smitty Posted January 24, 2004 Share Posted January 24, 2004 are on coach Soderberg for the easy early season games (3 teams with RPIs of greater than 300), remember, we were without Reggie at the time and we almost lost to Eastern Kentucky with a 250 or so RPI. My point being that at that particular time in the season, I'd rather get a win against a real patsy than lose against an Arkansas Little Rock. We are still in the tournament chase at this point. We may not be had we lost to a team with an RPI of 200-250 which was possible in late November. Offical Billikens.com sponsor of Orlando Stewart Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MUFAN2000 Posted January 24, 2004 Share Posted January 24, 2004 I think it's totally fair to get on him for the early season schedule. If Brad really has such high expectations for this team, then he should have been able to believe that they could have beaten a team in the top 200 rpi. And as far as almost potentially losing a game to a 200-250 rpi team: we could have lost to one of those "patsies" as well. Any team can lose, at any day, home or road. Look at Kansas vs. Richmond/Nevada, Missouri vs. Belmont, and North Carolina vs. Florida State. I think if brad expects this team to be a contender, it's not unfair to think that he should expect them to be competitive without reggie. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smitty Posted January 24, 2004 Author Share Posted January 24, 2004 I agree with everything you said had we had Reggie Bryant available the first 3 games. Soderberg knew going into his schedule making that we wouldn't have Reggie. As such, why risk losing to a team with an RPI of 200-250 when you can get a sure win and keep yourself in the tournament hunt. Last year, if we don't lose those first 2 horrible games, we are in the tourney. I don't fault Soderberg on the scheduling given the Reggieless situation. Offical Billikens.com sponsor of Orlando Stewart Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3star_recruit Posted January 24, 2004 Share Posted January 24, 2004 Frankly, if we can't beat Louisville or Cincinnati, we don't deserve to be in the Dance. You shouldn't be able to get an at large bid by piling up wins against mediocre teams. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MUFAN2000 Posted January 24, 2004 Share Posted January 24, 2004 But those games weren't necessarily gimmes. Like you said, we almost lost to Eastern Kentucky. Were that the case, would you rather have lost to them, or a better team? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slufanskip Posted January 25, 2004 Share Posted January 25, 2004 Now that is a ridiculous statement ... so you think they are only going to take about 12-16 teams in the tourney. Official Billikens.com sponsor of H. Waldman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Billikan Posted January 25, 2004 Share Posted January 25, 2004 I have great respect for your opinions and your observations about recruiting but I would suggest that you have gone overboard on this one. To suggest that we have to beat Cinn. on the road--almost impossible-- or an excellent Lousiville team that killed Cinn-- or we must give up all hope is not fair and not realistic. The key is that we need to play great basketball and Beat charlotte -- on the road would be big-- at home is a must, and beat Marquette here along with winning our home games and then with one more road win we should have a chance. If we do not win against Cinn. or Louisville then we will need to win other games. We have 11 wins. If we win 3 at home we will need to win 4 on the road and win a game or two in the conf tournament to have a chance. Obviously, a win over Louisville or Cinn with our great late season run would be powerful evidence that we chould be in the big dance. I sure hope we can keep playing well. I am sure our score today will open some eyes around the league. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3star_recruit Posted January 25, 2004 Share Posted January 25, 2004 Oh ye of little faith . . . I fully expect us to knock off Louisville or Cincinnati as we have every year for the past five years. I realize they are improved, but so are we. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3star_recruit Posted January 25, 2004 Share Posted January 25, 2004 Just about every at large team in tourney will have a win against a top 20 team. Check out the quality victories for last year's participants in the Big Dance if you don't believe me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BleacherBum593 Posted January 25, 2004 Share Posted January 25, 2004 I agree with you. I think Brad has the makings of a very special team this year. I can see them ending the regular season at 21-6. And to top it off, I see the Billikens sending the Louisville faithful home with a L. Why settle for 3rd when you can win it all!!!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quality Is Job 1 Posted January 25, 2004 Share Posted January 25, 2004 ...and then I wake up. If the Billikens manage to go 21-6, that would mean a conference record of 14-2, a C-USA title, and no worse than a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament. I hope you're right and I never wake up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slufanskip Posted January 25, 2004 Share Posted January 25, 2004 What you said is if we can't beat Louisville or Cincinnati we don't deserve to go to the dance. Cinci is on the road and there may not be 10 teams in the country that can beat them at home ... and Louisville is no 3 in the country and have knocked off 2 no 1 teams ... so losing to them doesn't mean we don't deserve to go to the tourney. I didn't say we couldn't beat them ... but I will be surprised and happy if we do. ... but if we lose to them both and finish 11-5 in conference with a CUSA tourney win or 2 we deserve to go. Official Billikens.com sponsor of H. Waldman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thetorch Posted January 25, 2004 Share Posted January 25, 2004 All we have to do is go 10-1. Not to tough. Before we start thinking about 20 wins lets win these games on the road against tough but beatable competition. By the end of thsi trip we should know if SLU is truly tourney worthy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billiken_roy Posted January 25, 2004 Share Posted January 25, 2004 i agree with 3 star unless we only lose maybe one other remaining game besides those two and the marquette loss. we either have at least 12 wins or if less than that, we have to beat louisville and/or cincy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billiken_roy Posted January 25, 2004 Share Posted January 25, 2004 really was a puzzler. the first half, we looked at best average. the second half was a freaking clinic on team basketball and defense. anyone remember the billikens EVER having the entire starting five score in double figures? frericks catch on the one josh fisher pass under the basket was amazing. tom is a player. what the hell was uab thinking? i dont know how many assists josh had, but he should have had 5 more between botched catches and missed bunnies. it was great to see justin get minutes. and he obviously was going all out. keep it up ALL THE TIME justin! great day! keep it up billikens! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davidnark Posted January 25, 2004 Share Posted January 25, 2004 I keep analyzing this RPI thing, and I am convinced that our RPI will rise over the next six weeks regardless of whether we win or lose. Why? Because 75% of the RPI is based upon our opponent's record and our opponenet's opponents record. Games against Louisville, Cincy, DePaul, Charlotte, UAB, and Marquette will flip that 75% of the formula from being a huge detriment to a huge asset. We are now positioned to succeed if we can grab aother six or seven wins. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billiken_roy Posted January 25, 2004 Share Posted January 25, 2004 david, the rpi will continue to rise IF we win. just playing 40-60 rpi ranked teams alone wont do it. that is the whole point. we cannot stumble one bit and expect to get in. the only affordable losses will be cincy and louisville and maybe one more. any more than that will put us at least in bubble territory at best and maybe worse. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davidnark Posted January 25, 2004 Share Posted January 25, 2004 I disagree to a point based upon the math. Our own winning percentage is only 25% of the RPI formula. If we win at least half our games, our winning percentage will not change dramatcially. For example, if we win only six games our winning percentage will only fall from about 68% to about 60%. The other 75% of our RPI calculation should skyrocket over the next six weeks regardless of how we do on the court. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3star_recruit Posted January 25, 2004 Share Posted January 25, 2004 I agree that the RPI will skyrocket given all the teams with above .600 records that our guys will be playing. I just question whether it will rise enough to get us a top 40 rpi if we don't beat Louisville or Cincinnati. Anything less than a 40 rpi puts us on the bubble, like Seton Hall and Texas Tech last season. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billiken_roy Posted January 25, 2004 Share Posted January 25, 2004 which is what i have said, 40+ rpi is bubble city. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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