[NU Sports] In need of a basketball expert

[Jonathan Hodges]

There have been at least a handful of #2 seeds to lose as well as more 3s
and 4s (some #2s that have lost in recent memory: Iowa State, Cincinnati).

Note regarding the play-in games that are referenced: the new play-in games
introduced last year are essentially at-large selections battling for a #12
seed or so (usually, the last at-large team in).  This is different than
the prior play-in game which is for a #16 seed between automatic qualifiers
(small-conference champions); such conference champs typically take up all
of the 13-16 seeds.

The preseason brackets from Jerry Palm & Joe Lunardi had NU in the 10-11
seed range.  NU has obviously played up to par so far, so we'll see how it
goes from here.  They'll certainly benefit from a solid league this year
but will need to hit at least .500 in league play as others have noted.

--
Jonathan Hodges
Contributor, HailToPurple
Web: http://www.hailtopurple.com/jhodges/
Twitter: @hailtopurple
Email: j-hodges at alumni.northwestern.edu



On Wed, Nov 30, 2011 at 2:33 PM, Mike Nolan <nolan at tssi.com> wrote:

> > 20 wins didn't get us in last year, but there is an expanded play-in
> > round this year, so maybe this year it will be enough.
>
> IMHO the last thing we want is to qualify for the expanded play-in,
> because the 'winner' gets roughed up by the top seed.
>
> BTW, as far as I can tell, since the NCAA went to a 64 team format,
> no #1 team in a bracket has ever lost in the first round to the #16 team
> in that bracket, and possibly no #2 team to a #15 team, either.  I
> think a couple of #3 teams have lost to #14 teams and a few more #4
> teams to #13 teams.
> --
> Mike Nolan
>
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