2024 Central Region MENS NCAA Bracket Talk

[Mark Emmert's Burner]

One thing I dont want to get lost in the shuffle here is how fantastic the officiating was in that game. Very physical game and very consistent both ways. Both teams played great defense without fouling for the full 40.

I thought the same thing! Always a good sign when I don't notice the refs are there (as opposed to when there's some questionable calls and we eye up the stripes).

[Mark Emmert's Burner]

Big congrats to Mankato! This team has been so good at pretty much every facet of the game all year. So it was cool to see that even when their high-powered offense was clamped down on by the Bearcats that the Maverick defensive could step up in kind. Consistent with the team's overall no-major-weaknesses quality. Excited to see what they can do in the Elite 8!

(And yes, let me briefly add to the chorus of how garbagio (to use the Latin) the stream was last night. Had the same issues as everyone else, coupled with needing to refresh the stream twice for every media timeout for some reason. It's embarrassing enough for Mankato - a university that invests highly in their athletics as I understand - to have had that AI camera all year, but to not step that up or ensure that your system infrastructure can execute on the biggest-demand night of a stream is really disappointing. Really hoping the NSIC will nudge Mankato athletics admin to do the bare minimum here.)

[zimmy21]

Big congrats to Mankato! This team has been so good at pretty much every facet of the game all year. So it was cool to see that even when their high-powered offense was clamped down on by the Bearcats that the Maverick defensive could step up in kind. Consistent with the team's overall no-major-weaknesses quality. Excited to see what they can do in the Elite 8!

(And yes, let me briefly add to the chorus of how garbagio (to use the Latin) the stream was last night. Had the same issues as everyone else, coupled with needing to refresh the stream twice for every media timeout for some reason. It's embarrassing enough for Mankato - a university that invests highly in their athletics as I understand - to have had that AI camera all year, but to not step that up or ensure that your system infrastructure can execute on the biggest-demand night of a stream is really disappointing. Really hoping the NSIC will nudge Mankato athletics admin to do the bare minimum here.)

Not trying to pass the buck here because it ultimately falls on the school, but I believe that MSU's athletic events are taped, and broadcast by Bethany Lutheran College's media students (the d3 school in town here). At least they always were when I was in school and for sure a few years after. The service needs to improve I fully agree. To me it's more of an embarrassment that the University "hires" out this service.

[Supercal95]

Our broadcast quality in sports has always been extremely poor and has been a common complaint of mine.

[iwearpurple]

Not trying to pass the buck here because it ultimately falls on the school, but I believe that MSU's athletic events are taped, and broadcast by Bethany Lutheran College's media students (the d3 school in town here). At least they always were when I was in school and for sure a few years after. The service needs to improve I fully agree. To me it's more of an embarrassment that the University "hires" out this service.

I believe that Bethany only does hockey, and hockey is a quality production.

And yes, the poor quality of this (and football also) is embarrassing.

[Augieholic]

NW had 2 fouls to give, WTF. I thought that they were usually better prepared than that. SMH

Dude, it's ok to admit that Margs is the ultimate tactician and surprised Ben by not taking a timeout. Similar to Belichick catching Pete Carroll off guard by not taking a timeout in the Super Bowl leading to the game winning pick in the end zone.

[Augieholic]

One thing I dont want to get lost in the shuffle here is how fantastic the officiating was in that game. Very physical game and very consistent both ways. Both teams played great defense without fouling for the full 40.

I got chills when I checked live stats at halftime and saw there had been zero free throws attempted to that point

[MrAugustana]

I fully understand your sentiments, but a stronger league breeds better competition, so I gotta cheer for the purple bovines. The one exception for me is UMD.

I’d be curious to hear you elaborate on how MSU winning the Regional (or worse, the National Championship) ultimately benefits Augie. I personally see the negative results of that (better recruiting ammunition for Mankato, growth in fan support, increase in booster donations) but I genuinely struggle to see how Mankato’s success is a positive for Augustana University.

If it has to do with the Regional committee viewing the NSIC as stronger in future years, I genuinely feel like that’s literally a year-by-year thing. But maybe others who know more than I know would argue that conference success bias plays into the final Regional Rankings each year, which I think would be the lone argument in favor of supporting opponents from your conference (though even in that case, I believe the negatives outweigh that one positive).

Bringing this back up, as I’ve now seen about 50 tweets of the game-winner (including from people with significant followings like Adam Thielen, etc.) and read it was the #1 play on SportsCenter last night… I’d still love to understand how any of this actually benefits Augustana University (or any other NSIC school that isn’t MSU-Mankato) and warrants cheering for the Mavs rather than a non-NSIC team that doesn’t compete directly in the same geographical footprint. Right now, Mankato is getting more hype and buzz everywhere than it’s gotten in the last 4-5 years combined. Why would a fan of another team that directly competes with MSU be happy about that?

As of now, I’m a Ferris State fan. I genuinely want to hear feedback on why non-Mankato fans are cheering for the Mavs. Other than just “it’s fun because we play against them,” or the aforementioned argument that it’s somehow better for the conference in some not-particularly-quantifiable way.

