As we come closer to the monumental NIT matchup between the Tigers and the Skyhawks (are they going to make us wear our away jerseys again for lack of confusion?), I wanted to whine and complain one more time not about the selection of teams in the bracket, but about the system that we use. You know, the system that gives kids who weren’t good enough in high school to make it on a big/major school team the right and ability to win a league of teams that would all come in last place in mid-major/major league resulting in an automatic bid. What is this? Upward Basketball? Should we stop keeping score? This system teaches kids that if you’re gonna be good then you have to be the best or the best of the worst will beat you out. So anyway, I wanted to go through the teams in the Big Dance and list my thoughts on who Auburn would or has beaten, might beat, etc.
Teams Played
L-Dayton* (59-60 OT)
L-Northern Iowa* (61-67)
W-Alabama St. (77-72)
Split-LSU (79-72, 69-53)
Split-Tennessee (78-77, 94-85)
W, W – Miss St. (91-76, 76-58) – This one makes my blood boil. So only playing well the last four games of the season is better than playing well the last 12 games of the season?
Projected Blowouts
Morehead St.
Cleveland St.
N. Dakota St.
Robert Morris
Chattanooga
Cornell
CS Northridge
East Tennessee St.
Portland St.
American
Binghamton
Radford
Western Kentucky
Akron
Temple
S.F. Austin
Morgan St.
Probable Wins
Ohio St.
Siena
Utah
Arizona
Southern Cal
BYU
Utah St.
California
Florida St. (Douglas Revenge Factor)
Wisconsin
VCU
Minnesota
Butler
Clemson
Michigan
Toss-ups
Wake Forest
Boston College
Texas A&M
Purdue
Washington
Maryland
Oklahoma St.
Xavier
Texas
Illinois
Gonzaga
Arizona St.
Probable Losses
Louisville
West Virginia
Kansas
Michigan St.
UConn
Missouri
Marquette
Memphis
Pittsburgh
UCLA
Villanova
Duke
North Carolina
Syracuse
Oklahoma
* Neutral Site
So 30+ teams that Auburn would more than likely (in my opinion) or has already beaten are in the tournament. Ridiculous isn’t it?
