A lot is made of C-USA teams winning their first round NCAA Tournament games, and rightly so. Usually the C-USA team comes in seeded anywhere from 12 to 15, and has beaten the favorite 5 of the last 6 years (no tournament in 2020). The average win was by 6.8 points.

What about the second round games? C-USA is 0-5 over the past 6 tournaments, and the final scores have not been pretty.

2021: North Texas 61 - Villanova 84
2018: Marshall 71 - West Virginia 94
2017: Middle Tennessee 65 - Butler 74
2016: Middle Tennessee 50 - Syracuse 75
2015: UAB 75 - UCLA 92

Average loss has been by 19.4 points.

Second Round Big Dance Blues!

Need to study the seeding of the 1st and 2nd round matchups to get a clear idea. But just offhand, I’d guess the CUSA team is matched up against teams with significantly greater talent in the first round game, and is able to overcome that with superior effort/grit/performance, but has nothing left in the tank for the second game, in which we face another team with P5-talent (not sure about Butler/2017).

(03-21-2021 10:37 PM)Cardiff Wrote:  Need to study the seeding of the 1st and 2nd round matchups to get a clear idea. But just offhand, I’d guess the CUSA team is matched up against teams with significantly greater talent in the first round game, and is able to overcome that with superior effort/grit/performance, but has nothing left in the tank for the second game, in which we face another team with P5-talent (not sure about Butler/2017).

Tank irrelevant when opponent shoots 50%+ from the 3 point line and takes a lot of shots. It happens.

(03-21-2021 10:30 PM)KevMo4UAB Wrote:  A lot is made of C-USA teams winning their first round NCAA Tournament games, and rightly so. Usually the C-USA team comes in seeded anywhere from 12 to 15, and has beaten the favorite 5 of the last 6 years (no tournament in 2020). The average win was by 6.8 points.

What about the second round games? C-USA is 0-5 over the past 6 tournaments, and the final scores have not been pretty.

2021: North Texas 61 - Villanova 84
2018: Marshall 71 - West Virginia 94
2017: Middle Tennessee 65 - Butler 74
2016: Middle Tennessee 50 - Syracuse 75
2015: UAB 75 - UCLA 92

Average loss has been by 19.4 points.

Second Round Big Dance Blues!

That's just awful. Our CUSA teams have got to get over the "we're just glad to be here" mentality. Screw that.

(03-22-2021 12:13 PM)HogDawg Wrote:  

(03-21-2021 10:30 PM)KevMo4UAB Wrote:  A lot is made of C-USA teams winning their first round NCAA Tournament games, and rightly so. Usually the C-USA team comes in seeded anywhere from 12 to 15, and has beaten the favorite 5 of the last 6 years (no tournament in 2020). The average win was by 6.8 points.

What about the second round games? C-USA is 0-5 over the past 6 tournaments, and the final scores have not been pretty.

2021: North Texas 61 - Villanova 84
2018: Marshall 71 - West Virginia 94
2017: Middle Tennessee 65 - Butler 74
2016: Middle Tennessee 50 - Syracuse 75
2015: UAB 75 - UCLA 92

Average loss has been by 19.4 points.

Second Round Big Dance Blues!

That's just awful. Our CUSA teams have got to get over the "we're just glad to be here" mentality. Screw that.

2016 - We beat #2 seed Michigan St. and lost to Syracuse which went on to the final 4
2017 - Only lost by 9 to Butler who I think would have made a final 4 but they got to play 2016 runner-up NC and it wasn't pretty IIRC

The issue is we generally get disrespected on seeding so our second round game is almost always going to be a really good team

You have that backwards. As a 12,13,14,15 seed we are playing a much lesser opponent on paper than if we were in the 7-10 range.(they play the 1’s and 2’s in the second round). We get a much tougher first round game though, at least on paper.

(03-21-2021 10:37 PM)Cardiff Wrote:  Need to study the seeding of the 1st and 2nd round matchups to get a clear idea. But just offhand, I’d guess the CUSA team is matched up against teams with significantly greater talent in the first round game, and is able to overcome that with superior effort/grit/performance, but has nothing left in the tank for the second game, in which we face another team with P5-talent (not sure about Butler/2017).

I think this is part of the issue. I’d add that as a lower seed you’re almost always facing teams with greater talent each round. The added heartburn is that now your next round opponent has fresh tape of you playing a strong team and will game plan against your weaknesses. So now you have a stronger team that also knows your weaknesses. It’s just another addition that makes the hill that much steeper. That’s why is so sweet to see a dark horse like Stephen Curry at Davidson blowing the top off those hills. For the record, Davidson’s coach put together a stellar mid major starting lineup outside of Curry.

(03-23-2021 09:36 PM)EagleNationRising Wrote:  

(03-21-2021 10:37 PM)Cardiff Wrote:  Need to study the seeding of the 1st and 2nd round matchups to get a clear idea. But just offhand, I’d guess the CUSA team is matched up against teams with significantly greater talent in the first round game, and is able to overcome that with superior effort/grit/performance, but has nothing left in the tank for the second game, in which we face another team with P5-talent (not sure about Butler/2017).

I think this is part of the issue. I’d add that as a lower seed you’re almost always facing teams with greater talent each round. The added heartburn is that now your next round opponent has fresh tape of you playing a strong team and will game plan against your weaknesses. So now you have a stronger team that also knows your weaknesses. It’s just another addition that makes the hill that much steeper. That’s why is so sweet to see a dark horse like Stephen Curry at Davidson blowing the top off those hills. For the record, Davidson’s coach put together a stellar mid major starting lineup outside of Curry.

True! And I will add it gets progressively tougher for all teams, not just so-called "mid majors," as the tourney goes along. Even basketball elites eventually bite the bullet as only ONE team wins its last game.