Bracketbuster

[HC]

Looks like it should be a good one!
http://espn.go.com/blog/collegebasketballnation/post/_/id/67149/3-point-shot-scoping-out-bracketbusters

[MattCarter]

So using that article and logic... we have 2 likely opponents.  Illinois State or Ohio U.  I don't think they'd give us Kent State or Detroit, but then again it would be fun to beat them 4 times this year!

[vu72]

Certainly not Detroit as I'm pretty sure there is a prohibition against playing teams from your own conference.  Illinois State would be good as we play at Missouri State and two wins against Missouri Valley teams would certainly help the resume.

[valpotx]

Illinois State would be a good game to get, so that we can show Alec Peters he made the correct choice  .

Interesting to note that Bryce is probably loving his decision to turn down Mississippi State.  He has a solid team, good recruits coming in, and it sounds like the Bulldogs are having a lot of trouble just fielding a team right now (#3 on that link).

[EddieCabot]

So using that article and logic... we have 2 likely opponents.  Illinois State or Ohio U.  I don't think they'd give us Kent State or Detroit, but then again it would be fun to beat them 4 times this year!

Why not Creighton?  They will likely be the best road team in Bracketbuster and would seem to be a good matchup.  That would be the marquee BB game and could really bolster Valpo's at-large resume.

[vubballfan10]

Playing Creighton would give Rowdy an opportunity to guard a player with NBA level talent, Doug McDermott.  McDermott does play the 4 at Creighton, right?

[MattCarter]

So using that article and logic... we have 2 likely opponents.  Illinois State or Ohio U.  I don't think they'd give us Kent State or Detroit, but then again it would be fun to beat them 4 times this year!

Why not Creighton?  They will likely be the best road team in Bracketbuster and would seem to be a good matchup.  That would be the marquee BB game and could really bolster Valpo's at-large resume.

Wasn't mentioned in the article as a possible opponent...that is why I didn't bring them up.

[Smj]

How about they quit having the #!&$@ bracket buster.   Takes a team away from focusing on their own tourament.  Didn't we have to travel right before our tournament?

[valporun]

I don't mind the Bracketbuster games, but it's way too early to focus on opponents for that. Right now, the Bracketbuster talk is about as good as Lunardi's Bracketology predictions. What sample size do any teams have to talk about who they should play in February when we're two weeks into the season, and some teams barely played two games, based on their scheduled opponents?

[LaPorteAveApostle]

Right now, the Bracketbuster talk is about as good as Lunardi's Bracketology predictions.

+1

[historyman]

How about they quit having the #!&$@ bracket buster.   Takes a team away from focusing on their own tourament.  Didn't we have to travel right before our tournament?

Suddenly you get your wish. No bracketbuster after this season's February 2013 games.

[talksalot]

ok, 6-weeks before the pairings are announced... using the Sagarin's through games of 12/20...

Top 12 "Home teams"              Top 12 "Visiting teams"
Wichita State - 19                  Creighton 13
Belmont - 25                          Illinois St 34
Murray State - 41                   Canisius 44
St. Marys (CA) - 51                 No. Dakota St  56
UIC - 52                                SFAustin  58
Akron - 65                             Bradley 83
Davidson - 103                       Weber State 87
Valpo - 108                            Detroit 90
Western Ill - 110                     Ohio 92
Utah State - 111                    Loyola (MD) 95
Oral Roberts - 113                  Northwestern State 101
Northern Iowa - 117               Gardner-Webb 120

The bottom 3
Liberty 334                  Missouri State 341
Nebr-Omaha - 335        Citadel 342
Presbyterian - 347        Longwood 344

Valpo History in the 'buster:

School          Year           W / L         score     Game 1 or 2    Home/Away
Butler                2004-05   Loss          72-69     1                      away
Niagara           2005-06   Win          88-82     1                      home
Western Mich   2006-07   Loss (ot)   89-80     1                      away
Niagara           2006-07   Win          70-58     2                      away
Butler            2006-07   Loss          60-47     2                      home
Miami (OH)           2007-08   Win (2ot)  99-94     1                      home
Western Mich   2007-08   Win         77-65     2                      home
Akron                   2008-09   Win         74-66     1                      home
Miami (OH)           2008-09   Loss         62-50     2                      away
Bowling Green   2009-10   Loss         87-70     1                      away
Akron                   2009-10   Loss         77-57     2                      away
Missouri State   2010-11   Win         80-67     1                      home
Loyola - Marymt   2011-12   Loss         61-53     1                      away
Bowling Green   2011-12   Win         82-79     2                      home
Missouri State   2012-13   Win         62-54     2                      away
Loyola - Marymt   2013-14                                      home

A win over Murray State and UIC might move us up to the Illinois State category... One of those wins, might get us Bradley... otherwise, Ohio or lower... if the announcement was coming out that early.

[mvandersee]

Bracketbusters will be announced Jan 28th, so by my count that gives us 9 more games (including tough road matchups at Murray St, UIC, and Detroit) to improve our rankings, so we can draw the best matchup possible. Personally I would like to see us up against a Valley team, preferably Illinois St. After watching them beat Dayton a couple of nights ago they look like a solid team and would give us a tough game in the ARC

[LaPorteAveApostle]

thanks for the legwork, talks.

does anyone know what their "formula" for the matchups is?  obviously they eschew repeats of conference matchups and rematches of non-con; they also try to match like vs. like.

but are there other criteria--at least that are public?

[bbtds]

does anyone know what their "formula" for the matchups is?  obviously they eschew repeats of conference matchups and rematches of non-con; they also try to match like vs. like.

but are there other criteria--at least that are public?

