Taj79 Posted February 10, 2007 Share Posted February 10, 2007 Last week, I posted where I thought all this A10 stuff would go based on the trends established to date. A week later, all the picks turned out with the exception that I had La Salle winning at home against Duquesne. That did not happen. But Fordham did go down at Dayton, X beat us, and Umass pretty much had their way with then-No. 1 Rhode Island. A good start. What it means: the Duquesne win, if the trending holds, bumps our Billies down a notch to a potential ninth place finish in the overall league standings right now providing the trends hold. It might even lower us to tenth, given that Temple has the head-to-head tiebreaker on us based on losing to them at Philly. Still a month out but trends is what they is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Taj79 Posted February 11, 2007 Author Share Posted February 11, 2007 ,,, the jalopy took a major hit when Xavier went in and bombed out GeeDub at the Smith Center. First loss at home in a long time for the Colonials. Doesn't mean much from the trending ... still think the top four are Umass, Rhodey, X and GeeDub. But what it might mean in the bigger picture of things is what we had hoped for our Billies: a super,s eason-ending win streak to carry us into the A10 tournament. With beating us convincingly at home and now literally obliterating GeeDub in their own home means that Xavier has started to build for next month. Watch out .... this may be the start of something huge for X. Something we all wanted for the Bills. This just goes to show that it takes at least a half season of playing together to integrate new pieces in a team ... espescially when one of those new pieces is the engine at point guard (Lavender). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Basketbill Posted February 11, 2007 Share Posted February 11, 2007 Xavier does seem to be playing well, the question for SLU is was the Xavier loss, a X played well, or a game we played poorly. I am not sure, if we beat RI wednesday I might lean towards a game. X now has an RPI under 40. SO perhaps the A-10 can manage to get two in if Xavier continues to play well and gets upset in the conference tourney. I still wonder if the pack of A-10 teams (with an RPI in the 60 and 70's) has one in it that can go on a roll. Slu has six games two against RPI teams that will lower our RPI even if we win, and Three road games that would boost our RPI tremendously if we won them all. Not sure what teams the other have left. We have an RPI of 73 today, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
p diddy Posted February 11, 2007 Share Posted February 11, 2007 interesting results from our A-10 this season. SLU *beat Ole Miss (Currently tied for 1st in the SEC West with two preseason Top 10 teams). *beat Missouri State (Third place in the MVC and on a hot streak). Xavier *won at VCU (1st in the CAA. the league that produced a final four team last year. *beat Illinois (18-9) *beat Kansas State (third in Big 12) *beat Villanova Duquesne *won at Boston College (currently tied for 1st in the ACC with North Carolina. Dayton *beat Creighton (2nd in the MVC) *beat Louisville (17-8, fifth in the Big East) UMass *won at Louisville (See above) we've spent the whole year beating down our own league that we haven't been paying attention to what has been going on. we've pointed out the out of conference losses, but we always seem to point out the losses. I'm not saying that the A 10 will get a bunch of bids to the tournament (they probably won't), but to say the league is terrible shows that people haven't been doing their homework. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tonka Posted February 12, 2007 Share Posted February 12, 2007 I think the next couple weeks is going to very interesting especially since the A10 overall seems to be picking up lately. This ultimately will make it harder for the Billikens in the conf. tourney. What I wouldn't give to have this team hitting on all cylinders the rest of the year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kshoe Posted February 12, 2007 Share Posted February 12, 2007 "since the A10 overall seems to be picking up lately" Not trying to rip on you Tonka, but how is this true? For the most part, the A-10 has just been playing itself for the last month and a half. Any nice wins by a team like Xavier mean a loss for someone else in the conference. Despite the relatively impressive list from P-diddy the A-10 sealed its fate by going only 61-46 in non-conference play against only the 11th toughest non-conference schedule. Believe me, if someone put together a list of all the losses that the A-10 has had this year it would be disgusting. If you want a sense of what I'm talking about look at the non-confernece results for teams like Richmond, Duquense, St. B, etc. A team like Niagra (RPI of 205) is 3-0 against the A-10! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tonka Posted February 12, 2007 Share Posted February 12, 2007 You're not ripping at all. Do you think the A10 teams as they are playing today would go 61-46 in the non-conference schedule if that started today? Maybe they would, but it seems the limited games I have seen outside of SLU the overall play has been better. Is that based on stats, no. It's just my gut feel. The non-conference record is horrible but I don't think the league overall is as bad as the record shows and that is why I think the conf tourney will be difficult. If you don't get a first round bye, it's going to be a battle because I think there is a lot of parity in the middle of the pack. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Basketbill Posted February 12, 2007 Share Posted February 12, 2007 I do not disagree with you about the a-10 as a whole, but of those 46 non-conference losses, about 25 of them came from the like of SB, Richmond, and Lasalle. We have been told all year the MVC is better ....and that the A-10 sucks......but I think it is clear that there are some good teams in the A-10 Xavier, Dayton, Slu and UMass are good teams might not all be bubble caliber but can run with Bradley, NI, WSU, Mo State and even SIUC. No Iam not saying we rank as highly this year, nor do I want to turn this into a MVC v A-10 debate. What I am saying is that the A-10 as whole is down but there are still somme good teams to be found here. We may see that we end up with two or three teams come selction sunday. The Parity througout the NCAA is amazing on any given day. Perspective is improtant. WSU beat Syracuse and LSU, I thought WOW they will dominate but they have not and surprise LSU and Syracuse are middling in their conference. Mo st. has the most impressive win for their conference with Wisconsin. Now we are seeing that teams A-10 played are actually rising to the cream in their conference, Ole Miss etc.... it will be an interesting february and March. