Cincinnati or Syracuse?

By Yoni Cohen on Wed Mar 08, 2006 at 02:18:09 AM EST

Who do you believe will win Wednesday's all-important Big East Tournament game?

(Poll below the fold).

News ::


Poll

Who will win?
Cincinnati 70%
Syracuse 30%

Votes: 10
Results | Other Polls
Display:
Cincinnati or Syracuse? | 20 comments (20 topical, 0 hidden) | Post A Comment

I assume you mean Seton Hall-Rutgers? (none / 0)

In all seriousness, I'd go with the Orange. The Orange have everything in the world to play for, compared to (they seem to think) very little for the Bearcats, and besides, this game is being played on Syracuse's de facto second home court.

by SetonHallPirate on Wed Mar 08, 2006 at 12:27:50 AM EST
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Bearcats (none / 0)

The Bearcats win...make the NCAA Tournament...and Andy Kennedy is retained as head coach.

by Anonymous Hero on Wed Mar 08, 2006 at 01:04:34 AM EST
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Two of these three are probably accurate (none / 0)

Guess which one is not!

by Anonymous Hero on Wed Mar 08, 2006 at 02:11:15 PM EST
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Orange/Bearcats (none / 0)

Picking the 'Cuse can be hazardous to one's mental health this year.  All Bearcats in this one.  

by Anonymous Hero on Wed Mar 08, 2006 at 09:18:54 AM EST
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What a finish! (none / 0)

In typical syracuse fashion they win todays game on a prayer but will undoubtedly lay an egg tomorrow against UConn with an NCAA tourney berth at stake..I hope I'm wrong. This is definitely not a tourney team, but we'll see..stranger things have happened..Here's the real question. Seton Hall wins today, Syracuse wins tomorrow (I know its a stretch) Does Cincy get squeezed or does the BE get 9?

by RS on Wed Mar 08, 2006 at 02:17:49 PM EST
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I think so... (none / 0)

UC should definitely get a spot, because of how they have played since Kirkland went down, but if Syracuse wins tomorrow, which they will not, the Big East will get 9 bids, much to the chagrin of the Little 10.

by drza14 on Wed Mar 08, 2006 at 02:55:00 PM EST
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what are you talking about? (none / 0)

Cincy is 6-10 without Kirkland.  Their RPI is now lower than Syracuse (36 vs. 39).  Syracuse/West Virgina are their only "quality" wins...and Syracuse beat them 2 to 1.  If Cincy gets in over Syracuse...there will be problems.

by Anonymous Hero on Wed Mar 08, 2006 at 03:22:33 PM EST
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You have it backwords (none / 0)

UC is still getting in over Syracuse, and rightfully so. The Orange had lost 9 of 13 coming into today. Also, tournament teams don't lose in the last week of the season by 39 to sub .500 opponents.

The Bearcats had a better conference record than Syracuse and more impressive non-conference results. Hands down UC gets in first. Syracuse is only in with a win tomorrow.

And this is coming from a UofL fan, so I'm no Bearcat fan.


by Anonymous Hero on Wed Mar 08, 2006 at 04:00:36 PM EST
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Again, you really have no clue... (none / 0)

First, with today's win...Syracuse and Cincy have equal conference records at 8-9.  Second, the selection committee does NOT use margin of victory as a factor in evaluating teams for the field of 65.   The loss to DePaul was bad, but no worse than a 10 point loss.  It just seems that way because it happened so late in the season.  How can you really say Cincy would be in over Syracuse when they have a lower RPI and they lost 2 out of 3 to Syracuse?  Why don't you back up your "more impressive non-conference results" what was that their loss at home to a 14-16 Dayton team????  Cincy had one quality non-conference win...LSU.  Syracuse had none.  Syracuse played the top 2 big east teams twice and went 0-4.  Cincy played them each once and went 0-2.  Syracuse played a much tougher CONFERENCE schedule than Cincy.  If it comes down to one over the other, I think today's game makes the difference.

by Anonymous Hero on Wed Mar 08, 2006 at 05:29:02 PM EST
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Just one question (none / 0)

Since when is a 39 point loss "no worse" than a ten point loss?

to DePaul, no less?


by Anonymous Hero on Wed Mar 08, 2006 at 10:07:52 PM EST
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margins (none / 0)

It's no worse if the committee is instructed to ignore margin of victory in their deliberations.