Whatever match-ups look good on TV (evenly matched, close contests) and they try to keep the traveling cost to a minimum. That's about it.

[DMvalpo18]

does anyone know what their "formula" for the matchups is?  obviously they eschew repeats of conference matchups and rematches of non-con; they also try to match like vs. like.

but are there other criteria--at least that are public?

Whatever match-ups look good on TV (evenly matched, close contests) and they try to keep the traveling cost to a minimum. That's about it.

Valpo played at Loyola Marymount last year, which is near Los Angeles. I don't see that as an austere way to schedule if they take that criterion seriously.

[bbtds]

does anyone know what their "formula" for the matchups is?  obviously they eschew repeats of conference matchups and rematches of non-con; they also try to match like vs. like.

but are there other criteria--at least that are public?

Whatever match-ups look good on TV (evenly matched, close contests) and they try to keep the traveling cost to a minimum. That's about it.

Valpo played at Loyola Marymount last year, which is near Los Angeles. I don't see that as an austere way to schedule if they take that criterion seriously.

That is true. On the other hand if you look at most of Valpo's other bracketbuster opponents they were fairly close.

Butler, Niagara, Western Michigan, Miami (OH), Akron, Bowling Green and Missouri State have been Valpo's other bracketbuster opponents. Somebody at ESPN must have thought it was Valpo's turn for a longer trip.

I think that since home and away are decided by alternating the home games with away games ESPN can't get a perfect geographic fit for every team each year.

[LaPorteAveApostle]

Ah, to be on a board where people use the correct singular of criteria and drop words like austere.


I say someone looks into the magic 8 ball and picks a "most likely to be our opponent this week" until they actually announce it. 


that'd be more fun than watching the Peregrines, or the Penguins, or Pereguins, whatever these mini-school mascots are.

say "Ohio", but I wish it were "Bradley".

[agibson]

I don't know that they have any published "rules" about the pairings.  For the TV games they don't seem to care too much about travel.  For the non-TV matchups, they do seem to respect travel distances much of the time - but there have obviously been exceptions.  They seem to avoid, maybe even prohibit, conference match-ups.  Not sure how they feel about re-matches from the same season, but they're rare at best. 

Many years, the match-ups are almost exactly according to RPI.  The last three years the guys at the VCU fan site did a very nice job of tracking the likely match-ups.

http://www.vcuramnation.com/forums/forums/

But, I don't see anything this year.  Odd.  Maybe it'll show up soon.

Here's a glimpse of last year's thread
http://www.vcuramnation.com/forums/threads/bracket-buster-2012-final-01-30-12-do-not-post-here.7481/

[bbtds]

The bracketbuster has run it's course. Let's hope Valpo gets a nice match-up they can win and then let's see what ESPN dreams up for next year. I certainly think the Horizon League will be heavily involved in whatever ESPN comes up with.

[valporun]

bbtds, I'm not sure if the VCU guys will do anything with the Bracketbuster because I don't believe the A-10 plays in the Bracketbuster, so they would have no interest in it this year.

[bbtds]

I agree. Maybe ESPN will be matching up conferences next year.

[talksalot]

Updating the 12/21 posting... here are the top Home and Visiting teams based on this morning (1/9) Sagarin...Valpo is up to the #7 rated Home Team....

Home Team   RANK   CONF - H              Visiting Team   RANK-A   CONF-A
Wichita State   15   Miss val      Creighton   11   Miss val
Belmont   27   ohio val              North Dakota State   47   summit
Akron   55   mid am                      Stephen F. Austin   54   southland
St. Mary's (Calif.)   61   West Cst      Illinois State   75   Miss val
Murray State   67   ohio val      Weber State   81   big sky
Indiana State   79   Miss val      Canisius   83   metro Ath
Valparaiso   89   horiz                      Detroit   90   horiz
Utah State   93   WAC                      Ohio   92   mid am
Northern Iowa   98   Miss val      Bradley   96   Miss val
Davidson   104   southern              Iona   103   metro Ath
UIC   110   horiz                              Northwestern State   107   southland
College of Charleston   111   southern   Denver   108   WAC
Fairfield   114   metro Ath              Cal State Fullerton   117   big west
Youngstown State   115   horiz      Kent State   123   mid am
Loyola (Ill.)   116   horiz                      Loyola (Md.)   128   metro Ath

I know this isn't the real list they use...but for conversation's sake  (I have not looked at schedules to see what teams have played each other):

ND State goes to Wichita State
Creighton goes to Belmont
SFAustin goes to Utah State
Illinois State goes to Akron
Weber State goes to St. Marys
Detroit goes to Indiana State
Bradley goes to Valpo
Ohio goes to Northern Iowa


oh, the lowest rated match up in the Sagarins would be  Presbyterian #346 hosting Citadel #345

Go Valpo!  Beat UIC!

[historyman]

ND State goes to Wichita State
Creighton goes to Belmont
SFAustin goes to Utah State
Illinois State goes to Akron
Weber State goes to St. Marys
Detroit goes to Indiana State
Bradley goes to Valpo
Ohio goes to Northern Iowa

I'm sure our recruit, Alec Peters, would like to see Valpo knock off Bradley. It would make it easier to brag about his college choice when the details show up in a front page sports story of the Peoria Journal Star about your team beating up the home town team.

[agibson]

I had a quick run through the RPI's as of today.

If the Bracketbuster selection was today, instead of two weeks from today, I'd say we would likely have an ESPNU game.

But, if it goes by RPI as it often seems to have approximately done, there's not a lot of margin for error among the home teams.