ESPN media whore Doug Gottlieb (Twat!) attempts to rob BYU basketball of their rightful seeding in the NCAA Tournament

The college basketball rankings came out today. Predictably, the 'experts' did not give BYU the number one ranking that they deserve. But it's like Clint Eastwood told Gene Hackman in 'Unforgiven,' deserves gots nothing to do with it (as noted in a recent Shots Heard rant).

We already told you that it's about the media whores serving their bigger markets. So of course it came as no surprise that BYU came in at number 3 in the recent rankings behind Ohio State and Kansas even though they have a better RPI and strength of schedule than both of those teams.

Granted, polling is subjective in nature and designed to allow for some additional reasoned analysis. And on that basis we would not condemn any individual fan or pollster that believes that a Kansas or Ohio State should get the nod over BYU. Our problem is that collectively the media whores clearly have their vested interests and that they routinely and systematically discriminate against non 'major' teams.

Want proof? BYU, Kansas and Ohio State are all in the top 3 in RPI in that order. They are also all 27-2. They are all clearly comparable teams although if you look at the data, BYU does hold an edge over those teams.

BYU 27-2, Strength of Schedule - 12, , Record versus Top 50 RPI: 9-1

Kansas 27-2, Strength Of Schedule - 13, Record versus Top 50 RPI: 6-2

Ohio State 27-2, Strength Of Schedule - 27, Record versus Top 50 RPI: 6-2

Now if the pundits/'experts' were giving proper credence to the numbers, the voting would almost certainly be close. But let's look at the reality:

AP Voting Totals

Ohio State - 45 First Place Votes

Kansas - 14 First Place Votes

BYU - 5 First Place Votes

So BYU is numerically the best team in the country and yet they get less than eight percent of the vote? The media whores are busy at work.

Speaking of media whores, it gets worse when you look at the USA/ESPN Poll. There are seventeen first place votes for Ohio State, fourteen first place votes for Kansas and ZERO first place votes for BYU.

San Diego State (RPI 4, Strength Of Schedule 26) would be 29-0 and they would be the undisputed number one team in the nation had BYU not handed them their asses by thirteen points not once but twice. Yet, BYU is somehow unworthy of recognition from any of the ESPN media whores?

Speaking of media whores, let's have a laugh as we watch media whore, Doug Gottlieb pretend that not only is BYU unworthy of the number one spot in the rankings, but also a number one seed in the NCAA Tournament (a tournament that is also ran by money whores,  the 'major' conference heads).

Analyzing the 'better conference myth'

You will notice that when the pundits speak of The Big East, Big Ten, or even the especially weak ACC that we are supposed to hold those conferences in some sort of reverence compared to the The Mountain West. (And by the way, what happened to the SEC this year? - Guess they aren't too 'major' this year).

Mathematicians were paid handsome sums of money to develop the strength of schedule formula and RPI formula. Anybody that has taken a college level statistics course will know that every formula has a margin of error. From everything I've read, the RPI and SOS formulas have very minimal margins of error and are quite reliable. And certainly, any margin of error does not justify the votes in the polls.

Let's assume for a moment that the voters were on the level. In such a case, the lack of first place votes for BYU would be quite the statistic anomaly. But we know that it is not truly an anomaly. Rather, the media whores are whoring it up the way they do.

And so knowing that the RPI and SOS formulas are legitimate formulas, then we legitimately surmise that the Mountain West is solid even 'major,' else  BYU would have a much worse SOS (not to mention RPI) than Kansas and Ohio State. And so ti is that the Mountain West is a tough conference as all of the teams in the conference are .500 or better in non-conference play.

The only team not better than .500 in non conference play is Utah. The Utes were 7-7 in conference play. However, Utah is BYU's arch nemesis and teams generally bring their A-Game against rivals. BYU still beat the Utes by an average of 19 points in their two meetings against each other.

The Mountain West, Conference USA, Big Ten and the Big 12 were the only conferences with all of their respective teams perform at .500 or better in non conference play. It's noteworthy that South Florida was the only Big East team (6-7 in non-conference play) with a sub .500 record in non-conference play. (Currently the media whores are slobbering about the idea of eleven Big East teams making the Big Dance). We can see though that the Mountain West is roughly on par with the teams from supposed 'major' conferences.

Relaying Doug Gottlieb's flaming pile of analysis

In the above video ESPN's Joe Lunardi and Doug Gottlieb are asked to give their number one seeds, essentially the top four teams. Shots Heard will analyze their slutty analysis (particularly Doug Gottlieb's Bull Durham).

