NCAA College Basketball Talk

[VU2014]

The face of a man who got his first conference tourney win in years on essentially a home court. TBH we don't have much to talk about with our own bizarre drought.
https://twitter.com/JRoseWXYZ/status/970488893362536448 

[VULB#62]

Incredible. Another year where the #1 seed and #2 seed never made it to the final. WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE.

[VUGrad1314]

UIC was the three seed. Wright State is the two and they're still alive. They play Milwaukee tomorrow. We should all be rooting for Wright State to make it as the representative from the HL because it will help Loyola's seeding.

[bigmosmithfan1]

It's almost like pulling your tourney in a league with low fan support to a neutral site, with virtually no research, on 10 months' notice, in order to pacify whining coaches and ADs about your conference's top program hosting too often, was a dumb decision for long-term competitiveness.

[VU2014]

It's almost like pulling your tourney in a league with low fan support to a neutral site, with virtually no research, on 10 months' notice, in order to pacify whining coaches and ADs about your conference's top program hosting too often, was a dumb decision for long-term competitiveness.

I've been watching a few games and the turnout is very low there. Olympia Entertainment said this may be the last season because they need to see better results. The venue looks great but the crowds are very sparse to say the least.

[valpo64]

Playing the HL tourney at the LCA is a joke.  There is nothing like some bad teams/league  playing bad basketball in front of bad crowds.  Wow...am I glad we have moved on.  Would any of the teams left in the HL tourney have an RPI higher than anyone in the MVC?

[VULB#62]

Playing the HL tourney at the LCA is a joke.  There is nothing like some bad teams/league  playing bad basketball in front of bad crowds.  Wow...am I glad we have moved on.  Would any of the teams left in the HL tourney have an RPI higher than anyone in the MVC?

Going back to last week:

Only one - Wright State.  All other semi-finalists come in below all teams in the MVC.  If WSU loses to UWM and OU loses to CSU, the HL final will pit a 234 RPI  team vs. a 311 RPI team for the chance to represent the HL at the dance.

32 Loyola-Chicago - MVC finalist and Champ
87 Illinois State - MVC finalist and runner up
91 Southern Illinois
106 Wright State
107 N. Kentucky
114 Bradley
133 Missouri State
138 Evansville
141 Northern Iowa
159 Drake
172 Indiana State
177 Valparaiso
179 Oakland
234Milwaukee
236 UIC
289 IUPUI
306 Detroit
309 Green Bay
311 Cleveland State
319 Youngstown State

[NativeCheesehead]

I've been as much of a "leave the past in the past" guy as anyone here, but the fact that the Horizon League will once again be repped by a sub par team since moving to a neutral site is hilarious to me.

Suck it, LeCrone.

[VU2014]

Life could be worse   

https://twitter.com/NickCaminoWTAM/status/970840196680966144
https://twitter.com/Catch_N_Shoot/status/970840526235799555

[bigmosmithfan1]

We really have no room to talk given our conference tourney performances the past three years, but this could not be a more fitting reward for LeCrone's utter incompetence (and yes, the way he happily screwed over our 2016 team).

Best case scenario, you have a losing team from Cleveland, who averaged 1,300 fans per game playing a team from Dayton (3.25 hours away) on a weeknight in Detroit in front of an empty arena and a realistic probability that your lone tourney bid is a 16 seed just seven years after sending a team to the Final Four. Bang-up job, everyone.

[a3uge]

Life could be worse  [emoji38] 

https://twitter.com/NickCaminoWTAM/status/970840196680966144
https://twitter.com/Catch_N_Shoot/status/970840526235799555

Is Butler hiring?

[bbtds]

Is Butler hiring?

Currently an asst football coach and a director of basketball operations for the women's team. No MBB positions.

https://www.butler.edu/hr/athletics-openings

[FieldGoodie05]

We really have no room to talk given our conference tourney performances the past three years, but this could not be a more fitting reward for LeCrone's utter incompetence (and yes, the way he happily screwed over our 2016 team).

