At Large Talk

[CBFan]

Losing to Duquesne twice hurts.  Losing to UMass hurts as bad as the Crutcher buzzer beater.  Losing to Davidson was also terrible.

SLU should have split with Duquesne, and beaten Davidson and UMass they would be in second place even though they got swept by Dayton.

SLU has beaten 3 20 win teams this season at home Belmont, on the road Richmond and RI.   SLU must win out to the conference tournament finals and I think that could be enough with 24 D1 wins and 9 losses.  Winning 7 out of the last 10.

If Bell and Hargrove continue the big contributions the rest of the season then we win the conference tournament.

Our players and coaches have done such a great job of staying focused and improving that we are still playing for something in March.

[RiseAndGrind]

1 hour ago, wgstl said:

Hot take, im starting to think I want the 6 seed more than the 4. 

Also late Wednesday night we could see a race get hot for the 3rd seed

 

I want whatever seed keeps us away from the Dukes. 

[RiseAndGrind]

5 minutes ago, CBFan said:

Losing to Duquesne twice hurts.  Losing to UMass hurts as bad as the Crutcher buzzer beater.  Losing to Davidson was also terrible.

SLU should have split with Duquesne, and beaten Davidson and UMass they would be in second place even though they got swept by Dayton.

SLU has beaten 3 20 win teams this season at home Belmont, on the road Richmond and RI.   SLU must win out to the conference tournament finals and I think that could be enough with 24 D1 wins and 9 losses.  Winning 7 out of the last 10.

If Bell and Hargrove continue the big contributions the rest of the season then we win the conference tournament.

Our players and coaches have done such a great job of staying focused and improving that we are still playing for something in March.

IF SLU wins out and gets to the A10 final.... my mind is letting me think we can get an at large 

[Littlebill]

12 minutes ago, RiseAndGrind said:

IF SLU wins out and gets to the A10 final.... my mind is letting me think we can get an at large 

We don't need to get to the final if we are the ones to beat Dayton

[slu72]

6 minutes ago, RiseAndGrind said:

IF SLU wins out and gets to the A10 final.... my mind is letting me think we can get an at large 

Especially so if it's against Dayton, and we give them all they want an more. I think it would be difficult for the committee to eliminate SLU at that point. Yes, it would have been nice to have got a W against SH, Auburn, or Dayton in the regular season, but we're a young team and you can't expect to win those games. The Dayton game at the Fetz was a dagger game for us. That W would have looked really nice come selection Sunday. 

[billiken_roy]

28 minutes ago, Taj79 said:

Rhode Island will have to gather a lot of momentum and energy for taking Dayton down Wednesday night.  Unbeaten regular season.  Makign their own case for a bid.  Senior Night for Dowtin and Langevine.  If they don't find that, the team i saw yesterday will stand little to no chance of winning on Wednesday.

i would think dayton is super motivated to be in the #1 seed talk.   huge huge incentive to keep winning.

[Taj79]

Dayton ran out to a 17 to 0 lead starting their home contest against URI and the Rams never recovered.  We ran out to an 11 to 0 lead.  Any of that happens Wednesday and good night.  Dayton closes at home against Geedubya.

[Pistol]

47 minutes ago, billiken_roy said:

i would think dayton is super motivated to be in the #1 seed talk.   huge huge incentive to keep winning.

I agree with this. Dayton has the longest winning streak in the nation, the second most wins, the second fewest losses (both in OT to ranked teams), and is still getting called a 2-seed by the experts because they lack a signature win.

Dayton wants a 1-seed. Grant has a strong motivational tool - "lack of respect". Players eat that up.

[Crewsorlose]

1 hour ago, BIG BILL FAN said:

I think if SLU, Richmond, or Rhode Island make it to the A-10 final, they would get an at large bid...

