The Annual HCGM's WSU Future

[Jamar Howard 4 President]

With that said, next year's team could be 1B on Marshall's "best of" list and win a title. 2014 was that good.

[ShockerFever]

Can we at least agree that the NCAA effed up big time on their placement of Kentucky?

[Jamar Howard 4 President]

Can we at least agree that the NCAA effed up big time on their placement of Kentucky?

No. Kentucky screwed up by being a bunch of boneheaded ego driven future NBA'ers who wasted much of the regular season. The committee was put in a tough spot, and it was Kentucky's fault for being so talented but loosing SOOOO many games.

[xazshox]

Kentucky

Someone refresh my memory, pls? I thought Kentucky lost the same no of games KU did that year and yet KU was seeded much higher than Kentucky was.

[ShockerFever]

No. Kentucky screwed up by being a bunch of boneheaded ego driven future NBA'ers who wasted much of the regular season. The committee was put in a tough spot, and it was Kentucky's fault for being so talented but loosing SOOOO many games.

They were not an 8 seed. Period.

[LandStander]

If only KSU won that game....

[Cdizzle]

They were not an 8 seed. Period.

Their resume was.

We can't complain about a bunch of 7-loss teams getting 1 seeds and then also be mad that a super under-performing 24-10 team was actually given an 8 seed.

It does suck that they finally played up to their potential in that game. And certainly the committee stacked that regional against WSU in a ridiculously obvious and unfair manner.

[molly jabali]

Their resume was.

We can't complain about a bunch of 7-loss teams getting 1 seeds and then also be mad that a super under-performing 24-10 team was actually given an 8 seed.

It does suck that they finally played up to their potential in that game. And certainly the committee stacked that regional against WSU in a ridiculously obvious and unfair manner.

THIS.

[Kel Varnsen]

Looked back at the KenPom ratings from that season. RPI may be similar, but I'm honestly not sure.

Kentucky was 5-7 in Tier A games and 3-2 in Tier B games. Kansas was 10-9 in Tier A games and 5-0 in Tier B games. So it looks like Kentucky had a worse record against Tier A (Top 50 adjusted for home/road/neutral) and Tier B (Top 100 adjusted).

There were teams that year like Syracuse, who was undefeated for a while, then lost to Boston College and Georgia Tech, both of whom were 100+ in KenPom. So you had a cluster of teams in the 3-7 range that either had really bad losses, had too many losses to be considered a top 2 seed, didn't play enough good teams, or a combination of the three.

[jdshock]

No. Kentucky screwed up by being a bunch of boneheaded ego driven future NBA'ers who wasted much of the regular season. The committee was put in a tough spot, and it was Kentucky's fault for being so talented but loosing SOOOO many games.

I've pretty much fully subscribed to this line of thinking. I would've been the first to complain about seeding bias if they'd gotten a 5 seed or something that year.

That said, you're probably not going to convince me that the committee didn't purposefully put them with us. I'm convinced that the committee viewed UK as a wildcard that could get hot and beat anyone. They were confident the undefeated "mid-major" vs the unpredictable goliath would get great ratings, and it did. The fact that UK was closer to home in STL than WSU was further bolsters my argument. That should not have happened.

[WUpigsooie]

I've pretty much fully subscribed to this line of thinking. I would've been the first to complain about seeding bias if they'd gotten a 5 seed or something that year.

That said, you're probably not going to convince me that the committee didn't purposefully put them with us. I'm convinced that the committee viewed UK as a wildcard that could get hot and beat anyone. They were confident the undefeated "mid-major" vs the unpredictable goliath would get great ratings, and it did. The fact that UK was closer to home in STL than WSU was further bolsters my argument. That should not have happened.

This is, I think, a more legitimate gripe than the seeding. WSU was a 1 seed and both of their potential 2nd round opponents were closer to STL than Wichita is. What's the reward for being a 1 seed then?

[WuDrWu]

This is, I think, a more legitimate gripe than the seeding. WSU was a 1 seed and both of their potential 2nd round opponents were closer to STL than Wichita is. What's the reward for being a 1 seed then?

This is the point of contention. Not that UK wasn't an 8 seed, but that there was an appearance of making things as tough for WSU as they could have, especially with proximity to UK fanbase and even KState. The fact that the rest of the bracket was insanely loaded had everyone scratching their heads the instant it came out. Switch UK KSU with Memphis and GW and #WatchUsGoToTheFinalFourAgain

[ShockerPrez]

I hope McDuffie as a Jr can be as good as Cle was as a Sr, but that's far from a guarantee.
I hope our bigs can be as good as Carter/Lufile/Coleby, but I'm not holding my breath.
I can't imagine our guards will match Fred and Ron.
Tekele was a special player.

All of that also leaves out the amazing Chemistry the Shox had in 2014. I hope next year's team can match it. I doubt they can exceed it.

Dang, 2014... grrrr. What could have, even should have, been.

I'm hoping this year's team can get in the tourney and make some hay. And springboard to a special season.

It won't look and feel the same, but it doesn't have to.

Shamet is special. MM could be.

I think the overall talent is higher now, but the leadership isn't there yet. We have the pieces. Just needs to age like a fine scotch or wine.

[ShockerPrez]

This is the point of contention. Not that UK wasn't an 8 seed, but that there was an appearance of making things as tough for WSU as they could have, especially with proximity to UK fanbase and even KState. The fact that the rest of the bracket was insanely loaded had everyone scratching their heads the instant it came out. Switch UK KSU with Memphis and GW and #WatchUsGoToTheFinalFourAgain

I forget the rest of the bracket, but IIRC, Louisville was next and then Michigan, had we gotten past UK.

[WuDrWu]

I forget the rest of the bracket, but IIRC, Louisville was next and then Michigan, had we gotten past UK.

1 WSU 2 Michigan 3 Duke 4 Louisville (in Indianapolis) so that would have been another de facto road game for WSU. Michigan too as they made the Elite 8.

Louisville is little over an hour drive and was all but a home game for the Cardinals. Michigan is like 3.5 hours away. Both would have been extremely favorable locations as compared to the 1 seed.

I wonder how many times #1 Duke got stuck in Dallas with say, #2 Arkansas or #4 Texas?


That's rhetorical. NEVER.