Jay Bilas Bubble Watch

[wonkadog]

By the way...

I don't know why you guys are even wasting energy typing about whether you're in or not, there's no way you miss the dance. You SHOULD be talking about what seed you're gonna get.

[NJ Panther]

Geez dude, chill out. Nebraska is pretty mediocre but the whole top half of your conference has looked that way for a majority of this last month. If this year's MVC was the Big 10 or Big 12 you would be calling it a medicore conference because of all the parody. The Nebraska fans are all sick of Collier and that's why you got the "bow down to UNI response." I know, I know, the Clones suck this year, but I have to have something to talk about

Its not all about conference play. The Valley got in the position it is because it scheduled AND played well during the non-conference season, which many of the "all talk, no play conferences" decided they did'nt need to do. Go to an RPI site and look at who they MVC teams played out of conference, then go look at the middle teams in the "all talk, no play" conferences. They schedule no body, then post around .500 records in conference. They could basically play whoever the want, a luxury I guarantee you MVC teams are not given, and yet they chose to play new DI schools and the other 250 and higher RPI schools. By the way, how did the Suckers do against Creighton again? 70-44? That was pretty, go Little 12 whoo hoo! MVC teams have'nt looked mediocre recently, the tops have just beaten up on each other. That proves balance, not mediocrity. The one bottom doing damage is Indiana State, whose season went great, horrible, good based upon injuries. We all know you worship at the alter of the Little XII, but other then Texas when they care (how do they decide when that is by the way) the top 6 Valley teams would come out winners against the Little XII. Watch a few games and tell me objectively that is not the case. And yes, your precious Clones beat us on a bad night for us, good night for them. Congrats to them for showing up for one game this season.

[merkpanthers]

Do you work for ESPN (and your name is not Lunardi), because you sound just like them.
1. FSU (RPI 71) matches up well with Duke and plays their butts of against them, especially at home where they have defeated them I believe 3 out of the last 4 or so. But that does'nt excuse the rest of the season. This is a team that, afterall, just lost to Virgina Tech. And their non-con schedule? Put it this way, In December the best team they played was Nebraska (RPI 115), and the next best was Bowling Green (244). Want to know the scary part? They played four other games that month! Thats being a bunch of panzies if you ask me. Other then Duke they have 1 sub RPI 70 win. One, and we have 7. Their RPI is more then double ours.

2. We need to win 3 in St. Louis: First, go to your calender and see what year it is. 2006? Ok, then look at the Valley this year, our RPI, our wins, etc. Ok, did that? The look at the patheticness that is the middle of the major conferences. Done? Then look at last year how, in a worse position, we LOST our 1st MVC game and still got in, with a weaker profile and conference. Then just attempt to make that claim, because it won't hold. I think we need to win one to feel good about being in (10-11 seed), 2 for a solid seed (9-10 seed), and 3 (that would give us likely 10 top 70 wins) we will play someone seeded below us or basically equal (7-9 seed). After re-reading the post I'll assume you meant that winning a conference tourny is the only auto bid, and thats obviously the case.

3. RPI: Regardless what ESPN says the RPI does matter. Thats why it exists and has been tweaked. Remember, the RPI is not some outside creation, but was made by the NCAA. It matters, and as long as we beat MSU it is our salvation again this season.

4. Our RPI is going up (25) because of our quality non-con wins (Iowa and LSU specifically)

This is'nt just a tirad against this post, but the ESPN machine that actually believes FSU, Texas A&M, Notre Dame, Seton Hall, etc. are better. One game at the end of the year against a coasting top team (Texas, UCONN, Duke) does'nt mean much. Nothing personal, unless your name is Digger

1) If I'm not mistaken VA Tech almost beat Duke at Cameron if it wasn't for a lucky half court shot by Dockery. The Non-Conference schedule oviously is in favor of UNI and it should be. I don't like the term mid-major, but mid-major schools taking on major schools will benefit the mid-major schools more. FSU should have gone out and scheduled more major schools to get their Non-Conference schedule stronger.

2) I was referring that the only way to be in for sure is to win the MVC Tournament. If we win 1 game I still think that we are on the edge, but should be in. If we win 2 games I think that we are a lock. I do realize that the Valley is strong this year and some of the bigger schools are struggling. However, we have really struggled lately and need to get back on track to make a run. Last year we didn't have as many non-conference wins, but we played better in the Valley. Last year we were the 4 seed and this year we are the 6 seed.

The RPI does matter otherwise there would be no reason for it to exist. FSU, Texas A&M both have over 500 records in their conference with some key wins. That is why I chose those two teams with the big wins they had last night. They need to finish the season strong, but it helps their NCAA bid a lot.