BracketBusters 2009

[TheAsianSensation]

It seems to have gotten really simple.

Beat ISU and you're the clear #2 in the Valley pecking order for road teams, and you're on the Deuce.

Lose to ISU and you're 3rd in the pecking order for Valley road teams and there won't be enough room and you're stuck playing a useless 100+ team with no TV.

[BUFAN]

I think the ISU game is huge, if we win we could get St. marys or Davidson, loose we get Wright St.

[Bravesfan]

I think the ISU game is huge, if we win we could get St. marys or Davidson, loose we get Wright St.

Good point. Maybe ISU losing was the best way to go after all!

[MacabreMob]

It seems to have gotten really simple.

Beat ISU and you're the clear #2 in the Valley pecking order for road teams, and you're on the Deuce.

Lose to ISU and you're 3rd in the pecking order for Valley road teams and there won't be enough room and you're stuck playing a useless 100+ team with no TV.

Very well said AS. I woulda updated RPI's and then made a prediction today, but I'm gonna wait til tomorrow after the MVC is done with their mid-week games. I'll try to update again Saturday, Sunday, and Sunday night. (Jerry Palm usually updates his RPI site Sunday evenings right after the last game)

[MacabreMob]

Updated after Thursday's games with RPI.

HOME TEAM
21 Siena
34 Davidson
49 St Mary's
72 Evansville
75 Creighton
82 Niagara
90 Fairfield
95 Nevada
101 Wright St
105 Drexel
110 UW Milwaukee
114 Drake
124 Portland St
126 Vermont
136 Rider
143 San Diego
150 UT-Martin
151 James Madison
152 UIC
153 Loyola
165 Long Beach St
167 Wichita St
170 E Kentucky
171 Idaho
173 New Mexico St
177 Boston
181 Murray St
184 Georgia So
188 Bowling Green
198 San Jose St
199 ODU
207 Kent
215 Ball St
220 Towson
223 UC-Santa Barbara
228 Valpo
229 Hawaii
237 Winthrop
241 W Michigan
243 Indiana St
255 Marist
261 William & Mary
264 UC-Davis
268 Cal Poly
270 UNC-Wilmington
272 Bucknell
276 Youngstown St
286 Central Michigan
297 Tennessee St
329 SEMO
337 E Michigan


ROAD TEAM
8 Butler
41 Utah St
48 Miami (Oh)
52 Northeastern
53 George Mason
62 Illinois St
65 VCU
66 Buffalo
68 Northern Iowa
79 UW Green Bay
81 Boise St
86 Bradley
92 Hofstra
103 North Dakota St
106 Cleveland St
108 Austin Peay
121 SIU
125 Akron
129 Ohio
135 Iona
149 Missouri St
160 Loyola (Md)
163 Morehead St
164 Gardner-Webb
174 Liberty
176 CS Fullerton
178 Pacific
179 Montana St
183 CS Northridge
186 Morgan St
196 Manhattan
202 Canisius
205 Louisiana Tech
213 UMBC
218 Jacksonville St
235 Deleware
242 UC-Riverside
250 UC-Irvine
251 Fresno St
253 Hartford
259 Tenn Tech
262 Appalachian St
265 S Dakota St
271 Detroit
281 E Illinois
283 Georgia St
295 Elon
309 Toledo
310 St Peter's
314 Fairleigh Dickinson
330 Northern Illinois

[TheAsianSensation]

The good news is I don't see anyone below Bradley's RPI who would warrant jumping over BU for a TV game.

Siena has an insane RPI. Think they're pushing hard for Butler to avoid any type of RPI damage? St Mary's is probably pushing too in order to get a resume win, but Utah St @ St Mary's makes so much sense right now.

So it's Butler/Davidson, Utah St/St Mary's. Northeastern leads the CAA and I think they go to Siena now ahead of UNI.

