Photo by cstein96The NCAA tournament is upon us, and a lot of us at DCist are excited. DCist college hoops fans Brett Gellman and Andrew Wiseman (Maryland and GW alums, respectively) had a chat the other day about Maryland and Virginia not making the tourney, plus a bit about local hoops in general—here’s what they had to say.
And for more on area teams, check out Tuesday’s recap, and follow DCist’s Seventh Annual March Madness pool here!
Andrew: So what do you think about Maryland and Virginia not making it? Some local folks were complaining. Scott Van Pelt, for example, was pretty fired up about it on Twitter: “In review: play tough teams (doesn’t matter if you win). Win on the road (against nobody in top 100) Get a bid that is cheered. Got it”
Brett: There were a number of reasons why Maryland didn’t make it to the tournament, but the most glaring was its dreadful out of conference schedule. The Terps played just one power conference opponent in Kentucky. And while they were ranked No. 3 at the time, I don’t think anyone expected the Wildcats to be playing a road game in the National Invitation Tournament. On top of that, Mark Turgeon made the schedule before adding Logan Aronhalt, Charles Mitchell, and Dez Wells (their best player). And while we can pile on Maryland’s poor scheduling, the Terps couldn’t finish over .500 in a weak ACC. Losses to Boston College and Georgia Tech stand out the most, but had the Terps not given up a 17-point lead in its regular season finale against UVA, we probably wouldn’t be having this conversation. And while the Terps beat Duke twice this season, Maryland was simply one ACC victory away from sneaking into the tournament. To put it another away, their best out-of-conference win was against Stony Brook. That’s not gonna do it.
Andrew: Yeah. Stony Brook was almost a tourney team, they kicked butt in conference, but right. The selection committee said they looked at road games and out of conference schedule, and Maryland and Virginia were both over 300 in out-of-conference strength-of-schedule.
Brett: Had Stony Brook won their conference tournament, it would have helped the Terps’ ratings percentage index and might have given them a better chance to make the play-in game, but even that’s a stretch.
Andrew: Right. I mean if we’re debating about Stony Brook, it’s not a good sign. Personally I thing that’s a good thing, I hate it when big teams only play at home and only against cupcakes.
Brett: Yeah, you can’t point at your schedule and be like, “See. We beat that team from the America East!” And the reason Turgeon scheduled such a weak schedule was because of the influx of first-year players in his rebuilding program. Expect a much tougher schedule next season. As for Virginia, they were out the minute they lost to N.C. State in the ACC Tournament quarterfinals. They had one of the oddest resumes out there, but what stood out the most was the number of bad losses to horrible teams.
Andrew: Yeah, somebody on the selection committee actually said that, they had the weirdest resume I’ve ever seen.
Brett: George Mason, Delaware, and Old Dominion. There is no shying away from that.
Andrew: They were going for the Patriot League title, clearly.
Brett: Outside of Mason, those losses were all at home, too. Imagine the breathing room the Cavs had if they just took care of business at JPJ. They also finished the season losing four of their last six, something the committee doesn’t take kindly to. And just like Maryland, a Duke win doesn’t give you an automatic pass to the tournament.
Andrew: Right. People complained about the last four teams in all being so-called mid-majors like Middle Tennessee, but that team won 28 games and was ninth in out-of-conference strength of schedule too. They played people, like the committee said. Maybe I’m biased though, I’d rather have more strong teams from small conferences. If they win a couple games in the tourney it’s a much bigger deal than if some Power Six bubble team does, I’d say.
Brett: These mid-majors were also very good at manipulating the RPI. Middle Tennessee State won a lot of games, but how many were against NCAA tourney bound squads? They got killed by Florida, lost to Akron, Belmont, and Florida International? They did beat Ole Miss, however, who went on to become the SEC champion.
Andrew: And Western Kentucky twice i- conference, that’s a tourney team.
Brett: Good point, missed that one.
Andrew: Side note, I wish they’d keep calling them the play-in game, “first round” is dumb and confusing.
Brett: That’s about almost as unbearable as listening to Doug Gottlieb
Andrew: Haha, he’s the worst.
Brett: The fact that the Atlantic 10 and Mountain West got more bids than the ACC is alarming, however.
Andrew: Yeah, I wonder about that. MWC was No. 1 in RPI though, and the Atlantic 10 was good too.
