2 Bid Valley

[OhRotanes]

Maybe I'm getting ahead of myself here, but what do you think us and Drake would need to both get into the NCAA tournament? Just some information on both teams as of today:

Bradley

• 18-3 overall
• 9-1 conference record.
• 63 Net Ranking (Dated through 1/24 games)
• 80 Kenpom

Drake

• 18-2 overall
• 8-2 conference record.
• 64 Net ranking (Dated through 1/24 games)
• 73 Kenpom

I just think it would be a travesty if the Valley only got 1 bid and both teams had 5 or less losses. I'm guessing that both would need to be top 40 in Net rankings? It will also depend on bid stealers from other conference tournaments. I guess all I can say is to just keep winning.

[Tommy]

I think it would take 30 wins for a Valley team to make the NCAA without the automatic bid. Hope I’m wrong.

[Old-timer]

BU's only chance of getting to the NCAA is to win the MVC tournament. Even with all the wins, we just don't have the resume to get an at large bid...BU has no quad 1 wins, we played a weak non con schedule, and the only "good" win we have is over San Francisco and that isn't nearly enough to get us over the hump. If BU wins out and loses in the championship game of the MVC tourney...30-4... I think we will be a strong bubble team but still not a lock to get in. I think it stinks... but, as we all know, the Valley along with most mid major conferences don't get the respect that they often deserve.

[LittleBrave]

Bring back Bracketbusters weekend!!! That was awesome and helped some Valley teams in the mid 2000s bolster their resume and help them get into the big dance. Possibly was enough to get Bradley an at-large bid in 2006!

Unfortunately it expanded and those games didn’t mean much to mid majors. Keep it at like 36-48 total teams based on NET rankings.

[Mikovio]

BracketBusters came about after our Sweet 16, I think.

Winning out to the title game and losing a close one to 30-win Drake would be interesting for sure. The Valley is a top 10 NET conference but just doesn’t have elite teams. It wouldn’t surprise me either way.

[Da Coach]

BracketBusters came about after our Sweet 16, I think.

Winning out to the title game and losing a close one to 30-win Drake would be interesting for sure. The Valley is a top 10 NET conference but just doesn’t have elite teams. It wouldn’t surprise me either way.

Close. I had to look it up, but the initial ESPN Bracket Buster was in 2003 and the final one was in 2013. - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bracke...BracketBusters

The initial 2003 Bracket Buster involved just 18 teams. It was a financial success for ESPN and for the teams involved, and it quickly grew to over 100 teams. But in December, 2012, ESPN decided to discontinue it, and that the games scheduled for February, 2013, would be the last ones. Though ESPN never specified a reason, it was likely because the better teams with a higher likelihood of getting at-large bids began refusing to participate and thus the games no longer helped borderline teams improve their resumes. The teams that were less likely to get bids realized it was better to focus on their conference games and tournament.

[MacabreMob]

And the 2006 matchup didn't help us. I seem to recall Jim Les was quite disappointed in ESPN bringing in a mediocre Tennessee Tech team. Now... 2007 was a different story. We went out on national tv and stunned a really good VCU team on the road. But we still didn't get an NCAA that year - mostly thanks to a 30 point drubbing at Michigan State that Jay Bilas reminded everyone EVERY time ESPN mentioned Bradley on the bubble.

[Classof77]

I just don't see the Valley getting two bids. The power conferences won't allow it.

[LittleBrave]

And the 2006 matchup didn't help us. I seem to recall Jim Les was quite disappointed in ESPN bringing in a mediocre Tennessee Tech team. Now... 2007 was a different story. We went out on national tv and stunned a really good VCU team on the road. But we still didn't get an NCAA that year - mostly thanks to a 30 point drubbing at Michigan State that Jay Bilas reminded everyone EVERY time ESPN mentioned Bradley on the bubble.

I do think that game vs Tenn. Tech helped get us more wins - maybe not the deciding factor, but I think it helped b/c the Bracketbuster that season was good the Valley and really showed others how strong the Valley was. We got 4 teams in.

We played great at VCU in 2007 and that would have helped us get in but we didn't play well enough that season to get in, and losing to UNI at home in Feb. hurt our chances.

[LittleBrave]

Maybe just me, but I think if BU ends up with 6 total losses (and loses a close one in the Arch Madness Championship), they will get strong CONSIDERATION for At-Large. They would likely be in the Top 30 in the polls too. Indiana St. (from last year, despite having the lore and legend of Bird) is not really a school that is going to WOW the committee - I think Bradley is more "on the map", and I think Drake is the other school is well-recognized with their recent success, though they didn't show well in the NCAA tourney the last 2 seasons.

With that said, I think 6 total losses is darn good and will be very tough to pull off. My hope now is to finish 16-4 in conf. to win the league and keep playing better.

Not playing any Quad 1 opponents ultimately may kill our chances, and I can understand that rationale. It's a lot tougher these days for sure for mid-majors.

I think I'm in the majority of BU fans that NIT would be a disappointment this season, as this is a very special team with Duke/Darius returning and Zek transferring back - NCAA or bust, baybee.

[Ogre]

NCAA would rather have a 17-16 big10 team than a mid major with two bids.

[tomahawk chop]

I wish the Valley could get 2 bids but I see no way it is happening this season. We unfortunately do not have one great team in the Valley this season. Too bad we did not get the inside player that went to N.Dakota St. because he could have made us much better as a team.

[Stryker]

Concur with most. "Quality wins" are what get teams into the tournament now, and without them it just will not happen. Period.

[BUfan17]

There is a lot of negativity in this thread, but IMO the possibility of a two bid valley is very well alive at this point.

Quality wins matter but avoiding bad losses is just as important. ISUb missed the tourney last year because they lost two in a row to ISUr and SIU. That loss to ISUr was a Quad 4 loss, which without many Quad 1 wins is a resume killer. Last year also had 5 bid stealers which is way more than normal. ISUb was in the first four out and would have made it if not for all those bid steals.

So far all three of Bradley's losses are Quad 2 which are not bad. If we avoid any Quad 3/4 losses, maybe pick up one or two Quad 2 losses, and pick up our only other chance for a Quad 1 win at Drake we will be sitting in a great spot for an at large.

Yes the odds are stacked against mid majors, but the possibility is still there.

[Da Coach]

Looking at the field of 68 teams last year (2023-24), 36 of the teams had double-digit losses, and many of those were middle of the pack teams from the Power Conferences who got at-large bids. The Power conferences and the NCAA have cooked up the NET formula which heavily favors those teams, even with mediocre records that there are so few at-large bids available for mid-majors.

Last year, Indiana State, with a record of 28-6 was one of the NCAA's First Four Out. Their NET of 29 was, by far, the lowest of any team left out. - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024_N...all_tournament #Tournament_procedure

In fact, their NET was better than a bunch of teams that received at-large bids, like Virginia (NET 54), Northwestern (NET 53), Texas A&M (NET 45), Washington State (NET 44), TCU (NET 42), Colorado State (NET 36), Clemson (NET 35), Nevada (NET 34), Nebraska (NET 33), Miss. State (NET 31), and Texas (NET 30). So when their NET formula doesn't give the NCAA what they want, they invent new criteria.
At-large bids went to multiple schools who didn't have winning conference records, and even to schools with losing conference records like Mississippi State (8-10 in the SEC and 9th place).

And one other factor... sometimes bubble teams' fate will be dependent on how many "bid-stealers", who are otherwise unworthy of an at-large bid, get auto-bids by upsetting the favorites in conference tournaments. Indiana State was set to get an at-large bid last year, but lost out to a couple such "bid stealers on the final week of conference tournaments.