ESPN bracketology

[covufan]

Just saw the end if that Murray st game - what a game!

[LaPorteAveApostle]

...am i the only one here that thinks this was not great?  now our best win doesn't look as hot.

[valpocleveland]

What is the difference in our best win coming against a 27-5 team vs. a 28-4 team? Who cares if Murray St. does not make the tournament. If Valpo wins the Horizon they will be seeded higher than Belmont and would have been seeded lower than Murray St. If Valpo does not win the Horizon they are not getting into the tournament and Belmont beating Murray St. had no impact on that. Belmont winning is a good thing. Need a few more of these to get a 12 seed.

[LaPorteAveApostle]

What is the difference in our best win coming against a 27-5 team vs. a 28-4 team?

we could say: 
--we were their last loss
--we beat another conf champ
--we beat another team in the tourney

there you go

[valpocleveland]

Make Tournament>Favorable match-up>Last team to beat Murray St.

It's not like they were going to run the table in the NCAAs.

[LaPorteAveApostle]

Best case scenario would have been for EKU to beat Belmont, then beat MSU.  That would have both been good and looked good.

[agibson]

Finally we passed GB on RPI.  58 after our win over CSU (and maybe GB dropped a hair beating UIC? I didn't check before their game).

[classof2014]

With both GB and Valpo facing off for the title it looks like the Horizon will get a 12, 13 being the worst. I'm sure LeCrone is happy about that.

[oklahomamick]

LeCrone needs to get Belmont. 

[vu84v2]

For the college basketball fan, another great game tonight was Yale-Dartmouth. Yale, with the conference title in their hand, loses on a last second play to setup a one game playoff with Harvard for the Ivy League title.

[agibson]

For the college basketball fan, another great game tonight was Yale-Dartmouth. Yale, with the conference title in their hand, loses on a last second play to setup a one game playoff with Harvard for the Ivy League title.

Hmm... I was thinking that might be bad for us in the RPI-battle.  But... looks like maybe we're OK?  Still hoping for a Yale win, I think, even if they might wind up with a somewhat better RPI than would Harvard.

[historyman]

For the college basketball fan, another great game tonight was Yale-Dartmouth. Yale, with the conference title in their hand, loses on a last second play to setup a one game playoff with Harvard for the Ivy League title.

Will the game be played in New Haven or Cambridge? Since they tied for first in the 8 team Ivy League how is the vitally important home court decided? Knowing the Ivy League I'm sure it's not by RPI. The Ivy would scoff at that.




Decided by RPI. Indeed!

[ValpoHoops]

For the college basketball fan, another great game tonight was Yale-Dartmouth. Yale, with the conference title in their hand, loses on a last second play to setup a one game playoff with Harvard for the Ivy League title.

Will the game be played in New Haven or Cambridge? Since they tied for first in the 8 team Ivy League how is the vitally important home court decided? Knowing the Ivy League I'm sure it's not by RPI. The Ivy would scoff at that.




Decided by RPI. Indeed!

Game is played on a neutral court. In this instance, at the Palestra in Philadelphia.

[agibson]

Looks like we've (continued to?) slipped a bit at bracketmatrix.com.

Nothing so different from what the consensus seems to be around here.  Looking more like a 13 seed than a 12.

(2 of 5 12 seeds forecast to be taken by play-in teams)

Wofford       Southern    12.36
Stephen F. Austin    Southland    12.48
Murray State       Ohio Valley    12.52    
Louisiana Tech       CUSA       12.64
Valparaiso       Horizon    12.77
Harvard       Ivy       12.87 (that's before their loss last night)
Iona          Metro Atlantic    13.13    
Central Michigan    MAC       13.56

With Central Michigan the first of the 14 seeds, trailed significantly by Davis and GA State.

Checking in with bracketmatrix.com, last updated 3/7/15 6:06 PM.

Harvard edges above us
Harvard    Ivy    12.78, but based on old data; basically everybody's now including  Yale:

Yale    Ivy    13.21    39

But, that was before Yale's loss!

Amusingly, Bracket Matrix tossed in Belmont at 16, despite not actually appearing in any brackets yet.  And basically scratched Murray State (and, indeed, Lunardi and basically everyone else credible seemed to be on record saying they had no chance at an at-large; but I'm sure people will have fun debating now).

