Valley looking up a bit

[Bravesfan]

Don't look now, but the Valley has been on a bit of an upswing recently. Despite that horrible loss by Drake to Dartmouth yesterday, the Valley's overall record has improved to 67-41 (assuming Creighton wins tonight), and WSU and UNI have a few nice wins between them. WSU has beaten LSU and Virginia, while UNI has beaten Iowa St. and Indiana tonight. Nothing great, but still nice wins against some decent mid-level BCS competition. If they finish amongst the top 2 or 3 in the Valley, I'm sure they will get into the at-large discussion at the very least.

Now the Valley will still struggle to get two teams in the Big Dance this year, but at least most teams are now winning games they should be winning, and we now have at least a decent number of wins against the BCS contigent. Too bad we could not fare better against the Mountain West though, as that really hurts are standing. But throw BU's wins against USC, LMU and Detroit, and Evansville's win against Butler, and the Valley at least has some decent wins to hang their hats on this year. Let's see if this could lead to a second bid into the Big Dance.

[dogsrus]

Conferences don't get bids ......

[BRADLEY FAN 49]

Conferences don't get bids ......

Your living in a dream world if you don't think bcs conferences don't get there teams bids by just being in the right conference.

[TheAsianSensation]

I'm not sure UNI or Missouri St has done enough to really be in this short of 14-4 in MVC play. Wichita will carry the at-large flag this year for the time being.

Valley as a whole is doing a good job of rallying, but the damage is done. The numbers are nowhere near the past couple years, let alone 2006. @Wichita St is just about the only game that is going to offer anyone in this league a quality win chance at any point this season.

[LittleBrave]

I'm not sure UNI or Missouri St has done enough to really be in this short of 14-4 in MVC play. Wichita will carry the at-large flag this year for the time being.

Valley as a whole is doing a good job of rallying, but the damage is done. The numbers are nowhere near the past couple years, let alone 2006. @Wichita St is just about the only game that is going to offer anyone in this league a quality win chance at any point this season.

Agreed AsianSen. WSU has the best chance and realistically the ONLY chance of an At-Large UNLESS:
UNI, with a good fight vs. N. Mexico, defeats WSU twice and finishes 14-4 and has a good run in the Valley Tourney. The committee still remembers the run by UNI last season...I think. MSU has lost their opportunities to make noise by losing all 3 key road games. Even if they finish 14-4 in conference, I don't see them with a shot.

Wichita can be in good shape going 14-4 in conference, AND if they beat MSU or UNI at their place, with a max. of 3 road losses AND the all-important B'Busters win! And we all know that the Valley tourney has caused some teams who thought they'd be dancing to stumble in recent years.

Maximum of 2 Valley teams dancing in March.

I am happy the Valley is putting up a fight lately - seems that CU, BU, ISU (blue) and SIU even, are starting to find their identities over the past week or 2. WSU and UNI have played solid so far. You know what you're going to get from Missouri St. - practically unbeatable at home and deficient on the road.

[LittleBrave]

I may have a different view of who has the best chance of an At-Large berth from the Valley.
WSU just got 2 pieces of coal in their stocking last night, as their 2 most impressive wins don't look so impressive.
LSU lost at home to North Texas by 20!!
UVA lost at home to Seattle (4-10 record)

I believe UNI has a great opportunity before them tonight vs. N. Mexico.
A win would go a long way for them. If they were to finish 14-4 in the Valley, maybe they get consideration depending on B'Busters & Valley tourney.
They have 3 pretty good wins thus far: vs. Iowa St., @ TCU, vs. Indiana. (not GREAT teams, but good)
I don't see them winning tonight, but I think it will be within 10 pts.
Anyways, looking more and more like a 1-bid league again...even with the Valley getting better over the last 10 days.

[Bravesfan]

Conferences don't get bids ......

I never anything like that. I was just saying that there are two teams that may have played their way towards an at-large bid, providing they finish strong in the Valley, irregardless of how strong the conference is.

