Chuck Taylor

While my clinic yielded 7 decades of frustration, I still am available for occasional advice.

I really have to stop myself from looking ahead on this bracket.

I honestly don't think there's much movement left for us, unless we beat Purdue or Illinois next week. Otherwise, it seems we're pretty much locked into an 8-10 seed.

Hanging onto a 9 seed (and facing Texas in Indianapolis) on Bracketville. A win over Michigan will keep us at least that high, regardless of what happens in the BIG tourney. https://bracketville.wordpress.com/bracketology/

Wish I could find it, but one of the top bracketologists mentioned that this year is particularly difficult because of the bunching of Big 12 teams in the 2-4 range, Big Ten teams in the 7-10 range and Big East teams on the bubble. Avoiding conference matches might result in some odd slotting. Awesome, Selection Sunday uproar guaranteed!

I understand that not incompletely, with the exception of everything that I don't.

Couldn't agree more. It's incredibly difficult to get the teams slotted initially. Then you have to slot the protected teams. Then you have to avoid rematches and separate conference opponents. By that time, there's no wiggle room for "hey, let's screw this team, or hey, would it be a great story if ..." That being said, I think the Alabama AD is going to screw us for the '77 win over Bear Bryant.

LBJ's backing didn't do much for USC this year.

We ain't going to Dayton. We're closer to an 8 seed than an 11.

Enough. We're in.

I don't know if that's true or not, but it's an interesting take. The metrics ratings is that they are designed to predict the outcome of games, so if beating a bad team by lot really means nothing, then KenPom etc. will change the formula.

Plus, recent Big Ten top 25 programs are down, i.e. Michigan, Michigan State, Indiana, Maryland and Iowa. I don't think it's a coincidence that Northwestern and Minnesota are also having good years. The non-con boosted players' confidence and added to the buy-in. Success in conference pushed it even further. We're playing great right now, and I'm not sure we would have if we'd taken 4-5 losses in non-con. We'll see how far we can go in the NCAA, but I think we're close to a lock right now and would need a complete collapse to not make it.

Definitely.

NBA minimum is $1.1 million, although that wouldn't be for a 1st rounder. I'll bet Kentucky could match that if it was somebody they really wanted. Caitlin Clark could earn NIL to match the WNBA's top salary of $250,000.

If I had skipped my senior year, then I wouldn't have had to take physics.

Yes, and I think that might answer a lot of questions.

Maybe this has been posted elsewhere, but Edey won't use his Covid year: https://www.cbssports.com/college-basketball/news/zach-edey-will-not-return-to-purdue-in-2024-25-reigning-national-player-of-the-year-wont-use-extra-season/

Fred looks like a million bucks at this very moment, but is the current success sustainable? That has to be proven. I don't think you can apply his Iowa State success to what he's done here, because that wasn't worth much his first three years here. Here are my tiers: Coaches who have sustained high-level programs, in no particular order: Painter Underwood McCaffery (I had to force my fingers to type that) Izzo Gard Pikell Solid job: Collins Down year, but past success: Willard Big turnarounds after looking like complete flops: Fred Johnson at Minnesota Flops: Howard Woodson Too soon to tell: Rhoades Ohio State's new guy

Wow, I've never taken that much time on one of my posts. I usually push the button at about the 18 second mark.

Just to be clear: that bracket is NOT the NCAA committee's. It's the Athletic's.

Move us to "should be in." Last night did it for me, I'm checking flights and hotels. I know this is Nebraska basketball, but I don't see us falling apart in these last 4 games, and we've done enough on Feb 22 to be in

I don't think the order of these allegations (emphasis on allegations) is coincidental: 40. ASHLEY believed, correctly, that others were aware of something inappropriate going on between her and LOVE. She did not know how to stop the situation. She continued to fear that WILLIAMS would blame ASHLEY for WILLIAMS’ Associate Head Coach initiating this relationship. She feared that WILLIAMS would retaliate against her. She was also concerned that WILLIAMS’ husband, who was a personal friend of LOVE, was posting suggestive emojis on ASHLEY’s social media account. 41. LOVE began to pressure ASHLEY to participate in a sexual “threesome” with him and an undisclosed second man. She refused.

Actually, the kids they ran off are better: AJ Storr at Wisconsin, Butler's starting pg, Memphis' leading scorer, starters at 3 other schools with better records.

I recorded the selection committee's top 16 seed reveal and watched this morning. Wisconsin's inclusion as 4 seed once again showed that: 1. Bids aren't decided on the basis of NET. Wisconsin got a 4 seed with a 20 NET, while 9 NET BYU and 14 NET St. Mary's weren't in the top 16, or among the 3 mentioned as just missing. So neither was among the top 19 seeds. The NET is used to sort and compare teams' wins and losses. 2. All games are evaluated the same, regardless of when they occur, so Wisky's recent woes didn't matter. They had accumulated enough wins before that. (The loss to Iowa later in the day probably would have dropped them out of the top 16, though.) The committee chair specifically addressed that. CBS bracketologist Jerry Palm had us last 4 in and reference our lack of road wins. Colorado, also one of the last 4 in, won at USC last night, for whatever that's worth.

I thought there was a question of who touched the ball last before it went out of bounds, and they decided they weren't sure. But with Jeffrey Anderson, there's always a little theater involved.