Jealous of other Exempt Tourneys for Valley Schools

[chitown fanatic]

I cant help but feel a little jealousy towards Wichita for capitalizing on their sweet 16 success more than we have. While Vegas was nice, Massachusetts was a complete letdown and beyond ridiculous how poorly it was organized, lack of TV, etc. I know there were whispers that "we'd be happy" with where we're going next year, but I'd sure like to here we're going somewhere like Wichita has lined up this year and in the years to come(puerto Rico for them next year)

[BradleyBrave]

I agree on the exempt tournaments. WSU has played in the Old Spice Classic, CBE Classic, and now the Maui Invitational, all with national coverage on 'the network'. We've gotten 2 cracks at the Illini and a trip to South Padre, but no tournaments with any real national coverage.

[TheAsianSensation]

To be fair, these aren't easy tourneys to crack into. Only one or two Valley schools a year get into a significant tournament, so if you're constantly picked to go 4th or 5th in your conference you won't get an invitation.

Of course, it could always be worse. We could be Illinois St and doing the tournaments they do.

[chitown fanatic]

I Know, but reading the comments from the tourney organizers about Wichita's great tradition and following made me laugh. They made a big deal about 300 people showing up last year when BU easily surpasses that number- heck, at Vegas last year, there were at least 500 people there, we had two charter flights alone and a helluva lot more tradition than Shucker basketball. Exposure to your program cant be understated. When you're forced to endure pay per view low quality streaming and an undesirable destination, you cant help but wonder if the effort is really being put in to land us in better tournaments. Wichita was 7th and then 2nd last year, so that really doesnt explain 4 straight marquee exempt tourneys from 2008-2011 and counting.

[real fan]

As soon as we start winning the Valley and being picked to win it we will get invited.

[bugregshu]

Of course, it could always be worse. We could be Illinois St and doing the tournaments they do.

I wouldn't be so quick to judge. Rumor has it that next year Illinois State may be participating in the tournament in Cancun, where U of I may also be playing.

[squirrelgotdead]

I Know, but reading the comments from the tourney organizers about Wichita's great tradition and following made me laugh. They made a big deal about 300 people showing up last year when BU easily surpasses that number- heck, at Vegas last year, there were at least 500 people there, we had two charter flights alone and a helluva lot more tradition than Shucker basketball. Exposure to your program cant be understated. When you're forced to endure pay per view low quality streaming and an undesirable destination, you cant help but wonder if the effort is really being put in to land us in better tournaments. Wichita was 7th and then 2nd last year, so that really doesnt explain 4 straight marquee exempt tourneys from 2008-2011 and counting.

Yes. But the biggest qualifier ESPN looks for is "competitive guarantee" in rounding out its fields. The Maui field is generally determined a year and a half in advance. When Wichita started playing in these events, they were not just some fly-by-night Sweet 16 team.

From 2003-06, they never finished outside the top 3 in the league, won the regular season MVC title and in the early going of 2007 were in the Top 10 in the polls following their 9-0 start. And though they bottomed out during their run of tourneys...they showed tremendous promise in getting back to the top.

You want credibility, you must earn it.

To compare Wichita to Bradley in that purview is laughable. I don't care that they may have had 1 or 2 random lower finishes. Consistently, they've been better.

[MacabreMob]

Is this where "we don't care what goes on at other programs"? Cause sometimes we care and sometimes we don't.

[BUfan14]

Is this where "we don't care what goes on at other programs"? Cause sometimes we care and sometimes we don't.

Hahaha this made me laugh. It is very true though.

[amckillip]

Is this where "we don't care what goes on at other programs"? Cause sometimes we care and sometimes we don't.

+1

[squirrelgotdead]

Is this where "we don't care what goes on at other programs"? Cause sometimes we care and sometimes we don't.

There is a difference between caring what goes on with other programs and caring about how your program does competitively vs. other programs.

I don't care how many fans Team X has, how many DUI's Team X has, how many cupcakes Team X has. I do care my team finishes ahead of Team X. And if another program in our league is getting competitive benefits we're not because of incompetence.

[dogsrus]

There is a difference between caring what goes on with other programs and caring about how your program does competitively vs. other programs.

I don't care how many fans Team X has, how many DUI's Team X has, how many cupcakes Team X has. I do care my team finishes ahead of Team X. And if another program in our league is getting competitive benefits we're not because of incompetence.

+1....(don't forget speeding tickets too)

[amckillip]

I don't care how many fans Team X has, how many DUI's Team X has, how many cupcakes Team X has. I do care my team finishes ahead of Team X.

You don't think how your program is run in regards to DUIs, attendance, and schedule is important? How can you even say that? Everything, EVERYTHING is relative. If Bradley cheated, recruited thugs, let players get DUI's and didn't care about attendance then we could probably do better, but it's about a lot more than that. To understand why BU basketball is so great, you have to have something to relate it to. ILSU's win record may look gaudy at times, but they're cupcakes, part of SIU's problem now is they let their recruiting standards drop, and to understand what BU is up against recruiting you have to hear the tactics the big guys use. If you really can live in a bubble and pretend none of that affects BU or matters, great, everything will appear much simpler, but many of us believe there is a much bigger picture and there is more that affects BU's success than BU alone. So, I do care about what other teams do.

[MacabreMob]

... I don't care how many fans Team X has, how many DUI's Team X has, how many cupcakes Team X has. I do care my team finishes ahead of Team X.

And a lot of that is driven by what I call "tornado-hate".

We could win the MVC undefeated, sweep in St Louis, get a #9 seed, lose first round in the NCAA - all while building up 30+ wins on cupcakes, having fewer fans, marred with multiple DUI's... AND THEN we'd hear how teams didn't finish as well as we did BUT they had a tougher schedule, had more fans, and no DUI's.



It's endless.

All that and the "tornado-hate"

[dogsrus]

You don't think how your program is run in regards to DUIs, attendance, and schedule is important? How can you even say that? Everything, EVERYTHING is relative. If Bradley cheated, recruited thugs, let players get DUI's and didn't care about attendance then we could probably do better, but it's about a lot more than that. To understand why BU basketball is so great, you have to have something to relate it to. ILSU's win record may look gaudy at times, but they're cupcakes, part of SIU's problem now is they let their recruiting standards drop, and to understand what BU is up against recruiting you have to hear the tactics the big guys use. If you really can live in a bubble and pretend none of that affects BU or matters, great, everything will appear much simpler, but many of us believe there is a much bigger picture and there is more that affects BU's success than BU alone. So, I do care about what other teams do.

BU HAS cheated, recruited a few that turned out to be thugs and have had players that drank underage over the years. Those are just the facts.....I think thats why MANY don't want to here about speeding tickets at ISU and drinking problems at SIU.

I don't think ISU, SIU, BU or ANY Valley team intentionally recruits lawbreakers, drunks or trouble makers. But kids do things and get in trouble. BU isn't immune to this stuff and over the years has had some problems.

Personally I don't believe for a moment that ANY Valley University has a competitive advantage or has gained a competitive advantage over BU due to the recruitment of thugs and by "allowing players to get DUI's" ( not even sure how an school allows a player to get a DUI).....over the years.

Like Squirrel said.....you want to talk on-the-court performance thats fine but if we have to say BU good ISU bad becuase they have more parking ticket scoflaws...MEH.....don't care.