Second annual data-based hoops awards

[shock]

SI.com love from Luke Winn

5. BEST NCAA TOURNEY VS. EXPECTATIONS: Gregg Marshall, Wichita State

At the outset of the tourney, kenpom.com's log5 projections gave the No. 9 Shockers just a 1.0 percent chance of reaching the Final Four -- even longer than the 2.1 percent odds that No. 15 Florida Gulf Coast was given of reaching the Sweet 16. Marshall's team proceeded to reach Atlanta by blazing the toughest trail of any Final Four team in the past 11 years.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/college-basketball/news/20130506/college-basketball-player-coaching-awards/?sct=uk_t11_a4

This KenPom story is also linked:

Wichita State this year has been discussed most frequently as the fortunate beneficiaries of a bracket that broke wide open. The West regional was thought to be the weakest and thus most likely to have a surprise contender emerge. So it’s somewhat surprising that Wichita State’s path to the Final Four was far from easy and, in fact, registers as the most difficult in the past 11 years.Before 2013 Wichita State, the team with the most fearsome slate was Marquette in 2003, the No. 3 seed in the Midwest regional. Not only did Dwyane Wade’s team have to defeat two of the three highest-rated teams in the country that year (Pittsburgh and Kentucky), they also kicked off the tournament against an abnormally strong 14 seed, Holy Cross.

http://kenpom.com/blog/index.php/web..._wichita_state

[wsushox1]

Them Holy Cross teams of the early 2000s were no joke.

[shock]

BTW, that 2003 Marquette team featured one Karon Bradley.

[WuShock16]

Agreed on Holy Cross. In 2002, Holy Cross nearly pulled the 1-16 upset against the Jayhawks.

I am glad number crunchers realize that WSU had a tough road to get to the Final Four, and the game at the Final Four gave a matchup with the top team in the tournament (and the eventual champion, of course). I was really wanting to call BS on any "WSU got a weak bracket that fell apart in its favor" argument. We got a Pitt team that was projected to be a 5-6 seed that fell due to a horrible non-conference schedule. Gonzaga was the top team in the land in the AP poll. They were had over 30 wins going into the tournament. Maybe they weren't the best team in the land...but they were still pretty darn good. Okay, LaSalle was a fortunate surprise, but those things happen. Florida got 15-seed Gulf Coast in the Sweet 16. Louisville got 12-seed Oregon (underseeded of course...but still a 12 seed). Ohio State was a very good team that won the Big 10 Tournament and could have gotten a 1 seed, according to some experts. Other than LaSalle, WSU faced a chalk bracket for being a 9 seed. Of the five games, three were amongst the top 8 teams in the tournament (or higher, depending on how you compare Ohio State with the other 2-seeds.)