SUMG

I applaud them for doing this, but I have a question: Is the game just going to be shown on that Replay screen up in the corner of the Pit? Or are they going to have some other way of showing it?

MTSU is a 5th seed, and will play 12th seed Gonzaga in the Dayton regional. Also, in the Dayton regional....ULL (11th seed) will face Marquette (6th seed). Good luck to our Sun Belt sisters!

That was great. I guess I'm an old wuss, but there were times during it, that I started welling up. Anyway, way to go Rich....and thanks CBS News.

You're exactly right, buddy. Cody was drafted, wasn't he? My mistake. Of course, some say and I believe this too....it's almost better to be an Undrafted FA, than to be drafted in the last few rounds. That way, if you have multiple suitors, you can sign with the team, that you feel you have the best chance of making. Whereas, if you're drafted....you're stuck with whoever drafts you.

I've looked at all of the draft magazines (ESPN, Lindy's, a few others). None of them even mention JQ or Dylan. I'll hope for the best, but it looks like both will have to make the pros as undrafted FAs. But, that's not the end of the world (see: Brad Kassell, Cody Spencer, Brian Waters......etc, etc. etc).

Another New York team who got the shaft: Niagara. They have a better RPI than 5-6 other teams, but are forced to play in the play-in game. Their RPI is slightly higher than ours (136 to 137), so we could have just as easily been in the play-in game. I sort of assumed the two lowest RPI teams would be in the play-in game. Not so. Also, Niagara is 10-0 in their last 10 games, so no one can say they aren't hot. Anyway, I have zero connection to that school....just feeling for them, having to play in the play-in game, when others were more "deserving."

I think we hosted NCAA games in the Pit back in 1973 as well. That was before my time at NT. In 1980.....the NCAA tourney had 48 teams.....so six teams went to each site. (with two getting byes). The six teams in Denton that year were: Alcorn State; Texas A & M; South Alabama; Bradley; North Carolina; and LSU. I worked in the athletic department that year (I was a student assistant in Promotions---got a full scholarship). Anyway, getting to participate when we hosted the NCAA tournament was one of the funnest things about that school year.

Want a good women's coach? UTA just won the SLC, going 16-0 in conference play, and finishing 24-8. Today, they won the SLC tournament and will be in the NCAA tournament for the second time in 3 years. (As of now, they've won 19 straight). Ever been to UTA...for a hoops game? They play in arguably the WORST basketball facility in the nation (a stage....called Texas Hall). If this gal, Ms. Capps, can recruit to UTA and Texas Hall.......wonder what she could do recruiting to UNT and the Super Pit? Oh, and congrats to UTA and their fans (some of whom come on these boards).

Hey....just a reminder. And trust me, if we all move our clocks forward an hour, and you forget to..... Well, don't come crying to me, if you miss the Selection Show tomorrow....because you think it's 4, when it's really 5.

Utah State was never in the Belt for basketball. They were in the Big West, which they dominated the last several years, in which they were in that league. And NMSU has been out of our league for two years now. A lot can happen in two years....especially when you make a great hire (Reggie Theus).

Don't know what that might do to A & M's seeding.......

That looks great, buddy. You're very talented.

I think they should do exactly what you suggest (by having it on the regular season champs home court). But, that's not always a failsafe against small crowds for the finals. If the host team loses, you can still have really small crowds at the finals, no matter what way you do it. In 1994, we beat NLU on their court in the semis. The next night we played SW Texas State in Monroe, in front of maybe 200.

There are some on your list, that definitely deserve to be seeded higher than us, IMHO. (Creighton, Gonzaga, Va. Commonwealth...maybe a couple more). But, I get your point and agree. I was looking at Sagarin rankings last night, and there are a good 4 or 5 teams that are in the NCAA already, that we have better Sagarin rankings than. So, that's why... I think we'll climb up to a 15 seed. Not sure about a 14....

Just give a guess: What seed will we be? Who will we play in the first round? Where will it be? My guesses: 15th seed Opponent: Kansas Site: Chicago

It says that the event is in the Athletic Center....not the Super Pit.

Thanks for that news, Screamer. If I read the CUSA bracket correctly....Rice will next meet the winner of the #3 Houston vs. #6 Southern Miss game. All of those games are on CSTV, if you get that channel. It's 610 on (DirecTV).

