ESPN Bubble columns

[wusphlash]

*****, *****, *****, *****, *****.

We know (and certainly our AD and head coach knows) what the system is and in general what the unwritten rules are to qualify for an at-large bid.

Until things change, which is very unlikely to ever happen as long as the BCS schools dictate the policy, we can either try and qualify by their rules or stand on the sidelines bitching that it is unfair. But nothing is going to change and as long as we keep our heads buried in the sand, we likely will rarely be granted an at-large bid.

So what do we do? Continue our fallacy of scheduling and beating up on cream puffs to balloon our won/loss record hoping that our quantity of weak wins will win out over other schools quality wins when we know going in, this will not be the case.

The situation is only going to get worse as the BCS conferences get larger and larger and today's top mid-majors get swallowed up.

HMMMMMMMMM. But that is another topic for another day.

The last I checked, we were trying to schedule quality teams, but there was no incentive for the quality teams to schedule us, nor any disincentive for them to fail to do so. I wrote on here once about a conversation with the KU assistant AD, who described having no incentive to do anything but schedule horrible teams for guaranteed home wins, because they offered a lot of money with no penalty. They wanted no part of scheduling WSU even for a home game, because they couldn't guarantee the win. In his words, and I can't really dispute his point, "What's in it for us?"

When that is the case, I frankly do not understand the attitude that suggests everyone sit on the sidelines and refuse to speak because while a blatant inequity exists, the power structure that keeps the inequity in place seems insurmountable.

Exactly right. I wouldn't have so much problem with the talking heads that admit it's not fair if they would follow that up with a solution. Instead, their comment usually ends with it's not fair, deal with it. We should not be silent. Silence is acceptance.

[another shocker]

I don't care if it was at "1 ranked Ohio State: Michigan State looked like crap last night. Period.

I don't care if WVU is in the Big East: What WSU did at UNI last Saturday was far more impressive than anything I've seen from WVU this year.

I'd like to see Duke take themselves to SDSU. I think SDSU would rout them, just like St Johns did.

WSU really outplayed UConn and coulda/shoulda won. UConn won at Texas, for the KU/Big12 homers that have convenient memeories, and now call Texas the greatest thing ever.

Those are a few observations, but yes, I know talking to a KU homer like Lutz or corresponding with somebody like Bilas over these things would be like talking to a brick.

[shox1989]

It's funny how these pundits only look at quality wins when deciding who gets in the tournament.

There are several different factors listed on the selection sheets used by the committee to determine who dances and who doesn't.

One of those factors is a team's road record. WSU has one of the best road records in the country, while many of these BCS bubble and even lock teams have awful road records.

Why don't any of these pundits talk about the road records of the bubble teams? I guess because teams like Utah St and Wichita St look much stronger.

Yet it is one of the factors considered by the committee. Our great road record should help balance our lack of quality wins.

[ShockerFever]

No, you provide incentive to play out of conference competition for the good of an overall evaluation of the team, as well as for the good of competition itself. Too many teams get to play crap teams in the non-conference and rely on the conference schedule to bring the RPI and SOS back up. If the committee would simply look at that objectively, they would see that this:

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/team/_/id/239/baylor-bears

is not impressive. And Lunardi has them in at 11.

That was ghastly. Very, very ghastly.

[ShockerFever]

Exactly right. I wouldn't have so much problem with the talking heads that admit it's not fair if they would follow that up with a solution. Instead, their comment usually ends with it's not fair, deal with it. We should not be silent. Silence is acceptance.

+1

Katz and all of the others are simply admitting the system is unfair and that's it, end of story. So what? Who cares if it's unfair? As long as $$$$$ is fueling the engine.

[ShockerFever]

Here's my problem with the BCS teams and a number of you have already pointed it out.

BCS team loads up with patsies at home and destroys them in the nonconference. Therefore, BCS team must be good and legit. BCS team will play a road game (unlikely) or a neutral game or two at a respectable BCS team that's likely high up on the preseason radar. A win by one or two points or even a loss isn't the end of the world. Why? Because BCS team lost at fellow BCS team's home floor. That can't be bad and is perfectly acceptable. BCS team plays an equal number of home and away games against BCS conference competition. BCS conference teams have already inflated RPI's because of their nonconference scheduling philosophies (as mentioned above) and losses here and there are perfectly acceptable because BCS team plays in a tough BCS conference and has a grueling BCS conference schedule filled with tons and tons of tough "Top 100" RPI teams. Therefore, BCS team always looks good in winning and is perfectly valid and acceptable in losing, even if losing happens a lot, but not too much, say around 10-12 losses. BCS team simply has to win as many games as they lose during conference season and BCS team has achieved "NCAA success". BCS team looks like a winner.

So where does exactly Mr. Middy fit in? Mr. Middy only gets respect by not losing. Period. End of story. Mr. Middy can only get into the Top 5 with 1 loss at the most. Despite the pitfalls and craziness of the game of college basketball with its increasing mark of parity, Mr. Middy doesn't get a break. Mr. Middy's players aren't allowed to be human and cannot have off nights. If Mr. Middy mucks up one time out of 20 games, Mr. Middy is perceived as Mr. Baddy or Mr. NIT.





