Why not right? That is what the PAC did. All the national championships that Utah won were included in the PAC total even when not in the PAC. All of a sudden, not only was the PAC dominant in water polo championships, but became dominant in skiing championships.
Latest mathification by Joe Lunardi has the following.
Not at all surprised. Saturday was a crushing loss. Ironic that had we not had the epic “oh so close” comeback on Thursday and lost by 20 then had energy and won Saturday, we would be much better off.
Can still dance if we could just find our way back the next few weeks, (we showed back a few months ago at St. Mary’s we can play well on the road) but my expectations are really low right now, hoping the team is more confident than I am.
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Latest Bubble Watch (archive.today webpage capture of ESPN+ article)
Work to do
Utah Utes
The verdicts are in from Utah’s back-to-back losses at home to Arizona (in three overtimes) and Arizona State. Friend of Bubble Watch Joe Lunardi, for example, moved the Utes all the way down to the last team in the field in his latest bracket projection. Joe has a point, because the numbers really have turned on Craig Smith’s team. Five games ago Utah claimed top-25 rankings in both the NET and strength of record (SOR). Then came four losses in those five outings, and now the Utes are barely top-50 in either metric.
Since I’m not following the men’s team closely. Is this an issue of depth, talent, player development, or something else?
I’ve just seen box scores and read the reports. It seems that the team was over achieving earlier in the season, and is now regressing to the mean. I hope that I’m wrong.
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Game on FS1 tonight.
Latest Bubble Watch (archive.today webpage capture of ESPN+ article)
Work to do
Utah Utes
No Bubble Watch team has charted a swifter decline than the Utes. Craig Smith’s group was a no-brainer choice as a “Should be in” member and looked like a solid single-digit seed just 10 days ago. Now Utah has lost five of its past six and is about to play a road game against surging UCLA. Mock brackets have been struggling to keep up with the turn in events, but alert and industrious friend of Bubble Watch Joe Lunardi had the Utes as “Last four in” material even before a four-point loss at USC. At 15-10 and 6-8 in the Pac-12, Utah plays four of its last six on the road.
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Latest Lunardi projected bracket
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Probably doesn’t belong here, but…USU just beat SDSU and TDS is about to beat Baylor. Utah…first four out.
FWIW, I don’t see the 2023-24 Utes as a March Madness team. Then again, I wasn’t expecting them to be one in the first place. Maybe my goals were low, but all I hoped for was an overall winning record and maybe a trip to the NIT.
It appears we will have a winning record in the end, and sweeping the bRuins has been nice, but knowing we have to basically win out in conference and win one conference tournament game to go dancing, I just don’t see that happening with this team. The NIT is still doable, though.
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Latest Bubble Watch (archive.today webpage capture of ESPN+ article)
Work to do
Utah Utes
Finally, Utah posted a win on the road, and it was a beauty. Branden Carlson’s tip-in with 0.2 seconds remaining gave the Utes a 70-69 victory at UCLA. The win snaps a three-game losing streak that knocked Craig Smith’s team from a solid middle seed in projected brackets all the way down to “last four in.” Beating the Bruins at Pauley Pavilion halts that slide, with Utah likely still on the correct side of the cut line. The Utes can now put their newfound road prowess to work in an upcoming visit to fellow bubble team Colorado.
Yes.
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Latest Lunardi projection
NET #46 Utah at #41 Colorado
TODAY 7p MT
Pac-12 National / Mountain
This is a Quadrant 1 game for Utah.
Are some of you in this article?
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Nope. I was done with trips to Vegas in the mid 1980’s. Since then I have been there twice. Once while passing through with the kids to visit Disneyland. We stopped to visit my wife’s aunt.
The other was to see the MBB play in the PAC 12 Finals game against Oregon.
In both cases we didn’t do any gambling.
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We Econ majors are notorious cheapskates when it comes to gambling. Microeconomics disabused me of any inclination to blow money on absolutely nothing.
I’ll be damned if I’m going to become the marginal revenue for some casino, let alone a slot machine in a truck stop.
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Us Accounting majors are degenerate gamblers. Can’t stay away from the crap table.
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When I was attending Dixie, we used to spend a lot of weekends in Vegas - at friend’s houses. Gambling was a thing for us. Starting at Circus Circus, we would work our way up and back on the Strip.
After, we would hit the all you can eat buffet at the Bingo Palace.
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You might be old enough to remember the old Marina Hotel which sat on the ground where the MGM Grand is now. Undersea, beach themed place. In a previous life I went there a lot on business, and that was my go to winning location. Young, dumb, and stupid I was.
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