St. Louis Post writer says ISU "deserves a spot in NCAA tournament"

[RedbirdFan21]

Hey, I don't see Jank's situation as much different from where Chris Lowery was after his first couple years.
He had a couple really good years right off the bat, but can he keep it up after he has to replace all those players?
Some of the coaches on that list had major player defections, which may account for the early lean years.

While there are still many defections (graduates) to come in the near future for Jank, the three players (besides Holtz) that we are graduating are all Jank's recruits (Holloway, Sampay and Champ). He has already shown he can bring in the talent to replace the talent porter brought in (Boo, Slack, Dom). While Jank will have a hell of a time replacing O and even Dinma, he has already shown the ability to off-set the loss of porter's recruits graduating... with the above mentioned recruits... those were juco's and transfers. Now we get to see the high school recruits he has got in action next year...

[Beninator]

cpacmel, that is the overall SOS, and the reason it looks close is because the 12 teams play essentially the same conference schedules (except BU plays ISU, and ISU plays BU twice), and in a good conference like the MVC, those games draw everyone closer in overall SOS.

The real fair comparison is looking at the non-conference Strength of Schedule, where there is a huge difference--

Here is Ken Pomeroy's site for 2008-2009. The non-conference SOS is in the far right column--

http://www.kenpom.com/conf.php?y=2009&c=MVC

BU= 177 (the lowest it's been for many years for BU)
ISU= 272- 2nd worst in the MVC

Here is last year's (2007-2008 )-

http://www.kenpom.com/conf.php?y=2008&c=MVC

BU= 89
ISU= 142

Here is 2006-2007-

http://www.kenpom.com/conf.php?y=2007&c=MVC

BU= 42
ISU= 236


And 2005-2006-

http://www.kenpom.com/conf.php?y=2006&c=MVC

BU= 74
ISU= 291

In fact, you have to go all the way back to 2003-2004 to find the last season where ISU had a better non-conference SOS than Bradley. Every year since then it hasn't been close.

Nice post DC I agree 1000%... Seth Davis also lists the importance of non-conference sos in a January article that I just found.

He even mentioned ISU

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/writers/seth_davis/01/14/mailbag/

[Rusty 54]

I think the main difference in schedules for BU and isu was BU's opportunity to get "signature" wins. If our resume had ended up better a win on the road over Michigan State or Florida, or at home against Butler would have looked real good in the eyes of the selection committee IMO. We had the opportunity, though we didn't capitalize. Wright State just doesnt have the same ring to it

[MacabreMob]

I just want to voice my opinion.

1) Creighton will not be in the NCAA

2) ISU will not be in the NCAA

I'm not basing my opinion to flame anyone and I am not stating my opinion to flame anyone. It's just how I see it.

Now... if Davidson and/or Northwestern get At-Large bids and ISU and/or Creighton don't.... better look out... I'll be blowing up my tv, computer... anything in site as that would be flat out BS!

[SFP]

Why do you guys insist on mentioning the injury thing? I know Warren is darn good and was undoubtedly a big loss and Egolf had 1-2 good games. We didn't have Bobby Hill who was a penciled in starter before his knee injury. I think he would have made a big difference for ISU. Alex Rubin who is a key reserve missed 10 games or so due to surgery.

What's the point? Both teams had all season to adjust to losing a starter to injury. One team seemed to adjust a little better than the other. All teams deal with injury or illness or whatever. Why the caveat?

In reality the Warren injury could be a blessing for you guys. He red-shirted, will assumably be 100% next year and other returning players got valuable minutes that they wouldn't have gotten if Warren was playing.

The AW injury would be like you guys playing without Osiris, that is why! I also believe you are right that the RS is a blessing because even with him, it would have been tough to win the MVC and our likelihood of doing something in the NCAA remote, but in 2 years with AW I expect BU to be very special!

[Bravesfan]

Might be awhile before that statement is in any newspaper.

Wait till next year!

[real fan]

Lunardi has Creighton as one of the last 4 left out and this is before any upsets that may happen later on this week, ISU is not mentioned.

[Bravesfan]

Lunardi has Creighton as one of the last 4 left out and this is before any upsets that may happen later on this week, ISU is not mentioned.

He's way off base on this one. I don't know if he's trying to cover his behind after predicting ISU in last year, but again, how can you keep a team out based on one game, especially since Creighton has done more than enough to deserve a bid?

As I have stated already on other threads, ISU did not have any top 50 wins last year (0-3 against Drake), and finished in second place. Creighton this year is 3-2 against the top 50 and finished tied for first.

Sounds like good credentials to me!

[real fan]

They got blitzed in the semifinals by ISU , they held that against ISU last season and they lost in the finals.

