Post Season Prospects

[squirrel]

UNI gets in if they beat Siena and hold on to win the regular season crown with no more than 3 losses. They just can't lose their Arch opener. Otherwise they should be safe.

[Jack Bauer]

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

The CBI games are on HDNet this year, i.e. not on real TV.

[Guinness]

The CBI games are on HDNet this year, i.e. not on real TV.

I have HDNet, its fairly common for satellite owners. How is that not real TV?

[Jack Bauer]

I have HDNet, its fairly common for satellite owners. How is that not real TV?

It's not as widely distributed as Fox Sports.

[thefish7]

I have HDNet also. A few years ago a Bradley game was randomly shown on HDNet. I think it was up at Drake or UNI, and it was kind of weird watching a Bradley game in HD.

[squirrel]

I have HDNet also. A few years ago a Bradley game was randomly shown on HDNet. I think it was up at Drake or UNI, and it was kind of weird watching a Bradley game in HD.

Yeah, it was at UNI, and everybody got to see Sommerville re-arrange John Little's face in HD!

[thefish7]

I don't recall that incident, but I remember how much those guys really seemed to "like" eachother.

[Bravesfan]

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

Well I wouldn't go as far as calling it cheap, and I think based on attendence and the atmosphere, I don't think most fans were disinterested. The games were close and exciting, and we got a chance to play (and beat) a couple of BCS teams that would normally not want anything to do with us.

However as I have said, I would like us to at least shoot for the NIT this year as it will show some progress for this team. Yes, we may get a good chance to make a deep run in the CBI this year if we can't get more than 10 conference wins, but the NIT has definately become more challanging and is a nice reward for those teams that can't quite make it into the NCAA Tournament.

[Bravesfan]

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

Third place gets us in. The NIT usually takes two from our conference, and we should have four teams with 18+ wins by the end of the Valley tournament.

[Bravesfan]

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.

I agree 100%!

[Bravesfan]

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.

10-8 and 16-14 overall gets us the CBI as you stated. 11-7 and 17-13 overall puts us right on the NIT bubble. If that's good enough, we definately get a road game. A win at Loyola puts us at 18-12 which might get us a 4 seed and a home game, though that would still not be likely. 12-6 and 19-11 definately gets us at least one home game.

The problem with us finishing at 11-7 is that most years that would be good enough for a home NIT game. However our RPI is borderline this year and that may not even be enough to get us into the NIT, let alone a home game. But if the Valley does well in the Brackebuster (say 7-3 or 8-2 or better), everyone's RPI will jump quite a bit. So that would be helpful.

Heck, I'm just hoping we win at Drake Saturday night! Let's take things one game at a time for now and see what happens.

[Bravesfan]

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

Are they serious?! Well, let's make it into the NIT. At least ESPN televises all of their games!

[squirrel]

Are they serious?! Well, let's make it into the NIT. At least ESPN televises all of their games!

No, they only televise about a half-dozen or so first rounders. And I don't even think they do all the 2nd rounders either.

[Bravesfan]

No, they only televise about a half-dozen or so first rounders. And I don't even think they do all the 2nd rounders either.

I believe last year the ESPN networks started televising all of the games. I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure last year was the first year they started that.

[jasonpeoria911]

I don't think that will be the case this season with the SEC having a down year and the Big East having a solid year. We'll see though.

Jason

Third place gets us in. The NIT usually takes two from our conference, and we should have four teams with 18+ wins by the end of the Valley tournament.