Best case scenario, you have a losing team from Cleveland, who averaged 1,300 fans per game playing a team from Dayton (3.25 hours away) on a weeknight in Detroit in front of an empty arena and a realistic probability that your lone tourney bid is a 16 seed just seven years after sending a team to the Final Four. Bang-up job, everyone.

Teams win or lose games, not Lecrone.  You guys are something else.

[talksalot]

The other conferences... and the "last place RPI team"... One of the NBCSports guys commented that Valpo is the best last-place team there is... so I thought I'd check that out...he was close...

Southeastern  124   Mississippi
Big 12        128   Iowa State
Big East      177   DePaul
Missouri Valley  188   Valparaiso
Big Ten       199   Rutgers
Atlantic Coast  211   Pittsburgh
Pac 12       215   California
Mid American    237   Northern Illinois
Colonial Athletic  273   James Madison
American Athletic  275   South Florida
Atlantic 10     289   Fordham
Sun Belt      301   Arkansas-Little Rock
Summit       302   Western Illinois
Ohio Valley    307   Tennessee Martin
Big Sky       311   Northern Arizona
Mountain West   312   San Jose State
Southern      313   Virginia Military
West Coast    317   Pepperdine
America East   321   Binghamton
Conference USA  325   Charlotte
MAAC         326   Marist
Horizon        328  Youngstown State
Ivy            334   Dartmouth
Patriot      335   American University
Big South     338   Longwood
Western Athletic  339   Chicago State
Big West       340   Cal State Northridge
Northeast      341   Bryant
Atlantic Sun    345   South Carolina Upstate
Southland      348   Incarnate Word
SWAC         350   Alabama A&M
MEAC         351   Delaware State

[bbtds]

The other conferences... and the "last place RPI team"... One of the NBCSports guys commented that Valpo is the best last-place team there is... so I thought I'd check that out...he was close...

Southeastern  124   Mississippi
Big 12        128   Iowa State
Big East      177   DePaul
Missouri Valley  188   Valparaiso
Big Ten       199   Rutgers
Atlantic Coast  211   Pittsburgh
Pac 12       215   California
Mid American    237   Northern Illinois
Colonial Athletic  273   James Madison
American Athletic  275   South Florida
Atlantic 10     289   Fordham
Sun Belt      301   Arkansas-Little Rock
Summit       302   Western Illinois
Ohio Valley    307   Tennessee Martin
Big Sky       311   Northern Arizona
Mountain West   312   San Jose State

It wouldn't draw a large crowd but it would be interesting to take the 16 highest RPI last place teams and put them in a Tournament and call it "The Best of the Lasts" Tournament. Could Valpo beat out Ole Miss, DePaul, Iowa State, Rutgers, Pittsburgh and Cal?

[talksalot]

SO, when Fordham plays Tennessee Martin in the Championship... let's play that at the LCA in Detroit.  not sure which would be a bigger fan draw!

[VU2014]

The other conferences... and the "last place RPI team"... One of the NBCSports guys commented that Valpo is the best last-place team there is... so I thought I'd check that out...he was close...

[VULB#62]

Another solid Mid-Major will not get an at-large.  St. Mary's.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaab/2018/02/08/march-madness-2018-ncaa-tournament-bracketology/318678002/

[VU2014]

Another solid Mid-Major will not get an at-large.  St. Mary's.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaab/2018/02/08/march-madness-2018-ncaa-tournament-bracketology/318678002/

St. Mary's tries to thread the needle every season with their scheduling. The don't play true road games in OOC unless it's against P5 opponents for the most part. They really really bank on the fact they get to play Gonzaga at least twice a season. They had the chance to play another great mid-major at home against Nevada but they bought out the away game because they didn't want to risk playing on the road.

[justducky]

Another solid Mid-Major will not get an at-large.  St. Mary's.