[2bradleyfans]

Creighton still has a ligitamit chance of getting an at large (they are on the bubble).

Although I think despite whatever the rules are, the commitee looks at "what have you done lately" and CU looked bad in St. Lou.

ISU (rather OE) looked like an NCAA team in St. Lou but didn't have the resume for an at large.

ISU has no one to blame but themselves. Had ISU just one good signature non-con win and they might be a "bubble" team.

[pfunk880]

I would hate to see a team like ISU and especially Creighton get shafted by the likes of a South Carolina who has a 1-5 record against the top 50, or a Kentucky who while decent is not an NCAA caliber team in my opinion. What the fascination is regarding South Carolina by the media is beyond me, but they stick out like a sore thumb as an "ultimate" bubble team who really has no business in the tournament. If the committee does their job, a team like that will not be chosen, but as usual Selection Sunday ought to be fascinating in either a good way or a bad way!

Well, there's a poster on another board I frequent that claims Auburn's win over LSU should be enough to get them in...

[RedbirdFan21]

Creighton still has a ligitamit chance of getting an at large (they are on the bubble).

Although I think despite whatever the rules are, the commitee looks at "what have you done lately" and CU looked bad in St. Lou.

ISU (rather OE) looked like an NCAA team in St. Lou but didn't have the resume for an at large.

ISU has no one to blame but themselves. Had ISU just one good signature non-con win and they might be a "bubble" team.

While I don't necessarily disagree that one signature win would have helped get them on the bubble, I think the 2 InSU losses hurt worse then any signature win would have helped...

Don't lose to InSU, and beat UNI once... I think we are squarly on the bubble (but probably on the wrong side of the bubble based on last years results)

[ER3]

He's way off base on this one. I don't know if he's trying to cover his behind after predicting ISU in last year, but again, how can you keep a team out based on one game, especially since Creighton has done more than enough to deserve a bid?

As I have stated already on other threads, ISU did not have any top 50 wins last year (0-3 against Drake), and finished in second place. Creighton this year is 3-2 against the top 50 and finished tied for first.

Sounds like good credentials to me!

Creighton won't be in the NCAA Tourney this year. I know that you can come up with a stat here or a figure there that says they SHOULD be in...but I just think when it comes down to Selection Sunday, they aren't going to get the call.

Their RPI won't be overly impressive...(I'm thinking it will be in the somewhere in the low 40s by the time all of the BCS conferences are done with their tourneys...)
They have one really quality win (over Dayton)...but since that is another non-BCS team, the selection committee won't give that as much weight as they would have if the win would have been over a "name" team like UCLA, Purdue, Syracuse, etc...
In their last chance to make a favorable impression on the committee, they got absolutely embarrassed by ISU. Then, ISU turns around and loses the next game...so it's not even a situation where you can say that they simply ran into a red-hot team that was on a mission to win the Valley Tourney and wasn't going to be denied.
They have a good record and an OK resume...but being Co-Champs of the Valley this year simply doesn't carry the same clout as it would have in previous years...
They'll be considered, but I'd be very surprised if they got an at-large bid this year...Mid majors, as a whole, just didn't seem to do enough to stand out this year, I think...and that hurts Creighton by association.

[Bravesfan]

Creighton won't be in the NCAA Tourney this year. I know that you can come up with a stat here or a figure there that says they SHOULD be in...but I just think when it comes down to Selection Sunday, they aren't going to get the call.

Their RPI won't be overly impressive...(I'm thinking it will be in the somewhere in the low 40s by the time all of the BCS conferences are done with their tourneys...)
They have one really quality win (over Dayton)...but since that is another non-BCS team, the selection committee won't give that as much weight as they would have if the win would have been over a "name" team like UCLA, Purdue, Syracuse, etc...
In their last chance to make a favorable impression on the committee, they got absolutely embarrassed by ISU. Then, ISU turns around and loses the next game...so it's not even a situation where you can say that they simply ran into a red-hot team that was on a mission to win the Valley Tourney and wasn't going to be denied.
They have a good record and an OK resume...but being Co-Champs of the Valley this year simply doesn't carry the same clout as it would have in previous years...
They'll be considered, but I'd be very surprised if they got an at-large bid this year...Mid majors, as a whole, just didn't seem to do enough to stand out this year, I think...and that hurts Creighton by association.

Agreed on all counts except their association with the Valley. I thought "teams earn bids, not conferences".

Second, if Creighton does not make it, then fine, but I don't want to see them out at the expense of teams like South Carolina or Kentucky. If they get in ahead of Creighton based on their respective lousy 1-5 & 4-6 top 50 records, I will be seriously ticked off!

[southpaw nothin]

If ISU had won, it would've opened up a 3-bid scenario.