GW Hoops / The March Madness Thread

**Posted by The Dude** 3/21/2024 4:54 pm

It's hard to win March Madness games how many of these games was the A10 favored?

I would guess almost none of them

That's what makes the Gonzaga streak very much on the line tonight against the good McNeese team all the more incredible. They have won in the first round of the NCAA tournament every year since 2007-08 going back to the George w Bush administration

26 straight NCAA tournaments 15 years in a row with a win in the first round and at least four of those years they were double-digit seed. Nine straight sweet 16s. Would probably have to get by Kansas this year to keep that streak alive

Speaking of long streaks if Oregon can hold on and pull off this upset I believe that's 10 straight in the first round for Dana Altman one of the countries most underrated coaches

As for the A10 huge increase this year in win percentage and strength of schedule for the league this year. There's always one guy here claiming how bad the league is doing it just isn't true

Last edited by The Dude (3/21/2024 4:55 pm)

**Posted by Tennessee Colonial** 3/21/2024 5:13 pm

Dayton looks terrible today. At least Duquesne won.

**Posted by DC Native** 3/21/2024 5:38 pm

Probably too late, but they’re making it interesting…

**Posted by DC Native** 3/21/2024 5:41 pm

Wow, what a comeback! Now close it out!

**Posted by DC Native** 3/21/2024 5:49 pm

Amazing!!! What a day for the A10!

**Posted by Alum '04** 3/21/2024 5:50 pm

DC Native wrote:
Amazing!!! What a day for the A10!

Eat shit, NCAA and NCAA selection committee!

**Posted by districthoops** 3/21/2024 5:51 pm

districthoops wrote:
Long Suffering Fan wrote:
As much as it pains me to say this, betting against the A-10 in the postseason seems to have been a wise investment over the past several years.
Yeah, I mean I just don't see either Dayton (injuries) or the Dukes (6th in A10) reaching the second round. I think Dayton was extremely overseeded, especially with the last 3 of their last 6 games { loss @ Mason, @ Loy-Chi, and vs. Duquesne). The Cinderella story is there for Dambrot, but they just don't pass the eye test against real competition. But hey, it's March, I'd love to be and most likely will be embarrassingly incorrect.

I suggest this be submitted to Freezing Cold Takes on Twitter. Insanity, what a comeback by Dayton

**Posted by The Dude** 3/21/2024 5:58 pm

DC Native wrote:
Amazing!!! What a day for the A10!

Tremendous day for the A10

Further confirmation that the league is way up this year

DaRon Holmes one of the best players in the country two-way star

What a gutsy come back!

**Posted by Tennessee Colonial** 3/21/2024 5:59 pm

Wow! Dayton woke up. They were sleep walking most of the game. Good for them.

**Posted by Free Quebec** 3/21/2024 6:19 pm

Dayton comeback a lot like us against Wilmington.

A10 2-0. Love it. Plus more money for GW.

**Posted by Free Quebec** 3/21/2024 6:27 pm

I’m also glad that Duquense shut up all the numbskulls who said they were oversteered as an 11 without checking their resume. Aside from winning a very strong 8th ranked league, they had 8 wins over Q1/2 teams - more than all four 12 seeds combined. If that’s the criteria used to keep Indiana St out, then it should also be used to seed Duquesne where they did.

**Posted by BC** 3/21/2024 6:29 pm

A10 is but 1-3 in the NIT though 2 losses were against #1 seeds, iirc.

**Posted by districthoops** 3/21/2024 6:35 pm

Wow, Virginia's offense really poisoned Colorado State so far tonight.

**Posted by gwstudent2024** 3/21/2024 7:02 pm

Happy the A10 won both their games today but I will admit I picked against both Duquesne and Dayton in my brackets. If you picked both of them to win, come to the window and claim your prize (a free ticket to GW's home game against No One's Heard of Them State A&M's Frederick satellite campus).

