Cool little facts: 62 of the top 64 in RPI are in the Big Dance, and exactly zero sims made it in.  The highest RPI in the tourney is 70.  The only other team in the NT without a top-64 RPI?  RPI #67.

Not a lot of the favorites won their CTs, but the upset winners were teams in the 15-30 RPI range, so we really have an interesting tourney lined up for us.

Also perhaps interesting is that St. Rose (kind of the DII Naismith version of UNC to Bryant's Duke) got a 1-seed with SEVEN losses, in what must be a nod to the fact that the coach there has a lifetime record of 1114-395.

It is an absolutely brutal tournament.  In my half of the draw, the lowest rated overall team (for whatever that's worth) is the 3 seed.  Never seen this kind of depth. 

Of course any time there is some type of system change, conspiracy theorists will wonder if the game engine was tweaked.   I've seen this question asked a couple times already on various CCs.   Last night in DII Naismith the following seeds were upset in the 1st round.   I'm not saying one way or another ...I'm just sayin'.

Midwest - #4, #5, #6, #7
East - #5, #6
South - #2, #4, #5
West - #1, #2, #3, #7

Posted by mullycj on 8/27/2011 5:15:00 AM (view original):
Of course any time there is some type of system change, conspiracy theorists will wonder if the game engine was tweaked.   I've seen this question asked a couple times already on various CCs.   Last night in DII Naismith the following seeds were upset in the 1st round.   I'm not saying one way or another ...I'm just sayin'.

Midwest - #4, #5, #6, #7
East - #5, #6
South - #2, #4, #5
West - #1, #2, #3, #7

Given what corn and milk said above, this isn't exactly surprising, is it? A tourney filled with good, pretty evenly matched teams.

I'm with girt on this.  The #1 that lost is in my conference, and his terrible-BH team faced an uptempo press for the first time all year.

This is a bit much, though.  Your Sweet Sixteen seeds: 1, 1, 1, 2, 3, 4, 4, 6, 6, 10, 11, 12, 12, 15, 15, 16.

parity baby

I mean, at least two of the really low seeds are A or A- prestige or whatever.  I think it's just a parity-heavy year for Naismith DII.

Posted by cornfused on 8/28/2011 3:29:00 AM (view original):
I mean, at least two of the really low seeds are A or A- prestige or whatever.  I think it's just a parity-heavy year for Naismith DII.

Correct!  The four #16 seeds had RPI's of 56,59, 60, and 61. Grand Valley,  a #15 seed, had the worst RPI at 70.

Last season, in RL, the equivalant RPIs at the end of the regular season were:

56. Gonzaga
59. Wichita St.
60.  UTEP
61. Oklahoma St.
70. Dayton

How would you like to have been a #1 seed and have to play Gonzaga or Oklahoma St. in the first round???  Many people would've picked any of those 5 teams to make the Sweet 16 over VCU.

Posted by alblack56 on 8/28/2011 7:00:00 AM (view original):

Posted by cornfused on 8/28/2011 3:29:00 AM (view original):
I mean, at least two of the really low seeds are A or A- prestige or whatever.  I think it's just a parity-heavy year for Naismith DII.

Correct!  The four #16 seeds had RPI's of 56,59, 60, and 61. Grand Valley,  a #15 seed, had the worst RPI at 70.

Last season, in RL, the equivalant RPIs at the end of the regular season were:

56. Gonzaga
59. Wichita St.
60.  UTEP
61. Oklahoma St.
70. Dayton

How would you like to have been a #1 seed and have to play Gonzaga or Oklahoma St. in the first round???  Many people would've picked any of those 5 teams to make the Sweet 16 over VCU.

Weena, that's an interesting/great point.

And beyond that, even in a normal HD season, the talent gap between 1 and 16 is much closer in WIS than in real life. And in a season like the one described in this thread, well ... it just doesn't strike me as surprising or odd.

the d1 side seems to be relatively normal, on my side a 1,2,3,4 sweet 16, although I scanned quick, a 9 and a 12 are in the sweet 16, I would call none of it earth - shaking, mostly top seeds and fav's.  As far as we know, no engine changes were made during the break - is that correct?

as far as we know

Looks like the only real effect of the break is that parts of the server are still down.

Your Elite Eight (prestiges in parentheses):

1 (A+), 2 (A), 3 (B+), 4 (A+), 4 (A+), 6 (A+), 12 (C+), 15 (B).