This is pretty much right. SLU needs to win out and lose in the finals. If URI can't beat Dayton on Wednesday, then they probably need two wins in Brooklyn. Richmond has two tough games, but if they win both, they're 3-4 in Q1 and 3-2 in Q-2, 14-4 in the 8th best conference, and would have a NET between 40-45. Barring a bad loss to a non-top 100 team in Brooklyn, I think Richmond would be in, especially since 2.5 of their conference losses came without Blake Francis. 

[dlarry]

Unfortunately I think the only way we get in is winning the conference tournament.

It sucks but with no big wins the committee will find some Big 10 school with a 14-16 record that is more “deserving.”

At this point we can’t leave it up to the decision makers.

[moytoy12]

10 minutes ago, dlarry said:

Unfortunately I think the only way we get in is winning the conference tournament.

It sucks but with no big wins the committee will find some Big 10 school with a 14-16 record that is more “deserving.”

At this point we can’t leave it up to the decision makers.

Case in point:  Minnesota.  Currently 13-15 with a NET of 46.  They lost to Wisconsin and went up 3 spots from 49 to 46.  I get it, the competitiveness of the Big 10 is giving these teams a boost, but it will suck to see Minnesota get an invite over a more deserving team. 

[CBFan]

2 hours ago, RiseAndGrind said:

IF SLU wins out and gets to the A10 final.... my mind is letting me think we can get an at large 

That was what I meant I just did not articulate that well.

How exciting Is the positive vibe from the team in the last 3 games.  I think since the UMass loss the look of the team is completely different.  The passing for open looks has been much better.

[moytoy12]

Just now, CBFan said:

That was what I meant I just did not articulate that well.

How exciting Is the positive vibe from the team in the last 3 games.  I think since the UMass loss the look of the team is completely different.  The passing for open looks has been much better.

Something has definitely clicked on both sides of the court.  The guys picked the right time to be playing some of their best ball. 

[Old guy]

Does anyone in this board think that the NCAA selection process if fair and unbiased? If you do not think so, you are correct. This process has a long history of unfairness and biases in favor of certain teams. Was there anything that made you think it would be otherwise under the new NET system? I mean other than their pronouncements about fairness, etc. Talk is cheap.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   

[3star_recruit]

7 minutes ago, CBFan said:

That was what I meant I just did not articulate that well.

How exciting Is the positive vibe from the team in the last 3 games.  I think since the UMass loss the look of the team is completely different.  The passing for open looks has been much better.

Yuri took the UMass loss really hard and has responded by averaging 9.3 apg over the last three games.  What a mentally tough kid.

[SLU_Nick]

4 minutes ago, Old guy said:

Does anyone in this board think that the NCAA selection process if fair and unbiased? If you do not think so, you are correct. This process has a long history of unfairness and biases in favor of certain teams. Was there anything that made you think it would be otherwise under the new NET system? I mean other than their pronouncements about fairness, etc. Talk is cheap.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   

This year it seems extra unfair.  

[RUBillsFan]

50 minutes ago, moytoy12 said:

Case in point:  Minnesota.  Currently 13-15 with a NET of 46.  They lost to Wisconsin and went up 3 spots from 49 to 46.  I get it, the competitiveness of the Big 10 is giving these teams a boost, but it will suck to see Minnesota get an invite over a more deserving team. 

If a team with an overall losing record (like Minnesota will very likely have) is given an at-large bid, I might boycott the NCAA tournament.

I say this knowing full well that Minnesota is actually a pretty good team and the Big Ten is pretty incredible this year.

That being said, none of the bracket projections I've seen currently have Minnesota in the field or even on the bubble.

[wgstl]

2 minutes ago, RUBillsFan said:

If a team with an overall losing record (like Minnesota will very likely have) is given an at-large bid, I might boycott the NCAA tournament.

I say this knowing full well that Minnesota is actually a pretty good team and the Big Ten is pretty incredible this year.

That being said, none of the bracket projections I've seen currently have Minnesota in the field or even on the bubble.

then lets use Clemson who is 15-13, middle of the pack ACC but has 3 top 5 wins. They have low Net, but using a lot of other measurements they score pretty well like quad wins and kenpom 

[HoosierPal]

1 hour ago, dlarry said:

Unfortunately I think the only way we get in is winning the conference tournament.

