It’s interesting to me (who like everyone else is trying to sort out what these metrics mean) that pacific has the #2 SOS based on opponents success, but the other strength of schedule metric listed (opponent’s strength of schedule) has Stanford as number one and Pacific as number twelve.
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Definitely not the best 8 teams but Stanford was consistently the 2nd best team all year and USC was third. UOP lost to a team outside the top 10. It’s not good for the sport to have Stanford not participating
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The “best metric” is “the SOS eye test”…and everybody knows it. But this criteria basis essentially takes the heat off those who may/or may not appear to be politically connected. If I were the committee members, I’d be happy to say, “hey, don’t blame us on our bad at-large choice, the objective metrics made the decision for us…go pound sand”. In the name of parity and inclusion, I’ll be cheering for Salem this year.
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And it is Stanford, who get the #4 seed.
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Bracket is out, Pacific is rightfully out.
- UCLA
- USC
- Fordham
- Stanford
- Princeton
- Long Beach State
- Cal Baptist
- Salem
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Take names and Name Brand bias out of the equation and this is very disturbing. The comittee went on preference/opinion and more importantly: blatantly against their own published rules. Pacifics inclusion column was completely green, there was no numerical wiggle room. The goalpost has been moved. No matter how anyone feels about Pacific this is a sad, telling day for all non B4 teams.
Good news. I still think they will have to re-do the criteria to try and get more top teams to play. Someone mentioned the Net rating above that went into College Bball.
The two best teams received the open spots, UCLA and Stanford.
No one can deny that, I’m just sorry there won’t be a USC Stanford rematch…
Understand, there will be a lot of sour grapes…
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Logic won out. Brutal draw for Stanford and UCLa for the matter
Yes, the winner is USC, easiest path to finals in recent memory
As said before, win your conf tournament or put it in the hands of the committee. UOP should have beat CBU, only finger pointing should be at the mirror.
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I actually feel bad for the Pacific players. They were good enough to make it but their coach screwed them. Instead of getting them battle tested to win their tournament, he wanted to try and create a loop hole to get an at large bid if they lost. It backfired big time. Graham is a great recruiter but an average coach. He should spend a little more time on his craft than his spreadsheets.
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I could see LB beating Fordham, and if Fordham wins that game, I could see them beating USC. They have different styles of play.
Brutal for Stanford? Try being in the shoes of the Princeton coaching staff. How do you game plan for team that even when you score more points against them through four quarters in the pool, the committee will hand them the victory anyway due to being “good for the sport”?
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Are you forgetting that pacific lost to cbu? Do you think that ucla usc Stanford or fordham would’ve lost to cbu at home?
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Very true but the committee shouldn’t release official criteria if they don’t actually follow it.
Agreed, but you can’t rely solely on rankings, computer seedings, formulas, stats, selection committees, or politics to make it to the finals. There might be a learning lesson here as I’m sure UOP never thought their conference title was in jeopardy.
In the end, in my opinion the decision was the right one.
You are wrong, Graham is a very good coach…but in the end, you have to win to put yourself in a better position than leaving it to a committee, which this time, chose Stanford and not UOP… I suspect Flacks was nervous too…
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That makes no sense. You must be a UOP fan