Soft Pretzel Logic

FD asks:

Does Saint Joe's really have the talent and experience this year to jump into the rankings?

If they beat Syracuse and Gonzaga, I think there's a decent chance. Ahmad Nivins is that good and opposing coaches will quickly see what the NBA scouts at the Pan Am Games trials saw over the symmer.

The Syracuse game is of particular importance, maybe more than it deserves. In part because it's against Syracuse, and any game against the Orange -- especially at the Carrier Dome -- gets a lot of attention from the national media.

(Yes, that's a euphemism for the many Syracuse grads at ESPN and elsewhere.)

And in part because if the Hawks win that game they get two national TV (also ESPN, naturally) games at Madison Square Garden. So that will be even more exposure for pol voters elsewhere in the country.

Jack tried to figure out the Philly Classic, and seemingly couldn't:

They could not have possibly made this tournament any more confusing. So the preliminary round games are meaningless in the scheme of the tournament? And are the Libery Bracket and Independence Bracket two rounds of competition rather than two separate brackets? I don't understand the terminology. Do they get it down to two teams (the winners of the 2:00 game and the 9:00 game Saturday) and then not play a final?

Basically, yes. I think to call it a "tournament" per se would not be correct. I don't know this for sure but I figure It's thought of as a "tournament" for counting how many games you play, and which ones are considered "exempt."

It's basically rigged. Each team gets a certain number of home games, then the knockout-ish games on the neutral court are set up to give us some kind of glamor game with just a little suspense beforehand. The Philly Classic's such game is Virginia-Seton Hall.

The best comparison is the Las Vegas Invitational, which is the event that got Kansas to play Florida last season. Both teams played a couple of meaningless games on their floors, then came to Vegas, beat another less-than-stellar team, and made us all think they actually had to work to get to the championship.

This year, the glamor teams in that event are North Carolina and Louisville. They aren't "officially" playing each other. But the idea is that they will.