Brett: Then again, the ACC is adding Pittsburgh, Syracuse, and Notre Dame next season (and Louisville in 2014), so this is more of an anomaly if anything. It’s just amazing that after the NCAA added four more spots, not one was given to a power conference
Andrew: So, I guess we agree, it was fair Maryland and Virginia didn’t make it. Maybe it’ll encourage them to schedule some better games. Lamar or IUPUI or whoever at home are pretty boring games.
Brett: I would recommend they hire D1scourse‘s Patrick Stevens as a scheduling consultant. Dude is one of the best bracket analysts out there (miles above ESPN’s Joe Lunardi) and knows the inner workings of RPI better than most.
Andrew: If anything, I hope they at least schedule some local teams. We talked before about how great it would be if all the local schools played. Of course, that means Georgetown and Maryland have to agree, and I don’t see that happening with John Thompson III.
Brett: Actually, Turgeon has mentioned that him and JTIII have talked about playing. Turgeon and JTIII’s brother, Ron, worked together as assistants for Oregon. It would be undeniably great for the area as this is a rivalry that has been stagnant for far too long. But if Maryland can schedule some decent locals like Towson or Loyola, instead of two teams from the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference, it could go a long way. In fact, I believe Maryland is playing George Washington in the BB&T Classic next winter.
Andrew: Yup! Pumped for that. But the Terps also said that might be their last year in the BB&T.
Brett: And for good reason. The ACC (as well as the Big Ten) have larger conference schedules, leaving little room to schedule non-conference home games. The BB&T isn’t what it used to be and eats up a valuable home game date because it’s not an exempt tournament, so can you blame them?
(See more ideas for fixing the BB&T Tournament and local hoops here.)
Andrew: I just want to see local teams play each other, is all. GW and Georgetown have played each other more than any other schools, but not since the early 80s. Sure, Georgetown losing to GW would be big, but it would better than some cupcake, I’d argue.
Brett: Me too, there’s no reason why this area can’t have something similar to the Philadelphia Big Five. This town has too many teams that there’s no reason they should not play each other on an annual basis. Villanova, Temple, and LaSalle made the tournament, for what it’s worth.
Andrew: Yup! I mean if you want quality away games (or neutral games) these are them. And hopefully we won’t have Gottlieb, Bill Walton or Dicke V as the commentators.
Brett: The Big Five has the Palestra, but where would you play these games?
Andrew: I think rotating campus sites would be best mostly. Verizon Center would be good, but I don’t think it’d sell out except for Georgetown-Maryland, and then you could argue it’s a Georgetown home game instead of neutral, unless you divided up the tickets.
Brett: Unless Georgetown and Maryland agreed to do a home-and-home series. The last time Comcast Center hosted a ranked out-of-conference opponent excluding the Big Ten-ACC Challenge was Florida. In 2003!
Andrew: Maybe if Vince Gray wants some positive publicity he can donate a cup or something to try and make this happen. Get the governors of Maryland and Virginia, or county executives or something.
Brett: That would be a good idea. This city needs some sort of local tourney to tout all the programs in the area. The problem is that there are only so many games one can schedule in a season.
Andrew: Just as long as we don’t get the city council involved in distributing tickets!
Brett: But scheduling all the locals is better than finding teams from the America East or Atlantic Sun. And conference realignment sucks, but it’s all about money. I can’t believe that was the last-ever Big East Tournament. And yes, I know it lives on with the same name and such, but you know what I mean.
Andrew: Yeah, it’s terrible. I think these conferences are hurting themselves in the long run by getting rid of these long-time rivalries and making teams fly all over the country.
Brett: The Big Ten gave Maryland a travel subsidy to account for the difference in travel costs. Kind of awkward for current members like, say, Nebraska. I don’t like it at all, but cash is king, and that’s the sad truth.
Andrew: Yeah. Plus who cares about these games? Temple versus Houston, there’s a burning rivalry. Southern Methodist University versus Rutgers, watch out for that one.
Brett: At least Georgetown has said they’ll still schedule Syracuse, but Coach K wants nothing to do with Maryland once they depart the ACC. But Andrew, aren’t you dying to see South Florida take on East Carolina?
Andrew: I mean, whenever Connecticut and Central Florida play each other, they have to send out the riot police. Watch out for burning couches in whatever city UCF is in. [Editor’s Note: Orlando, the jewel of Florida.] But anyway, I’m looking forward to it. It’s my favorite sports time of the year and I’m pumped for the DCist bracket!
Brett: March Madness is great. Who doesn’t love an upset? The first four days (and I mean Thursday-Sunday, not that opening round nonsense) are THE BEST.
Brett Gellman contributed to this post
