Bay Area Billiken

This one (St. John’s, NET 32) along with the snub of Seton Hall (2nd OUT, #1 Seed NIT, albeit with NET of 67) and the promotion of an ACC also ran like Virginia (NET 54, 2nd to last team IN) are Power 5 hits on the +1 Big East to garner that extra, elusive, but lucrative NCAA Tourney unit.

https://x.com/hoyapropaganda/status/1769499307655274785?s=46&t=jikm5nKg-NlIUjy2c9C9zw Does this one really need to be in the form of a question?

A SLU team playing in the A10 with a NET of 28 on Selection Sunday would not be snubbed. The differences in coaching salaries and media market sizes are stark. The errant tweets from Indiana in support of Indiana State notwithstanding, a move from ISU-Blue to SLU is not a “lateral move.”

Another year of Power 5 controlled NCAA Tourney chicanery is in the books. This year's results include: 26 of the 36 NCAA At Large bids went to the Power 5, a whopping 72.2%. When the 2 Big East At Large's are included, the number bulges to 28 of the 36 at large bids, 77.8%. The new Group of 4, Mountain West, A10, AAC and WCC received 8 at large bids, 22.2% of the total, with the Mountain West receiving 5 of those 8 at large bids, and the A10, AAC and WCC receiving 1 at large each. The Big East is outraged by only receiving 2 NCAA At Large bids and 3 NCAA bids overall. St. John's Coach Rick Pitino labled the NET rankings as "fraudulent." St. John's was snubbed despite its NET of 32 and wasn't even in the revealed First Four Out. Juan Bid visited 22 of the 32 conferences, including the #10 Conference NET MVC. The A10 finished #8 in Conference NET. Indiana State was flat out snubbed with its NET of 28, set a new record as the best NET team to be snubbed, yet was only #3 on the 4-team Last Four Out list. That list includes Oklahoma, Seton Hall, Indiana State and Pitt. When the auto bids are counted, an even 50%, 34 of the 68 NCAA bids went to the Power 5 + 1 (Power 6). That number looks a bit too round to be a mere coincidence. There were 5 variances between a pure NCAA NET field and the actual. #28 Indiana State, #32 St. John's, #37 Cincinnati, #40 Pitt, and #41 Villanova were replaced by #44 Washington State, #45 Texas A&M, #51 South Carolina, #53 Northwestern, and #54 Virginia. #32 St. John's, #46 Oklahoma, #69 Washington, #75 Memphis, #90 Ole Miss, and #98 Indiana reportedly refused NIT participation. The A10 has #23 Dayton and #80 Duquesne in the NCAA, and #71 VCU, #73 Richmond, #85 Loyola Chicago and #92 St. Joe's in the NIT. Loyola Chicago plays #57 Bradley in Peoria in a First Round NIT matchup. Bradley is a #3 Seed in the NIT. #1 Seed Indiana State hosts SMU. Both those games are on Wed., 3/20/24 on ESPN+.

The Izzo Exemption

Atlantic Ave., 5th Ave. in Brooklyn nearby, Atlantic Ave./Barclays Center Subway Station, the 3rd subway station into Brooklyn on the 4 or 5 Express from Grand Central. McMahon’s Public House, an excellent bar and grill, Ground Zero for SLU in Brooklyn, is nearby

Grand Canyon, Seattle U and Denver were in the mix. After the loss of BYU the WCC is down to 9 schools, wants 12. But after the demise of the PAC-12, Oregon State and Washington State are joining the WCC for 2 seasons in all sports except Football (WCC does not sponsor Football) and Baseball, but including Basketball. That will delay further expansion. Seattle U, a Jesuit school, used to be a WCC member. The WCC is looking for further improvement there in Hoops.

Joe Lunardi has Dayton safely IN, above the last 8 IN, but has Indiana State as the First Four OUT.

For @The Wiz, what’s the current percentage chance that Indiana State gets an NCAA At Large Bid? And what’s Dayton’s current percentage chance?

Lassina Traore has starred for 2 years for The Beach. He barely saw the floor at SLU.

The Grand Canyon Antelopes, coached by Bryce Drew, win the WAC Tourney and are NCAA Tourney bound.

This is a huge issue, and has made it that much more difficult for SLU in seasons before the just completed one. What is happening is patently obvious. The Power 6 is getting 75% of the NCAA At Large bids in 2024 per the NET.

In the immortal words of Al Davis, "Just win, Baby."

With both St. Peter's and Fairfield being Jesuit schools, the Pope had to go to the next criterion, endowment: Fairfield $433.6M; St. Peter's $37M. The Pope, having been labeled a socialist by some observers, accordingly picked the less endowed school, St. Peter's. And thus, St. Peter's won the game 68-63 and snared the MAAC's NCAA Automatic Bid. When the A10 Tourney was played at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, one wondered if a Bert Parks hologram was going to appear to present the A10 Championship Trophy, and perhaps sing There She Is, Miss America.

https://x.com/koby_thiel/status/1768709205316571541?s=46&t=jikm5nKg-NlIUjy2c9C9zw Cronin to Michigan?

https://x.com/cbbcontent/status/1768705412411326597?s=46&t=jikm5nKg-NlIUjy2c9C9zw A list for Michigan surfaces.

Same here, House. It was good to meet you.

https://x.com/coachingchanges/status/1768318779392430396?s=46&t=jikm5nKg-NlIUjy2c9C9zw

https://x.com/GoodmanHoops/status/1768336690928628191?s=20 It looks like SLU has some competition.

OT - We attended The Neil Diamond Musical - A Beautiful Noise last night on Broadway at the Broadhurst Theatre. The show was just outstanding. Its run on Broadway ends June 30, and then the show is going on the road. If you are in New York City on or before that time, or if the show comes thereafer to an area near you, Ms. BAB and I highly recommend it. We saw Neil Diamond himself in concert at the old St. Louis Arena (Checkerdome) in the 1980's. Earlier in the day we attended the matinee session of the Big East Quarterfinals at Madison Square Garden, saw defending National Champion UConn, followed by Coach Rick Pitino and his St. John's Red Storm. It was as perfect of a day as imaginable in The Big Apple.

Chaos reigns in the A10, where the A10 Tourney semifinals Saturday afternoon match: #9 Seed St. Joe's vs. #5 Seed VCU; #7 Seed St. Bonaventure vs. #6 Seed Duquesne.

NCAA NET's after games played 3/14/24: Dayton 22, Indiana State 28. Those both should be easily qualifying NET's for NCAA Tourney At Large Bids for both. But will either or both be? Will one or both get snubbed? Dayton is 3-4 vs. Quad 1; Indiana State is 1-4 vs. Quad 1. But Indiana State is the Regular Season MVC Champion, whereas Dayton was a 3rd Place team in the A10. Conference NET: The A10 is #8. The MVC fell behind the American Athletic (AAC) overnight to #10. The AAC is now #9.

A few, about 50 last night. The box office agent was mixed up. We’re in same section as last night, Section 9, sharing with La Salle behind SLU Bench, which is right side of tv screen.

Let’s Go Bills️ They have SLU sharing the Bona section.

St. Joe’s 64 Mason 57 - Final.