Remember when...

[BradleyBrave]

The MVC used be considered one of the 'major' conferences in 'bubble watch', and we had our own conference section? Oh the glory days...

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/bubblewatch?id=104

Their UNI write-up is funny. They mention 3 sub-100 losses. I'd like them to show me the rest of the 'lock' or 'good side of the bubble' teams from the power leagues and who their losses are to. I'd also like them to cite the true road wins of those teams. ND and UConn are suddenly bubblicious, and I believe they have 3 true road wins between them.

[Bravesfan]

The MVC used be considered one of the 'major' conferences in 'bubble watch', and we had our own conference section? Oh the glory days...

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/bubblewatch?id=104

Their UNI write-up is funny. They mention 3 sub-100 losses. I'd like them to show me the rest of the 'lock' or 'good side of the bubble' teams from the power leagues and who their losses are to. I'd also like them to cite the true road wins of those teams. ND and UConn are suddenly bubblicious, and I believe they have 3 true road wins between them.

I don't get that at all! Notre Dame has one "fluky" win over a top 10 team. At least UConn is showing consistency by knocking off two top 10 teams within a week. But even they need to win at least 8 if not 9 conference games to be deserving of an at-large bid. And yes, they had some pretty ugly losses themselves!

But UNI and the rest of the mid-major nation are not allowed any bad losses because the college basketball "gestapo" says so! Never mind that they won the Valley going away. Never mind that it is hard to win 15 games in any conference. And never mind that they are still ranked, at least for now.

I guess none of that counts anymore. Ask Creighton last year!

[TheAsianSensation]

The explanation is clear: The Valley is obviously crap and the Big East is the best because ESPN says so. They don't cover the MVC nearly as much so they're irrelevant.

Remember, the selection committee has literally eliminated conference record from their criteria. They said each game is a part of the resume, and it doesn't matter if it was conference or not. All it matters is how good each individual team you play is.

Therefore, the toughness of winning a conference is literally worthless in their eyes. This is the one stupid thing the committee has done.

Another thing up for debate: Sure UConn has multiple great wins, and I won't argue them getting in this year (at this current rate). But part of the reason they have those wins is they get so many more opportunities for them than mid majors. I don't like the attitude of the media hounds have of "punishing the mid majors" for not having these wins when they don't get the same fair chance at them that the big boys do.

Their UNI write-up is funny. They mention 3 sub-100 losses. I'd like them to show me the rest of the 'lock' or 'good side of the bubble' teams from the power leagues and who their losses are to. I'd also like them to cite the true road wins of those teams. ND and UConn are suddenly bubblicious, and I believe they have 3 true road wins between them.

You'd be surprised, I think, but most bubble teams DON'T have 3 sub-100 losses:

SDSU 2
UConn 2
Cincy 0
Marq 2
ODU 1
UAB 1
URI 0
Siena 1
St Mary's 0
Dayton 1

I could go on and on (I randomly took this sample size, so I easily could be forgetting some)

[BradleyBrave]

You'd be surprised, I think, but most bubble teams DON'T have 3 sub-100 losses:

SDSU 2
UConn 2
Cincy 0
Marq 2
ODU 1
UAB 1
URI 0
Siena 1
St Mary's 0
Dayton 1

I could go on and on (I randomly took this sample size, so I easily could be forgetting some)

Ok...asked and answered. Now, what are their records against the Top 50? Top 100? I would go as far as to say UNI's is among the best in the country when it comes to that number.

[TheAsianSensation]

vs. Top 50
UNI 2-0
Okla St 3-5
VT 2-3
UTEP 1-1
Louisville 2-6
Illinois 4-6
GT 4-6
Cal 0-4
Fla 3-6
Marq 3-7
ODU 1-4
UAB 1-2
URI 2-4
Siena 0-4
SDSU 2-5
MissSt 1-4
Cincy 4-6
UConn 3-6
Char 3-7
UND 2-4

Notes on this: Notice only 2 oppurtunities. So is UNI's 2-0 as good as, say, UConn's 3-6? One more win, but 7 more oppurtunites? Do you punish UNI for that? On the other hand, if you think UNI's 2-0 is better, then does that mean UConn gets unfairly punished for a killer sked?


vs. Top 100
UNI 9-1
Okla St 4-7
VT 6-5
UTEP 5-4
Louisville 6-9
Illinois 6-8
GT 6-8
Cal 5-7
Fla 7-7
Marq 6-7
ODU 6-7
UAB 5-4
URI 6-6
Siena 3-5
SDSU 4-6
MissSt 5-4
Cincy 6-11
UConn 9-9
Char 4-8
UND 6-8

Now here is a distinct advantage you can't argue against.




For reference, this list is 20 teams deep, about 12 of which will get in.



Going back to the sub-100 question, only 4 teams even on the board have more than 2 sub-100 losses: Mississippi St, St Louis, W&M....and Wichita St.