Also, NOT buying it. It took the Badgers a while to figure it out, but they are a good team and playing their best basketball at the right time. The fact this is a trendy upset pick relies on (A) thinking James Madison's lofty record is in and of itself a reason to pick them and (B) the religious-like devotion that the Big Ten is forever doomed to be ~overrated in March Madness~ or whatever.
I just let the picks fly based on what I managed to watch this year. I can't say it's been a successful strategy, but neither was doing a bunch of research and watching all the shows.
BYU seems to be more like us, offense driven with so so defense. So… I like our chances. Apparently have to limit their 3 pt.
And according to betting odds:
Yeah, once again "advanced metrics" (specifically the NET rankings) display their weakness. While JMU has a gaudy 31-3 record, they played exactly 3 "Quad 1 or Quad 2" games. They beat Sparty in East Lansing at the beginning of the year when Sparty was ranked #4, they lost to Appalachian State (NET 72) twice (These three games are the only three where their opponent has a NET less than 100). The rest of their resume is constituted of beating their conference up, and a remaining non con that was just weak at best. The average of their opponents' NET score is 194.79. While they might get lucky and catch Wiscy napping, I don't see them as a big threat.
Me too…especially not being at high altitude….BRICK!
I am still not entirely convinced BYU makes it past Thursday, especially if they go cold beyond the arc.
Yep, they were ranked #6 early for a reason and in their second to last BTT game, beat PU.
I'm not sure this is an example of advanced metrics' weakness.
The other thing driving the James Madison love is that their win at Michigan State to tip off the season was one of the biggest storylines to begin the year because Sparty was a top 5 team. That probably pops into people's heads right away when they see their name.
I'll go with 9-6.
I’m really excited about the way this is all setting up. Everyone is overlooking us, touting Morehead State, or BYU or Iowa State or UConn. Great! Let’s be the silent assassin of this region! We all know what this Illini team can do. What will be a shock to the rest of the world will be no surprise to us! (Just make sure we take care of the ball on late game in bounds passes).
They are cooked without McCullar.
per the chair, they assured the committee he would playOf course.
10-6 now with McCullar Jr. out.
Would be awesome. Although, seems to work more like a random generation than an actual likely possibility. No way Northwestern beats UCONN without Ty Berry.
I assumed it had probability built into the model. Maybe even incorporating some of Evan Maya’s secret formula.
Clearly KU had its fingers crossed behind its back when they said that.
