Only it's been 3 years, 7 hours and 15 days...since I took the Buffet away from you. But, it's mid-February 2016. People are hungry, waiting lines are filling... so let's dive in. Slowly, at first, check the temperature of the water, of course. Love the utterly confounding mixed metaphor on Day 1...
First, who does the Buffet believe is in? Who is in the waiting line? Who should book their arena for NIT dates?
*Note -- This Buffetology was completed on the morning of February 16, before last night's games.
This is seeding only - bracketing, conference rules, yadda yadda -- not on the Buffet's radar quite yet.
Also, to note, this assumes season ended today, takes conference leaders, ties broken RPI, and does not attribute wins in conference tournament that would be added to resume in order to get autobid:
1 - Villanova, Kansas, Oklahoma, Iowa
2 - Michigan State, Virginia, UNC, Xavier
3 - West Virginia, Iowa St, Miami, Maryland
4 - Duke, Arizona, Oregon, Dayton
5 - Notre Dame, Texas, Kentucky, Utah
6 - Texas A&M, Purdue, So California, Baylor
7 - Indiana, St. Joseph's, Wichita St, Michigan
8 - Providence, Pitt, Seton Hall, South Carolina
9 - Florida St, Colorado, California, VCU
10 - Florida, Connecticut, Monmouth, Gonzaga
11 - Butler, Valparaiso, Wisconsin, Syracuse
12 - Chattanooga, Stony Brook, San Diego St, Oregon St v. Cincinnati
13 - Ark-Little Rock, Hawaii, Temple, LSU v. Texas Tech
14 - Akron, UAB, Belmont, Yale
15 - New Mexico St, Montana, NC-Wilmington, SF-Austin
16 - No Florida, Winthrop, Texas So v. Bucknell, Wagner v. Hampton
Thank you to Larry Brown and Louisville administrators: LSU, Texas Tech, Oregon State, Cincinnati
In the Waiting Line: George Washington, Alabama, Washington, UCLA, Ohio State, Georgetown, Tulsa, Houston, Vanderbilt (dropped to back of line after last night), Georgia (well, not quite back of line...that's reserved for the Bulldogs)
Taking a Microscope to Some Profiles:
Profiles whose overall strength surprised me most: Oregon & Dayton
Participation Ribbon: Stanford. Great scheduling, poor results.
Best "Worst" Loss: West Virginia's loss to Florida, #31 in the RPI
Conference with most projected bids: ACC - 8 (UNC, Virginia, Miami (Fla), Duke, Florida State, Pitt, Notre Dame, Syracuse.
Most perplexing team: Northern Iowa. 16-11 rank 104th in RPI. Why are they mentioned? They hold wins over North Carolina, Iowa State on a neutral court and at Wichita State. All at different points of the season. How is that the same team who is 8-6 in the Missouri Valley, and has lost to Missouri State (#224) and Loyola-Chicago (#236)
15 Wednesday thoughts from the Buffet:
1. I need to hire a quality control specialist - took me 3 tries to send out my bracket without some sort of error.
2. Baylor badly needed that win last night, both for seeding and confidence, 20 point loss at home to Tech was a ugly eyesore sticking out of that resume, similar to their awful yellow highlighter uniforms from last night. S/O to the Hiliter! (Phoenix readers get me)
3. Color the Buffet impressed with Thad Matta. This is a team that at point sat 2-4, with no sight of the NCAA tournament, and while it's late in the season, and like traveling to the Hotel California, http://www.tubechop.com/watch/7701635, their heads are heavy and their sights grow dim, they have rattled off a 15-6 run, and sit tied for 5th in a very good conference. Granted MichiganStatex2 and Iowa will tell us more about what they are/aren't, since 8 of their previous B10 wins weren't exactly beating 1990 UNLV -- but even with that awful floor seats view (ESPN, what?), we could still see that a team has grown from the early season ashes.
4. Texas has a collection of impressive wins that stack up with any team, of course playing in the 2015/6 Big XII assists with that, if not for the post-Ridley TCU Malaise game, this is a solid 4 with dreams of 3. With KUx2, Oklahoma, Baylor still on the schedule, they could still get there.
5. It is nice when teams lend a hand to have use stop talking about them -- peace Vanderbilt & Georgia.
6. Not that beating St. Louis and Rhodey is anything to brag about, but blowing them out consecutively after a head-scratcher in Amhert and legit questions about tournament viability was a good look for VCU
7. While Valpo's sights are on Cleveland St & Wright St, they best keep one eye on Detroit, they've won 5 of 6 (including over the Vikes and Raiders), and Paris Bass is no joke.
8. That Mid-American tournament should be a lot of fun.
9. Speaking of which, always love when my gang at HoopsHD.com, or really in this case just our fearless Puppet, openly calls out a team for being shit, and said team ultimately wins the game in question with relative ease. (see: Zips, Akron)
10. Kim Anderson, everybody!!
11. Important win last night for Butler, as down the stretch they play 2 tourney teams (likely), a team fighting to get in, and a team that can either play like a 3-seed or a 14-seed on any given night. Needed to get that one in.
12. Waiting Light Games of the night: Seton Hall going to DC to face Georgetown, Texas Tech tries to stamp their resume with a win over Oklahoma
13. Huge Tedesco v. Tucci battle at the Liacouras center tonight! Late season non-conference matchup between #1 Villanova in a Philly battle with current American Athletic Conference leader and resume win needing Temple.
See ya'll in the 3 years...