Joe Lundardi's Top Four

Ohio State - East

Pittsburgh - Southeast

Kansas - Southwest

BYU - West

Doug Gottlieb's Top Four

Ohio State - East

Pittsburgh - Southeast

Kansas - Southwest

Texas - West

In the beginning of the video, Joe Lunardi is fairly reasonable with his logic. He clarifies that the choice for the fourth number one spot was between an over-rated Pitt (an over-rated team that has terrible outside shooting, but great inside presence and a solid closer with Wannamaker) and Duke (a good all around team from the weak ACC). Even Lundardi was wise enough not to totally whore it up and to deny BYU who is clear cut number one seed.

Then Joe Gottlieb gave his load of cow dung analysis:

I'd have Texas over BYU and Joe my logic behind it is the number one seed is a reward. It's a reward not just for stellar play in conference but what do you do on the road and I know that you're going to come back with BYU's road numbers; but also what you do out of conference and how you schedule up. Now BYU plays a decent out of conference schedule; Arizona, UCLA; split those two, essentially home and away, quote unquote neutral sites, Utah State they play every year and St. Mary's. You compare that to Texas and what they challenged themselves with; Pittsburgh in Madison Square Garden, a two point loss. They played Carolina in Greensborough a win. They played Michigan State, a preseason top ten and I know numbers wise it does not help them as much. But you consider those wins that they had out of conference and how they challenged themselves. They go to USC and get beat on the road. Probably the same thing would have happened to BYU. And then within conference they don't get the benefit of having Kansas come and play them at their place. And instead they have a monster victory (at Kansas). You got a two point loss and a win on the road at two of your one seeds. I still think Texas is the one seed, especially considering they have a chance to win at Baylor, Kansas State at home tonight. I think Texas has a better resume in terms of pure wins than BYU does.

Joe Lunardi Response:

If it was close, I would absolutely take Texas and their win at Kansas putting them up to the top line but it's really not close. The non-conference schedule strength for BYU is actually 14th (strength of schedule) and they're 14-1 against that schedule. Texas is seventy fourth in non conference (strength of schedule) and they have extra non conference losses. So it's really BYU across the board in terms of number of losses, schedule strength, both overall and non conference, and then of course in the what have you done for me lately category, Texas has lost two of its last three.

Joe Gottlieb Counter:

Texas has also played a far more difficult stretch of road games with Nebraska and Colorado. Look, I'm with you generally. I do fall back on some of the numbers. But I only point this out, of the ten true road victories BYU has, Okay? Eight of them are one hundred (presumably RPI) and below. So they loaded up on road wins against..And then you're counting a Colorado State and a UNLV, two at-best bubble teams. I think UNLV is going to get in (to the NCAA Tournament) largely on the back of win of Wisconsin going back to the first month of the half of the season.

I like BYU, not a shot at BYU. I just think that we're falling a little bit in love with the numbers based on the Arizona win, played essentially on a home court (Utes court) and the latest wins against San Diego State. They've dominated their conference and they got the Arizona win. Outside of that, there's not a lot to fall in love with.

Analyzing the 'Employee Of The Month' level analysis

'Employee Of The Month,' starring Dane Cook is possibly the worst movie in history. It is so bad that you can analyze any segment of it and laugh at how bad it is. Watching Doug Gottlieb's analysis is so bad that if it were a movie it would be on par with 'Employee Of The Month.' It truly deserves a critical dissection. It is just that bad. 

So prepare to laugh as we dissect the idiot's (Doug Gottlieb's) analysis. Gottlieb's words are in italics.

I'd have Texas over BYU and Joe my logic behind it is the number one seed is a reward. 

Oh! Stop the presses! The number one seed is a reward. Shut your hole you condescending twat (ironically I thank Dane Cook for revitalizing that slang word). BYU has earned a number one seed. There has never been a two loss team with an RPI of 1 that did not deserve the reward of a number one seed. Think about that. Never! And yet this guy is trying to state that not only is Texas more deserving, but that BYU does not even merit a number one seed; that they should not get that reward. Twat! It needs to be restated.

It's a reward not just for stellar play in conference but what do you do on the road and I know that you're going to come back with BYU's road numbers; but also what you do out of conference and how you schedule up.

Joe Lunardi basically trumped Joe Gottlieb's BS by stating that BYU has a non conference RPI of 14 to Texas's 71! It is not even close as Lunardi states.

