Post Season Prospects

[doug shank's crossover]

Lets make an assumption that BU finishes the season strong and takes only one more loss. And for kicks, lets say their RPI at the end of the season (after a couple of St. Louis wins) is in the "65" range. Is that NIT worthy?

Does anyone know the lowest RPI from last years NIT pool?

Though the added experience would be nice for the young players, I'm really not up for another CBI.

[squirrel]

A lot will depend on how many bids are available-remember any regular season champ not invited to the NCAA tournament gets an autobid.

Last year, the two highest RPIs included were 92 Cal and 101 Minnesota.

There were no losing teams amongst the top 101 last year.

[Disturbed]

I agree on the CBI - it felt cheap and I think most were disinterested.

[Murph]

I agree on the CBI - it felt cheap and I think most were disinterested.

The CBI is a joke, I wish teams would just say no to them so they'd go away.

[BUBraves2006]

Helps pad our win totals though ... which I said earlier on might be the only way we'd get to 20 wins again...

[thefish7]

CBI was a ton of fun. Enjoyed a few more home games, and several of the games were exciting contests. Do I want it more than NCAA or something? Absolutely not. Do I want it more than nothing? Absolutely. Would I want Bradley to turn down an invite if that's the best we had going? Absolutely not.

[jasonpeoria911]

Only way Bradley gets in the NIT is if we finish 2nd in the Valley and win at least 1 game in STL. It will be nice for BU to get into any post season tourney as that will be more game experience for the rookies and maybe even AT like what DC did last season.

Jason

[Disturbed]

Helps pad our win totals though ... which I said earlier on might be the only way we'd get to 20 wins again...

...or 17 losses.

[TheAsianSensation]

The NIT bubble?

Way too fluid to even begin to think what it'll take.

[houstonbrave]

I'd take whatever we can get. Fantastic if that is the NCAA, great if it is the NIT and good if it is the CBI. It gives us more games and truthfully I am always up for watching more BU games. It gives our young players more experience against good teams. Maybe most importantly we owe it to our Sr's to give them the opportunity to keep playing in the post season.

So, if somebody wants us to play I say play.

[MacabreMob]

The NIT bubble?

Way too fluid to even begin to think what it'll take.

I would say Bradley would need to be in the 60's in RPI for consideration. Their projected RPI is to be 106, finish 10-8 in the league and 16-14 overall. Not counting the MVC Tourney game (s). To me, that is CBI bound. (I am adding the win over the Non-D1 in total overall wins)

Now, I believe Bradley COULD finish 12-6 in the league and 19-11 overall. So 2 more wins in the MVC and a win at Loyola is possible IMO compared to what the Projected RPI shows. I would think that would put our RPI maybe down in the 70's, but maybe more in the 80's. And this isn't counting what may happen in St Louis. So 1 win IMO won't get us into the NIT. Maybe 2. I still think we look to be CBI bound.

And like Squirrel said. It has a lot to do with NIT bids available. I'd guess 4-6 each year would be taken by Conference Champs not winning the NCAA Auto bid with a high of about maybe 8 or so. That leaves about 24 to 28 At Larges for the NIT.

With so many BCS schools sitting in the top 100 of the RPI, I just don't see many Mid-Major's getting a bid to the NIT. And those that do - they will not get a fair shake on their seeding.

So I think the CBI will have a better field of competition this year (although last year's games were very competitive) filled with a lot of Mid-Majors.

[TheAsianSensation]

I think a high conference finish would trump RPI considerations. Solo 2nd this year would be worth an NIT, IMO.


If we fall to the CBI, we built up a lot of goodwill with them last year. I bet we can get a 1 seed there as long as we don't crap the bed down the stretch.

[Jack Bauer]

CBI? I guess I would take that again if they raised the caliber of teams they took (i.e. no 12 win Cincinnati-type teams), and made sure that the games were televised (I was quite happy with the TV coverage last year). But hey, why not continue to be trendsetters and go to the title game of another start-up tournament, the CollegeInsider.com Tournament? Sounds like it's going to be exactly the same as the CBI, except that it's requiring a winning record against DI. Looks like FCS will televise it too.

Actually, the CBI has been relegated to HDNet, which will be much harder for a lot of people to pick up. My pick is for the CollegeInsider.com Tournament and games on FCS, which I believe is distributed to more homes nationally.

http://www.gazellegroup.com/events/cbi/index_main.htm

[squirrel]

The thing with the CBI is last year, conferences told their programs to give the upstart the cold shoulder (no fewer than two directives were uncovered), and a number of schools refused bids, which is why Cinci (with a losing record) was brought in.

However, given the financing structure for participants, schools saw that teams in the CBI were making more than most schools in the NIT, and said "Call us" this year.

All over the CIT site, they have the Fox College Sports (the network the CBI games were on last season) logo, which may indicate no TV in place for the CBI.

I would still favor the CBI simply because they have the tourney organizing experience.

But the CIT appears to be more organized than the Gazelle Group was at this time last year.

But

[Braves4Life]

The ONLY way the Valley gets 2 NCAA bids this year is if #1 plays #2 in the MVC Tournament Championship game and #2 wins to get the auto-bid, while #1 gets the at-large. That's it -- THE ONLY WAY! IMO

I'm in agreement with others in that I'd accept an invitation to ANY postseason tournament. Mid-majors like BU need any extra exposure they can get.