UNI's chance at the CBI or NIT?

[UnderParPanther]

Re: UNI's chance at the CBI or NIT?

I don't see this happening. That would be 8 of the 14 teams in their conference. No way. On paper, they really are in no better shape than we are.

Xavier is in the dance, but outside of them, the A-10 has a lot of bubble teams that are in similar shape as our Creighton's and Illinois State's and Bradley's.

Crunch the numbers. St. Joes, Richmond, Temple, UMass, Duquesne, St. Louis, Charlotte, are all very AVERAGE basketball teams. The next two media darlings with hope seem to be Rhode Island and Dayton, both are UNDER .500 in conference play. Rhode Island is 0-2 against top 25 teams.

I just don't see why everyone is so hyped up about the A-10 this season. I see a lot of parity just like the Valley. I think they are no better off than us, they just have more teams to choose from.

I completly agree with you, it just seems the everyone is in love with the A-10 this year. Temple as a bubble team? Thats terrible. Dayton was in 12th place in the conference last I looked.

I'm just tired of the national media stating the parity of other leagues when there are a lot of teams around .500 in league play and how good all of the teams are in those conferences, but when the MVC does that we are down and no one is good.

[UNI MadCat]

Re: UNI's chance at the CBI or NIT?

If we aren't in the NIT, we aren't in the CBI. The "conventional wisdom" I've heard is that the CBI is going to target almost exclusively "major conference" teams. They want maximum fan base so they can negotiate themselves into a TV deal.

I posted about this the other day (I'll see if I can find the link on the StarTrib)...

The StarTribune ran an article about the CBI because the Gophers are in the running for that or the NIT.

In that article the CBI reps "said without saying" that they will be going after big names. And, UPP, as Clenz said, they will be going after them simultaneously with the NIT to give teams options.

They are subsidizing teams that travel and they are giving their "marquee" teams a chance to play at home for extended periods. For instance even the "lower" seeded team in the finals gets 1 game at home due to the best-of-three format. Its my understanding that the NIT (run by the NCAA) gives little if any subsidizing for travel until teams make it to NYC and even then, its low.

I'd say we have little if any shot at a 3-letter. Its NCAA or nothing. As I said earlier this week, I dont know how the CBI will maintain these expectations they've set with really no major sponsors and, as of yet, no TV. But, to be sure, they aren't going after the UNI's of the world to get exposure. They're going to be focused almost exclusively on "big names".

(I understand that they produced a "mock" bracket showing what would have happened last year but in that mock, they had no choice but to say they would take the leftovers from the NIT. Now that its "real," they're going for the biggest they can get.)

ps -- FWIW, Tubby Smith said he would "entertain" the offers from the CBI over the NIT. Indicating A) they've piqued the BCS schools' interest and B) there will be some major courtship going on.

[UNI MadCat]

Re: UNI's chance at the CBI or NIT?

Umm...(Raises hand slowly) I DO!


Getting the seniors more chances to play in a Panther uniform and giving the young kids a chance to play in a tournament format would be a great learning experience for next year.

I firmly believe the only reason a lot of college football coaches still embrace the bowl system is that it gives them 6 more weeks of practice. If they went to a play-off and couldn't be preparing a month for a game they'd lose that time with their kids...so in my opinion...the more you have to play for (regardless of the name of the tournament) the better especially for the young kids who need to additional work.

As do I. I would love our guys to get an opportunity.

Completley agree on the Bowl thing too. You always hear FBS coaches talk about bowl practices being invaluable for the future. Its basically just like an extra spring ball period. In fact most coaches use the first 1/3rd of the bowl practices to work primarily with the young guys/backups.

[jman2004]

Re: UNI's chance at the CBI or NIT?

I didn't see the CBI's "mock bracket" on their website. Nice to see us playing Iowa last year.

I don't know now. After taking a look at the 16 teams they've chosen and seeing how 9 of them could be considered "mid-majors", I'm not so sure we'd necessarily be left out with a decent showing in St. Louis. Sure they want to go after bigger schools, but when competing with the NIT, something will have to give and there will be more opportunities for schools to get into post-season play this year.

I haven't totally changed my mind, I don't think at this point, we've earned a bid to either of these, but when both tournaments will be fighting with each other for teams, there should be some spoils. If the CBI had us on a mock bracket from last season, I would almost have to say that there could be a chance for this season as well.

We've gotta win in St. Louis though. Call me wishy-washy, but I'm rethinking my opinion on this.

[Khan4Cats]

Re: UNI's chance at the CBI or NIT?

MadCat I agree with you that our chances are slim for one of the three-letter tourney's but I wouldn't say none.

As for some of the other details, the President of the company that is running the CBI was on OPR recently and talked about some of that.

Compensation: Stated that travelling teams will be subsidized at a similar rate to which NIT teams are but that the home teams will be able to keep a greater amount of revenue.

Exposure: Stated that they were already finalizing a TV deal, so not sure that they are waiting to get big names in order to do a TV deal. Would make sense as they would have very limited time if they waited.

