Bobcat Attack - Ohio Basketball

Ohio Basketball Topic

Topic: March Madness

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shabamon

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Posted: 3/2/2026 10:38 AM

The postseason is officially here as there is a Horizon Tournament play-in game between IU-Indy and Cleveland State tonight. Use this thread to talk all things conference tournaments and the NCAA tournament.

Yearly reminder that the Horizon has the best conference tournament format. It's gotten a little wacky with 11 teams and everyone gets in. But play-in between IU-Indy and Cleveland State on campus. Winner gets 1 seed Wright State and the second round is all campus sites. Then a complete re-seed with the bottom two remaining seeds doing a play-in game before playing the top remaining seed in the semis. They constantly protect their top teams, more than half the teams get one last home game for the fans, semis and finals are neutral site, and no team has to play more than three games in as many days.

https://x.com/TroyMachir/status/2028483500555255940/photo/1

Meanwhile the Sun Belt, WTF is this?

https://x.com/SunBelt/status/2027621057381761179/photo/1

This leaves the possibility of playing seven games in seven days, all games played in Pensacola- a corner of a somewhat geographically disparate conference. How do you even plan travel to this if you're a fan of a mid to lower seed team?

Good follow to keep track of who's eliminated from national championship consideration: https://x.com/champcountdown . Pretty funny that Miami's best player from last year, Kam Craft, transferred to Georgia Tech and they're the first power conference team eliminated.

GraffZ06

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Posted: 3/2/2026 1:48 PM

I don't known if I'd call the Horizon's great. To each their own, but I loathe "play-in" games. I also hate re-seeding teams. Put the bracket together. Play the bracket. Single elimination upsets and unexpected easy/difficult match-ups are part of the beauty and excitement of March Madness IMO.

You can't even MAKE a bracket for the craziness that is the Horizon. Might as well pull names/games out of a hat.

If we're so concerned about protecting the "best" teams - just send the top 2 to the tournament and have them play a best of 3 series NBA style. #Boring.

Last Edited: 3/2/2026 1:49:33 PM by GraffZ06

M.D.W.S.T

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Posted: 3/2/2026 2:54 PM

Sun Belt has the worst tournament bracket I've ever seen.

It makes it 10x worse when you realize seeds 2/3/4/5/6/7 all have the same damn record, so they all get shuffled out into seeds by whatever random ass tie breakers they have to use.

The #2 seed, Marshall (19-12, 11-7) gets a free pass into the Semi-Finals. One win sends them to the Championship.

The #7 seed, Arkansas State (20-11, 11-7) will play 4 games before getting to the Semi-finals.

South Alabama, #6 (21-10, 11-7) has a similar road to Arkansas State despite both winning more games than Marshall.

Throw it all in the trash.

OhioCatFan

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Posted: 3/2/2026 3:03 PM

M.D.W.S.T wrote:expand_more

Perhaps the SBC hired the same consultants the MAC hired to come up with its football tiebreaker rules.

The only BLSS Certified Hypocrite on BA

"It is better to be an optimist and be proven a fool than to be a pessimist and be proven right."

Note: My avatar is the national colors of the 78th Ohio Veteran Volunteer Infantry, which are now preserved in a climate controlled vault at the Ohio History Connection. Learn more about the old 78th at: http://www.78ohio.org

shabamon

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Posted: 3/5/2026 7:54 AM

Some good first round action last night. Gardner-Webb was at risk of having the worst win percentage in the country but they advance in the Big South with a win over USC-Upstate.

bobcatsquared

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Posted: 3/5/2026 6:24 PM

Not sure what the Sun Belt Conference is thinking. First, with it's crazy bracket and all of its byes and second with all tournament games played in Pensacola, Fla., despite no conference members from Florida.

So, let's take a look at attendance so far with two games played each day, Tuesday through Sunday and the title game on Monday.
Tue game 1: 629
Tue game 2: 719
Wed game 1: 824
Wed game 2: 931
Thu game 1: 1373
Thu game 2: 1081

Last Edited: 3/6/2026 9:01:29 AM by bobcatsquared

shabamon

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Posted: 3/6/2026 7:48 AM

We have our first March moment.

https://x.com/i/status/2029742494389284954

Andrew Ruck

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Posted: 3/6/2026 8:13 AM

bobcatsquared wrote:expand_more

It honestly feels like the coaches and Administrators just decided to find a reason to personally spend a week in dreary early March in Florida. Like when a midwest company has their strategic planning meetings in San Diego just because they can.

Andrew Ruck
B.B.A. 2003

GoCats105

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Posted: 3/9/2026 3:58 PM

shabamon wrote:expand_more

We have our first March moment.

https://x.com/i/status/2029742494389284954

Another one, with some controversy on the side.

https://sports.yahoo.com/mens-college-basketball/article/...

