ComRadio Bracketology 2.0

Story posted March 6, 2012 in CommRadio, Sports by Jeff Lowe Updated: March 8, 2012

Three teams punched their tickets last night to the NCAA Tournament - with Long Island being the most intriguing. The Blackbirds are a high octane offense with two big men in Julian Boyd and Jamal Olasewere that can compete with any frontcourt in the country. The Big East teams on the bubble line all played yesterday with South Florida and Connecticut coming away with the victories. It is pretty obvious that Connecticut will be in the NCAA Tournament, but a win over Villanova will not do much for South Florida. The Bulls will need to win one more to even feel remotley comfortable about their NCAA Tournament status. On the other hand, the loss for West Virginia to Connecticut won't hurt them much as they should be in the big dance come Selection Sunday. The team that is widely in question is Seton Hall after their loss to Louisville last night. I really can't stress enough how confused I am as to why so many people said that loss moved Seton Hall out of the NCAA Tournament. Let's take a look at Seton Hall compared to three other teams that Bracketology outlets like Joe Lunardi has in the NCAA Tournament.

 

Comparisons

 
- Seton Hall University vs. University of Texas-Austin -
It is obvious that in of their recent games that Texas has the upper hand on Seton Hall. With that said, Seton Hall has proved not only can they win more consistently on the road than Texas, but they also have beat a better crop of teams. Sure one can argue Texas has a much better strength of schedule, but it you don't beat anybody then does that number even matter? Both teams have a similar resume in terms of record, bad losses, conference record and RPI. So when push comes to shove, what matters most come NCAA Tournament? Have you beat anybody and did you do so on the road? For Seton Hall the answer, compared to Texas at least, is a very loud yes. Compared to teams like Mississippi State, Connecticut, West Virginia and others, their argument might not be as strong. But for me, Seton Hall has an edge on Texas by just glancing over their NCAA Tournament resume.
 
- Seton Hall University vs. Xavier University -
The two teams a tad bit more similar to each other in terms of their resume straight across the board. Xavier does have the edge on Seton Hall when it comes to conference record, but they do play in the Atlantic-10, which is a conference that is not quite as tough as the Big East. Seton Hall may have worse losses than Xavier, but the Musketeers also have a loss to an RPI sub-200 school, which is far worse than any loss suffered by Seton Hall all year. The easiest category to compare these two teams and make a decision is in the best wins category. Xavier has some very solid wins, but Seton Hall has a few more. Typically you can say quality over quantity, but when the quality of the wins compared to each other is the same - quantity is the deciding factor. This one is not as obvious, but again Seton Hall appears to have the advantage.
 
- Seton Hall University vs. Northwestern University -
Well here we go again with Northwestern - a team that is going to garner a lot of interest this afternoon in the Big Ten Tournament. Their records, conference records, road records, RPI, and recent games are all similar and cancel each other out. Northwestern does hold one very impressive line on their resume with the fact they have not suffered any poor losses this season. Seton Hall cannot quite say the same thing, but they do have two times more quality wins than Northwestern does. The same thing is said about Northwestern as Texas, who cares if you have a better strength of schedule when you don't beat anybody. Once again, if I were the committee, I would use quality wins and road record to determine if a team belongs in the NCAA Tournament. With an advantage over Northwestern in wins, I once again give the nod to Seton Hall.
 
It is tough to really see why Seton Hall has been dumped on the last 12 hours or so in terms of their resume. Is it really that bad? Not at all - and that is the reason why I think people need to calm down with throwing them out of the field so quickly. A lot will change today as all three teams above are playing. A lot will begin to change with the brackets, and the excitement of march madness will begin to heat up.
 
Bracket

Seed list

Jeff Lowe is a junior majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, e-mail: jdl5227@psu.edu.

About the Contributors

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Jeffrey Lowe

Senior / Broadcast Journalism

Jeffrey Lowe is currently and active member in ComRadio, Big Ten Network and PSNtv. Within the next year, he hopes to add Centre County Report to that list.

Twitter: @JeffDLowe

Internships/Jobs -
2010: Intern at CBS Sports/Westwood One
2011: Intern at MLB.com
2011: TV play-by-play for Penn State basketball/Big Ten Network
2011: writer for Team USA PanAm Games Newsletter
2012: Intern at MLB.com
2012: writer for Team USA at the London Olympics

2009-2010: In his freshman year Lowe helped host his radio show, “the Sportsworld LOWEdown,” which covers all sports across the board. Some of the interviews on his show included: ESPN’s Adam Schefter, ESPN’s Brian Windhorst, Texas Longhorns C Dom Espinosa and Florida State LB Holmes Onwukaife. Lowe helped run the NCAA Selection Sunday show, and helped gather interviews which included, eventual National Runner-up coach for Butler, Brad Stevens. His work continued with the 2010 NFL Draft Show, as he jumped into the role as one of the co-producers back at the ComRadio studios. Lowe also helped blog the entire draft on ComRadio’s website. With the exception of the hours the Blue/White Game was on, ComRadio covered every pick of the draft. In terms of play-by-play work, Lowe participated in Penn State baseball broadcasts.

2010-2011: In his sophomore year Lowe helped host his new radio show, “Front Row View,” which covers all sports across the board. He also joined Thomas Frank Carr as the co-host of, “The RedZone.” Some of the interviews on the shows included: World Series winner Jeff Nelson and ESPN’s Brian Windhorst. One again, Lowe helped run the NCAA Selection Sunday show. He took over the role of lead-in-studio producer for the 2011 edition of the NFL Draft Show. With no conflicts, ComRadio was on-air live for every pick of the draft from Penn State and on the floor at Radio City Music Hall. Lowe, along with the help of the staff, published the first official ComRadio NFL Draft Scouting Bible. The 2011 NFL Draft Show included more blogging and interviews compared to the year before. In terms of play-by-play work, Lowe participated in Penn State baseball broadcasts, men’s and women’s basketball broadcasts, men’s volleyball broadcasts and coverage of Penn State football where he called play-by-play for Penn State vs. Michigan in November of 2010.

2011-2012: Lowe joined Jon Blauvelt, Dan Smith and Marco Ranzi, as he co-hosted another new show in “4-Dimensions.” He continues to co-host the, “The RedZone,” with Thomas Frank Carr. Lowe once again is a co-leader of the revamped NFL Draft Show for 2012. Unlike previous years, he will not be in studio at Penn State, as he will travel to the NFL Draft in New York City. Despite this, Lowe will help a large leadership team with a more in-depth and comprehensive coverage of the NFL Draft. More details will be released on this website in early February. In the fall, Lowe took over for Penn State alum Brian Tripp as the play-by-play man for Penn State basketball on the Big Ten Network’s Student-U programs. For ComRadio, Lowe has also broadcasted Penn State women’s basketball, and is on the schedule for bost softball and baseball. He was again apart of the Penn State football staff for ComRadio, but due to technical difficulties, his broadcast of Penn State vs. Wisconsin from Madison, did not air.

Jeffrey Lowe lives just outside of Austin, Texas in a town called Cedar Park. He grew up in Connecticut, until moving to the Lone Star State in 2004. Lowe is also currently the Public Relations Officer of Paternoville.