Remember, back in the mid-90's the Valley was no better than 12th to 15th in the RPI rankings, but for three straight years they received two bids through the right circumstances. In addition to that, I was just saying that the Valley is not quite as bad as it looked a couple of weeks ago. It should be good enough now to assure at least a couple of NIT bids as well.

[Bravesfan]

Your living in a dream world if you don't think bcs conferences don't get there teams bids by just being in the right conference.

That I agree with. Some of it has to do with politics, but most of it has to do with the fact that there are just many great opportunities for quality wins within these conferences.

Northwestern for example has played a pretty paltry non-conference schedule, but has shown that they are very good by the fact they beat just about everyone they should have beaten. Now they have plenty of opportunites for quality, resume building type wins during the Big Ten portion of their schedule. The Valley won't have those type of opportunites within the Valley portion of their schedule, unlike 2006 when we finished with six RPI top 50 teams. That makes all the difference in the world.

[LittleBrave]

UNI with the biggest win of the Valley this season!!
UNI 66 N. Mexico 60

UNI jumps to 9-3 now, looking strong heading into league play.
IMO, this puts them in good position, provided a B'Busters win, to return to the Big Dance. After losing to Iowa 2 weeks ago, looked like UNI may not even be a Top half team. Of course, they will be pulling for teams like N. Mexico, Indiana, TCU, and Iowa St. the rest of the way.

So here's what I think will need to happen now for each of our Top 3 in conference to have a shot at the NCAA tournament. Let's just set aside what happens in St. Louie for now.

WSU: Plain and simple - Win the Valley outright with a min. record of 14-4. A tie with UNI might give the upper-hand to UNI given UNI's better wins and their recent Sweet 16 run.
Road losses - max. of 3
B'Busters win (Home game)

UNI: Finish 14-4 in conf., with victory on road at either WSU or MSU, sweeping either of them.
Road losses - max. of 3
B'Busters win (Home game)

MSU: Not much of a chance other than winning the Valley reg. season with a 15-3 record at worst.
Road losses - max. of 3; win at UNI or at WSU for marquee win.
B'Busters win (Road game)

Just my viewpoint - fun to speculate.

[Bravesfan]

UNI with the biggest win of the Valley this season!!
UNI 66 N. Mexico 60

UNI jumps to 9-3 now, looking strong heading into league play.
IMO, this puts them in good position, provided a B'Busters win, to return to the Big Dance. After losing to Iowa 2 weeks ago, looked like UNI may not even be a Top half team. Of course, they will be pulling for teams like N. Mexico, Indiana, TCU, and Iowa St. the rest of the way.

So here's what I think will need to happen now for each of our Top 3 in conference to have a shot at the NCAA tournament. Let's just set aside what happens in St. Louie for now.

WSU: Plain and simple - Win the Valley outright with a min. record of 14-4. A tie with UNI might give the upper-hand to UNI given UNI's better wins and their recent Sweet 16 run.
Road losses - max. of 3
B'Busters win (Home game)

UNI: Finish 14-4 in conf., with victory on road at either WSU or MSU, sweeping either of them.
Road losses - max. of 3
B'Busters win (Home game)

MSU: Not much of a chance other than winning the Valley reg. season with a 15-3 record at worst.
Road losses - max. of 3; win at UNI or at WSU for marquee win.
B'Busters win (Road game)

Just my viewpoint - fun to speculate.

I couldn't agree more. As I said above, it doesn't matter how weak the rest of the conference is. If you have two teams with solid non-conference resumes, they both can earn bids just by taking care of business within the conference portion of the schedule.

Just another example of teams earning bids, not conferences.

[TheAsianSensation]

It's now UNI and WSU. Let us root for a 2-man breakaway in the standings. UNI is within shouting distance of the bubble now.

[Bravesfan]

It's now UNI and WSU. Let us root for a 2-man breakaway in the standings. UNI is within shouting distance of the bubble now.

Agreed. Except when they play us of course! I'd be happy with a home and home split between these two teams.