MVC vs. A10 update

[Taj79]

Dave ..... your logic is sound as well. Two sound guys? Ain't that scary? My thinking is also clouded by the fact that I always kind of considered both Peoria and Carbondale as "the suburbs." Now, I know that's somewhat ridculous but I believe that a kid going to school at any of these three (including SLU) places would find it "close" to home no matter the direction, friends and family could do it if they needed or wanted to. While it might be a tough drive after a late night weekday game, it can be done. Steve Blake's parents did it for all Maryland games during his four years there and he was from Florida. I think USC's Carson Palmer's parents or Matt Leinhart's did it as well ... for away games too. So, to me, that means we're already in the area and gain no benefit from playing there once a year.

The Big East took South Florida from CUSA for one and only one reason ... to keep open the recruting door for football to fertile Florida. The thinking there was that you had a better chance of landing a Florida player if they could look forward to returning home every now and then on the school's nickel. Losing Miami to the ACC made they look to find another entry point. They don't give a rat's *ss about SoFlorida the school .. they only were looking out for themselves. And if you don't do it, expect no one to do it for you. The Valley really hasn't seen much in the way of glory since Hersey Hawkins and crew left Bradley. Before that, Bird at ISU. There are a few schools there better than us right now and I'm not saying there aren't. We are desperately searching for our time to come ... and I for one believe it will come better in the A10 than the Valley.

But I also believe the Papal Conference is the real deal. Similar institutions with similar philosophies all congregting in one place. The Valley right now has a nice set up .. but it ain't us.

[slufanskip]

No ... and you shouldn't. It is very early and the Sagarin rankings mean nothing at this time. I do think the MVC has a good chance to finish 8th ... but this adds a little excitement.

I like the MVC and have been to many of the tourney's. I just don't get people coming on another teams board with the intent to stir things up when things are bad. It is stupid and immature. The A-10 vs the MVC is over and irrelevant. Anyone who can't see the A-10 has been the better league over the last 10 years has their eyes closed or has a mental deficiency. That plus more money ... there was never any question.

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[TheA_Bomb]

SIUC has been averaging about 5,000 fans in attendance at games with about 400 of those having steady jobs. Impressive.

[Whatsasaluki]

> Lets check your confidence ... $100.00 on wether or not

>the MVC finishes in the top 8 conferences.

>

>

> Official Billikens.com sponsor of H.

>Waldman

Let's check your confidence...$100.00 om whether or not the MVC finishes ahead of the A10. That is the relevant issue, is it not? After all, SLU was "too good" to go to the lowly MVC.

[Whatsasaluki]

Make that 401, as I am gainfully employed. Very introspective post.

[billiken_roy]

i am pretty sure he did count you in the 400.

[slufanskip]

No it is really not ... I don't think they made any decissions based upon the projected finishes of the two conferences this year.

You are the one who posted some idiotic BS showing the MVC as thge 3rd best conference in the country ... you are the one who brought it up. SLU had a better opportunity ... more money and better national exposure ... get over it.

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[slufanskip]

I have read plenty of posts from Whatsasaluki ... I would assume he was not counted in the original 400 ... nor should he have been

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[billiken_roy]

as of this morning the mvc was the 8th ranked conference per the rpi. i have to believe that if they fall beneath that by the first of the year, they will never gain the ground to finish in the top 8. i think you are close to safe skip.

[StLouBlue]

Seems like the RPI is still jumping a little.

http://kenpom.com/confrank.php

[kwyjibo]

It is very impressive. Congratulations MVC. Things will continue to move but a finish outside the top 8 is not likely. The reason why the MVC jumped up is because Pomeroy is now using the adjusted RPI (1.4/.6 for road win/loss and .6/1.4 for road win/loss). The MVC gets out on the road than the homebodies of the BCS conferences.

On a related note I said I thought the C-USA would be the no. 5 conference this year. I was very wrong there. There are some really good teams in C-USA but they all seem to be losing a lot of close games.

[STLRedbird]

Posted by kwyjibo on Dec-20-04 at 09:20 AM:

<>

MVC composite home record: 37-4 (41 games)

MVC composite neutral court: 6-1 (7 games)

MVC composite road record: 12-13 (25 games)

I would be surprised if there was a huge disparity between this mix of home and away games with say, the B10 or the B12. The reason for the Valleys RPI is that they have taken care of business at home and on the road. Typically - according to Pomroy - home teams win two thirds of the time. They've beaten the average by a wide margin at home, at neutral courts, and on the road. THATS why.

[kwyjibo]

No. You are missing my whole point. Anyway, you should be celebrating the acknowledgement the NCAA is giving to teams that actually play road games. This is a formal boost to every mid-major teams hopes for a bid.

Pomeroy up until this weekend was doing a "normal RPI" (Greenfield is still reporting normal RPI; I do not know what Jerry Palm is doing). Then he changed his method to give weight road wins as 1.4 and road losses as .6 (home wins are now .6 and home losses are now 1.4; neutral are still 1 and 1). I believe this affects the strength of schedule part of the RPI but lets leave that alone for now as things would get real complicated real fast.

Currently the MVC is 13-13 in road games (for comparison the Big 12 is 6-8). The most important thing to note here is that MVC teams are averaging almost 3 road games per team while the Big 12 is barely averaging 1 road game per team. THIS IS WHAT I WAS TALKING ABOUT ABOVE. The road adjustment from the original RPI has to be positive (road wins count 40% more and road losses hurt 40% less) and as the MVC play more road games than the teams in the conferences above them they rose in the conference RPI standings from 8 to 5th (they are back down to 6th today but I digress). None of the BCS conferences average 2 road games per team!! About a dozen BCS teams have not even played a true road game (SLU plays its second true road game tonight).

I could show exactly the differences the adjustments has for each conference to further make the point but that would be a fair amount of work and the above already makes my point obvious. And the margin of victory plays no role in the RPI or adjusted RPI so I have no idea why you would bring it up.