We've fallen a bit
Valparaiso    Horizon    12.84    
(that before our win last night)
but seem to be getting a lot more 12's in March 7 brackets...

Another upset or two, out of maybe only three or four possibilities (SoCon, Southland, CUSA, Ivy, MAAC?), and we'd have a pretty good chance at a twelve seed.  Maybe.

Realistically, I suppose we're looking at a 13.

And, realistically, Green Bay may still have a better chance at a 12.  Not least because their last win would be on the road.  Though, both of our ceilings seem to have shrunk, a bit mysteriously, on RPI Wizard.  UWGB 60-->51, Valpo 59-->54.  Maybe UWGB would need a little help from Miami, doing some damage in their tourney.  Realistically, it might come down to that Miami win (which might come back into Top 50?) vs. our votes in the national pols and Bryce Drew.

[agibson]

Game is played on a neutral court. In this instance, at the Palestra in Philadelphia.

I wonder how they get it on such short notice!

[LaPorteAveApostle]

Game is played on a neutral court. In this instance, at the Palestra in Philadelphia.

I wonder how they get it on such short notice!

the ivies have powerful friends

The Simpsons Stonecutters Song

[historyman]

Game is played on a neutral court. In this instance, at the Palestra in Philadelphia.

I wonder how they get it on such short notice!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palestra

The Palestra, often called the Cathedral of College Basketball,[2][3] is a historic arena and the home gym of the University of Pennsylvania Quakers men's and women's basketball teams, volleyball teams, wrestling team, and Philadelphia Big 5basketball. Located at 235 South 33rd St. in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on the campus of the University of Pennsylvania, near Franklin Fieldin the University City section of Philadelphia, it opened on January 1, 1927. The Palestra has been called "the most important building in the history of college basketball" and "changed the entire history of the sport for which it was built."[4]

The University of Pennslyvania, an Ivy League member, just happens to own the Palestra.

[agibson]

The University of Pennslyvania, an Ivy League member, just happens to own the Palestra.

It gets used for a bunch of others stuff too though, right?  I'd thought it might be hosting a conference tournament.  But, maybe not.  Just Big5 regular season games?

[historyman]

The University of Pennslyvania, an Ivy League member, just happens to own the Palestra.

It gets used for a bunch of others stuff too though, right?  I'd thought it might be hosting a conference tournament.  But, maybe not.  Just Big5 regular season games?

This couldn't be the first time this has happened in the Ivy League (a tie for first). My guess is that they save the date at the Palestra just for this kind of thing.

[vu84v2]

Illinois State up 14 at the half on Northern Iowa. My guess is that Illinois State winning would hinder seeding for Tuesday's winner since it would move them ahead of both Valpo and Green Bay in RPI and would give them two huge marquee wins. Still, it is hard to root against a mid-major playing their tails off at this stage of the season.

[vu84v2]

Spoke too soon. Northern Iowa is just too good of a team not to come back from a big first half deficit. Game on, but I wouldn't bet against UNI.

[a3uge]

Illinois State up 14 at the half on Northern Iowa. My guess is that Illinois State winning would hinder seeding for Tuesday's winner since it would move them ahead of both Valpo and Green Bay in RPI and would give them two huge marquee wins. Still, it is hard to root against a mid-major playing their tails off at this stage of the season.

Illinois State would be displacing a bubble team like Indiana or Texas since there's a finite number of at-larges. Either way, all of those bubble teams are 10-12 seeds and have no bearing on the Horizon League's seed.

[agibson]

it would move them ahead of both Valpo and Green Bay in RPI and would give them two huge marquee wins.

We might end neck-and-neck. But, it's pretty easy to imagine which way the Selection Committee would go.

Consolation prize, they're an opponents-opponent!  Their run does help our RPI slightly.

[agibson]

Bracket Matrix updated 3/8/15 11:23 AM.

Looks like a split decision on the Ivies.  About half and half Yale vs. Harvard, with Harvard getting the higher seed.  Basically tied with ours.

_Noone_ seems to have Murray State in.

We're at
Valparaiso    Horizon    12.77
currently the best of the 13's.

[VULB#62]

Kind of a cool series of tweets from one of the MSU players imploring the NCAA to recognize Murray's great regular season and regular season championship and pushing for an at-large bid.

http://ftw.usatoday.com/2015/03/murray-state-player-tweets-impassioned-plea-for-spot-in-ncaa-tournament