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kshoe Posted February 12, 2007 Share Posted February 12, 2007 Its pretty much impossible to know what the A-10 would be doing now if we wren't all playing eachother. It could be worse, it could be better. For instance, recently SLU lost to Houston and St. Joes got crushed by Villanova. Villanova is good and Houston is decent but those are the only data points we really have at this point. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kshoe Posted February 12, 2007 Share Posted February 12, 2007 "but there are still somme good teams to be found here. We may see that we end up with two or three teams come selection sunday." What scenario do you see the A-10 getting 3 teams in? In my opinion, the ONLY way we get 2 in is for Xavier to keep winning down the stretch and then lose in the conference tourney. No other team in the conference has the RPI to get it done. I would say the A-10 can best be defined as one good team, a bunch of NIT quality teams and a bunch of awful teams. p.s. While Ole Miss may be technically in 1st place they are only 5-5 in their conference and have an RPI of 57. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Billiphan Posted February 12, 2007 Share Posted February 12, 2007 > > interesting results from our A-10 this season. > >SLU >*beat Ole Miss (Currently tied for 1st in the SEC West with >two preseason Top 10 teams). >*beat Missouri State (Third place in the MVC and on a hot >streak). > >Xavier >*won at VCU (1st in the CAA. the league that produced a >final four team last year. >*beat Illinois (18-9) >*beat Kansas State (third in Big 12) >*beat Villanova > >Duquesne >*won at Boston College (currently tied for 1st in the ACC >with North Carolina. > >Dayton >*beat Creighton (2nd in the MVC) >*beat Louisville (17-8, fifth in the Big East) > >UMass >*won at Louisville (See above) > >we've spent the whole year beating down our own league that >we haven't been paying attention to what has been going on. >we've pointed out the out of conference losses, but we >always seem to point out the losses. I'm not saying that the >A 10 will get a bunch of bids to the tournament (they >probably won't), but to say the league is terrible shows >that people haven't been doing their homework. These are the big wins for our entire conference? This definetly shows how bad the league is this year. THere is not a great team on that list. There are a few good ones. Give me a break. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Basketbill Posted February 12, 2007 Share Posted February 12, 2007 Granted not likely for three but, lets play what if SLU wins out 6 straight, leaves them them with 21-9 record prior to atlantic city, we need Ole miss and Mo state to continue to win.... (By the way ole miss is 5-5 but beat Tenn and Alabama at home......played FLorida tough and Vandy tougher on the road) Umass wins every game except SLU including their loss to Temple..... SLU Knocks off Xavier in the A-10 semi and Loses to UMass in the final SLU ending up 23-10, Umass 25-8...... or perhaps even the alternate hypothesis......Of Umass' losses BC, Kentucky, Miami FL, Pittsburgh, and Xavier Xavier wins out and goes 1-1 in conference....... OR Slu goes 5-1 dayton 4-1, xavier wins out..... SLU beats Xavier then beats dayton in the final again not likely but......my point is the a-10 is not as bad as the press has made it seem. A-10 has 1 < 50 rpi 4 <75 rpi 7 < 100 rpi 9 teams with an RPI less than 120. it is the bottom three that have dragged us down 282, 289, 301. I am too stupid to try to figure out what our RPI would be without them but it would be interesting. By contrast the MVC has 6 teams with an RPI <100. yes I agree they have 4 < 50, and 5 <75. So while this seems like a down year for the A-10, it aint that bad and it is a year away of being I think very good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Basketbill Posted February 12, 2007 Share Posted February 12, 2007 "p.s. While Ole Miss may be technically in 1st place they are only 5-5 in their conference and have an RPI of 57." Not sure what you mean by this....yes they have more work to do , but .500 in the SEC aint bad...... the have some excellent wins Tenn, Arkansas, Alabama at home. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Billiken Law Posted February 12, 2007 Share Posted February 12, 2007 >"p.s. While Ole Miss may be technically in 1st place they >are only 5-5 in their conference and have an RPI of 57." > >Not sure what you mean by this....yes they have more work to >do , but .500 in the SEC aint bad...... the have some >excellent wins Tenn, Arkansas, Alabama at home. they are tied first place in their division, not conference. The SEC West will only get 1 bid at most, right now they may get none. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
p diddy Posted February 13, 2007 Share Posted February 13, 2007 I'm sorry. i shouldn't have listed that terrible louisville team that I just watched blow out pitt on their home court. my bad tyour post is a prime example of the typical college basketball fan who knows little of what he talks about and in his mind the only good teams are ones that are on tv all the time and have big names such as florida, north carolina, etc. bad boyz for life dummy, there are not many great teams out there to begin with, but these are quality teams. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Band Legend Posted February 13, 2007 Share Posted February 13, 2007 As usual, p diddy raises some cogent points. The really interesting aspect of watching the late stages of all the conference seasons is the realization that these leagues have discernably different styles of play and the respective teams recruit to compete in their leagues. I would suggest that it might take until March to see how good or bad the A-10 was this year. Maybe we can get two teams in the big dance and then win three or four games. Maybe our NIT teams perform well and we get somebody to NYC. Then again, maybe everybody will fall flat on their faces. I hope not. One thing is for sure; as usual Billiphan just wants to crap all over somebody's opinion for his own jollies. I hope you giggled like a schoolgirl while you were feverishly typing at your keyboard. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ACE Posted February 13, 2007 Share Posted February 13, 2007 LOL! Pdiddy just gave phan a beat down. Oooh, I just can't figure out why Mizzou fans are so disliked on this board?!?! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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