So in conclusion, yeah we NEED to schedule better and yeah, we need to stop dropping crap games at home. But effing damn, when I see garbage like Michigan State, Baylor, Virginia Tech, and Boston College get free passes for mediocrity against much more deserving little guys who can't breathe without falling off the cliff's edge, I wonder if it's even worth investing so much time into it.

[another shocker]

Well, I see that #15 ranked Villanova (20-6) beat Seton Hall (11-15) by a score of 60 to 57. Very impressive. :roll:

[ShockTalk]

Well, I see that #15 ranked Villanova (20-6) beat Seton Hall (11-15) by a score of 60 to 57. Very impressive. :roll:

May not be impressive, but they did win @ Seton Hall. Unlike most Big East teams, Seton Hall plays a tough non-con so they're well tested. 6 of their 12 non-con games were on the road/neutral court. They beat Alabama (neutral), lost to Xavier (n) and Clemson(n), @ Temple, and Richmond at home. They've also beaten Syracuse by 22 and lost to Syracuse by 5, lost to Georgetown by 5 and UConn by 2. They can be dangerous.

[another shocker]

Good thing you looked 'em up, ShockTalk, because right now Seton Hall is nothing to me. I'm not knocked out by Villanova or Syracuse either. There's two teams looking for an NCAA tourney "upset" right there, same thing that happens every year like clockwork because the BCS is blown out of all proportion by those ESPN blogs.

[ShockTalk]

Good thing you looked 'em up, ShockTalk, because right now Seton Hall is nothing to me. I'm not knocked out by Villanova or Syracuse either. There's two teams looking for an NCAA tourney "upset" right there, same thing that happens every year like clockwork because the BCS is blown out of all proportion by those ESPN blogs.

Agreed, a s. If they get in, I'd add Cincinnati to that list and probably Louisville.

I knew about Seton Hall, because I had done some comparisons of quality mid major's schedules and Seton Hall's name came up often. I guess I can't put to much critizism on Villanova's close win @ Seton Hall because I'd compare it to WSU's win @ Evansville and better than WSU's lose at home to SIU.

[DUShock]

Let's do away with conference affiliation (at least for scheduling purposes) and go with a tiered system instead. The tiers change each year based on your prior year performance in the regular season and ncaa tournament. Each team plays a certain number of teams from each tier so that everyone gets a chance for good wins and bad losses.

A truly wonderful idea, if only money wasn't an issue.

[60Shock]

Let's do away with conference affiliation (at least for scheduling purposes) and go with a tiered system instead. The tiers change each year based on your prior year performance in the regular season and ncaa tournament. Each team plays a certain number of teams from each tier so that everyone gets a chance for good wins and bad losses.

In a perfect world and for those schools on the outside looking in, this would be a great solution. Not so, however, for those with the power on the inside, looking out.

Witness Egypt. We need a revolution.

[shocker22]

Good thing you looked 'em up, ShockTalk, because right now Seton Hall is nothing to me. I'm not knocked out by Villanova or Syracuse either. There's two teams looking for an NCAA tourney "upset" right there, same thing that happens every year like clockwork because the BCS is blown out of all proportion by those ESPN blogs.

Agreed, a s. If they get in, I'd add Cincinnati to that list and probably Louisville.

I knew about Seton Hall, because I had done some comparisons of quality mid major's schedules and Seton Hall's name came up often. I guess I can't put to much critizism on Villanova's close win @ Seton Hall because I'd compare it to WSU's win @ Evansville and better than WSU's lose at home to SIU.

If WSU played in the big east this year where do you think we would finish?

[ShockTalk]

Good thing you looked 'em up, ShockTalk, because right now Seton Hall is nothing to me. I'm not knocked out by Villanova or Syracuse either. There's two teams looking for an NCAA tourney "upset" right there, same thing that happens every year like clockwork because the BCS is blown out of all proportion by those ESPN blogs.

Agreed, a s. If they get in, I'd add Cincinnati to that list and probably Louisville.

I knew about Seton Hall, because I had done some comparisons of quality mid major's schedules and Seton Hall's name came up often. I guess I can't put to much critizism on Villanova's close win @ Seton Hall because I'd compare it to WSU's win @ Evansville and better than WSU's lose at home to SIU.

If WSU played in the big east this year where do you think we would finish?

At first, I'd think we'd be on that bubble with Marquette and Cincinnati. However, we did play UConn very well and they've held up better than I expected. The other big variable is knowing just how good some teams like Syracuse or Louisville are because of their "stay at home" OOC. Syracuse, Louisville, and Cincinnati are also benefiting from the unbalanced schedule in the Big East. They would probably finish 1 or 2 games worse if they had UConn or St John's schedule.

[tw805]

Good thing you looked 'em up, ShockTalk, because right now Seton Hall is nothing to me. I'm not knocked out by Villanova or Syracuse either. There's two teams looking for an NCAA tourney "upset" right there, same thing that happens every year like clockwork because the BCS is blown out of all proportion by those ESPN blogs.

Agreed, a s. If they get in, I'd add Cincinnati to that list and probably Louisville.

I knew about Seton Hall, because I had done some comparisons of quality mid major's schedules and Seton Hall's name came up often. I guess I can't put to much critizism on Villanova's close win @ Seton Hall because I'd compare it to WSU's win @ Evansville and better than WSU's lose at home to SIU.

If WSU played in the big east this year where do you think we would finish?

High enough to get in the tournament, which will apparently only require 11th place. If we finish second in the Valley...