Now BYU plays a decent out of conference schedule; Arizona, UCLA; split those two, essentially home and away, quote unquote neutral sites, Utah State they play every year and St. Mary's.

Let's look at the impressive BYU wins that the a-hole glossed over

(Oh how can you not be civil?) I'm not going to err on the side of civility when I deal with con artists. Just because ESPN is paying this guy handsomely to tickle the ears of the customers in the big markets doesn't mean I'm going to pretend that this guy is worthy of my respect.

BYU beat currently ranked 18th Arizona by 22. Sure it was in Salt Lake City. But it was still a 22 point ass kicking. What were they supposed to win by 35 for it to be worthy of Doug Gottlieb's love?

And let's just look at this straight-up. At one point this season, Texas had a 21 point win at home against currently 21st ranked Texas A And M. Last I checked, 21 is not better than 22. So what's the point of claiming that the Arizona win was in Utah if Texas isn't supplying better fruits in the Top 25 ass whoopin' department on their own home floor? There is no difference.

Con artists like Gottlieb will throw out numbers and not care if they actually make sense. He knows that he just has to fool most of the people (who aren't doing in depth fact checks) for a few minutes on television.

Gottlieb mentioned BYU's loss in Anaheim to UCLA. Okay, but he did not mention that BYU played uncharacteristically bad that game and that UCLA is pretty good. They are currently tied with Arizona for first place in the Pac-10.

Then he tried to gloss over the six point win against the WAC Champion, Utah State and WCC Champion, St. Mary's. And he did not bother to mention that Utah State is 26-3 and has and RPI of 21. Instead,, he wasted time stating that BYU plays Utah State every year as if that is supposed to support his premise that BYU did not challenge themselves.

You compare that (BYU's aforementioned wins) to Texas and what they challenged themselves with; Pittsburgh in Madison Square Garden, a two point loss. They played Carolina in Greensborough, a win. They played Michigan State, a preseason top ten and I know numbers wise it does not help them as much.

I love the line, and what they challenged themselves with. Apparently Arizona, UCLA, Utah State, St. Mary's were not a comparable challenge.

Gottlie mentions the Texas's two point loss to Pitt at Madison Square Garden. But Pitt is an over-rated team (they have terrible outside shooting). It's tempting to point out that BYU has beat a comparable opponent, San Diego State by 13 points twice. But perhaps that would not be fair because we are comparing non-conference feats and SDSU is a conference opponent. But fine, don't factor in SDSU and we still come back to the actual non-conference RPIs.

The North Carolina win is impressive, but it is enough to overlook losing to a team like Nebraska and Colorado? Impressive non-conference wins should not cancel out bad performances in conference. Certainly, if BYU accumulated extra losses to Colorado State and Air Force (two comparable teams) then BYU would not even be afforded three seed consideration, despite the fact that those opponents both have similar records and RPIs.

And what is so impressive about Texas anyhow, that Gottlieb can overlook losing a 22 point lead and losing to Colorado? What kind of number one seed cannot hang on to a 22 point lead? If all things were even then okay we could possibly overlook that parameter. But since BYU is 27-2 with a number 1 RPI then should Texas not have such pathetic happenstances on their resume?

They played Michigan State, a preseason top ten and I know numbers wise it does not help them as much.

Let me remind you that Gottlieb is trying to speak about the context of impressive non-conference wins. He is stacking up 16-12 Michigan State against three conference champions and another second place team that will quite possibly finish in the Top 25. Wow! Way to try to sneak that one in under the guise of  preseason top ten. Twat!

But you consider those wins that they had out of conference and how they challenged themselves. They go to USC and get beat on the road. Probably the same thing would have happened to BYU. 

WTF! I would say the real words of that acronym, but decorum prevents it. Is it plausible that BYU could have lost on the road to USC. Well USC is 17-12. So yes they are good enough to beat anybody. But would BYU go to USC and probably lose? No a-hole. BYU would have probably went into the one third filled Galen Center and beat them down by 20 points. That is what they probably would have done. If BYU would have probably lost to USC then why did they not fold in SDSU (a team with a legitimate claim for the number 1 ranking)? Twat!

BYU has a 49 point and 50 point win on their resume and they did not get to 27-2 and a 1 RPI by losing or even barely beating teams like USC. Obviously, I can't repeat 27-2 and 1 RPI enough.

For stating that BYU would have probably lost to lowly USC, Gottlieb ought to be banned from the airwaves for a year. I'm not even saying that for effect either. As a consumer, I don't want watch whores lie to my face.

