Potential seeding

milldew72 · March 05, 2012, 10:45:18 AM

I don't understand the want on the part of some people on this board for VU to play Baylor in the first round.
If you're a fan of the Drews, then you're guaranteeing that one Drew will have absolutely no chance at advancing past the first round.
You should want to stay as far away from Baylor as possible. I would imagine no one in the family wants a VU/Baylor draw in round one for that very reason.

dylanrocks · March 05, 2012, 12:15:36 PM

There would be one thing worse than drawing Baylor in a 3/14 game:

Getting Brandon Wood and Michigan State in a 2/15 matchup.

Now that would be adding insult to (minor) injury.

swiftmutiny · March 05, 2012, 12:18:17 PM

Quote from: milldew72 on March 05, 2012, 10:45:18 AM
I don't understand the want on the part of some people on this board for VU to play Baylor in the first round.
If you're a fan of the Drews, then you're guaranteeing that one Drew will have absolutely no chance at advancing past the first round.
You should want to stay as far away from Baylor as possible. I would imagine no one in the family wants a VU/Baylor draw in round one for that very reason.

You're mistaking the posters on this board with the selection committee and major networks. We don't necessarily want it to happen, but we know that it's likely. Sibling rivalries in sports always bring in more viewers and they are definitely keeping that in mind when they draw up the bracket. Just look at the Manning and Harbaugh families in the NFL. If a family match up is feasible (which it is in this case) they are going to try to make it happen whether we like it or not.

valporun · March 05, 2012, 12:23:41 PM

The Manning and Harbaugh battles are better for Conference Championship and Super Bowl games because those games have more meaning in ratings and advancement, not a wild card or early round/first round matchup like what Valpo-Baylor would be. The way the first rounds are setup, that game would be mixed up in one of the four stations showing the game, but it wouldn't necessarily be a great feature matchup in the "second round" Thursday/Saturday or Friday/Sunday matchups in the rounds of 64 or 32.

valpotx · March 05, 2012, 12:45:12 PM

In Lunardi's recent release, he is again pitching a Valpo/Baylor matchup:

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/bracketology

covufan · March 05, 2012, 01:26:40 PM

Quote from: valpotx on March 05, 2012, 12:45:12 PM
In Lunardi's recent release, he is again pitching a Valpo/Baylor matchup:

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/bracketology

Yeah, I saw that too. When we win tomorrow night and become a 14 seed, I'd rather see Michigan or Georgetown.

vu72 · March 05, 2012, 01:54:19 PM

OK, for tonight, in the games that matter, we need Loyola MD over Fairfield and Western Carolina over Davidson. Those are championship games. Obviously having W. Illinois beat ORU in a semi-final wouldn't hurt either.

valpo4life · March 05, 2012, 02:07:11 PM

I think you mean Fairfield over Loyola MD, Fairfield is 112 in the RPI while I believe Loyola is a little bit ahead of us. But either way I feel as if we are ahead of both of these teams. Wins by Western Carolina and Illinois would be a big help but I don't see either of those as being very likely, then again it is March...

vu72 · March 05, 2012, 04:07:16 PM

Quote from: valpo4life on March 05, 2012, 02:07:11 PM
I think you mean Fairfield over Loyola MD, Fairfield is 112 in the RPI while I believe Loyola is a little bit ahead of us. But either way I feel as if we are ahead of both of these teams. Wins by Western Carolina and Illinois would be a big help but I don't see either of those as being very likely, then again it is March...

Well, if you follow my Sagarin thinking, Fairfield is ranked 120 and Loyola is ranked 137. We are ranked 122 this morning. Either is a "pickum" compared to us.

covufan · March 05, 2012, 05:05:47 PM

Quote from: valpo4life on March 05, 2012, 02:07:11 PM
I think you mean Fairfield over Loyola MD, Fairfield is 112 in the RPI while I believe Loyola is a little bit ahead of us. But either way I feel as if we are ahead of both of these teams. Wins by Western Carolina and Illinois would be a big help but I don't see either of those as being very likely, then again it is March...

I think we Fairfield and the Westerns - W. Kentucky, W. Illinois, and W. Carolina. Go WESTerns!

ValpoHoops · March 05, 2012, 07:56:18 PM

Western Illinois just took a one point lead on Oral Roberts with 23.1 seconds to play. ORU has an RPI well above ours at 38, so a loss would a) knock them out of the NCAA and b) slide one more auto-bid below us potentially. South Dakota State is still above us at 52, however, so they would need to lose as well.

Update: ORU turns the ball over with 7.9 seconds left. WIU is in the 1-and-1 if they were to be fouled.

Update 2: WIU misses the front end, ORU comes down and turns it over again. ORU is out of the Summit.

drewsaders11 · March 05, 2012, 08:22:36 PM

Loyola (MD) has won the MAAC. They are fairly comparable to us.