It sucks but with no big wins the committee will find some Big 10 school with a 14-16 record that is more “deserving.”

At this point we can’t leave it up to the decision makers.

 

1 hour ago, moytoy12 said:

Case in point:  Minnesota.  Currently 13-15 with a NET of 46.  They lost to Wisconsin and went up 3 spots from 49 to 46.  I get it, the competitiveness of the Big 10 is giving these teams a boost, but it will suck to see Minnesota get an invite over a more deserving team. 

The 20 game conference schedule that the Big 10 implemented this year is not good for us.  Instead of 2 buy games, each Big 10 team played another conference opponent.  Just think how much better off we would be in we didn't play FGCU or Bethune Cookman, and instead had played two more A10 games, say against VCU, Davidson, Rhode Island, Richmond or St Bonnie.

[3star_recruit]

16 minutes ago, RUBillsFan said:

If a team with an overall losing record (like Minnesota will very likely have) is given an at-large bid, I might boycott the NCAA tournament.

I say this knowing full well that Minnesota is actually a pretty good team and the Big Ten is pretty incredible this year.

That being said, none of the bracket projections I've seen currently have Minnesota in the field or even on the bubble.

Exactly.  The bubble teams in the AAC and the A10 are fighting over the last remaining spots with 18-11 and 19-10  P6 teams, not sub .500 teams.

[RUBillsFan]

2 minutes ago, wgstl said:

then lets use Clemson who is 15-13, middle of the pack ACC but has 3 top 5 wins. They have low Net, but using a lot of other measurements they score pretty well like quad wins and kenpom 

I'm not seeing any bracket predictions that have Clemson in either: http://www.bracketmatrix.com/.

UCLA is pretty egregious given their overall resume (home losses to Hofstra and CS-Fullerton, neutral loss to UNC).  Folks seem to think they'll be in because they may win the Pac 12 and they're finishing strong.

[glazedandconfused]

3 minutes ago, RUBillsFan said:

I'm not seeing any bracket predictions that have Clemson in either: http://www.bracketmatrix.com/.

UCLA is pretty egregious given their overall resume (home losses to Hofstra and CS-Fullerton, neutral loss to UNC).  Folks seem to think they'll be in because they may win the Pac 12 and they're finishing strong.

To be fair, UCLA is 6-6 in Q1 and 3-3 in Q2. That's a lot of quality wins. Bad losses don't hurt as much when you have a half dozen Q1 wins.  

[ARon]

The media narrative will in fact be that the committee is being historically generous to “mid-majors” if in fact 3 of the top 5 overall seeds are Gonzaga, SDS, and Dayton.

[Compton]

Related to what some of you are saying, I think we’ll soon see the death of the DII game. At least for teams at the A10 level. Every little bit counts, even including racking up a bunch of wins against Quad 3 and Quad 4 teams (see UNI, ETSU, Richmond, VCU as examples). Each of those games doesn’t “move the needle” much, but why play a Maryville, UMSL, Fontbonne or Kentucky Wesleyan, which is ignored entirely by the NET, when you can play a Southland or SWAC team and get that incremental improvement. 

The only reason I can think of is that a DII buy game might be cheaper, but that’s not a legitimate reason to avoid marginally helping your metrics at the A10 level. 

[RUBillsFan]

3 minutes ago, glazedandconfused said:

To be fair, UCLA is 6-6 in Q1 and 3-3 in Q2. That's a lot of quality wins. Bad losses don't hurt as much when you have a half dozen Q1 wins.  

They're still 76 in the NET.  Shouldn't even be sniffing the NCAA bubble unless they win out & have a strong conference tournament showing.

Included in those Q2 losses is the neutral court loss to UNC without Cole Anthony.  That's a bad loss I don't care what the Q system says. 

I realize the committee uses it, but I don't care at all for the quadrant system.  Why are we making win vs the Nth best team look so much better than a win vs the (N+1)th best team?