Chairman of the NCAA tournament selection committee: Gary Walters, AD at Princeton One other committee member: Dan Guerrero, AD at UCLA. There are only 10 members on the committee. BTW......Dick Motta (the former Mavs coach) used to hate committees. Because of that, he always carried a card in his wallet that read: "A committee is a group of the unfit, doing the unnecessary for the unwilling."

Since your RPI can change, not only based on what your team does, but also by what their opponents do......I guess it would be helpful for us: 1) If Nebraska wins a game or two in the Big 12 tourney; 2) if Tulsa and Rice win some more games in the CUSA tourney (they each won last night); 3) if UTA or SFA win some games in the SLC tourney. Am I wrong about this???

One other thing....when the brackets are done in almost every paper in the country.....they don't include the play-in game. They only include the play-in game winner. So, all that national publicity that you would normally get from the tourney....publicity which lasts for about 3 weeks (as those brackets are in the papers until the final game)....anyway, you lose all that publicity. Like I said before though, if we end up having to play it....we'll deal with that. But, I'm sure not hoping to be in it.

No, it wouldn't be better. Just because a game is winnable, doesn't mean that we'd win it. Do you really think the other team (Mississippi Valley State) or whoever is just gonna roll over for us? Yes, being on national TV would be nice, but it's not worth the risk. Say we were to lose. After 19 years, we get back in the tournament, and lose to Miss. Valley State. (or someone at that level). Yeah, if we end up being stuck in the game, we have to make the most of it. But, I"m hoping we avoid.

Some extra info from Wikipedia: The Play-In Game (officially known as the Opening Round) of the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship is the first game of the tournament, played between the two last-seeded (i.e. 64th and 65th) teams. The winner of the game is then given a #16 seed and plays the highest-ranked #1 seed that plays on the opening Friday in the first round of the tournament (to give the #16 seed an extra day of rest). To date, no winner of the play-in game has gone on to defeat the #1 seed in the next game. In fact, no #16 seed has beaten a #1 seed at all, even including the ones that didn't have to play in the extra game. The game was first played in 2001, when the Mountain West Conference, which had split from the Western Athletic Conference in 1999, received an automatic bid for the first time. Under NCAA rules, a new conference must serve a two-year probationary period before receiving an automatic bid to the tournament. Once the Mountain West received its own bid (the WAC retained its bid), the number of teams in the field increased from 64 to 65, requiring one team to be eliminated before the tournament entered its traditional 64-team bracket format. The NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Championship accommodated this change by eliminating an at-large bid, decreasing from 34 to 33, rather than adopting the play-in game. Although analysts’ initial reactions to the concept were skeptical, the first game, played on March 13, 2001, was a success, and few complaints have been heard since. One reason for these positive comments is the fact that the game is played on a Tuesday night, during which no other games are played (the first round of the tournament starts the following Thursday). Thus, the play-in game assumes a greater prominence than most first-round games, both to the viewing public and to scouts. Recently, Syracuse University coach Jim Boeheim has advocated for an expansion of the tournament from 65 to 76 teams, which would include play in games for all of the 16th and possibly 15th seeded teams. [1] The expansion of play in games faces logistical challenges and lukewarm acceptance from NCAA President Myles Brand and the corporate and media partners of the NCAA. The play-in game has also been criticized as a handicap for teams among the historically black colleges and universities. In all but one of the games played so far, one of the teams has been a HBCU. The Black Coaches Association has blasted the game as a form of de facto discrimination. However, it should be noted that the two conferences which are made up of HBCUs, the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference and Southwestern Athletic Conference, are often two of the lowest-rated conferences in the RPI. The game is traditionally played at the University of Dayton Arena in Dayton, Ohio; it is not included in CBS coverage of the tournament and therefore is often televised on ESPN (although the 2001 game aired on TNN). The reason the game is not officially referred to as a "play-in" is because the two teams are officially in the tournament before the game is played. As recently as 1991, the NCAA has conducted play-in games (usually between champions of what were considered to be the weakest conferences) prior to the announcement of the brackets; the losers were not considered to have been in the tournament. Note that the loser of the current play-in game is still credited with a tournament appearance for purposes of sharing in the NCAA basketball contract revenues, while the winner receives a share for being in the round of 64.

Good info, Green Blood. I wonder who all are on the committee this year? It would sure help if there was someone from the Sun Belt on there, but I have no clue if there is.

It looks very good. But, can you do one where the two guys at the top aren't blocking parts of the words: North Texas Mean Green just wondering what that would look like...

I'm sorry, I read that wrong. My bad, as you kids say.