1. How many teams on the bubble let alone in the country can say they have beaten 2 top 5 teams?
I would say they are in now but if they lsoe today and we see some upsets in these conf tourneys they could be out. I think 1 more win guarantees them no matter what upsets happen.
I disagree, and I have been a hard critic of my own team all season. A lot of things have broken Villanova's way in terms of the other bubble teams. While I agree that getting blown out tonight could hurt their seeding, a close loss will not hurt this team's chances. If I am Jay Wright, I would just tell my team: "Look guys, you are about to play one of the best teams in the country on the grandest stage of them all. Play hard, and have fun."
I think really at this point any upsets would knock other teams out, the bubble was weak to begin with and Nova has better wins than everybody else. Teams that need to worry are LaSalle, Boise, Tennessee, Southern Miss, St Mary's, Kentucky, Iowa State, Minnesota, Iowa and Colorado. There aren't any schools from one bid leagues that have a strong enough case to be considered a bubble team at this point outside of maybe and I'm stretching but Middle Tennesee State who won't get an at large. While the play was down at the top this year it was also down at the bottom as well. There aren't any teams like Butler who come from a one bid league but lose in the finals but still get an at large. All the bubble teams are from major conferences (yes the A10 is a major) and one CUSA team.
We were talking about how bad the SWAC and MEAC are... well it happens every year in these two conferences but Norfolk State who went 16-0 in the MEAC lost their 1st game of the Tournament to Bethune-Cookman who were the 8 seed. To make matters worse for the MEAC thier #2 seed NC Central lost to 7 seeded NC A&T. At this stage it's possible that the MEAC could send a team with a losing record to the field and their two top teams who went a combined 31-1 in the conference are home.
It is a joke that these conferences choose to have tournaments instead of sending their regular-season champion. How much money could the MEAC tournament possibly rake in?
What's sad is Norfolk State was playing on their home floor and they won a game in the NCAA Tournament last year. I think actually since the rule change that the NIT takes a regular season conference champ that doesn't make the NCAA Tournament it actually from the MEAC's perspective is a good thing as now they'll get two teams into postseason play whereas had Norfolk State won the conference tournament it's extremely unlikely that NC Central would have recieved an invite to the NIT or CBI.
Pitt almost came back, got a bucket and a foul w/ a chance to tie but missed the FT and SU hit theirs.
