re: Latest Bracketology LSU 7 seed!

Ben Simmons affect

From USA today TODAY..........

Of all of LSU's credentials, its narrow loss to Oklahoma could be the most telling. The game was at home, but the Tigers looked like the better team until the final minutes. If the Sooners are a title contender, LSU isn't that far off.

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our Conference only RPI is 6th in all of the NCAA. That is crazy good and basically shows how good we've been in 2016.

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i know that i have been incredibly unpopular with a handful of people for playing devil's advocate but, there is a dark side to what you're saying. the tigers had the great fortune of catching a&m, bama, fla, uk and vandy at very low points and still lost at fla. in uk's case they were just really inconsistent. the tigers deserve credit for taking care of business but, all of the best teams lsu has beaten were not playing well. palm basically said the same thing and it appears that other predictors agree with him. i know, i know. i'm miserable and petulant. i hate jones. i want lsu to lose.

i agree with everyone that if lsu is within a stone's throw, simmons might be what gets them over the hump. i find it curious that lunardi is super high on lsu and bpi still has lsu out.

bfniii's latest post

Will Ben Simmons miss the NCAA tournament?

Maybe.

Since 2007, four of the No. 1 picks in the NBA draft (Greg Oden, Derrick Rose, Anthony Davis and Karl Anthony-Towns) have played in the Final Four. Rose and Davis played in the national title game. Davis won the championship with Kentucky in 2012. It's the expectation in the one-and-done era that the best pro prospects will entertain in the NCAA tournament each season in a nationally televised send-off and audition for the next level. But Simmons, the projected No. 1 pick in 2016, could end that trend. Name the most recent time you thought LSU looked like a tournament team. We'll wait.

A squad with five sub-80 losses per the RPI and crucial missed chances (see Oklahoma, South Carolina) left the Tigers with an RPI in the high 60s entering this week. The win Saturday would have meant more if they had faced the Texas A&M squad that beat Iowa State and Baylor, instead of the Aggies team that has lost five of its past six games. The Tigers' best chance to boost their resume -- assuming they avoid a loss in a dangerous home game against Alabama this week -- is a season-ending matchup at Kentucky.

A victory there, however, seems unlikely, and so a trip to the NIT is possible for Simmons and LSU. Still, a late run through LSU's final stretch of the SEC and into the NCAA tournament -- quantity can help in a slate that lacks an abundance of quality -- could change that. Maybe.

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i know that i have been incredibly unpopular with a handful of people for playing devil's advocate but, there is a dark side to what you're saying. the tigers had the great fortune of catching a&m, bama, fla, uk and vandy at very low points and still lost at fla. in uk's case they were just really inconsistent. the tigers deserve credit for taking care of business but, all of the best teams lsu has beaten were not playing well. palm basically said the same thing and it appears that other predictors agree with him. i know, i know. i'm miserable and petulant. i hate jones. i want lsu to lose.

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I agree with you that LSU is not the "lock" many of the sunshine pumpers think they are. Many are like over-protective mothers. If anyone says anything that can be interpreted as ANYTHING other than glowing praise, they resort to childish name-calling.

That said, arguably the only team LSU caught at a disadvantage was Vandy when they were without Kornet. Even then, that game was @ Vandy when LSU was in the midst of a very poor first two months of the season where it was clear that LSU was playing its worst basketball. Contrary to your argument, LSU caught UF in the beginning of a stretch where the Gators won 4 of 6 with the only 2 losses being on the road at A&M by 3 and Vandy by 1. You could argue UF was starting to play it's best basketball at that point. Same with Bama who has gone 5-1 since the LSU loss

Even if your premise is correct, it's not LSU's fault if they caught several SEC opponents at a spot where they weren't playing well. Furthermore, who's to say LSU wasn't the reason their opponents didn't play well in those games? It's not like LSU just "showed up" and had the wins given to them? Finally, your argument cuts both ways. You would discount LSU's wins against A&M, UK, Bama, Vandy if those teams were playing without their 2nd and 3rd leading scorers, so why shouldn't LSU's losses without Hornsby & Victor also be discounted along the same lines?

Again, I agree LSU is not the "lock" that many think they are. However, LSU did not get to 9-3 in SEC play simply by having every opponent play poorly.

Camp lukewarm thread now

bfn, ok serious question and please just answer yes or no, no need to spin it

IF WE BEAT BAMA, WHO HAS A 37 RPI AND HAS WON 4 IN A ROW, IS THAT A QUALITY WIN AGANST A TEAM WE PLAYED WHEN THEY ARE PLAYING GOOD OR NOT

I think that's a little high but I'll take it.

:jump1: :jump2: :jump1:

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#8 seed and got the gift of UNC

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That's the beautiful thing this year, though...there is no UNC, no UK, no just dominant team. Would anyone really be concerned matching up with Villanova in the 2nd round? Since Victor has come back, we have lost to 1 team we shouldn't have, otherwise we've played fairly great. There's a reason other coaches would be pissed to be facing LSU