BU soccer beats Oral Roberts 5-2

[Da Coach]

Bradley soccer beats Oral Roberts 5-2.
After 16 games in a row decided by 1 goal or less, Bradley finally wins one easily.
9 seniors played their last home game.

http://www.bradleybraves.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=25970&SPID=1513&DB_LANG=C&ATCLID=205325745&DB_OEM_ID=3400

The Braves stilll have 1 more scheduled game at Central Arkansas Saturday afternoon.

[stevebu91]

Lets say they win at Central Arkansas. Ya never know in soccer given the low scores and how a weird bounce can be devastating....Do they need to win one still in the MVC tourney to get an at large? Or are they pretty safe just with one more win at CA? any thoughts?

[tornado]

they have to win the MVC -- we may be ranked inside the Top 30 but at-large bids to non-BCS teams are rare

[Da Coach]

Bradley is #26 in the NCAA soccer RPI that was updated this morning (11/1)-

http://www.ncaa.com/rankings/soccer-men/d1

Creighton is now #1.
#26 puts Bradley in pretty good shape, but as is the factor in basketball that often determines at-large bids, much will depend on whether there will be upsets in conference tournaments. If teams above BU get upset in their conference tournaments, then the available at-large bids may shift to those teams, at the expense of good at-large teams like BU.

The NCAA soccer tournament is a 48-team event, and 22 slots are reserved for the automatic qualifiers of the 22 conferences below. Not all conferences have post-season tournaments, the Ivy League, Pac-10, and West Coast Conference award their automatic bid to the regular season winners.
There are 26 at large bids.
Here are the 22 conferences that receive automatic bids-
America East Conference
Atlantic Coast Conference
Atlantic Sun Conference
Atlantic 10 Conference
Big East Conference
Big South Conference
Big Ten Conference
Big West Conference
Colonial Athletic Association
Conference USA
Horizon League
Ivy Group
Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference
Mid-American Conference
Missouri Valley Conference
Mountain Pacific Sports Federation
Northeast Conference
Pacific-10 Conference
Patriot League
Southern Conference
The Summit League
West Coast Conference

The next highest MVC team in RPI after Bradley is Drake at #52, then Missouri State at #106, then Evansville at #138, then SIU-E at #143, so Bradley is in pretty good shape at #26, but they cannot afford a slipup in their final game at #187 Central Arkansas on Saturday.

[Braves4Life]

What if BU plays Drake in the MVC Tournament and loses (again)? That could put us in quite a pickle.

[Da Coach]

The most tenuous scenario would be one like you outlined- if neither BU or Creighton win the tournament, then of course Creighton would get an at large, but would there be enough room for the NCAA committee to give 2 at large bids to the MVC? I think it could happen if BU makes the final game, but if they get eliminated before the final, and Creighton gets upset, then I think we'd be in trouble.

[tornado]

....Creighton gets upset, then I think we'd be in trouble.

unless it is us who upset them...but..
did you see how many at-large bids last year went to a couple of the BCS conferences??

The 26 at-large bids went this way...

ACC got 4
Big East got 6
Big Ten got 4
Colonial 1
CUSA got 3
Ivy League 3
MPSF got 2 (Mountain Pacific Sports Federation - western schools that include New Mexico, Sac. State, Denver, Air Force, UNLV, San Jose, Bakersfield..)
MVC 1
Pac-10 got 1
Southern got 1

and the bigger conferences definitely proved they were deserving as..
ACC went 6-5
Big East was 7-7
Big Ten 8-5
CUSA & Ivy League both were 5-4
Pac-10 was 4-2
and of course Akron went 5-0

every other conference including the MVC were a combined 7-21..so I expect non-BCS at-large bids to be few again this year

[Braves4Life]

....every other conference including the MVC were a combined 7-21..so I expect non-BCS at-large bids to be few again this year

There is some very good soccer played in those top conferences. They are more deserving of those bids in sports like soccer than in basketball, IMO.

[TylerDurden]

BU won't have to win the MVC to get a bid. The soccer bids tend to go directly with the RPI. BU should comfortably be in the field.

[tornado]

Barry Hinson might beg to differ

[TylerDurden]

Barry Hinson doesn't know anything about soccer.

As long as BU's RPI remains around the top 30, they're in. That's been the M.O. of the soccer selection committee since they went to 48 teams.

The cut off this year should be around 43 for at-large bids, depending on conference tournaments.