Gotta find a way to salvage Buffalo at this point

[2-3zone]

looking more and more like we will be shipped far far away

 

[Chris02M]

looking more and more like we will be shipped far far away

a 4 seed should be good enough for buffalo

 

[kirbivore]

the one team you've got to watch for the losing Buffalo scenario is Michigan. Using the latest Lunardi bracket SU is 5 on the S curve and Michigan is 12. IF SU loses the next two and Michigan wins the B1G tourney, SU could fall below Michigan on the S curve and Michigan would get Buffalo. SU would end up with Milwaukee depending on where the other B1G teams rank or get shipped out. Granted this is a worst case for SU best case for UM scenario

 

[llandz]

We are not losing Buffalo. Those are the pods. Protected for top 16 seeds. We are not dropping below that. Even if we get shipped out west, we start in Buffalo. Buffalo has nothing to do with East Region. It is to keep teams closer to home in the first round. We are the closest team to Buffalo. They are not moving us from there at this point.
MSG is another story. We keep loosing we ain't gonna be there. For now we are. We need 2-3 wins to keep it for sure. We lose to Fl. St. probably bye bye MSG unless we win out the ACC tournament.
BUT the bigger picture is not WHERE we are going to play, but who, and if we can fix this slump we are currently in. None of it matters if we don't get our winning mojo back.

 

[BludOrange]

Need to make the ACC tourny final and we'll be truckin' up to Buffalo.

 

[007]

looking more and more like we will be shipped far far away

Again, not all the teams playing in the Buffalo pod have to be playing in the East bracket. Unless you think that SU will drop below a 4 seed, they will in all likelihood get a "protected" seed placement at Buffalo even if they are shipped to the West bracket.

 

[CaptainJ]

Marrone has already seen just how difficult salvaging Buffalo is.

Edit: And unless anyone question the spirit I say this in, he may end up being their best coach since Marv Levy, but wasn't given much to work with. Any die hard Buffalo fans know it's much easier rooting for the Cuse over the last decade and a half.

 

[HakAttack]

Marrone has already seen just how difficult salvaging Buffalo is.

:rolling:

 

[Lil Rick]

looking more and more like we will be shipped far far away

This team can't even beat BC or GT at home... how would the mystique of playing in Buffalo make any difference?

 

[OrangeDW]

If we're expecting Buffalo to carry us to a W...it ain't happening.

I was there in 2010. It was a great weekend, but the "sea of Orange" Albany in 2003, no way we're losing here scene, it was not.

 

[JohnCuse44]

At this point does it really matter?

 

[Marsh01]

Not necessarily. Pods work from the top down and work until they run out of pods. Four seeds rarely get their pod because they just simply run out of pods. Thats why you always see four seeds in san jose or spokane (us last year). Michigan got lucky and got auburn hills but normally sites like i mentioned along with san antonio usually get the four seeds. We need to be no worse than a 3 seed to lock up a pod. Three seeds sometimes get shipped too We need to be no worse than a 3 seed to have a shot at buffalo which we should be. The top 16 seeds however are not guaranteed a pod. Big misconception

 

[PoppyHart]

We are not losing Buffalo. Those are the pods. Protected for top 16 seeds. We are not dropping below that. Even if we get shipped out west, we start in Buffalo. Buffalo has nothing to do with East Region. It is to keep teams closer to home in the first round. We are the closest team to Buffalo. They are not moving us from there at this point.
MSG is another story. We keep loosing we ain't gonna be there. For now we are. We need 2-3 wins to keep it for sure. We lose to Fl. St. probably bye bye MSG unless we win out the ACC tournament.
BUT the bigger picture is not WHERE we are going to play, but who, and if we can fix this slump we are currently in. None of it matters if we don't get our winning mojo back.

This is emphatically NOT how the pod system works.

You are correct in that there is a major effort to keep teams seeded 1-5 as close to home. However, only 2 top-4 seeds can play at any 2nd and 3rd round site. So, if a particular location has several very good teams nearby, some will be SOL. We don't have "dibs" on Buffalo because we are the closest team. We would receive Buffalo if we are one of the two highest seeded teams for which Buffalo is the closest site. After that, we're at the NCAA's mercy. That is a big distinction.

For example, there is a Raleigh site this year (like always it seems). Suppose, for arguments sake, Duke, UNC and South Carolina were all top-5 teams, and South Carolina was actually #1 in the country. Assuming there is no site closer to South Carolina than Raleigh, South Carolina would get that placement and one of Duke or UNC would be shipped out despite being a "protected" seed and the fact that Raleigh is the closest.

 

[jncuse]

Only two western pod teams this year.. Arizona and SDSU. And four spots. As usual too many pods out west. I don't understand the need to have 2 pods out west, because the same crap happens every year.

So it seems like at two non-west 4 seeds will be shipped out west.

 

[llandz]

Well it worked ok for us last year. We started in San Jose I think?

 

[Briancuse]

We are still a lock for Buffalo, will it matter? Probably not. If we can't beat Bc and Gtech in the dome, how are we going to be better teams there.

 

[kirbivore]

We are not losing Buffalo. Those are the pods. Protected for top 16 seeds. We are not dropping below that. Even if we get shipped out west, we start in Buffalo. Buffalo has nothing to do with East Region. It is to keep teams closer to home in the first round. We are the closest team to Buffalo. They are not moving us from there at this point.
MSG is another story. We keep loosing we ain't gonna be there. For now we are. We need 2-3 wins to keep it for sure. We lose to Fl. St. probably bye bye MSG unless we win out the ACC tournament.
BUT the bigger picture is not WHERE we are going to play, but who, and if we can fix this slump we are currently in. None of it matters if we don't get our winning mojo back.

I know Lunardi isn't end all be all but here's his latest bracketology (3/3) with the top 16 on his S-curve and their pod locations.

1. Arizona - San Diego
2. Florida - Orlando
3. Wichita St. - St. Louis
4. Kansas - St. Louis
5. Syracuse - Buffalo
6. Nova - Buffalo
7. Duke - Raleigh
8. Wisconsin - Milwaukee
9. Creighton - San Antonio
10. Iowa St. - San Antonio
11. UVA - Raleigh
12. Michigan - Milwaukee
13. St. Louis U. - Spokane
14. Michigan St. - Orlando
15. Cincinnati - San Diego
16. San Diego St. - Spokane

I'm still 99% confident in Buffalo. The only way that the 1% could possibly happen would be SU losing out and UM winning the B1G tourney. Michigan has already clinched the B1G regular season title. They combine that with a conference tourney win, and they zoom up the S-curve. If Michigan finishes ahead of SU on the S-curve the wolverines are closer to Buffalo than Milwaukee by 30 miles if you use the route through Canada. Then again the committe might consider Milwaukee B1G country and the mileage difference is negligible enough that it won't matter anyway. The only reason I have any paranoia about this is due to the committee screwjobs of SU in the past.