That said, I don't know how, even if you're told to ignore it, you can get margin of victory out of your head. It's not like the committee is packed with robots; they remember the games they saw and how they played out.


by SenatorTCJ on Wed Mar 08, 2006 at 10:45:56 PM EST
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either way, (none / 0)

as you said, you really can't ignore margin of victory. Would the Gang of 500 have thought differently about the game if DePaul sank a game-winner at the buzzer? definitely.

Considering some college teams don't score 39 in a whole game...

To say a 39-point loss is no different than getting beat at the buzzer is just ignorant.


by Anonymous Hero on Wed Mar 08, 2006 at 10:58:38 PM EST
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Wow (none / 0)

You're clearly a Cuse fan. There's no way a neutral fan would get so angry and ignore logic. This is the same UofL fan by the way.

I think the posts below have more than made most of my responses. A 39 point loss to a 12-15 is most certainly worse than losing by 5 or 10.

As for non-conference play, Syracuse's best win is about equal to the 3rd best OOC win for Cincy.


by Anonymous Hero on Thu Mar 09, 2006 at 12:24:21 AM EST
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You mean 7 bids... (none / 0)

Someone on here mentioned how the bubble teams have been taking care of business.  What that means is that the requirements for making it in have risen.  Even if Syracuse beats Cincinnati, they haven't done enough to get in over the other bubble teams who have finished the season strong.  They would need to go deep in the BE tourney to get back on the good side of the bubble, which I think means they would need to beat Connecticut.

And, a loss by Cincinnati in the first round would knock them back out.


by Anonymous Hero on Wed Mar 08, 2006 at 07:16:05 PM EST
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Valid point (none / 0)

Who would get the two extra bids?

by RS on Wed Mar 08, 2006 at 08:06:15 PM EST
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Wow. The bubble is a mess (none / 0)

After all the talk about the soft bubble, I'm surprised the Gang of 500 (as Yoni likes to call it) hasn't picked up the big story of the last 7 days...

Never can I remember a year when so many bubble teams are doing what they have to do.

In the Big East, Seton Hall goes and beats Pitt in a must win game, then Cincy knocks off West Virginia in a must win game, then Syracuse knocks off Cincy in a must win game.

In the MVC, Bradley and SIU enter as the two teams with the most work to do, then both get to the finals.  Northern Iowa enters struggling and they get a first round win.   Basically every single game was won by the team that could least afford a loss (not to say all 6 will get in, but every game gave the MVC the best chance at 6).  

In the Colonial, the two teams who most needed to get to the finals go there.  Again, all 3 may well not get in, but each game came down EXACTLY right to improve their chances at 3.

The list goes on, too.... UAB beats Memphis, Cal doesn't get beat by USC, Maryland doesn't lose to Miami or Virginia, FSU goes out and wins twice, Texas A&M doesn't lose to Texas Tech.  

In past years, half these teams would have lost, knocking them off the bubble.  Instead, it's just getting tougher and tougher to predict who's in and who's out.


by Anonymous Hero on Wed Mar 08, 2006 at 03:17:43 PM EST
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The only problem... (none / 0)

will be if Syracuse gets a spot over UC, as they have won 5 out of the last 14, with no players injured, including the embarrassing loss that neither you nor I need to mention, and a one point win over a team that is on the bubble itself.  Saying that SU will get a spot over UC is wishful thinking that will not happen just because you say so.

by UCSurgeon on Wed Mar 08, 2006 at 04:04:03 PM EST
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furthermore about UC... (none / 0)

I wouldn't count that SU win as a quality win, and since you seem to discount Vandy and LSU wins as "quality," even if they were early in the season, your(SU) only quality win is over WVU, who we just beat.  Then, 2-1 over UC, who you think is inferior, and do you have any wins that are worth mentioning, besides Bethune-Cookman, or maybe Colgate?  Your non-conference schedule is weaker than...many others.

by UCSurgeon on Wed Mar 08, 2006 at 04:12:39 PM EST
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Either way, (none / 0)

with the way the bubble teams are performing this year, nobody will be happy. There will be deserving teams left out--it just so happens that this year there are about 70 that could/"should" make it, depending on one or two things.

by Anonymous Hero on Wed Mar 08, 2006 at 04:33:29 PM EST
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Is Schitzophrenically Hellacious University... (none / 0)

...in or out?

In all seriousness, our performance against Rutgers has been absolutely horrendous. I'm glad to see Donald Copeland showed up to play.


by SetonHallPirate on Wed Mar 08, 2006 at 09:04:25 PM EST
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Cincinnati or Syracuse? | 20 comments (20 topical, 0 hidden) | Post A Comment
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