Other games

[Pistol]

New AP top 25. UVA is #1 despite losing at home, Michigan State up to #2, Villanova down to #3, and then Xavier and UC round out the top 5. I knew the top 5 would be a mess and I'm not sure there's a right answer.

[BillikenBoy10]

The Bonnies received 3 votes, which ranks them 41st.  Rhode Island up to 16.

[Cowboy]

-I just looked at RI, realtime rpi has them 5, sos of 36, their three losses are @#15 Nevada, neutral site to #1 UVA and @#33 Alabama--best wins are neutral over #27 SHall, and home over #42 Prov and home over #43 Bonnie -- so I can imagine the talking heads saying they played two quality nonconf road games lost them, lost by 15 neutral site to UVA so they should be an 8 or 9 to face a #1 in round two

-I am not a Hurley fan but hope they don't get screwed

[CBFan]

3 hours ago, Pistol said:

Yeah, my wife is a diehard Xavier fan. Her parents went there, and they've had season tickets her whole life. Of course, she went to SLU for undergrad and only cares about the program through me, and went to UC for law school but they're the crosstown rival of Xavier, so she hates them.

We live pretty close to UC, so I always tend to root for them to do well. They're actually playing over at NKU this season while Fifth Third Arena is renovated, so unfortunately the neighborhood is missing the buzz while this ascension is happening.

UC has obviously been #1 before, but Xavier has never been ranked higher than fifth, so today likely represents the first time both will be in the top 5 together, and will be Xavier's highest ranking ever. That assumes UC does crack the top 5 - I think they should, but some polls I've seen are predicting they stay put.

By the way, if any of you are missing those Majerus teams and the way they play defense, I'd encourage you to check out UC this season. Imagine those Majerus teams with a little more size, length, and athleticism. The defensive effort never budges. It's really something.

Good to know when filling out my brackets that can help me some, I have a very poor record.

 

[almaman]

1 hour ago, BillikenBoy10 said:

The Bonnies received 3 votes, which ranks them 41st.  Rhode Island up to 16.

good for them

[billiken_roy]

2 hours ago, Cowboy said:

-I just looked at RI, realtime rpi has them 5, sos of 36, their three losses are @#15 Nevada, neutral site to #1 UVA and @#33 Alabama--best wins are neutral over #27 SHall, and home over #42 Prov and home over #43 Bonnie -- so I can imagine the talking heads saying they played two quality nonconf road games lost them, lost by 15 neutral site to UVA so they should be an 8 or 9 to face a #1 in round two

-I am not a Hurley fan but hope they don't get screwed

couldnt agree with you more cowboy.   even if they dropped to a 12 rpi they should get a 3 seed but you watch, as you said above they will end up a 9 and then probably won one then get beat by a #1 seed the second game.   another royal f'ing from the committee for the A10

[HoosierPal]

2 hours ago, BillikenBoy10 said:

The Bonnies received 3 votes, which ranks them 41st.  Rhode Island up to 16.

The Bracket Matrix, which summarizes 95 different brackets, has the Bonnies as the 4th team out.  Rhody is a 5 seed right now.  Really doesn't mean much today except both teams are in play for the tourney.

http://www.bracketmatrix.com/

 

[BillsBeliever!!!]

9 hours ago, RUBillsFan said:

You are making Mizzou's situation / Martin's coaching job sound as amazing as possible with this assessment.  I do think they have over-performed expectations after losing MPJ, but it is not like their team is full of nobodies.

• Mizzou was mediocre last year (and all the years under Kim Anderson), but not absolutely horrid.  Mizzou was ranked 156 in 2017 and 159 in 2016 by KenPom.  SLU is 135 right now by contrast.
• It is actually about 1/2 of their team from last year that returned (not 2/3).  They had at least 6 new guys on scholarship this season (2 Porters, Roberts, Robertson, Tilmon, Harris) if even 1/2 of them are injured, gone, or unable to play.  Further, they returned 4 of their top 5 players from last year (Barnett, Puryear, Phillips, Geist) and one of those is now suspended.  The players that left were mostly the dregs of the roster that Cuonzo ran off.
• Barnett who is arguably their best returning player only played 1/2 of the season last year.
• Their "HS senior" was a top 25 or so recruit.  Marvin Bagley at Duke is probably the best player in the country, probably #1 pick and also a "HS senior".  Age is just a number.
• Tilmon does foul a lot, but he's actually only fouled out of 7 games (out of 25).  Further, Mizzou is pretty loaded with big men, so Tilmon's foul trouble doesn't hurt them nearly as much as say French's foul trouble hurts SLU.
• Their "grad transfer" is leading the team in scoring and shooting over 42% from 3pt land.