This is how the double standard is really in effect; Gottlieb would not be claiming that Ohio State or Kansas would likely go to the mediocre USC and lose. Yet, BYU is the same caliber team as those teams. And by the way, going to USC is not exactly a daunting task in the first place.

And then within conference they don't get the benefit of having Kansas come and play them at their place. And instead they have a monster victory (at Kansas). You got a two point loss and a win on the road at two of your one seeds. I still think Texas is the one seed, especially considering they have a chance to win at Baylor, Kansas State at home tonight. I think Texas has a better resume in terms of pure wins than BYU does.

Actually idiot, the RPI significantly weights road wins and conversely punishes losses at home. So playing Kansas on the road was a really good thing; especially since Texas won. And really since, Pittsburgh is an artificial (borderline) number one (they are not BYU, OSU or KSU) then your touting Texas's playing two number ones is fairly disingenuous. And it's worth noting that they went 1-1 in those games! Fifty percent win percentages is hardly a trump card. BYU could have just as easily went fifty percent (or better) against those teams.

SDSU, 27-2 has a 4 RPI  and they are a legitimate number one seed caliber team. And BYU DID beat a legitimate number one seed twice and by 13 points (None of this only losing by two points BS).

By the way, what is that BS about pure wins? Gottlieb is just making up terms! There's no definition or measure for pure wins! Gottlieb only compounded his stupidity by trying to sound especially smart. The only thing more annoying than having a smart person trying to con you is having a dumb person trying to con you! It's like dude, just shut the f up. You sound like such an idiot and we don't want your snake oil.

(Further analyzing) I still think Texas is the one seed, especially considering they have a chance to win at Baylor, Kansas State at home tonight. I think Texas has a better resume in terms of pure wins than BYU does.

Hmm. Texas will play Kansas State at home and Baylor on the road. KSU has a 25 RPI and Baylor has an RPI of 72. Yes that is more impressive than the RPI of BYU's last two opponents who are New Mexico, RPI 91 and Wyoming RPI 258. But will that somehow be enough to move Texas's RPI from 9 into the top 4 and BYU from 1 into 5? No. Even if so, it is pure speculation at best. It does not justify this a-hole's going on television and claiming that five loss, nine RPI Texas is more worthy of the one seed than two loss and top RPI team, BYU.

I know that we are making fun Doug Gottlieb's BS, but let us not forget that Joe Lundardi is basically a wolf in sheep's clothing either, when he conceeds, If it was close, I would absolutely take Texas and their win at Kansas putting them up to the top line but it's really not close.

That's the big preliminary load of BS that we are dealing with from the outset. Why is it preset that if it is close that Texas gets the nod over BYU? This a-hole undoubtedly put his preset bias right on the table for you. He made a Freudian slip and showed you exactly how the ESPN whores divvy out rankings. Lundardi is basically the equivalent of a sports bigot. The fact that he is not trying to pile on like Gottlieb only speaks to his pragmatism and not a sense of real fairness.

Texas has also played a far more difficult stretch of road games with Nebraska and Colorado.

Yea and they lost those road games to bubble teams (at-best bubble teams if they were in the MWC). BYU has won their road games against bubble teams. BYU went to the gyms of similar teams like Utah, Colorado State and Air Force and handled their business. And they won their road games against tougher teams like UNLV and SDSU.

Look, I'm with you generally. I do fall back on some of the numbers. But I only point this out, of the ten true road victories BYU has, Okay? Eight of them are one hundred (presumably RPI) and below. So they loaded up on road wins against..

You ever have someone look you in the eye and pretend like they are adhering to reason when you know they are just trying to get away with a huge con? This guy is not falling back on the numbers is the big problem. He has completely thrown the numbers out the door. 

But Gottlieb pretends that he is adhering to numbers when he mentions that BYU has eight victories against opponents with an RPI of one hundred or higher. Okay? (I'm going to do the Gotliebb Okay? technique -- Like listen to me I know what I'm talking about okay?). 

Texas performed better in their non-conference road schedule? They only had four road games and they went 2-2 in those games! Fifty percent again! The rest of the time Texas loaded up with all really weak opponents at home (not challenging themselves).

And in Texas's two challenging non-conference games against UCONN and Illinois, they went 1-1. Fiftye percent again!

Let's remember the crux of Gottlieb's argument. He wanted to value the non-conference performance. Hmm. Texas went 3-3 against Top 100 RPI teams in non-conference play (that's how they got that justified 71 non conference RPI by the way).