Teams: Stated they were going to compete with the NIT to try and lure teams but that they wanted teams that were playing well over just "names". Doesn't play towards us right now, but if we can play into the semis or even the finals in St. Louis, it might be enough to put us in consideration. And if Minnesota is already leaning in that direction, that would certainly make a low-cost first round match-up for the CBI to put together, especially if their TV deal is with someone like FoxSports, that's a game that could easily be a draw for FSN-North.

But enough with that talk, let's just win out and get ourselves into the Big Dance!!

[Khan4Cats]

Re: UNI's chance at the CBI or NIT?

I didn't see the CBI's "mock bracket" on their website. Nice to see us playing Iowa last year.

I don't know now. After taking a look at the 16 teams they've chosen and seeing how 9 of them could be considered "mid-majors", I'm not so sure we'd necessarily be left out with a decent showing in St. Louis. Sure they want to go after bigger schools, but when competing with the NIT, something will have to give and there will be more opportunities for schools to get into post-season play this year.

I haven't totally changed my mind, I don't think at this point, we've earned a bid to either of these, but when both tournaments will be fighting with each other for teams, there should be some spoils. If the CBI had us on a mock bracket from last season, I would almost have to say that there could be a chance for this season as well.

Couple things to remember:

We were around 90 RPI (40 spots higher than currently) last year. The CBI have said they won't really look at RPI, but...

Also, we got bumped by several teams that got the automatic NIT-bid due to being regular season champs. Again this year, have to hope for very few upsets out of the one-bid leagues to possibly open up some NIT slots that the CBI can also fight over.

I see this year: 2 Valley teams in the NCAA (Drake and Tourney champ); 3 Valley teams in the NIT, 1 Valley team in CBI (might as well be us and InSU/MSU will both be right around .500).

[UNI MadCat]

Re: UNI's chance at the CBI or NIT?

Couple things to remember:

We were around 90 RPI (40 spots higher than currently) last year. The CBI have said they won't really look at RPI, but...

Sadly, its an even bigger difference... we were at 84 so 47 spots difference. Tomorrow's game isn't going to help us if we win and, in fact, we could go down (and it will definitely lower SOS). But its probably moot anyway... I think the "not looking at RPI" is an easy copout for them to go after names over the best teams.

[UNI MadCat]

Re: UNI's chance at the CBI or NIT?

Compensation: Stated that travelling teams will be subsidized at a similar rate to which NIT teams are but that the home teams will be able to keep a greater amount of revenue.

Interesting... this isn't what I had read but perhaps the tune is changing as they scrounge for money.

Exposure: Stated that they were already finalizing a TV deal, so not sure that they are waiting to get big names in order to do a TV deal. Would make sense as they would have very limited time if they waited.

They've been saying they were finalizing a deal for TV since the first time they announced a tournament was coming. I worked for a minor league baseball team and we told people for 3 years we were "close to" finalizing a deal for naming rights. Its just rhetoric.

Teams: Stated they were going to compete with the NIT to try and lure teams but that they wanted teams that were playing well over just "names". Doesn't play towards us right now, but if we can play into the semis or even the finals in St. Louis, it might be enough to put us in consideration. And if Minnesota is already leaning in that direction, that would certainly make a low-cost first round match-up for the CBI to put together, especially if their TV deal is with someone like FoxSports, that's a game that could easily be a draw for FSN-North.

Good thought. I'd take it.

[williebat]

Re: UNI's chance at the CBI or NIT?

gotta wonder if noone looks at the rpi from ncaa selection commitee to CBI then why does it exist.

I think MVC might have mortally wounded the rpi a couple years back by winning too much. it may be dying a slow death.

[UNI MadCat]

Re: UNI's chance at the CBI or NIT?

I was checking out that "mock" bracket from the CBI again...

They say RPI wont matter and I believe it but I still think it is a barometer. Lowest RPI team in the mock - UCONN @ 111. Lowest non-BCS school - Hawaii @ 99.

Point? We have a ton of work to do to get there and I just dont think its in the numbers. We'd have to make the championship game, I believe, for our RPI to get back under 100 or 90 (its at 131 today). In the end, SDSU, Iowa & UIC (to some extent, though I think we played it as a "learning" game the other day) will come back to haunt us.

[jman2004]

Re: UNI's chance at the CBI or NIT?

They say RPI wont matter and I believe it but I still think it is a barometer. Lowest RPI team in the mock - UCONN @ 111. Lowest non-BCS school - Hawaii @ 99.

See, and I wasn't really even thinking about RPI, I was just looking at names. We're a totally different team than we were last year, or at least our RPI says so . . .

I agree. I flip I flop. I don't think we'll get into either of these. It's win in St. Louis or bust.

[Newsbreaker]

Re: UNI's chance at the CBI or NIT?

We're fighting, and needing help, to be the 6th seed in the 8th ranked conference (according to RPI). Post-season play isn't in our vocabulary without winning in STL.

[UNI MadCat]

Re: UNI's chance at the CBI or NIT?

As expected, RPI dropped 4 spots after the win. 135 right now (late games may move this a spot or two in either direction by tomorrow).

Again, not going anywhere without a weekend sweep... so why not!?!

[UNI Prof]

Re: UNI's chance at the CBI or NIT?

zero........

Zero? Really? Our record isn't THAT bad.

[unigriff]

Re: UNI's chance at the CBI or NIT?

19 wins will put us in the postseason.