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Tourney predictions for #1 seed Wichita State... (34-0, MVC champs) (1 Viewer)

Well?

  • They will lose in the first round

    Votes: 2 2.0%
  • They will lose in the round of 32

    Votes: 17 16.8%
  • They will lose in the Sweet 16

    Votes: 18 17.8%
  • They will lose in the Elite 8

    Votes: 38 37.6%
  • They will lose in the Final Four

    Votes: 14 13.9%
  • They will lose in the National Championship game

    Votes: 2 2.0%
  • They will go 40-0 and win the National Championship

    Votes: 10 9.9%

  • Total voters
    101

Raider Nation

Devil's Advocate
Wichita State (34-0) will become the first team to enter the NCAA tournament undefeated since a star-studded UNLV team accomplished the feat in 1991. The 1975-76 Indiana team was the last undefeated national champion, which means an undefeated champion has never been crowned since the tournament expanded to 64 teams (now 68) in 1985.
Whatcha got?

:popcorn:

 
They made the final four last year and seem even better now. Depends on who they draw, but a repeat of last season is fairly reasonable.

 
Final 4.

The 1`n`done rule is killing the major powers as their stars leave after one year, while formerly lower tier teams like Witchita get to keep their core players and leaders year after year. And experience and chemistry counts in the tourney, I think they go far.

 
I'll guess lose in Elite Eight. No clue really but I doubt any one underestimates them. I would LOVE to see them run the table and win it all - would be a great story.

 
I'm curious...what is the average 8/9 team RPI? 25-30ish? What are the highest RPI teams they played this year?

It doesn't mean they aren't as good as other 1 seeds but its so weird to think about their 2nd round game being their toughest test so far.

 
I like WSU but I think some of the #1 seeds will run into a difficult 2nd round matchup vs some of the projected 8/9 teams. I can possibly see a team like a GW/UMass/Okie St/Oregon/Baylor pulling an upset and derailing WSU plans to return to the Final Four.

 
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Theyre good but have they beaten anyone good at all this year?
We were looking at this in the ACC thread today. The argument for Wichita State pretty much comes down to how strongly you feel about home/road/neutral splits.

Wichita's SOS is only 89th, which is low for a Final Four contender. However, they played really well away from their home floor.

Their "signature win" is at Saint Louis, currently 18th in the RPI. They have four wins on RPI 100 home courts (Saint Louis, Tulsa, Indiana State, Missouri State), plus three more wins over RPI 100 teams on neutral courts (BYU, plus Missouri State and Indiana State again at Arch Madness). Seven wins over the RPI 100 on road/neutral is on par for a team seeking a 1-4 seed. Here's how the top 16 teams in the Bracket Project index stack up in this category:

Arizona - 8

Villanova - 8

Wisconsin - 8

Michigan - 8

Wichita State - 7

Syracuse - 7

Virginia - 6

Michigan State - 6

Florida - 5

Kansas - 5

Creighton - 4

San Diego State - 4

Louisville - 3

Cincinnati - 3

Iowa State - 3

Duke - 2

ETA: Wichita State has already finished their conference tourney before the power conferences started theirs, so the other teams on the list will have the opportunity to add to their totals over the next six days.

(Because I'm a petty, shallow person, I'm going to mention that I looked at these numbers today following up on a Duke fan slamming CBSSports.com bracketologist Jerry Palm for claiming Duke was a "hometown hero" that hadn't accomplished much away from Cameron, saying that Palm had a history of anti-Duke bias and wasn't consistent in his analysis. And why wouldn't a Dukie make that claim? Just look at those numbers. Plus, if any pocket of CBB has a bias against Duke, it's the mainstream media.)

While looking at the RPI 100 may seem arbitrary, it is a cutoff the TSC looks at when setting and bracketing the field, so we're at least using the same lens the TSC is using. On road/neutral performance, it's fair to expand out to the RPI 100 because HCA is so profound in CBB; worshipers of predictive measures like the systems published by Ken Pomeroy and Jeff Sagarin will point out beat the 80th-90th best team in CBB on their home court is as tough as beating the 20th-25th best team in your own house.

The numbers aren't as kind to Wichita if you look at other cutoffs the TSC examines, like RPI 50 or RPI 30. And since their conference wasn't very deep this season (wow, the Valley missed not having Creighton anymore), they didn't have the grind of tough roadies that chip away at power conference powerhouses. It's a tall order to say Wichita would have gone 10-0 or 12-0 in RPI 100 road/neutrals if they had to play that many.