Last Edited: 3/9/2026 3:58:55 PM by GoCats105

shabamon

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Posted: 3/10/2026 4:14 PM

Holy... Utah Valley, the WAC #1 seed, has until 5pm MT to pay $1M, or be kicked out of the conference tournament.

https://x.com/WACsports/status/2031438137894002928

shabamon

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Posted: 3/10/2026 4:57 PM

In other news...

Detroit, who was 1-31 two seasons ago, plays Wright tonight for the Horizon title.

Santa Clara probably vaulted themselves into the field and steals a bid with a Q1 win over St Mary's in the WCC semis. Herb Sendek should be taking a fourth program to the tournament.

Hofstra gets a March moment: https://x.com/DylanBrxtt/status/2031220129044824293?s=20 . Why does every student broadcaster sound like that?

GoCats105

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Posted: 3/10/2026 6:19 PM

shabamon wrote:expand_more

Wild that the WCC might get three teams this year, and their two best teams may not be part of the league's future.

GraffZ06

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Posted: 3/11/2026 2:37 AM

Wright State going dancing after coming back from an 11 point 2nd half deficit against Detroit.

shabamon

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Posted: 3/11/2026 4:20 PM

Remember Bethune Cookman? The SWAC team that worked Ohio in the Convo and won their regular season by three games? Looking like they'd get in for the first time ever?

Knocked out in the quarterfinals by Prairie View.

shabamon

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Posted: 3/11/2026 5:49 PM

Bubble teams be grateful for Wes Miller. Complete choke job by UC.

AlumDadDad

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Posted: 3/12/2026 2:18 PM

Redchickens go thud.

longtiimelurker

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Posted: 3/13/2026 8:52 PM

shabamon wrote:expand_more

Bubble teams be grateful for Wes Miller. Complete choke job by UC.

FInal nail in the coffin

BillyTheCat

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Posted: 3/13/2026 10:54 PM

AlumDadDad wrote:expand_more

Redchickens go thud.

31-1 is hardly a “thud”. But ok.

bobcat 2000

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Posted: 3/14/2026 4:58 PM

miami oh winning 31 games in a row reminds me of the 1994-95 season. miami got an at large bid that year and they finished 23-7. that suggests they should be given an at large this year since they are now 31-1 this year. but there might be one thing that people aren,t thinking about. what if toledo beats akron in the mac tourney championship tonight. could akron possibly have a shot at an at large bid? after all they have jhon groce as coach and i think they may have some well known star players.

GraffZ06

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Posted: 3/14/2026 6:16 PM

Who is Jhon Groce?

Is that supposed to be like who is John Galt?

100%Cat

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Posted: 3/14/2026 10:32 PM

What a dagger shot for Scott and Akron to take another title in Cleveland.

OhioCatFan

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Posted: 3/15/2026 12:13 AM

CBSSN is projecting Akron as a 12th seed against St. Johns (5th seed) and Miami as an 11th seed against BYU (6th seed). If that turns out to be correct, it looks like Akron goes down to a first round defeat for a zillionth time in a row, and Miami has a fighting chance for a 1st round win.

FishBates

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Posted: 3/15/2026 12:05 PM

The way Akron struggled past Toledo last night, neither MAC team has a snowball's chance in hades of doing any damage in the dance.

Especially if one is matched up against somebody like Tennessee with a front line that goes 6-10/6-11/6-11 and just lost twice in one week to their in-state rival. Let's see Suder try to take it in the paint against those guys!! LOL!!!

GraffZ06

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Posted: 3/15/2026 1:11 PM

FishBates wrote:expand_more

I think Miami gets in and I'm glad the MAC could finally get multiple bids. Means more $$ for us.

But long term, the absolute worst thing that could happen for everyone in the MAC is for Miami to get in and then get absolutely embarrassed in the first round. It will prove the narrative that all those wins were meaningless because the competition all sucked. Which means the next time a MAC team gets 28+ wins but loses in Cleveland everyone will say "yeah but remember Miami" as reason #5437 to keep them out.

If that happens we very likely may never see an at-large bid again. If 31-1 isn't good enough then nobody will be.

OhioCatFan

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Posted: 3/15/2026 2:24 PM

It's all about the new metric they are using Wins Against the Bubble (WAB). It will help schools in any conference who have an excellent record like Miami did without Quad 1 wins. Sports Illustrated defines it this way: "WAB stands for Wins Above Bubble, and it measures — broadly speaking — the number of wins a team has against its schedule relative to how an average bubble team would fare against that same schedule."