Next game- BU at Evansville, Wed. Feb. 25, 7:05 pm

[Da Coach]

Bradley (16-12, 9-7 MVC) hosts the Evansville Purple Aces (16-11, 7-9 MVC) at 7:05 p.m. Wednesday, 2/25/09.
This is the final road game on the schedule for Bradley. Bradley is alone in 4th place. Evansville, Wichita State, and Drake are all tied for 5th, 2 games behind Bradley.

Standings-


RPI for for MVC-

http://realtimerpi.com/rpi_mvc_Men.html

This game will be televised by Comcast on cable channel 74 in Peoria.

Standings--
http://www.mvc-sports.com/standings/...EM_ID=7600&KEY=


Evansville main web page--

http://gopurpleaces.com/index.aspx?path=mbball&tab=basketball

Evansville schedule and results:
http://gopurpleaces.com/schedule.asp...ll&path=mbball

Evansville roster:
http://gopurpleaces.com/roster.aspx?...ll&path=mbball

Evansville statistics:
http://gopurpleaces.com/custompages/...s/teamcume.htm

Evansville fan message board-

http://www.thepurplecode.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=3&sid=1f3264c50ab80e9606d6548123e24afb

Bradley stats--
http://www.bradleybraves.com/ViewArt...ATCLID=1626619

[dogsrus]

..We only WISH we were the "hosts" .....this is going to be tough one. UE looked good against Ohio.

Wonder how deep UE went Sat. , BU played 9 guys signifacant minutes each. Hopefully we will be well rested.

[bluedevils1]

This could be the team we will be playing on Friday, correct? I really want to, anyway. We match up well against them, especially when they play man-to-man. This will be a good test to see how we do against a middle of the pack team in a relatively tough environment.

[lightsout]

In my opinion Bradley will be playing Wichita St. Friday at 2:35 PM.

[jeffsu]

Wonder how deep UE went Sat. , BU played 9 guys signifacant minutes each. Hopefully we will be well rested.

Evansville on Saturday v Miami (OH)
Looks like they played 3 guys nearly the whole game (36, 38, 38 mins), and three more played 22, 26, and 28. SO really, 6 guys got almost all of the time. Two others got 3 and 9 minutes.

Starters played over 81% of the minutes, when you add Haarsma, their seemingly first-man-off-the-bench, its 94% of the minutes.


Bradley on Saturday v Loyola-Chicago
(replacing TB with TW since thats more accurate and fair for this comparison)
Our "starters" (McCain, Maniscalco, Dunson, TW, DC) played 68.5% of the minutes. We had four others off the "bench" that played 10, 12, 14, and 27 minutes.

[Grassman]

The ACE's are basically a 3 man band. Ely, Holsinger, and Garner.

[MacabreMob]

.. UE looked good against Ohio.

Are you sure about that?

[Majik45]

Well, if we win the game on Wednesday, I don't think we'll be playing Evansville again in the 4-5 game. Same thing with the Drake game on Saturday. If we go 2-0 the next week, then I think we end up playing WSU on Friday as long as they don't lay an egg against Ind. St. Wednesday.

[BUFAN]

I'm thinkin if we win this game we get NIT consideration...

[BradleyBrave]

I'm thinkin if we win this game we get NIT consideration...

No way. We're going to need to win out to Sunday of the MVC Tournament to get consideration, and even then it's a big stretch.

[Bradleyguy10]

No way. We're going to need to win out to Sunday of the MVC Tournament to get consideration, and even then it's a big stretch.

Yep...100% correct

if the MVC somehow gets 2 MVC bids into the NCAA then MAYBE we get it if we win out to sunday

if the MVC gets 1 bid then even if we win out to sunday...we will not be in the NIT

[Da Coach]

Since the NCAA has taken over the NIT, they use the same criteria for selecting the teams as they use for the NCAA tournament. And the assignment of home court has nothing to do with how well a team draws, it is based solely on who is the higher seeded team.

Last season, the lowest RPI to get an at-large spot in the NIT was Minnesota at #101. The next lowest was #92 (Cal), and the best RPI not to make the NCAA was Dayton at #32.

Here are the RPIs for the Valley teams as of this morning--
CU 48
IlSU 58
UNI 81
UE 85
BU 93
DU 128
WSU 145
SIU 159
MSU 195
InSU 207

None of the teams below Bradley appear to have a chance to improve their RPI enough to be in consideration for the NIT. And likewise, probably only CU has a good enough RPI, that if they win their last 2 and make it to the finals of the MVCT and lose, they are borderline for the NCAA as an at-large.
So IlSU, UNI, EU, and BU appear to be possibilities for NIT, but they would probably have to win their last 2, and win one or 2 in the MVCT. Realistically, IMO, only IlSU and CU appear to be real likely to make the NIT if they don't get into the NCAA.
Also, if UNI can hold on and win or share the MVC, the NIT does take all conference winners that don't get NCAA bids.
But some of this could still change in these last few games.
All Bradley (or any team) can do right now is keep winning.
Go Bradley.

[BUFAN]

Yep...100% correct

if the MVC somehow gets 2 MVC bids into the NCAA then MAYBE we get it if we win out to sunday

if the MVC gets 1 bid then even if we win out to sunday...we will not be in the NIT

Consideration means the NIT people contact the Bradley people about open dates for their bb facility. It does not mean they will allow them to participate. The NIT will give consideration to 60+ teams...

[Bradleyguy10]

what does that have to do with my post?

If we win out until sunday and only 1 team gets in the NCAA then we won't be in "consideration" if 2 teams make it somehow..then a big maybe of "consideration" comes up....

am I saying something wrong/stupid? I'm asking honestly not like a smart***

[Da Coach]

You might be right.

But the NCAA doesn't look at a conference and say they deserve 1 bid or 2 bids to the NCAA, or that they deserve 2 more to the NIT. They assess each team individually and independently, supposedly without consideration for which other teams in their conference got bids. Recall that in 2006, BU got into the NCAA while Missouri State, which finished above us and had a better RPI, did not. So according to the NCAA, the fact that 1 or teams make the NCAA should make no difference to Bradley's chance at the NIT.

It may have more to do with which teams we play in the MVC tournament. We want to play and beat the 3 teams with the best RPIs, to try to improve our resume. And the fact that we could play Evansville, ISU, and Creighton may play to Bradley's advantage. We don't want Wichita State to get into the 5th spot. Their lower RPI would hurt us a little. But regardless, Bradley can't worry about any of this, they have to keep winning.