I'm stealing Mac's schtick and doing my projections:

Butler/Davidson - obvious
Utah St/St Mary's - obvious
Siena/Northeastern - N'eastern has better RPI than UNI
Buffalo/Creighton - unbelievably, Creighton is best available for home teams
MiamiOH/Fairfield - two teams fading fast, pair them together for 360 goodness
Northern Iowa/Niagara -ugh. 2nd place MAAC team.
George Mason/Nevada - they'll send a name program to play a name program. GMU has a bigger name and a better RPI than Bradley. This kills me.
VCU/Evansville - God I'd kill to be a BB home team this year. Evansville gets blessed
Bradley/Vermont - Bradley can't fall further than this. If it gets this far, they'll give us to a conference leader and Vermont is a class of their own in the A-East
Wisconsin-Green Bay/Drexel - irrelevant
Illinois St/Wisconsin-Milwaukee - it's funny because this would be ISU's signature non-con win right here.
North Dakota St/Portland St - west coast goodness
Boise St/Long Beach St - west coast goodness + conference leader

5 MVC teams. That's a lock - Creighton and Evansville simply have to be there as home teams since the pool is shallow, and there's no way they can leave out one of Bradley and ISU.

In this scenario I'd see a 11:00AM tip time on the Deuce.

[TheAsianSensation]

As an aside.....either the Valley leaders or the CAA leaders are going ito get absolutely hosed this year. Hosed.

[cpacmel]

Illinois St/Wisconsin-Milwaukee - it's funny because this would be ISU's signature non-con win right here.

TAS, not trying to flame here. Really enjoy your work and MM's too when it comes to projections.

ISU's non-signature win right now is Wright State 13-8 RPI 100.

Bradley's signature non-con win is ETSU is 13-5 RPI 132.

[TheAsianSensation]

TAS, not trying to flame here. Really enjoy your work and MM's too when it comes to projections.

ISU's non-signature win right now is Wright State 13-8 RPI 100.

Bradley's signature non-con win is ETSU is 13-5 RPI 132.

You don't need to remind us of our horrible non-con performance. We know it already

[MacabreMob]

Thanks TAS for your contributions. I enjoy seeing your projections. I don't claim to be right (and neither do you).... just making projections for fun. So let me throw some of mine out.

Davidson vs Butler ESPN2
St Mary's vs Utah St ESPN2
Siena vs Northeastern ESPN2
Evansville vs Miami (Oh) ESPNU
Creighton vs Wisconsin-Green Bay ESPNU
Niagara vs George Mason ESPNU
Fairfield vs VCU ESPNU
Nevada vs Northern Iowa ESPN2
Wright St vs Buffalo ESPNU
Drexel vs Bradley ESPN360
Wisconsin-Milwaukee vs Illinois St ESPN360
Drake vs Cleveland St
Portland St vs Boise St
Vermont vs Austin Peay ESPN2
Rider vs Hofstra
San Diego vs Missouri St
UT-Martin vs SIU
James Madison vs Iona
UIC vs Akron
Loyola vs Ohio
Long Beach St vs N Dakota St ESPN2

[TheAsianSensation]

I like yours better, except for the fact we only get 3 Valley teams on TV - gotta think Elgin can pull his strings to get another one or two

[Bradleyguy10]

TAS, not trying to flame here. Really enjoy your work and MM's too when it comes to projections.

ISU's non-signature win right now is Wright State 13-8 RPI 100.

Bradley's signature non-con win is ETSU is 13-5 RPI 132.

My thoughts exactly. The fact of the matter is ISU's rpi = 62 Bradley's rpi = 86

Can't take that away from you guys...you did get SOMETHING from that schedule...but it NEVER was a shot at an at large....but now we can't use that against you because it doesn't really matter anymore...no one in the valley really has a shot at that at this point

[SaintLouBrave22]

My thoughts exactly. The fact of the matter is ISU's rpi = 62 Bradley's rpi = 86

Can't take that away from you guys...you did get SOMETHING from that schedule...but it NEVER was a shot at an at large....but now we can't use that against you because it doesn't really matter anymore...no one in the valley really has a shot at that at this point

Losing 2 home games regardless of who you're playing AND losing to UMKC will hurt very bad too...especially losing to UMKC.

[MacabreMob]

Updated after Friday's games.