In the Summit, the Leathernecks out of Western Illinois have done us a favor by dispatching of Oral Roberts. If Western or Southern Utah comes out of the Summit, we will be higher than them.

Down in the SoCon, Western Carolina is up early on Davidson. This would be a pivotal game for all 13s-15s, as Western Carolina shouldn't be higher than a 16, barring other ridiculous upsets, while Davidson could feasibly be a 13.

ValpoHoops · March 05, 2012, 09:09:32 PM

From Asheville, NC:

At the half (RPI #66) Davidson 36, (RPI #222, 15-17 record) Western Carolina 35 in the SoCon Championship.

Would be another team that falls below us if Western Carolina wins this one.

ValpoHoops · March 05, 2012, 09:18:16 PM

And, in game #2 from Sioux Falls, Southern Utah trails by one at the half against South Dakota State. A SUU win would be yet another "lock" for a team to fall below Valpo on the s-curve.

StlVUFan · March 05, 2012, 09:22:24 PM

As long as ORU doesn't somehow snag an at-large bid, this is good. Just to be on the safe side, SDSU should lose too, of course

oklahomamick · March 05, 2012, 09:27:13 PM

Could ORU get an at-large bid???

ValpoHoops · March 05, 2012, 09:32:33 PM

Could they, yeah...anybody could. I don't see it though.

They have an RPI of 39, and a SOS of 188, and that doesn't include tonight's "bad" loss to WIU. They have 3 "good wins" (57 Xavier, 52 SD State, 60 Akron), as well as 3 "bad losses" (193 UTSA, 123 Oklahoma [apparently, they aren't very good...math wise], 188 Western Illinois).

I suppose they have a "chance", but extremely unlikely.

a3uge · March 05, 2012, 09:37:58 PM

Here's what we're looking at:

Couple things aren't going our way. The Sun Belt looks a bit better, but Valpo jumped up a bit in RPI (89). Beating a higher 136 Detroit won't push that number down all that much. Loyola actually looked pretty bad in their win. Fairfield could not make a shot and Loyola had every oportunity to bury them. They were missing wide open shots and easy layups. Fairfield couldn't hit anything and took literally 8 minutes to get their first points in the second half. They were turning the ball over left and right, yet the game came down to the end because Loyola couldn't capitalize on anything. Not a team that looks better than Valpo.

The SoCon game looks close at this point, so maybe Davidson will get upset by a team that would play Syracuse...

StlVUFan · March 05, 2012, 10:35:06 PM

The only speculation I saw where oru got an at large bid had them losing a tight game to sdsu tomorrow night. So, you're probably right.

I still think if we can snowball the titans like we did the dawgs, it will have somr impact on seeding. How much is unknown to me.

ValpoHoops · March 05, 2012, 10:39:08 PM

SD State wins in the Summit (title game tomorrow), Davidson locks up their bit in 2OT against Western Carolina.

a3uge · March 05, 2012, 10:46:51 PM

That WCU vs Davidson game was probably the best game I've seen all year. WCU made two banked threes, and got fouled on a three with a couple seconds left. They were down 10 and were able to come back to force OT, which turned into double OT. They weren't able to pull it out. Dikembe Mutumbo's nephew was tearing it up for WCU.

Good news though: Sun Belt will have a play-in game now that Denver is out. North Texas (192) vs WKU (212).

valpotx · March 06, 2012, 12:31:27 AM

ORU is not getting an at-large bid. Their win against Xavier looks good on paper, but the committee knows that was during the time 3-4 of their main players were suspended...

dylanrocks · March 06, 2012, 09:36:50 AM

Bottom line:

Concern yourselves with the game tonight and let the chips fall where they may. The Horizon League has quite a bit of recent history (seven straight years with at least a round-of-64 victory) on its side.

Our board had a thread just like this last year ... and, well, yeah.

Go get 'em, Crusaders!

justducky · March 06, 2012, 10:01:41 AM

Quote from: dylanrocks on March 06, 2012, 09:36:50 AM
Bottom line:

Concern yourselves with the game tonight and let the chips fall where they may. The Horizon League has quite a bit of recent history (seven straight years with at least a round-of-64 victory) on its side.

Our board had a thread just like this last year ... and, well, yeah.

Go get 'em, Crusaders!

I have been more afraid of Detroit than any other team in the Horizon since before they left town the last time. They are the one team in the league that can still beat us when we bring our best game. If we have anything to celebrate then lets wait until about 10:00 pm to start. Until then lets speculate on other matters.

covufan · March 06, 2012, 12:34:21 PM

Did anyone watch the Davidson-Western Carolina game. Davidson was up 10 late in second half (1 or 2 minutes left I believe), and Western Carolina tied it. WCarolina tied it with only seconds remaining in the first OT and stole the inbounds pass, but couldn't connect. Very exciting finish. I was rooting for Western Carolina.