NCAA Tournament Seeding

[MSUBRONCO]

My friend that lives in NC is going

[Montanabob]

Not good for those who had planned on driving to the regional.
We could use a local rooting section...

It's a mere 2,101 miles and 31 hours of driving time from Bozeman to Greensboro...can't be much worse than driving from Broadus to Libby, right?

Closer to Miles City to Libby.

[Mrs TrackCat]

Game time is 9:40 PM local time, 7:40 Montana time according to the ESPN app.

This is good news as we should have time to get back to the house to watch the Cats basketball game after attending Bobcats At The Ballpark in Scottsdale.

[Bobcat4Ever]

Not good for those who had planned on driving to the regional.
We could use a local rooting section...

It's a mere 2,101 miles and 31 hours of driving time from Bozeman to Greensboro...can't be much worse than driving from Broadus to Libby, right?

Wow, that’s sort of amazing and funny. Alzada to Yaak is one-third as far as Bozeman to Greensboro.

[Helcat72]

Looked to book a flight on Delta from Bozeman to Greensboro for the weekend games. About $830 a seat in Economy.
I would have to save up for that...

[CatfaninGA]

Road trip from Atlanta! Possible!

[CodyCat]

Im really surprised the women didnt get an invite to one of the NIT tournaments.

[Catfanatic84]

Im really surprised the women didnt get an invite to one of the NIT tournaments.

Agreed...thought the WBI might give MSU a bid. Bummer.

[snarf]

Im really surprised the women didnt get an invite to one of the NIT tournaments.

Agreed...thought the WBI might give MSU a bid. Bummer.

I think the way the season ended did us in. A loss in the conference championship game or even to Sac St. instead of the quarters makes for a drastically different look.

[aucat]

I just got the impression that the women's team was ready for the season to end. As for the men, seems kinda silly to send teams from Montana and Kansas across the country to the east to play. Think how much money could've been saved to just pick a spot in between Bozeman and Manhattan.. O well, TV rules everything. Go Cats!

[CelticCat]

I just got the impression that the women's team was ready for the season to end. As for the men, seems kinda silly to send teams from Montana and Kansas across the country to the east to play. Think how much money could've been saved to just pick a spot in between Bozeman and Manhattan.. O well, TV rules everything. Go Cats!

But if you want to travel, you want to travel East. It'll be "earlier" according to your internal clock and combined with the fact that the Cats had two tips during the tournament at 8 or later, at least the late start shouldn't affect the Cats at all.

[Montanabob]

I just got the impression that the women's team was ready for the season to end. As for the men, seems kinda silly to send teams from Montana and Kansas across the country to the east to play. Think how much money could've been saved to just pick a spot in between Bozeman and Manhattan.. O well, TV rules everything. Go Cats!

But if you want to travel, you want to travel East. It'll be "earlier" according to your internal clock and combined with the fact that the Cats had two tips during the tournament at 8 or later, at least the late start shouldn't affect the Cats at all.

The 9:30 EST is an early game for them. Hope it doesn't screw up the chemistry.

[Bobcat4Ever]

Im really surprised the women didnt get an invite to one of the NIT tournaments.

With the three-way tie, and the tiebreaker and results we were on the outside looking in. (I’m okay with no WBI but WNIT would have been good for the younger players.) Sacramento St. won the tournament so they go to the NCAA. Northern Arizona was the #1 seed that did not win the tournament so they got the WNIT. If NAU had won the tournament we would have had a chance for an at-large to the WNIT as the #2 seed. But when the #3 seed won the tournament we dropped to third in the pecking order.

[PapaG]

I just got the impression that the women's team was ready for the season to end. As for the men, seems kinda silly to send teams from Montana and Kansas across the country to the east to play. Think how much money could've been saved to just pick a spot in between Bozeman and Manhattan.. O well, TV rules everything. Go Cats!

But if you want to travel, you want to travel East. It'll be "earlier" according to your internal clock and combined with the fact that the Cats had two tips during the tournament at 8 or later, at least the late start shouldn't affect the Cats at all.

Yes for evening activities, but whenever I traveled to the east coast from Portland for work and have a 7am breakfast meeting the first day you may as well not sleep because it’s 4am internally which means getting up at 2:30am.

[CelticCat]

I just got the impression that the women's team was ready for the season to end. As for the men, seems kinda silly to send teams from Montana and Kansas across the country to the east to play. Think how much money could've been saved to just pick a spot in between Bozeman and Manhattan.. O well, TV rules everything. Go Cats!

But if you want to travel, you want to travel East. It'll be "earlier" according to your internal clock and combined with the fact that the Cats had two tips during the tournament at 8 or later, at least the late start shouldn't affect the Cats at all.

Yes for evening activities, but whenever I traveled to the east coast from Portland for work and have a 7am breakfast meeting the first day you may as well not sleep because it’s 4am internally which means getting up at 2:30am.