Personally.... I am reluctant to make a prediction without seeing the brackets first, but I think Wichita is the real deal and is capable of going deep in the tournament. They move the ball quickly on offense and move their feet quickly on defense. They are very good at finding opponent weaknesses and attacking them. They don't have the depth up front that the top power conference teams have, but their perimeter defense is as good as anyone's. And a lot of the guys playing for them this season were major contributors to last season's Final Four team.

 
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Impossible to predict until matchups are known. I will say that they look like a better mid-major 1 seed than Gonzaga was last year despite having similar SOS.

Tentatively penciling them in for the elite 8 but if the 2 seed in their region makes it too, I see trouble.

 
Theyre good but have they beaten anyone good at all this year?
We were looking at this in the ACC thread today. The argument for Wichita State pretty much comes down to how strongly you feel about home/road/neutral splits.

Wichita's SOS is only 89th, which is low for a Final Four contender. However, they played really well away from their home floor.

Their "signature win" is at Saint Louis, currently 18th in the RPI. They have four wins on RPI 100 home courts (Saint Louis, Tulsa, Indiana State, Missouri State), plus three more wins over RPI 100 teams on neutral courts (BYU, plus Missouri State and Indiana State again at Arch Madness). Seven wins over the RPI 100 on road/neutral is on par for a team seeking a 1-4 seed. Here's how the top 16 teams in the Bracket Project index stack up in this category:

Arizona - 8

Villanova - 8

Wisconsin - 8

Michigan - 8

Wichita State - 7

Syracuse - 7

Virginia - 6

Michigan State - 6

Florida - 5

Kansas - 5

Creighton - 4

San Diego State - 4

Louisville - 3

Cincinnati - 3

Iowa State - 3

Duke - 2

ETA: Wichita State has already finished their conference tourney before the power conferences started theirs, so the other teams on the list will have the opportunity to add to their totals over the next six days.

(Because I'm a petty, shallow person, I'm going to mention that I looked at these numbers today following up on a Duke fan slamming CBSSports.com bracketologist Jerry Palm for claiming Duke was a "hometown hero" that hadn't accomplished much away from Cameron, saying that Palm had a history of anti-Duke bias and wasn't consistent in his analysis. And why wouldn't a Dukie make that claim? Just look at those numbers. Plus, if any pocket of CBB has a bias against Duke, it's the mainstream media.)

While looking at the RPI 100 may seem arbitrary, it is a cutoff the TSC looks at when setting and bracketing the field, so we're at least using the same lens the TSC is using. On road/neutral performance, it's fair to expand out to the RPI 100 because HCA is so profound in CBB; worshipers of predictive measures like the systems published by Ken Pomeroy and Jeff Sagarin will point out beat the 80th-90th best team in CBB on their home court is as tough as beating the 20th-25th best team in your own house.

The numbers aren't as kind to Wichita if you look at other cutoffs the TSC examines, like RPI 50 or RPI 30. And since their conference wasn't very deep this season (wow, the Valley missed not having Creighton anymore), they didn't have the grind of tough roadies that chip away at power conference powerhouses. It's a tall order to say Wichita would have gone 10-0 or 12-0 in RPI 100 road/neutrals if they had to play that many.

Personally.... I am reluctant to make a prediction without seeing the brackets first, but I think Wichita is the real deal and is capable of going deep in the tournament. They move the ball quickly on offense and move their feet quickly on defense. They are very good at finding opponent weaknesses and attacking them. They don't have the depth up front that the top power conference teams have, but their perimeter defense is as good as anyone's. And a lot of the guys playing for them this season were major contributors to last season's Final Four team.
:lol: Good work on the bolded.

 
Love their team but the Midwest is likely to be a pretty tough region. Really good chance of either Michigan/Wisconsin as the 2 with either Louisville or Cincinnati also in the region. I won't be surprised if UNC and UK landed there as well.

A 1 seed in the Midwest is great and all, but geographically I doubt that ends a very friendly draw.

 
I can't believe anybody who has seen Kentucky longer than today's game would have any confidence in them.

 
Love their team but the Midwest is likely to be a pretty tough region. Really good chance of either Michigan/Wisconsin as the 2 with either Louisville or Cincinnati also in the region. I won't be surprised if UNC and UK landed there as well.

A 1 seed in the Midwest is great and all, but geographically I doubt that ends a very friendly draw.
Well done.

 
They are a quality team. I'm just bitter. Lost cash on them today.
whew, my eyes were spitting fire when I saw your first post. A great team lost to an inconsistent but very talented team that played near perfect. And Wichita still had a shot to win.
 

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