So this season's SLU team is in the range of where Mizzou's team was last year.  Subtracting Roby / Hines is probably similar to what Mizzou lost from last year.  If you added 2 top 50 recruits and a grad transfer who would lead the team in scoring and shoot 42% from 3, I'm guessing most people would expect us to be a tournament team next year.  I think some people are expecting us to be a tournament team next year by just adding Gordon, Thatch & Pearson.

It pretty much boils down to Kassius Robertson has far exceeded expectations and that has led Mizzou to exceed expectations.  Ignoring the noise of losing MPJ, Roberts, Harris, etc. and it really isn't that wildly out of line.

1) yes, Mizzou was mediocre last season

2) Current players that returned: Puryear, Geist, Barnett, Nikko, and VanLeer. New: Porter, Robertson, and Tilmon, so it 5/8 newcomers. Right in the middle of 2/3 and 1/2

3) They weren't exactly amazing with barnett last year (won 3 SEC games and lost the Illini game)

4) Yeah he was a top 25 recruit but it can't be easy

5) Tipmon may not neccearilt foul PIT a lot, but he has has 4 or 5 fouls in 10 of 12 SEC games

6) He is still a grad transfer that Martin recruited, making the team better because of Martin getting him

[RiseOfTheBillikens]

2 minutes ago, BillsBeliever!!! said:

1) yes, Mizzou was mediocre last season

2) Current players that returned: Puryear, Geist, Barnett, Nikko, and VanLeer. New: Porter, Robertson, and Tilmon, so it 5/8 newcomers. Right in the middle of 2/3 and 1/2

3) They weren't exactly amazing with barnett last year (won 3 SEC games and lost the Illini game)

4) Yeah he was a top 25 recruit but it can't be easy

5) Tipmon may not neccearilt foul PIT a lot, but he has has 4 or 5 fouls in 10 of 12 SEC games

6) He is still a grad transfer that Martin recruited, making the team better because of Martin getting him

1) nobody cares 

[billikenfan05]

14 minutes ago, BillsBeliever!!! said:

1) yes, Mizzou was mediocre last season

2) Current players that returned: Puryear, Geist, Barnett, Nikko, and VanLeer. New: Porter, Robertson, and Tilmon, so it 5/8 newcomers. Right in the middle of 2/3 and 1/2

3) They weren't exactly amazing with barnett last year (won 3 SEC games and lost the Illini game)

4) Yeah he was a top 25 recruit but it can't be easy

5) Tipmon may not neccearilt foul PIT a lot, but he has has 4 or 5 fouls in 10 of 12 SEC games

6) He is still a grad transfer that Martin recruited, making the team better because of Martin getting him

2) Tigerboard.com

[BourbanStreet]

11 hours ago, Pistol said:

Yeah, my wife is a diehard Xavier fan. Her parents went there, and they've had season tickets her whole life. Of course, she went to SLU for undergrad and only cares about the program through me, and went to UC for law school but they're the crosstown rival of Xavier, so she hates them.

We live pretty close to UC, so I always tend to root for them to do well. They're actually playing over at NKU this season while Fifth Third Arena is renovated, so unfortunately the neighborhood is missing the buzz while this ascension is happening.

UC has obviously been #1 before, but Xavier has never been ranked higher than fifth, so today likely represents the first time both will be in the top 5 together, and will be Xavier's highest ranking ever. That assumes UC does crack the top 5 - I think they should, but some polls I've seen are predicting they stay put.

By the way, if any of you are missing those Majerus teams and the way they play defense, I'd encourage you to check out UC this season. Imagine those Majerus teams with a little more size, length, and athleticism. The defensive effort never budges. It's really something.

I was at the Xavier-Creighton game.. absolutely brutal ending. Granted I go to CU for med so I may be biased about that. Two extraordinary questionable calls at the end regardless who you cheer for.

[Pistol]

12 hours ago, BourbanStreet said:

I was at the Xavier-Creighton game.. absolutely brutal ending. Granted I go to CU for med so I may be biased about that. Two extraordinary questionable calls at the end regardless who you cheer for.