Thanks to the wins GW gets their share of the NCAA tournament "units" that are distributed to teams in the same conference as teams who win a tournament game. I've seen conflicting reports on how the money is distributed, but I believe we get a little over 12k each year for the next six years because the A10 got two wins. Obviously this isn't anything close to program altering money but it's another angle to March Madness that I think is fun

**Posted by The Dude** 3/21/2024 7:47 pm

Dayton was top 25 NET all season long, an excellent team that was highly disrespected, because they lost a few games down the stretch

Gonzaga is putting an absolute clinic +23 on a very good McNeese team. McNeese has a lot of Power 5 talent like Shahada Wells, The Zags made them look like 16 seed in the half. Fully expect them to make a run in the 2nd half

Now, can the A10 pick up 2 more wins Saturday? Things figure to get tougher.

**Posted by Alum '04** 3/21/2024 8:55 pm

You think Calipari would come to GW? After all, the A-10 is a second chance league for high profile coaches.

**Posted by BC** 3/21/2024 9:01 pm

Calipari - on my dislike list since his UMass days. Love to see UK lose.

**Posted by Tennessee Colonial** 3/21/2024 9:01 pm

SEC not doing too well. Big Blue people down here are not happy. Calipari has a lot of great one and done players. A lot of freshmen got beaten by an experienced Oakland team.

**Posted by The Dude** 3/22/2024 12:16 am

Samford down 1, with one of the all time great defensive plays only to have the ref blow the call in the most brutal way. Instead of down 1 with the ball, down 3 with 14 seconds to go.

College basketball needs coaches challenges system. Even if just the last 2 minutes. They check 11x to see in bounds out of bounds, but a clear mistsake on a call like that nothing can be done. The NBA system is far superior, games should not be swung on such a clear mistake that we can correct, and quickly.

Great day for the A10, hopefully 2 Upsets on Saturday for the League.

No team looked better Thursday than Gonzaga who ran up a 36 point lead before putting in the back of the bench (including Few's son who must have the worst +/- in the sport)

What a great win for Oakland

Big Props to DaRon Holmes for coming back to Dayton. Imagine how many Power 5 offers he set aside to come back, now he's positioned himself for a 1st Round NBA pick and he's going to have a long career in the league.

A share of NCAA Tourney victories is worth about 2 Million dollars, the A10 made about 4 Million dollars with the 2 wins today.

Last edited by The Dude (3/22/2024 12:56 am)

**Posted by Gwmayhem** 3/22/2024 9:47 am

Free Quebec wrote:
I’m also glad that Duquense shut up all the numbskulls who said they were oversteered as an 11 without checking their resume. Aside from winning a very strong 8th ranked league, they had 8 wins over Q1/2 teams - more than all four 12 seeds combined. If that’s the criteria used to keep Indiana St out, then it should also be used to seed Duquesne where they did.

I guess our definitions of "numbskull" might vary since I would consider anyone to invalidate decisions made based on approx. 35 games worth of work, because of the outcome of a single game, to be a bit of a numbskull. Like I said, Duquesne's seed was largely based on the A10 being a stronger conference than any of those who represented the 4 #12 seeds, and that the committee was not going to start reseeding the field at 3:00 on Sunday once the VCU-Duquesne winner was known. Should an A10 school ever win a national championship, perhaps the committee will start to pay more attention to meticulously seeding the A10 champion.

Plus, your assertion also happens to be incorrect.

Team    Seed NET entering the Dance Q1/Q2 Record

Duquesne 11    83    8-8
UAB 12    105    7-7
JMU 12    52    1-2
Grand
Canyon 12 50     3-2
McNeese 12    56 3-2

So, three of the 12's had NETS in the 50's while Duquesne was in the 80's. And, the 4 #12 seeded teams won nearly twice as many Q1/Q2 games as Duquesne (14-8).

That was a great win by Duquesne. And under the circumstances, a very emotional one as well. But does it validate their seed? Not in my book.