College Hoops 2/14/06 - 2/26/06

[Damaramu 0]

Well I thought Kansas had improved....guess not. Texas pounded them into mush.

[Bored 0]

You know I'm constantly hearing how Arizona is on the bubble yet they are #19 RPI and no team in the RPI Top 30 has ever not made the tournament let alone one in the Top 20. They aren't as good as the RPI rating but they are pretty to a close to a lock at the moment to keep their tournament streak alive.

[Guest Princess Leena]

Arizona is in the tourney, at the moment. But, they still need to finish strong. Their RPI is so high because they have no weak wins. The few home cupcake games they scheduled, all those teams are having outstanding conference seasons. And, if Arizona gets a win over WSU... they'll drop in the RPI. It places far too much importance in quality of opponent, that it's almost worthless, IMO.

[cabbageboy 0]

Tell me about quality of opponent. U of L has never recovered in SOS from all the jobbers early in the season. The only one who has done anything is Akron. The weird thing is that U of L has had one of the hardest conf. schedules I've ever seen: UConn twice, Nova twice, at Cuse, at WVU, Pitt, Quette, Cincy twice. It's ridiculously unfair considering some Big East teams get USF or DePaul twice and pad the record.

 

I just checked the MVC standings and dear god they might well get in SIX teams. Wichita St. (14-4), Missouri St. (12-6), Creighton (12-6), S. Illinois (12-6), N. Iowa (11-7), and now Bradley (11-7). I think Bradley deserves a look since they finished AHEAD of N. Iowa in the MVC considering they beat them both times.

[Hawk 34 0]

Tell me about quality of opponent. U of L has never recovered in SOS from all the jobbers early in the season. The only one who has done anything is Akron. The weird thing is that U of L has had one of the hardest conf. schedules I've ever seen: UConn twice, Nova twice, at Cuse, at WVU, Pitt, Quette, Cincy twice. It's ridiculously unfair considering some Big East teams get USF or DePaul twice and pad the record.

 

I just checked the MVC standings and dear god they might well get in SIX teams. Wichita St. (14-4), Missouri St. (12-6), Creighton (12-6), S. Illinois (12-6), N. Iowa (11-7), and now Bradley (11-7). I think Bradley deserves a look since they finished AHEAD of N. Iowa in the MVC considering they beat them both times.

 

MVC is replacing MAC as the NCAA mid-major darling. That being said, I think they will cap it @ 4. There is always a couple mid-major snubs and this year won't be different.

[cabbageboy 0]

Who exactly would you toss out there? N. Iowa seems to be untouchable even after the late season swoon. Bradley beat them twice and is a respectable 43 in the RPI. If N. Iowa is included the SIU by all rights should make it since they too beat N. Iowa and finished a game ahead of them in the MVC.

 

Hell, the freakin Colonial might get 3 bids. George Mason is pretty much in already and UNC Wilmington and Hofstra are both over 20 wins and in the top 40 in RPI.

[Hawk 34 0]

Who exactly would you toss out there? N. Iowa seems to be untouchable even after the late season swoon. Bradley beat them twice and is a respectable 43 in the RPI. If N. Iowa is included the SIU by all rights should make it since they too beat N. Iowa and finished a game ahead of them in the MVC.

 

Hell, the freakin Colonial might get 3 bids. George Mason is pretty much in already and UNC Wilmington and Hofstra are both over 20 wins and in the top 40 in RPI.

 

I have no clue, I was just saying it's usually traditional for the NCAA to leave off a couple mid-major teams that earned it. It'll depend on the tournament (if they have one) to determine who gets left out.

 

It would be nice to see the MVC get more spots then an major conference.

[Guest Princess Leena]

SIU definitely should not make it. Look at their non-conference schedule... they played nobody. Just like all the MVC teams outside of N. Iowa and maybe Creighton... all their good wins are in conference. And they have a few really bad losses.

 

I'd say N. Iowa is definitely in. Creighton should get in, but if they get a 6-8 seed, that's way too high. Wichita won the conference... but, outside of that, nothing impressive. And they lost at home to George Mason, which really hurts them. And Missouri State... should also be out, they played nothing but cupcakes OOC, except Arkansas, and lost that.

 

I don't mean to hate on the MVC... but teams should get in the tourney on their own resumes, not their conferences. Which the committee usually do a good job of.

[iggymcfly 0]

I agree with Leena here. SIU was terrible in non-conference and they've been playing really bad toward the end of the MVC schedule too. The only way they should get in is if they win the conference tourney. Bradley's had a nice end to the season, but they'll have to win out to at least the conference title game to get in.

 

NIU's got the non-conference credentials, Wichita State's got the regular season title, and Creighton's played pretty well all-around, but they're the only real gimmes. Missouri State will probably sneak in as an 11 or 12 seed since they don't have a bad loss and their margin of victory's strong. Honestly, I think four teams seems right unless there's a surprise in the conference tourney.

 

Oh, and if anyone's curious, here's how the top MVC teams fare in the Sagarin rankings.

 

21 Missouri State = 85.67 20 - 7 77.61( 40) 0 0 | 0 1 | 84.03 34 | 87.50 13

31 Wichita State = 84.33 22 - 7 76.98( 62) 0 1 | 2 2 | 84.94 27 | 83.41 41

34 Northern Iowa = 83.96 20 - 8 77.60( 41) 0 0 | 3 1 | 83.93 36 | 83.60 39

41 Creighton = 83.31 19 - 8 77.22( 53) 0 0 | 1 1 | 83.13 40 | 83.10 45

42 Bradley = 83.30 18 - 9 77.07( 59) 0 0 | 1 1 | 81.78 53 | 84.78 28

52 Southern Illinois = 81.82 19 - 9 77.35( 49) 0 0 | 1 1 | 81.90 50 | 81.36 58

[Hawk 34 0]

Let me ask a question, does the MAC have a shot @ 2 bids beyond the automatic bid?

[iggymcfly 0]

Let me ask a question, does the MAC have a shot @ 2 bids beyond the automatic bid?

 

No.

 

You might see Kent State or Akron get in if they lose in the conference title game, but in all probability, the MAC will be a one bid league this year. Using the Sagarin ratings as a measuring stick again, the highest ranked team is Kent State at #77. They went an unspectacular 7-5 in non-conference play with losses to Delaware State ad Rutgers and their best win being against Austin Peay.

[Hawk 34 0]

Let me ask a question, does the MAC have a shot @ 2 bids beyond the automatic bid?

 

No.

 

You might see Kent State or Akron get in if they lose in the conference title game, but in all probability, the MAC will be a one bid league this year. Using the Sagarin ratings as a measuring stick again, the highest ranked team is Kent State at #77. They went an unspectacular 7-5 in non-conference play with losses to Delaware State ad Rutgers and their best win being against Austin Peay.

 

It's funny you mentioned Kent State might get a spot, because I figured them to win the tournament anyways. I was just hoping my school and another school (specifically Kent State, because that's another school of significance to me). I wasn't expecting more then just the outright tournament winner, but im still hoping to see KSU sneak in with a surprise at-large.