HOME TEAM
21 Siena
33 Davidson
49 St Mary's
73 Evansville
75 Creighton
82 Niagara
94 Fairfield
95 Nevada
102 Wright St
104 Drexel
112 UW Milwaukee
114 Drake
125 Portland St
128 Vermont
142 San Diego
150 UT-Martin
151 James Madison
152 Loyola
153 UIC
154 Rider
164 Long Beach St
168 Wichita St
170 E Kentucky
172 Idaho
174 New Mexico St
181 Murray St
182 Georgia So
183 Boston
187 Bowling Green
199 San Jose St
200 ODU
207 Valpo
209 Kent
218 Ball St
222 Towson
224 UC-Santa Barbara
230 Hawaii
236 Winthrop
239 W Michigan
242 Indiana St
251 Marist
260 William & Mary
263 UC-Davis
269 Cal Poly
270 Bucknell
271 UNC-Wilmington
276 Youngstown St
284 Central Michigan
296 Tennessee St
329 SEMO
336 E Michigan

ROAD TEAM
9 Butler
41 Utah St
48 Miami (Oh)
52 Northeastern
53 George Mason
61 Illinois St
65 VCU
67 Buffalo
68 Northern Iowa
79 UW Green Bay
80 Boise St
89 Bradley
91 Hofstra
103 North Dakota St
107 Cleveland St
108 Austin Peay
123 SIU
126 Akron
130 Ohio
135 Iona
145 Loyola (Md)
149 Missouri St
163 Gardner-Webb
165 Morehead St
175 Liberty
176 CS Fullerton
178 Pacific
180 Montana St
185 Morgan St
186 CS Northridge
196 Manhattan
202 Canisius
205 Louisiana Tech
214 UMBC
221 Jacksonville St
234 Deleware
240 UC-Riverside
249 UC-Irvine
252 Fresno St
254 Hartford
259 Tenn Tech
262 Appalachian St
264 S Dakota St
272 Detroit
280 E Illinois
283 Georgia St
295 Elon
308 St Peter's
310 Toledo
313 Fairleigh Dickinson
330 Northern Illinois

[MacabreMob]

Here's the scheduled games for the top 22 RPI Road and Home BracketBuster teams for this weekend prior to the announcement of the 13 tv games. A lot of teams are on the road.

HOME TEAM
21 Siena
33 Davidson 1-31 @ Samford
49 St Mary's 1-31 @ Portland
73 Evansville 1-31 SIU
75 Creighton 2-1 Mo St
82 Niagara 1-31 @ Manhattan
94 Fairfield
95 Nevada 1-31 @ Idaho
102 Wright St 1-31 @ Clev St
104 Drexel 1-31 @ Towson
112 UW Milwaukee 1-31 UIC
114 Drake 1-31 @ Wich St
125 Portland St 2-1 @ Mont St
128 Vermont 1-31 @ NH
142 San Diego 1-31 @ Gonz
150 UT-Martin 1-31 @ Murray St
151 James Madison 1-31 @ UNC-Wilm
152 Loyola 1-31 @ UW-GB
153 UIC 1-31 @ UW-Mil
154 Rider
164 Long Beach St 1-31 @ UC-Irv
168 Wichita St 1-31 Drake

ROAD TEAM
9 Butler
41 Utah St 1-31 @ Fresno St
48 Miami (Oh) 1-31 @ E Mich
52 Northeastern 1-31 Dele
53 George Mason 1-31 @ ODU
61 Illinois St 1-31 Bradley
65 VCU 1-31 @ Hofstra
67 Buffalo 1-31 Toledo
68 Northern Iowa 1-31 @ Indy St
79 UW Green Bay 1-31 Loyola
80 Boise St 2-1 @ Hou Baptist
89 Bradley 1-31 @ ISU
91 Hofstra 1-31 VCU
103 North Dakota St 1-31 IPFW
107 Cleveland St 1-31 Wright St
108 Austin Peay 1-31 @ Morehead St
123 SIU 1-31 @ Eville
126 Akron 1-31 C Mich
130 Ohio 1-31 @ Ball St
135 Iona 1-31 St Pete's
145 Loyola (Md)
149 Missouri St 2-1 @ Creihton