We are going to skip the first round. Not because I think A&M is a lock to advance, but because most of us just don't have any clue about those teams.
We are also going to pretend no upsets for this exercise.

Second round matchup.
Out of the folllwing teams. Which 2 would you most like A&M to be matched up with?
Which 2 would you least like A&M to be matched up with?

Maryland
Marquette
UCLA
Illinois
BYU
Memphis
Michigan

If A&M advances to Sweet 16...
Who you want? Who you don't want?

Tennessee
Florida
St John's
Michigan St
Texas Tech.

If we make school history and get to Elite 8
Who you want? Who you don't want?

Auburn
Duke
Houston
Alabama

Yeah I don't want Illinois. They have two possible lottery guys and are looking good.

MarcAg said:

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2nd round
Want- Marquette or Louisville
Don't want - Maryland or BYU

Sweet 16
Want- Tennessee
Don't want- Florida or Texas Tech

Elite 8
Want- Alabama
Don't want- Houston

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Add Mich St and St John's to the want list in the S16 and this is basically exactly how I would answer. Would love to see Louisville in rd 2 to be honest.

It's part of why I kind of want to see it. It would be fascinating.

To a lesser extent it is how I also feel about Mich St. The emergence of Richardson complicates it a little bit, but I still think they play a style that would work in our favor.

Most like to play: UCLA or Memphis
Least like to play: Maryland or BYU

Sweet 16
Most: Michigan State
Least: Florida

Elite 8:
Most: Duke
Least: Houston

I don't know about wanting to see Memphis. They can shoot it and looked awesome early in the year. There is something to them having not been challenged and maybe we could take it to them, but they're a total wildcard to me.

I wasn't given a lot of options, but ultimately, yeah, it is their lack of competition. Probably the most athletic of the mid majors.

Marquette is probably the 3rd team. Illinois and Michigan have some bigs so they would challenge us in the rebounding. Illinois, I believe, is the best rebounding team in the country. If not, maybe 2nd.

Alabama-43.3
Illinois-42.4
Florida-42.4
Bryant-41.4
Texas A&M-40.8
St. John's-40.8

I was thinking about this except focusing more on style of competition that would give us problems rather than the individual schools. have no data to back this up off hand but I'm wondering if teams that have solid D and defensive rebounding metrics but also have multiple good perimeter shooters would be our least favorable matchup. I know that's a little captain obvious (they play good defense and shoot well so duh)

would that be a reasonable assumption that teams that can really defend and negate our offensive rebounding but also can fill up the stat sheet from the perimeter would not be ideal?

teams that prefer a track meet but have poor defense don't concern me wehave beat those teams all year. It's the ones that can play good D and rebound but also shoot well from outside bc I could envision us getting down early and we don't an efficient offense to claw our way back

So what teams fit that mold ?

bobinator said:

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It's hard to know this just from looking at the stats but the teams that we struggle are usually ones that are tall and can pass the ball really well. How well they shoot isn't as important as their ability to move the ball, because if they can move the ball quickly they'll get easier shots than usual against us.

But I also think a big key for us will be avoiding teams we've already played. I think we're a hard team to prepare for in 48 hours but that advantage is negated if it's a team we've played before.

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Agree with this very much

Probably only pertinent to the teams that we've lost to, I think it's a double edged sword though because we'd have a bigger chip on our shoulder. And we'd also have knowledge and experience.

Which is why I'd prefer to play Oregon, Alabama, and/or Tennessee.

Remember also that stats are only applicable mostly to that teams conference. That won't necessarily translate to the match up if the team is coming from playing weaker teams in conference and their non-con.

You can't teach size but you can definitely teach effort and you know our effort will be unmatched.

bobinator said:

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I need to think on this some more to really answer but if we play St. John's at any point there will be a congressional investigation into college basketball because we'll set the game back 60 years.

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So they would have to invent something better than the shot clock that happened after we beat Dean Smith in 1980????

I think Alabama is slightly behind Florida on teams I don't want to play. For similar reasons. I hate the style matchups with those teams.

i think memphis is a team that could be sneaky good. they played a legit non conference and won most of those games. they beat michigan st, clemson, ole miss, missouri in the non conference. they did however lose to miss st. but four out of 5 against top 25 teams isn't bad.

bobinator said:

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I think Alabama is slightly behind Florida on teams I don't want to play. For similar reasons. I hate the style matchups with those teams.

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Agreed.

1st Round
Want: South Alabama or Towson
Do not want: High Point, Yale or Lipscomb. All should be 13 seeds and all shoot the lights out from 3 with lots of great shooters. All the more reason to avoid the 4 line.

2nd Round
Want: Michigan or Marquette or Illinois or Louisville
Do not want: BYU or Memphis

I know Illinois is hot right now but they are #318 in 3 point shooting and #354 in forcing turnovers...

3rd Round
Want: St. John's or Michigan State
Do Not Want: Florida

MarcAg said:

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We are going to skip the first round. Not because I think A&M is a lock to advance, but because most of us just don't have any clue about those teams.
We are also going to pretend no upsets for this exercise.

Second round matchup.
Out of the folllwing teams. Which 2 would you most like A&M to be matched up with?
Which 2 would you least like A&M to be matched up with?

Maryland 2nd Most
Marquette
UCLA
Illinois Most
BYU Least
Memphis 2nd Least
Michigan

If A&M advances to Sweet 16...
Who you want? Who you don't want?

Tennessee Don't Want
Florida
St John's Want
Michigan St
Texas Tech.

If we make school history and get to Elite 8
Who you want? Who you don't want?

Auburn
Duke Don't want
Houston Want
Alabama

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UCLA revenge for the no call
St John's
Duke

ColleyvilleAg06 said:

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1st Round
Want: South Alabama or Towson
Do not want: High Point, Yale or Lipscomb. All should be 13 seeds and all shoot the lights out from 3 with lots of great shooters. All the more reason to avoid the 4 line.

2nd Round
Want: Michigan or Marquette or Illinois or Louisville
Do not want: BYU or Memphis

I know Illinois is hot right now but they are #318 in 3 point shooting and #354 in forcing turnovers...

3rd Round
Want: St. John's or Michigan State
Do Not Want: Florida

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I just want to point out i was the first one on this thread to call our Yale as the do not want....and also Michigan as the want for the 2nd round.