We'll Rise UP again!

[LittleBrave]

I think it just hit me today that WE ARE the MISSOURI VALLEY CHAMPIONS!!!
Didn't have much time to soak in with Arch Madness right on the heels of clinching the Sunday prior.

Sure, we'd all have loved to have given the nation a much better version of our Braves, the one who took control of the league by winning its last 10 of the regular season. Incredible focus by the guys (coaching staff) to keep that going, knowing that 1 game of slipping up could cost us the title.

This is undoubtedly a tough stretch - having to wait for so many conference tournaments to finish (some have yet to even start!) and await the announcement for the next game - to get that bad taste out of our mouths from Drake's nearly flawless game from guys who have been playing together for YEARS, wanting payback from losing the title - the one they wanted terribly that we stole from them. They were on a mission from the start of the weekend.

Now we get back to our mission - playing like we have for that incredible stretch of 12 games - accomplishing goals we only dreamed of at the start of conf. play...that we never imagined in the middle of the pack at the halfway point of the season!

Well done Coach Wardle and the great group of young men - you all have a LOT to be proud of! And so do WE as Braves fans!

.

I am pretty sure that when this season comes to a close, most of us would still rather have won the regular season after a 27-yr drought than to win another Arch madness title...
Hey! We'll get back to the Big Dance ladies & gents!
And Hey! We finished on TOP in the MVC!

That's what's keeping my chin up this week!

[Stryker]

Great post!

My goal for the year every year is always to finish the season with single digit losses. To me that is the best barometer of a good season. It means 20+ wins and usually more than a few over 20. Is winning 20 games great? Yes, but not as great when there are 12,13,14 losses to go along with it. Having single digit losses and 24,25,26 wins is great. Combined with a regular season title, this team accomplished a lot.

Also, it is hard to win 3 games in 3 days. How many other regular season conference champions win their conference tournament every year? I think the number is a lot smaller than most people would suspect. In the MVC, the regular season conference champion has only won Arch Madness the same year 8 times out of the last 21 years. That is a 38% win rate for the regular season champ in St. Louis. Wichita State, regular season champs 5 out of 6 seasons from 2011/12-2016/17 only won Arch Madness twice in those years.

Its exceptionally hard to win the regular season and earn the auto bid in St. Louis. Its just too bad the conference is weak enough that a 25-9 record and regular season champs isn't good enough to get an at-large bid.

Still, we have another post season game to look forward too, and Wardle has the program going in the right direction. All we can ask every year is that we are competitive and have a chance to win the regular season or nab the auto-bid in St. Louis.

[egib52]

[QUOTE=Stryker;n508654
Also, it is hard to win 3 games in 3 days. How many other regular season conference champions win their conference tournament every year? I think the number is a lot smaller than most people would suspect. In the MVC, the regular season conference champion has only won Arch Madness the same year 8 times out of the last 21 years. That is a 38% win rate for the regular season champ in St. Louis. Wichita State, regular season champs 5 out of 6 seasons from 2011/12-2016/17 only won Arch Madness twice in those years.
[/QUOTE]

On this note have you seen the WCC bracket? I found this very interesting. It definitely protects your higher seeds.


Screenshot_2023_03_01_083515.jpeg

[Tommy]

Wow, that is crazy! That makes it nearly impossible for the lower seeds.

[LittleBrave]

Wow, that is crazy! That makes it nearly impossible for the lower seeds.

Insane - never seen anything like that for a conf. with 12 or fewer teams! Not a fan!

[bradleyfan124]

Great post!

My goal for the year every year is always to finish the season with single digit losses. To me that is the best barometer of a good season. It means 20+ wins and usually more than a few over 20. Is winning 20 games great? Yes, but not as great when there are 12,13,14 losses to go along with it. Having single digit losses and 24,25,26 wins is great. Combined with a regular season title, this team accomplished a lot.

Also, it is hard to win 3 games in 3 days. How many other regular season conference champions win their conference tournament every year? I think the number is a lot smaller than most people would suspect. In the MVC, the regular season conference champion has only won Arch Madness the same year 8 times out of the last 21 years. That is a 38% win rate for the regular season champ in St. Louis. Wichita State, regular season champs 5 out of 6 seasons from 2011/12-2016/17 only won Arch Madness twice in those years.

Its exceptionally hard to win the regular season and earn the auto bid in St. Louis. Its just too bad the conference is weak enough that a 25-9 record and regular season champs isn't good enough to get an at-large bid.

Still, we have another post season game to look forward too, and Wardle has the program going in the right direction. All we can ask every year is that we are competitive and have a chance to win the regular season or nab the auto-bid in St. Louis.

A program is built up one step at a time. Doesn't happen over night. That is how Gonzaga and St. Mary's built their programs up. I see Wardle doing the same thing.We will be back next year and the year after. The ball is rolling now. We just need to keep it rolling

[pauly616]

On this note have you seen the WCC bracket? I found this very interesting. It definitely protects your higher seeds.


Screenshot_2023_03_01_083515.jpeg

That is nuts. 3 byes for the top 2 seeds. If by some miracle the last 4 teams make it to the semi they would be soooo out of gas. Way unbalanced.

