ok, optimism

[brianstl]

I didn't mean to imply I ever expected an NCAA bid this year. Just would like to see the trend line reverse itself in conference play and continue through the tournament. In a tournament anything can happen. Think: Miracle in Memphis. Right now I'd say any post season play is a stretch, but there's still a lot of season left.

I think it will. I think the slow down in the schedule is the best thing that could happen to this team.

I am still pretty optimistic about our NCAA chances. No real terrible damage has been done to our RPI at this point and there is no way we keep shooting this bad. I am always optimistic and sometimes overly so.

[ACE]

expectations............expectations result in different reactions.

kind of like when so taguchi comes up against the cubs and gets a grooved fastball down the middle belt high and grounds out weakly to the second baseman. i just shake my head. but if albert pujols misses a fat pitch i am a hell of a lot more disappointed.

doesnt mean i would rather have so taguchi on my team than albert pujols. just means i expect albert to perform at a higher level and know that over the long haul he will. no reason to beat up so. he is doing the best he can.

I don't really follow baseball, but I think I know what you are getting at, yet I don't understand your logic. I look at it a little differently. If you can upgrade over a guy without much track record of success, you do it. If you have a player or coach you have low expectations for, don't accept it, get a better one. If you have a superstar Pujols/Majerus and they are in a little slump, you don't panic about it because they have a track record of success.

[ACE]

More good news. Timmerman verified my observation that it appeared the A-10 was doing better. It's still early, but this is encouraging and least looks like a nice improvement over last year. Plus, for all the hand-wringing about our attendance, Timmerman pointed in an earlier entry that Boston College drew just 4,000. This is a team from one of the almighty BCS conferences with more of a recent track record of success on the court. It doesn't make our attendance sound bad at all. It will get better if we can string some wins together and it well get even better next year.

http://www.stltoday.com/blogs/sports-billi.../a-10-is-fifth/

[billiken_roy]

I don't really follow baseball, but I think I know what you are getting at, yet I don't understand your logic. I look at it a little differently. If you can upgrade over a guy without much track record of success, you do it. If you have a player or coach you have low expectations for, don't accept it, get a better one. If you have a superstar Pujols/Majerus and they are in a little slump, you don't panic about it because they have a track record of success.

i dont think i am in a panic. i think i am just very discouraged by what majerus has done this year so far. just like a lot of cardinal fans were discouraged this year by the fact that albert wasnt the albert we saw in previous seasons. no different. that doesnt mean that those cardinal fans still dont wear their pujols jerseys to the games or quit rooting for the cardinals. same with me. i will be at the game tomorrow night wearing more blue than 80% of the other fans and screaming for a win as much as anyone as well.

hell i already pledged $4 million dollars to the arena today assuming i win the entire megamillions jackpot tonite by myself. i dont think anyone else has made that conditional pledge today.

[kshoe]

the A-10 today is the 5th overall rpi conference. of our 14 teams, 7 are ranked in the top 100 (including slu).

IF slu could win these 4 remaining non conference games and the conference continues at this great pace, i would think slu will then be in a position that they can control their own destiny to the ncaa tourney by finishing in the top 4 or 5 of the conference. a conference ranked in the top 5 overall will get mucho at large berths. the past two seasons the conference was such that there was just no way of going to the tourney other than winning the conference tourney or be xavier. but it appears that window might open a little bit more if the conference can have a great december.

realistically, we can expect that the big 10 and the sec will eventually pass the A-10 by, but i would take a #7 spot overall.

xavier beating creighton last night was huge for xu. they are now up to 7th overall.

it does my heart great to see the mvc 2 slots behind the a-10 right now.

http://www.kenpom.com/confrank.php?y=2008

this all said, our remaining 4 opponents on our schedule are currently ranked as follows:

sam houston 5th

siu 95

loyola 241

iupui 159

i am surprised loyola is ranked that low, as their schedule is extremely good. but it proves that you have to win regardless of how tough you schedule. their four losses are to bradley, purdue, northern iowa and western michigan. all top 120 teams.

but still the point is slu has indeed had a good schedule as right now our sos is ranked 88th. and since we dont have a lot of near 300 rpi teams left to play that sos will likely get even lower.

did anybody notice that today the A-10 dropped back to 7th and the MVC is 5th again. this after a night when no MVC teams played and Temple won the only A-10 game. I suppose the difference had to be some results of teams that have played teams in the A-10 and MVC. Just goes to show just how close 5-8 in the conference standings are.