ESPN: Bradley is 101st Most Prestigious BBall Program

[Stryker]

And our 1 bid last year was kind of breaking the norm for us. Usually we get at least 2 in. Usually the runner up in the tournament is strong-enough for an at large bid, but well, with ISU...I think we all saw what happened with them.

[dogsrus]

And our 1 bid last year was kind of breaking the norm for us. Usually we get at least 2 in. Usually the runner up in the tournament is strong-enough for an at large bid, but well, with ISU...I think we all saw what happened with them.

Yes...so SOME times its OK we only get one team in.

[dogsrus]

I'm just glad we have something to be riled up about during the summer. Makes it pass a bit quicker. Anyway, I've enjoyed the back and forth ETSUfan1... And you're right not to back down. A lot of the fans on this board have a big chip on their shoulder about the "power/BCS conferences" and bristle whenever fans from one of those teams "talk down" at us (which, btw, is certainly some of what we've been doing on here to ETSU).

I expect BU to destroy ETSU when they come to town, but anything can happen in a given game, and I'm not one to tempt the basketball gods with a whole bunch of hubris. Direct comparisons between the history, league, roster, whatever between BU and ETSU would give an "edge" to BU, but who cares? We should all love and root for our teams... And if I was an ETSU guy and read some of what's been said here, I'd stick up for my own too. So for what it's worth, I hope you: enjoy the game, have a nice stay in Peoria if you come up, and end up sorely disappointed after a major defeat.

Well said.....and remember ETSU fan......dogsrus did NO trash talking so when Hector walks by you at the Civic Center and bellows "'COLD BEER HERE"....and I mean BELLOWS....kindly say. "I'll have TWO sir, one for me and another for that tall handsome man leaning against the concourse wall.

[Missouri Brave]

This ranking is absolutely absurd...how many of the schools on the list have had a guy who was NATIONAL player of the year in the past 25 years...I'd put at at/near the Top 50, no question.

[Bravesfan]

It's simply because playing in the weaker conferences with weak SOS's have allowed for them to avoid losing seasons, rack up 20+ win seasons, and conference championships.

I do not mean to offend any ETSU fans, or diss their team. They will be pretty good this year, and the game at Bradley will not be an easy one. But there is no way by comparing the tradition and history of the 2 schools that anyone would rank ETSU ahead of Bradley, except by the silly contrived manner that ESPN did it which completely ignores who the teams play, and the strengths of schedules and conferences.

Well, once again, this is ESPN's way of further devaluing the RPI and SOS. Of course if the ACC finishes at the top of the conference RPI standings, these same pinheads will be demanding that 11 or 12 teams out of the ACC make the NCAA tourney.

And this even after Bradley gave Virginia a tongue lashing at the CBI this year!

[TheAsianSensation]

this blogger has found the fatal flaw...
we might call it the ETSU-flaw where teams from horribly weak conferences
get disproportionately higher ranking due to the wins they get against laughably soft competition!

This blogger is going to re-do the rankings with this particular flaw weeded out, so let's see where BU comes in now...
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/4...on-and-outline

This blogger's scoring system looks worse. Of course you have to have multiple factors - you just can't use the tournament as your baseline.

[Da Coach]

Part II now posted. This blogger put in a lot of time and effort on this, and I agree that it is a little more realistic than the ESPN ranking. He considers only teams' performances in the post-season NCAA tournament which eliminates the bias ESPN's method had toward teams in weak conferences or who played weak schedules. It still does not go back enough years to benefit teams like Bradley who had much of their success before 1985.
I am sure there will still be disagreements. My biggest gripe with the ESPN method was that it gave the same weight to a win over a weak NAIA team as it did for a win over Kansas or North Carolina.

Part II--

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/48994-the-real-prestige-rankings-part-ii

Methods--

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/48712-the-real-prestige-rankings-introduction-and-outline