Yeah, they were both soft and probably wouldn't have drawn a whole lot of attention at any other point of the game. Creighton player's arm was *barely* grazed on the 3-point attempt and he went for the Academy Award by throwing himself backward into the bench. The shot wasn't impacted. Then the blocking foul, I mean, the second man in impeded his progress with contact but that's a brutal whistle with under a second to go. Wipe both fouls out and the best case scenario for Creighton is they're down 2 after that 3-point attempt and might have a chance at an offensive rebound and one more attempt. Then maybe it goes to OT. So the probability is still on Xavier's side if you wipe the fouls out, but you still hate to see these games decided by whistles and not clean plays.

[Cowboy]

-EC Matthews of Rhodey goes down after getting dived on by Golden of Richmond, did not look good for him,  we'll see

[TheChosenOne]

24 minutes ago, Cowboy said:

-EC Matthews of Rhodey goes down after getting dived on by Golden of Richmond, did not look good for him,  we'll see

Keep us updated.

[Glorydays2013]

rhody is not a top 16 team but glad they are getting coverage in a bad A10 year. 

[Glorydays2013]

Also as of now we have the best defensive ppg in the A10

[HoosierPal]

1 hour ago, Cowboy said:

-EC Matthews of Rhodey goes down after getting dived on by Golden of Richmond, did not look good for him,  we'll see

At half time announcers said it wasn't as bad as it looked.

[Cowboy]

10 hours ago, HoosierPal said:

At half time announcers said it wasn't as bad as it looked.

-true, we'll see the status on Friday at Bonnie

-Richmond hung with Rhodey for the first 35 or so minutes and then Rhodey went on a heckuva run to win comfortably

[HoosierPal]

VCU goes down at home to David and son. Tonight we are in a three way tie for 4th with VCU and Richmond. 

Dayton goes down and is only one game above the PIG. 

[Pistol]

11 hours ago, HoosierPal said:

VCU goes down at home to David and son. Tonight we are in a three way tie for 4th with VCU and Richmond. 

Dayton goes down and is only one game above the PIG. 

We're not going to hang on to that spot. We just don't have the horses. It's a shame, because our next two games are against Richmond and Dayton, so the opportunity to grab the tiebreakers is theoretically right there.

[HoosierPal]

5 minutes ago, Pistol said:

We're not going to hang on to that spot. We just don't have the horses. It's a shame, because our next two games are against Richmond and Dayton, so the opportunity to grab the tiebreakers is theoretically right there.

I agree, but it has as much to do with the schedules as it does the horsepower we have.  Even with Jordan, a 3-2 record in our final 5 would have been a nice result I would have accepted.  Winning three road games isn't easy.  Facing StB at home wouldn't be easy either.  Now, who knows. 

VCU goes to GW, UMass and Fordham, and plays StB and GM at home (Looking at 4-1?)  Richmond has us, goes to GW and GM and plays StJ and UMass at home.  That could also be 4-1.     

[slufan13]

We beat Richmond basically without Goodwin earlier in the season. That being said, we're on the road, Richmond is playing better, the guys are more tired, etc. Hopefully having this week off helps prepare and get rested. But the long term outlook for the season is bleak. Not quite Crews level bleakness. But still bad.

[RiseOfTheBillikens]

1 hour ago, slufan13 said:

We beat Richmond basically without Goodwin earlier in the season. That being said, we're on the road, Richmond is playing better, the guys are more tired, etc. Hopefully having this week off helps prepare and get rested. But the long term outlook for the season is bleak. Not quite Crews level bleakness. But still bad.

I'm excited to see these boys play with a chip on their shoulder. And after recent events that 'chip' is going to be the size of the Grand Canyon. 

[Matty Light]

We really need to get some more quality minutes out of Anthony and JJ down the stretch.  I know that it is at guard where we will be hurting but we can't play Bess, Hines, and Roby the entire game, which means we need JJ to play more minutes at the 3 position.  Also, foul troubles will come up for DJ and French if they are on the floor for the entire game.  Going to need Anthony to step up and play more minutes.

It is going to be a tough slog the rest of the way, but this team has really shown me something about their heart and determination this year.  I expect them to still win a couple of more games before the conference tourney.

[almaman]

A-10 i vs 2 on the Duece, Rhody up 2 1/2 thru first half