Tweet
WSU (21-22, 6-6) wins 12-7. Shockers wrap up their MVC rivalry with the Redbirds with a narrow 101-28 edge in the all time series.
-
-
So which head coach had the hotter seat this weekend? HCTB or the Redbird's 3r year coach?Comment
-
On the ESPN3 broadcasts of the Friday DH Shane and Nate talked a bit about the difference in the Shocks home record (now 18-6) and their road record 3-16 with Nate saying he just doesn't see why their should be that much of a discrepancy. I'm not sure it's big msytery. The average RPI of our 24 home games is 175.2 (and that's with 3 games with #5 Texas Tech). The average RPI of the Shocks' 19 road games is 88.8.
The only road game against an opponent with an RPI worse than 150 was the one game against #178 Creighton. At home we have had a total 13 games against teams with RPI's of between 200 and 278.
On the face of it one would conclude we simpy have played much better competition on the road.Comment
-
Note to self: WSU is back to .500 and only one game out of 2nd in the MVC. Todd Butler doing just enough? :)Comment
-
1.5 games (DBU is 7-4 entering today's rubber match vs. SIU).Comment
-
Whew. That was close. He's back on the hot seat at 1.5 games :)Originally posted by Play Angry View PostComment
-
Parsing over how many games back of 2nd WSU sits while carrying an RPI of 146 in our coach's 4th season pretty much answers your original question IMO.
4 road games this week against Top 100 opponents will present a tall challenge for our guys. I am sort of dreading it, but I will tune into the KSU game and will attend the 3 @DBU. A 2-2 showing would be indicative of real progress but I am not holding my breath on that.Comment
-
Side note: 4 AAC teams are in the top 50, and all 8 are in the top 100 entering today.Comment
-
-
Yea I figured that was likely but couldn't be sure because it wasn't funny at all :)Comment
-
You got me there. It's more painful than funny if anything. He's going to coach us to a slightly better record than last year and we will probably call that improvement and extend him.Originally posted by Play Angry View PostComment
-
DBU finishes off SIU to take 2 of 3 in Carbondale. Standings currently sit at:
MSU 11-0 (last game vs. UE cancelled)
DBU 8-4
ISUb 7-5
WSU 6-6
SIU 6-6
UE 4-7
BU 4-8
ISUr 1-11
Shockers have series remaining @ DBU, vs. UE, and @ ISUb.Comment
-
For the Shocks to have any chance of catching DBU they most probably would need to sweep their final 3 Valley series at DBU, vs Evansville and at Indiana State. A highly unlikely outcome. I suppose DBU could falter in its final 2 series vs Bradley and at Evansville but that would also seem highly unlikely.Originally posted by Play Angry View Post
Now their chance of catching Indiana State who they trail by only 1 game and moving ahead of SIU who they are currently tied with for 4th is very doable although far from assured.
Indiana State is at Illinois State this weekend while SIU is hosting Missouri State. Clear advantage to Indiana State. If Illinois State can steal a win from the Sycamores and the Shocks can win 1 at DBU then the Shocks should still be in okay shape.
The following week the Shocks host Evansville while Indiana State travels to Missouri State. SIU hosts Illinois State. The Shocks need to sweep Evansville to match a likely sweep of Illinois State by SIU.
The final weekend of the regular season has the Shockers and Sycamores squaring off in Terre Haute which hopefully will be with 3rd place on the line and SIU will be playing at Bradley.
6-3 over the final 9 Valley games might be good enough for a 3rd place finish but sure wouldn't guarantee it. Anything less is very unlikely to get it done.
So at a minimum the Shocks need to go 1-2 vs DBU, 3-0 vs Evansville and 2-1 against Indiana State and that may or may not get it done depending on what Indiana State and Southern Illinois do over their final 9 games.
Now whether we should be cheering for that or for a total collapse is another question but I don't think I can bring myself to do the latter.Comment
Comment