And I like how he tried to pretend that it was about Texas finishing strong against KSU and Baylor. That would just magically disregard BYU's accomplishments.

Do you ever wonder why a media whore will tout how a team finishes? It's because in the olden days, before RPI and quick data, it was easier for the pundits to snow people into thinking somebody finishing on a good note was more worthy of a seeding. It somehow did not matter the team sucked earlier in the year.

But does that really make sense?

If a Guy A finishes a marathon with a better time than Guy B do we say that Guy B deserves the win because he was ran the last two or three miles faster? No. That would be preposterous. The same principle should apply in college basketball.

Nonetheless, 'experts' will often use the 'who's hot' trick to whore it up for their bigger markets. But even Gottlieb is using that tool to take an unprecedented leap. Gottlieb is taking so much undue liberty with that Joe Lunardi has to pragmatically remind his fellow media whore: So it's really BYU across the board in terms of number of losses, schedule strength, both overall and non conference, and then of course in the what have you done for me lately category, Texas has lost two of its last three.

So they (BYU) loaded up on road wins against..And then you're counting a Colorado State and a UNLV, two at-best bubble teams. I think UNLV is going to get in (to the NCAA Tournament) largely on the back of win of Wisconsin going back to the first month of the half of the season.

Okay, I cannot say this enough mister a-hole (Gottlieb). The RPI is a measure of strength of schedule and performance. So stop trying to pretend that the Mountain West is weak when they are one of only four conferences in which all of the teams have winning non conference records.

Also characterizing CSU and UNLV as two at-best bubble teams is so contemptuously pathetic that someone ought to just slap you in your snide face.

UNLV has a 26 RPI and 33 SOS and they are 22-7. Granted a pinhead like yourself will come back and say cough, cough well look at their 3-6 record versus Top 50 RPI teams. Of course idiots like yourself would ignore the fact that they were all hard fought games. If it were Kentucky or UCONN and they had the exact same numbers, Gottlieb would not be pretending that they were bubble teams. So knock the double standard off already media whores. We know you're game. It's old.

Idiots like Gottlieb are not going around calling UCLA a bubble team or at-best bubble team.  UCLA is only 3-4 against the Top 50 RPI teams with a 46 SOS and a 21-8 record that is worse than UNLV's 22-7 record. Could it be because calling a likely first or second place team of a 'major' conference is sacrilege but calling a third place team in a 'non major' conference is standard procedure?

Quite frankly if UNLV was in the ACC or Pac-10 they would have been competing for a conference title and then it would be unthinkable to call them an at-best bubble team.

Colorado State has an RPI of 47 and an SOS of 38 to go with an 18-10 record. Admittedly, with two games left they are a bubble team in that if they finish the season with losses, they would jeopardize their tournament selection. However, CBS Bracketology 'experts' have CSU in the tournament as it stands right now and they certainly are not an at-best, a bubble team. So again, the a-hole lied to the viewers.


Getting back to UNLV; they went to Virginia Tech and beat the Hogies by 12 points. Duke went to Blackburg and lost by 4. A couple days ago, Gottlieb would have been willing to give Duke a number one seed. This guy knows that UNLV is not a legit contender, not a bubble team.

And what's more, Gottlieb's going discredit UNLV while worshiping University of Wisconsin basketball?

I like BYU, not a shot at BYU. I just think that we're falling a little bit in love with the numbers based on the Arizona win, played essentially on a home court (Utes court) and the latest wins against San Diego State. They've dominated their conference and they got the Arizona win. Outside of that, there's not a lot to fall in love with.

Gottlieb tries to to make BYU sound like a fluke. He paints a picture that BYU only got a few lucky wins. This is a patented media whore maneuver. BYU is 9-1 vs. the RPI Top 50 whereas Texas is 7-2 vs. the RPI Top 50. 

Here is the real tragedy. Anybody that has watched BYU play, knows that they are for real. They can and will beat anybody anywhere.

BYU has played as well as any team in the country and they have performed great on both ends of the court. They also have an offense that has outperformed everybody. Jimmer Fredette has routinely bombed forty foot threes. Despite that reality, the ESPN whores seek to discredit them. 

And let's not just pretend that this is on Gottlieb. The show's producers and the Disney executives knowingly allow for this system of deceit to continue.

Picture: ESPN whore, Doug Gottlieb 

Noteworthy: Soon after the publishing of this article, Texas lost at home to KSU.