They aren't going to sleep anyway with the excitement of getting the program's first tournament win just a few hours before.

[CelticCat]

While this is a massive uphill battle, there are some interesting matchups if you dig into it.

KSU fouls a lot, 244th most in the country. We make the 2nd most free throws in the country. I've read their overall depth isn't great and their interior defense can be suspect, so if Belo and Osobor can get the ball in the block (easier said than done), maybe they can score some points or draw some fouls

MSU is 96th in forcing turnovers, KSU is 317th in turovers given up.

Bang inside, draw some fouls, force some turnovers, take care of the ball and limit possessions to keep the scoring down will be how the Cats can win. Almost always you have to have a team go off from 3 to win upsets but that isn't what MSU does and I don't think it's what we need to do.

That's my positivity post, I chose to ignore matchups I don't like.

[luckyirishguy25]

https://nypost.com/2023/03/13/march-mad ... set-picks/

No. 14 Montana State (+310) over No. 3 Kansas State
On paper, this would be the biggest upset on this list and one of the more surprising results of the entire tournament.

Yet oddsmakers and advanced metrics alike are seriously underrating how poor of a matchup this is for Kansas State.

The Wildcats have beaten some of the best teams in the country, but they’ve also lost seven of their last 13 games with a losing record on the season playing away from home (7-8).

A key reason is this team’s propensity for turnovers: Kansas State has coughed it up on 21.3% of its possessions since Feb. 1, which ranks 340th out of 363 possible teams.

On the other side, Montana State owns a 20.7% defensive turnover rate over the last month and ranks fifth nationally in offensive free-throw rate (44.4%), while the Wildcats allow the 10th-highest free-throw rate (36.7%) of any team in the tournament.

It all adds up to a nightmare matchup for first-year boss Jerome Tang in his first NCAA Tournament game as a head coach.

[Bobcat4Ever]

While this is a massive uphill battle, there are some interesting matchups if you dig into it.

KSU fouls a lot, 244th most in the country. We make the 2nd most free throws in the country. I've read their overall depth isn't great and their interior defense can be suspect, so if Belo and Osobor can get the ball in the block (easier said than done), maybe they can score some points or draw some fouls

MSU is 96th in forcing turnovers, KSU is 317th in turovers given up.

Bang inside, draw some fouls, force some turnovers, take care of the ball and limit possessions to keep the scoring down will be how the Cats can win. Almost always you have to have a team go off from 3 to win upsets but that isn't what MSU does and I don't think it's what we need to do.

That's my positivity post, I chose to ignore matchups I don't like.

The ESPN site shows injuries. We mercifully have none. They have three players “Lost for the year”. Could be the lack of depth you mentioned.

[luckyirishguy25]

This guy picked the Cats:

https://sportschatplace.com/college-bas ... s-3-16-23/

Pick

I’m taking a shot on Montana State here. I have no doubts that this Kansas State team is legit and will put forth a solid showing. The problem is that the Wildcats have been statistically and significantly worse on the road or at least away from home this season and even on a neutral floor, I don’t think it’ll help here. Montana State’s no joke as they have great guard play and at times, K-State can be a bit too reliant on the likes of Nowell and Johnson. I think this is a potential upset spot so I’ll take a shot on Montana State and the points.

[luckyirishguy25]

another Favorable pick:

https://fansided.com/2023/03/13/montana ... rst-round/

Montana State vs. Kansas State prediction and pick
While the Big 12 was the best conference in college hoops this season, that also leads to a lot of inflated rankings when adjusting for strength of schedule. Take Kansas State, who checks in 52nd in adjusted offensive efficiency and 19th in adjusted defensive efficiency. However, the raw numbers are concerning. The team is 139th in raw offensive efficiency and 38th on the defensive side of the ball.

While the team is battle tested, the numbers show that they may not be as highly rated as one may think, making them ripe to let down bettors as big favorites.

They face a Montana State team that is elite on the defensive side of the ball and can put some pressure on the No. 3 seed. Kansas State’s turnover woes are a big concern in this one, the team is 299th in turnover percentage, which is going to be magnified against the Bobcats defense that is top 75 in the country in forcing TO’s.

Further, Danny Sprinkle’s group is a physical one, getting to the free throw line at a top five clip nationally and hitting 76% of their freebies, the 32nd best mark in the country. Kansas State is shaky in this regard, sending foes to the line at the 65th highest rate in the country.

Lastly, is Kansas State overvalued because of its home success? The team sees the seventh biggest drop-off when it leaves the “Little Apple” of Manhattan, Kansas, according to Haslametrics.

The Bobcats made the NCAA Tournament last year and got blasted by a Big 12 foe in Texas Tech. I think this experienced group avoids a blowout and shocks an overrated Kansas State team.