Middle Tennessee also lost their last home game to #102 Marshall. They will likely need to win the CUSA tournament,

[zvillehaze]

Another solid Mid-Major will not get an at-large.  St. Mary's.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaab/2018/02/08/march-madness-2018-ncaa-tournament-bracketology/318678002/

St. Mary's tries to thread the needle every season with their scheduling. The don't play true road games in OOC unless it's against P5 opponents for the most part. They really really bank on the fact they get to play Gonzaga at least twice a season. They had the chance to play another great mid-major at home against Nevada but they bought out the away game because they didn't want to risk playing on the road.

I also heard that URI offered them a home and home ... St. Mary's said no thanks.  It's obvious that they make little to no effort to schedule quality OOC games, so they will get what they deserve on Sunday.

[bbtds]

Homer Drew has a big decision on where he travels to see his sons' teams play. Does he go to Kansas City to see #6 Baylor take on #3 West Virginia at 8:00 p.m. on Thursday or does he go to the Scottrade Center in St. Louis to see #13 Vanderbilt play #12 Georgia at 6:00 p.m. today/Wednesday? Or does he drive 5 hours or fly across Missouri to see both games?

Of course if Vandy beats Georgia on Wed/today then they play the home team Missouri at approximately 3:30 p.m. on Thursday. Will Homer see the Vandy game on Thursday and then fly across Missouri for the Baylor/West Virginia game at 8:00 p.m. He'd be leaving St Louis in rush hour at about 6:00 p.m. so it would be a pretty tough logistical challenge to get to Kansas City's Sprint Center by 8:00 p.m.

Both St Louis and Kansas City have downtown airports for private airplanes but both airports are not really downtown. St Louis's private airplane airport is in Illinois, about 15 to 20 minutes away, across the Mississippi River just off I-255 in the southeast part of the Metro East area of Illinois and Kansas City's private airplane airport is 10 minutes north of the Sprint Center across the Buck O'Neil Missouri River bridge.

[justducky]

I also heard that URI offered them a home and home ... St. Mary's said no thanks.  It's obvious that they make little to no effort to schedule quality OOC games, so they will get what they deserve on Sunday.

I hate to jump to conclusions without knowing all the facts, but we almost certainly approached them for a home and home before signing UC Riverside to fill out our Santa Clara trip. Maybe they had no open dates or maybe they didn't want to return to the ARC or maybe they thought we were a threat this year. Either way if they did indeed buy out their @ Nevada return game we maybe should be glad that no agreement was reached. The ARC should be a dangerous place to visit in 18-19 and it could deadly in 19-20. I am sure they haven't completely forgotten their last game with us.

[VUGrad1314]

If that's the case then their small minded program is the Belmont of the West coast and they have no business competing with the likes of Gonzaga. If the Gaels are turning down resume enhancing opportunities like Nevada and Rhode Island because they're afraid to go on the road or are counting on their games against Gonzaga and BYU to bouy their resume then they're part of the problem and are a negative influence on their conference. But you bet they'll cry foul with the P5 and the committee about how hard scheduling as a mid major can be.  This just makes me hope Gonzaga and BYU go to the MWC. Let St Mary's stay in the small pond and compete for bids  Gonzaga and BYU can go to the MWC and compete for national titles especially in the case of Gonzaga. It makes me so mad when a program is in a position we'd like Valpo to be in and doesn't take advantage of that. Hopefully Valpo is offered and accepts this caliber of home and home series as an MVC member. And I believe they will. They have in the past and if this season taught us anything it's that Valpo isn't shy about going on the road if need be. St Mary's could take a lesson from us or perhaps they already did in the 2016 NIT and that's why we can't get a game with them.

Rereading this post I feel the need to apologize to Belmont at least they have the fortitude to put together a decent conference schedule. Now if only they had the courage to make the jump in conference.

[VU2014]

  Could just be a rumor but Baylor would have to be stupid to let Scott go.

https://twitter.com/CoachingChanges/status/971490662993596416