Even the “stronger league breeds better competition” argument doesn’t make a ton of sense to me. Is a kid from Mitchell, SD or Springfield, MN actually saying, “Well…Augustana seems like a decent school, but since an MIAA won the National Championship for several years, I’d rather go play for a team in that conference. Better competition, after all.” ? I personally doubt it, but maybe I”m wrong on that. I think the league is known for being good either way, and MSU losing in the Regional Championship probably wasn’t going to change that. So unless someone wants to explain that argument more thoroughly, I’m not exactly sold on it either.

[simple as a $3 bill]

Ahh, finally an Augie guy who gets it. :)

[laker]

Bringing this back up, as I’ve now seen about 50 tweets of the game-winner (including from people with significant followings like Adam Thielen, etc.) and read it was the #1 play on SportsCenter last night… I’d still love to understand how any of this actually benefits Augustana University (or any other NSIC school that isn’t MSU-Mankato) and warrants cheering for the Mavs rather than a non-NSIC team that doesn’t compete directly in the same geographical footprint. Right now, Mankato is getting more hype and buzz everywhere than it’s gotten in the last 4-5 years combined. Why would a fan of another team that directly competes with MSU be happy about that?

As of now, I’m a Ferris State fan. I genuinely want to hear feedback on why non-Mankato fans are cheering for the Mavs. Other than just “it’s fun because we play against them,” or the aforementioned argument that it’s somehow better for the conference in some not-particularly-quantifiable way.

Even the “stronger league breeds better competition” argument doesn’t make a ton of sense to me. Is a kid from Mitchell, SD or Springfield, MN actually saying, “Well…Augustana seems like a decent school, but since an MIAA won the National Championship for several years, I’d rather go play for a team in that conference. Better competition, after all.” ? I personally doubt it, but maybe I”m wrong on that. I think the league is known for being good either way, and MSU losing in the Regional Championship probably wasn’t going to change that. So unless someone wants to explain that argument more thoroughly, I’m not exactly sold on it either.

Well, for me it is the people who I have met from the other schools who are friends so if my team can't be there at least I hope that their team does. When Bemidji, St. Cloud, Winona and even Augie got that far I was hoping that they would win. Not a SEC mentality, just knowing that those people will be happy.

Now on the women's side of things, I think that the Mav dominance of the regional should have showed that only getting one spot was a travesty. If teams in your league win tournament games, it is more likely that more teams will make it in the future, because the league proved itself. Look at the GAC in football this year. Harding winning the title is actually going to get the league more respect. More respect means getting the benefit of the doubt at selection time.

Now, you can be a fan of Ferris Buehler and wear ketchup and mustard, but the Mavs have quite a rivalry with them in hockey and lost to them in the football semis back in 2018, so .......
no chocolate milk for you.

[LukeMcConnell1]

Now on the women's side of things, I think that the Mav dominance of the regional should have showed that only getting one spot was a travesty.

Gonna open this can of worms by asking who should've been in that wasn't? Who are you replacing? Three top-20 teams in the Massey Ratings already didn't make the Central Region tournament. One was UMD. NSIC was considerably behind the GAC and MIAA in the round robin non conference games. Now, we can have a separate discussion on why those early season games hold so much water, but again, that's a completely separate issue.

[vikingfaithful]

Our broadcast quality in sports has always been extremely poor and has been a common complaint of mine.

Who did the announcing of tournament, some NCAA lackeys? NCAA should have approached Midco for camera work, bit they don't give a rats a$$ about D2.

[Purple Mav Man]

Gonna open this can of worms by asking who should've been in that wasn't? Who are you replacing? Three top-20 teams in the Massey Ratings already didn't make the Central Region tournament. One was UMD. NSIC was considerably behind the GAC and MIAA in the round robin non conference games. Now, we can have a separate discussion on why those early season games hold so much water, but again, that's a completely separate issue.

I think the issue for the NSIC teams was none of the remaining teams stepped up and grabbed that 2nd spot. Lots of strong, but fairly even, teams in the 2-10 range in the NSIC. The Mavs were clearly the top team in the conference, and treated the regional the same way.

More than anything, it’s another argument against regions.

[Augieholic]

I think the issue for the NSIC teams was none of the remaining teams stepped up and grabbed that 2nd spot. Lots of strong, but fairly even, teams in the 2-10 range in the NSIC. The Mavs were clearly the top team in the conference, and treated the regional the same way.

More than anything, it’s another argument against regions.

Exactly. Northern and Mary had chances but had too many losses to bad teams. Mary lost to an awful Augustana team and a mediocre NE OK squad. Northern lost to Wayne and Crookston! Mankato was just that much better than the GAC, NSIC, or MIAA, it doesn't matter.

[LukeMcConnell1]

Exactly. Northern and Mary had chances but had too many losses to bad teams. Mary lost to an awful Augustana team and a mediocre NE OK squad. Northern lost to Wayne and Crookston! Mankato was just that much better than the GAC, NSIC, or MIAA, it doesn't matter.

Agreed. And again, if you told me in November Mankato will be in the Elite Eight, I'd have been, yeah that should happen based on how much they have returning from a great team last year. Them being here shouldn't be a surprise to anyone.