Post-season prediction

[ShockerFever]

WSU traded arbitrage in the MVC (guaranteed tourney bids - worst case scenario is an at-large 8 out of 10 years) for the validation and excitement of the American. I think people will slowly realize the only thing that truly matters in NCAA basketball is going to the tournament with occasional runs to S16+. WSU had some horrific seeds, but got-in and made noise despite some non-conference failures.

I would bet large sums of money this team doesn’t make the tourney in 2020 and that it will require a modest retool to expect improvement next year.

We can no longer talk to recruits about going to the NCAA yearly and we sure as hell don’t have the chance to build a “can’t be beat mental state” playing through this league. Furthermore, we don’t have recruiting advantages vs. the competition.

If it is this hard when we have the best coach and most resources in over 100+ years of basketball - I don’t know how we expect to be a consistent threat for the tournament.

How did we come an eyelash away from an AAC title in 2018 with Valley players?

This backwards mindset has to stop. There is NO comparison between beating up on the Valley and being challenged in the AAC. For further confirmation with that line of reasoning, have a chat with Gregg Marshall.

[proshox]

How did we come an eyelash away from an AAC title in 2018 with Valley players?

This backwards mindset has to stop. There is NO comparison between beating up on the Valley and being challenged in the AAC. For further confirmation with that line of reasoning, have a chat with Gregg Marshall.

Because that team was stacked. There is no such thing as “MVC” players. They were WSU players recruited to a program that was a yearly lock for the NCAA.


I am still angry that we didn’t go all-in on playing a style that would have maximized that group.

Conduct a fun thought experiment - pretend like that team played in the MVC in 2018... what does the post season look like? My guess - we go into the tournament with a can’t lose attitude and a healthy mindset....

[FadedCrown]

Because that team was stacked. There is no such thing as “MVC” players. They were WSU players recruited to a program that was a yearly lock for the NCAA.


I am still angry that we didn’t go all-in on playing a style that would have maximized that group.

Conduct a fun thought experiment - pretend like that team played in the MVC in 2018... what does the post season look like? My guess - we go into the tournament with a can’t lose attitude and a healthy mindset....

If beating up on lowly mid-major programs that are below your skill level benefits your team so much, then why do so many schools leave for bigger name conferences?

[proshox]

If beating up on lowly mid-major programs that are below your skill level benefits your team so much, then why do so many schools leave for bigger name conferences?

Lots of schools do it? If so, how many teams that performed elite prior to the “upgrade” end up better off with the conference change? I would guess most of them didn’t leave a conference they were dominating since there aren’t that many arbitrage situations out there - we had a unique situation.

[SB Shock]

If beating up on lowly mid-major programs that are below your skill level benefits your team so much, then why do so many schools leave for bigger name conferences?

Why does Gonzaga stay where they are at?

[Stickboy46]

Why does Gonzaga stay where they are at?

Gonzaga is basically the only exception.

One reason is they don't have a logical no football home on the west coast

[FadedCrown]

Why does Gonzaga stay where they are at?

Maybe because no one wants them and the WCC is bending over backwards to keep them?

[MrsHenryLevitt]

Why does Gonzaga stay where they are at?

So that on Selection Sunday they can relax and wait to see where they are seeded?

[ShockerFever]

Mid majors Butler and Xavier seemed to have done ok with their upgrade. Even that embarrassing postseason school in Omaha still makes the dance with their upgrade conference.

For every Gonzaga jab, there's about 4 or 5 other examples you can plug in where the opposite mindset occurred and still proved to be successful.

What a silly ass argument.

[asiseeit]

I've had to lower my regular season W's to 22. I see us at 20-8 with three left in the season. We will either have to
sweep the last three regular season games for 23-8 OR 2 of the last three and at least two in the tournament. Doable
but tough. I think we are a bubble team now and probably headed to the NIT again as a one or two seed. Should get
a couple home games though. Of course we have to right the ship quite a bit just to get to 22 and win a first round
tournament game. Makes our next game the biggest one yet for many reasons.

[Stickboy46]

Surprisingly, only dropped 7 spots in NET. Sitting at 50 which is a dangerous spot .. but still not out of range if we have a decent finish to the year.

For note: Highest NET that made the tourney last year was 73, but lowest to miss was 33 so NET is obviously not the only factor.

[pinstripers]

We are nearing the point where we have to run the table?

[WstateU]

We are nearing the point where we have to run the table?

[Horn28Clem30]

Win both games this upcoming week, get back some momentum and see where it takes. Beat up on UCF and Tulane, lay it on thick...get individual player confidence back up, and go from there.

[Stickboy46]

We are nearing the point where we have to run the table?

Near yes ... but not there yet. 7-1 we are in for sure. 6-2 as long as the losses are to Cincy, Memphis, or SMU, we are maybe in depending on other bubble teams and winning a game in the AAC tourney. We absolutely HAVE to win all of our home games. Those are all Q3/Q4 right now. One saving factor for us right now over a lot of other bubble teams is we have no Q3/Q4 losses.