[pauly616]

Also I see St. Marys got demolished by Gonzaga. Very similar to the braves whooping in St. Louis. Unlike the braves though they had a good non-conference season to back up their resume.

[Stryker]

Also I see St. Marys got demolished by Gonzaga. Very similar to the braves whooping in St. Louis. Unlike the braves though they had a good non-conference season to back up their resume.

Yep. With wins over ranked Gonzaga and San Diego State they gtot their signature wins. The loss to Gonzaga in their championship was also their only double digit loss on the season. St Mary's had close losses to good teams like Houston, which didn't hurt their metrics at all. Hopefully BU can have a similar type of season in the future.

[OhRotanes]

I remember reading somewhere that the WCC bracket looks like that to appease Gonzaga so they wouldn't leave the conference. Honestly, I don't know if that's true or not.

[egib52]

I remember reading somewhere that the WCC bracket looks like that to appease Gonzaga so they wouldn't leave the conference. Honestly, I don't know if that's true or not.

Honestly, that's what I assumed. It definitely benefits the WCC to keep them. If we had a Gonzaga in the MVC I would be ok with it because a rising tide lifts all ships. WSU did not have the staying power to be that kind of school, but Creighton might have been.

[Stryker]

Honestly, that's what I assumed. It definitely benefits the WCC to keep them. If we had a Gonzaga in the MVC I would be ok with it because a rising tide lifts all ships. WSU did not have the staying power to be that kind of school, but Creighton might have been.

I don't think Creighton could have risen as far as they have while staying in the MVC. The Big East gives them a lot more exposure with TV and really increased their recruiting. They were a strong program in the MVC for a long time but not a Top 25 contender like they have been about every other year since being in the Big East.

[Stryker]

That is nuts. 3 byes for the top 2 seeds. If by some miracle the last 4 teams make it to the semi they would be soooo out of gas. Way unbalanced.

I actually kind of like this in a way. Maybe it is a bit extreme, but it actually puts emphasis on the results of the regular season. How many times does the regular season champion miss the auto bid? In my post from 3/8 above you can see the MVC regular season champ has a 38% chance to secure the auto bid over the past 20 years. That is actually pretty low for the best team in the conference over a 2.5 month period. Maybe some teams don't want their conference champ to get the auto bid since they could end up with two teams in the NCAA tournament if the conference champ is strong enough for an at-large, but that is a pretty big gamble for a lot of small conferences.

Another question to ask is why actually give the 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, or 12th team or whatever in the conference a chance at getting the auto-bid? These teams did not perform in the regular season. And while they don't have much of a chance to win a conference tournament, they still have a chance. Just a few years ago Valparaiso was in the tournament championship game against Bradley and they had finished 10th in the conference that year with an 11-21 overall record. That Valparaiso team did not deserve and auto-bid, and thankfully BU won that game and secured it instead.

[Dubl R 1]

I actually kind of like this in a way. Maybe it is a bit extreme, but it actually puts emphasis on the results of the regular season. How many times does the regular season champion miss the auto bid? In my post from 3/8 above you can see the MVC regular season champ has a 38% chance to secure the auto bid over the past 20 years. That is actually pretty low for the best team in the conference over a 2.5 month period. Maybe some teams don't want their conference champ to get the auto bid since they could end up with two teams in the NCAA tournament if the conference champ is strong enough for an at-large, but that is a pretty big gamble for a lot of small conferences.

Another question to ask is why actually give the 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, or 12th team or whatever in the conference a chance at getting the auto-bid? These teams did not perform in the regular season. And while they don't have much of a chance to win a conference tournament, they still have a chance. Just a few years ago Valparaiso was in the tournament championship game against Bradley and they had finished 10th in the conference that year with an 11-21 overall record. That Valparaiso team did not deserve and auto-bid, and thankfully BU won that game and secured it instead.

It also keeps the top teams from having to face lower seeds at the end of the year just to destroy their NET ranking in time for selection sunday.

[Tommy]

I actually kind of like this in a way. Maybe it is a bit extreme, but it actually puts emphasis on the results of the regular season. How many times does the regular season champion miss the auto bid? In my post from 3/8 above you can see the MVC regular season champ has a 38% chance to secure the auto bid over the past 20 years. That is actually pretty low for the best team in the conference over a 2.5 month period. Maybe some teams don't want their conference champ to get the auto bid since they could end up with two teams in the NCAA tournament if the conference champ is strong enough for an at-large, but that is a pretty big gamble for a lot of small conferences.

Another question to ask is why actually give the 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, or 12th team or whatever in the conference a chance at getting the auto-bid? These teams did not perform in the regular season. And while they don't have much of a chance to win a conference tournament, they still have a chance. Just a few years ago Valparaiso was in the tournament championship game against Bradley and they had finished 10th in the conference that year with an 11-21 overall record. That Valparaiso team did not deserve and auto-bid, and thankfully BU won that game and secured it instead.

I agree. This method seems fair and puts a lot more emphasis on winning during the regular season.

Addendum: if the NCAA tournament just picked the conference champ and tournament champ from each conference, I wouldn't want it this way, but we all know that will never happen.