OK, so by joking about the Ivy League comment, you agree that the Big East is among the better conferences this year?
it's not me..... it's SPORTS ILLUSTRATED: http://www.si.com/college-basketball/2015/01/12/bracket-watch-villanova-wisconsin-top-seeds 2. Gonzaga (16-1, LW: West 2) –The Bulldogs continue to cruise in West Coast Conference play, knocking off San Francisco and Santa Clara last week by a combined 43 points. The weakness of the WCC could eventually help land the Zags on a top line by Selection Sunday.
If Gonzaga gets a no 1 seed this year along with Kentucky, That'll have to be the biggest gap in quality between 2 no 1 seeds in history.
Dam MWC down at 12.... our RPI is really killed by San Jose State who is absolutely disgustingly bad. They are so bad they are getting football players to play hoops. Nevada is really bad too. Injuries are killing SDSU, UNLV still has the Rice problem and New Mexico is down. Wyoming is our best team right now and they lost to mid level teams like Cal
I gotta agree with junc on this one, regarding UK of course. There is a lot of talent on this team, but they are so young. How many times have we seen teams like this beaten by teams who played together for 3 or four years?
To answer your question, regarding Kentucky & Calipari, not all that often. His teams have been lead by young players (freshman mostly) in prominent roles his entire tenure there. 5 years- 3 final fours, 1 Championship title, 1 Championship loss. The earliest tournament exit was in the elite 8, a loss to a 2 seed. They failed to qualify in 2012. The rest of the country may struggle with having young teams beaten by those that have played together for 3 or 4 years, idk, but this conversation is about Kentucky- and under Calipari i'd say this HASN'T been the case. They'd destroy Gonzaga today or in March. Both might be a no.1 seed though. I'm just saying there is a monumental gap between those 2 specific teams
Cal has done a great job restocking his teams and winning with young teams, he actually has more experience than usual this year and UK is really, really good. I don't think they are as good as his '12 team(which may not have won a title if not for a dirty play by Creighton).
You make a very solid argument about Calipari, I will give you that. I was talking about the bigger picture, though. How many times did I have to hear Champions being crowned in December by ESPN, only for them to fall flat in march? Couldn't agree with you more about the gap with Gonzaga, though. I would even say the gap is smaller with all four of the two seeds than the one with Gonzaga.
Santa Clara out of the WCC has a game tonight against... St. Katherine's College. That's not a joke. That should do wonders for the conference RPI.
On December 28, 2013, St. Katherine's men's basketball program gained national attention when it faced off against then #20 ranked San Diego State and Pac-12 member Utah on consecutive nights, losing by 83 points and 73 points respectively.. They only lost by 40 points earlier this year though to the University of Mary. yep, you read that right, not maryland, DII's University of Mary. In front of 123 people hahahaha http://www.goumary.com/boxscore.aspx?path=mbball&id=2163
Of course, in a one and done any team can be picked off. I think UK is the best team but they can be picked off. St. Katherine's is tough, very good road team.
we have expanded enough, this is all the original Big East's fault. they started the overexpanding and ruined the sport.
I'm not excusing the bad behavior of the former Big East Commissioners. Surely you won't excuse the behavior of the ACC?
