2012 Bracket Busters Projections

[WuShock Reaper]

Todays (01/12/12) Bracketbuster Games of Note:

Murray State (RPI #25) vs. Jacksonville State (RPI #294)
Iona (RPI #32) vs. Manhattan (RPI #151)
Davidson (RPI #45) vs. Western Carolina (RPI #182)
Oral Roberts (RPI #50) at Western Illinois (RPI #120)
South Dakota State (RPI #71) vs. South Dakota (RPI #277)
New Mexico State (RPI #78) vs. Utah State (RPI #153)
North Dakota State (RPI #85) vs. UMKC (RPI #244)
Weber State (RPI #86) vs. Montana State (RPI #292)
Virginia Commonwealth (RPI #87) vs. James Madison (RPI #252)
Wisconsin-Milwaukee (RPI #114) vs. Wright State (RPI #165)
George Mason (RPI #119) at Drexel (RPI #125)
Coastal Carolina (RPI #133) vs. Gardner-Webb (RPI #247)
Montana (RPI #144) at Northern Arizona (RPI #315)
Manhattan (RPI #151) at Iona (RPI #32)
Utah State (RPI #153) at New Mexico State (RPI #78)
Eastern Kentucky (RPI #154) at Austin Peay (RPI #250)
Green Bay (RPI #160)vs. Detroit (RPI #245)
Eastern Illinois (RPI #163) vs. Tennessee-Martin (RPI #295)
Charleston Southern (RPI #166) vs. Presbyterian College (RPI #265)

Commentary:
Need the top 5 teams to win tonight, with Oral Roberts having the toughest of the five. If ORU wins on the road, this should help quite a bit to solidify their RPI standing. The other more interesting game, in IMO, tonight is the New Mexico State versus Utah State.

[WuShock Reaper]

Iona just suffered a bad loss at home. Manhattan went on a 27 to 7 run to end the game on a three-pointer with one second left to win win 75 to 72. I guess the Wichita State fans must have been at the game rooting for Iona.

[tropicalshox]

I'm not going to cry about Iona or any other potential bubble team taking a bad loss.

[kcshocker11]

I'm not going to cry about Iona or any other potential bubble team taking a bad loss.

Got that right!

[ShockTalk]

I'm not going to cry about Iona or any other potential bubble team taking a bad loss.

Possible problem with that is that Iona is (and still may be) one of the most likely teams we'd face in BB. By lowering any highly likely Shocker opponent's RPI/bubble standing may mean that they take us down with them with a Shocker road loss.

On the reverse, if they stay higher in the rankings, a road loss may not be a killer for us and a win gives us more wiggle room and/or higher seeding.

[Downtown Shocker Brown]

And lets not go calling a loss to a 151 RPI team at home a "bad" loss. Thats a loss. Losing to a 230 RPI team at home is a bad loss. Losing to a 250+ RPI is a devastating loss.

[ShockTalk]

And lets not go calling a loss to a 151 RPI team at home a "bad" loss. Thats a loss. Losing to a 230 RPI team at home is a bad loss. Losing to a 250+ RPI is a devastating loss.

So that's what you would call a Shocker home loss to Indiana St or Evansville? Just a loss?

[Downtown Shocker Brown]

Im saying, with the way we have been playing at home, lets not dig ourselves a bigger grave than we have to. I suspect we will have one (or more) of those at home.

[ShockTalk]

Im saying, with the way we have been playing at home, lets not dig ourselves a bigger grave than we have to. I suspect we will have one (or more) of those at home.

Plus Mo St and/or UNI? We've already lost to CU. How many home Valley losses do you think we can handle safely?

[im4wsu]

Plus Mo St and/or UNI? We've already lost to CU. How many home Valley losses do you think we can handle safely?

Depends entirely on how many road wins we achieve.

[WuShock Reaper]

The loss to Manhattan (RPI #151) is bad not because of the fact they were at home, but more for the fact that they were up by 20 points with less than 10 minutes to play and lose with 1 second to play and give up a full-court three-ball play. Ouch!

[WuShock Reaper]

Todays (01/12/12) Bracketbuster Games of Note: FINAL UPDATE

Murray State (RPI #25) WON vs. Jacksonville State (RPI #294)
Iona (RPI #32) LOST vs. Manhattan (RPI #151)
Davidson (RPI #45) WON vs. Western Carolina (RPI #182)
Oral Roberts (RPI #50) WON at Western Illinois (RPI #120)
South Dakota State (RPI #71) WON vs. South Dakota (RPI #277)
New Mexico State (RPI #78) WON vs. Utah State (RPI #153)
North Dakota State (RPI #85) WON vs. UMKC (RPI #244)
Weber State (RPI #86) WON vs. Montana State (RPI #292)
Virginia Commonwealth (RPI #87) WON vs. James Madison (RPI #252)
Wisconsin-Milwaukee (RPI #114) WON vs. Wright State (RPI #165)
George Mason (RPI #119) LOST at Drexel (RPI #125)
Coastal Carolinav (RPI #133) WON vs. Gardner-Webb (RPI #247)
Montana (RPI #144) WON at Northern Arizona (RPI #315)
Manhattan (RPI #151) WON at Iona (RPI #32)
Utah State (RPI #153) LOST at New Mexico State (RPI #78)
Eastern Kentucky (RPI #154) LOST at Austin Peay (RPI #250)
Green Bay (RPI #160) LOST vs. Detroit (RPI #245)
Eastern Illinois (RPI #163) WON vs. Tennessee-Martin (RPI #295)
Charleston Southern (RPI #166) WON vs. Presbyterian College (RPI #265)

Commentary:
The Iona loss may come back to haunt us, particularly if we get matched up with them this year. Oral Roberts gets a good double-overtime win on the road. New Mexico State get's a nice win tonight as well.

[ShockTalk]

Depends entirely on how many road wins we achieve.

DSB's statement was made without regards to road success/failure. Without the "(or more)" added, I would have not made any comment. However, to think that it is somewhat likely for WSU to lose to 2 Valley teams at home, not in the top 4 or 5 (if Ill St is part of that group) seemed very risky and would also lead one to believe that WSU would also be more likey to lose 1 or 2 games to UNI and Mo St here at home. I understand WSU's recent problems at home, but one would think that a middle of the pack WSU team would not lose more than 2-3 home games.

[WuShock Reaper]

Todays (01/13/12) Bracketbuster Games of Note:

Cleveland State (RPI #69) at Butler (RPI #98)
Butler (RPI #98) vs. Cleveland State (RPI #69)
Loyola-Maryland (RPI #104) at Fairfield (RPI #125)


Commentary
Two good games tonight as Cleveland State faces Butler and they both need to win. The other good game has Loyola-Maryland going at it at Fairfield.

In addition, if the Illinois State Redbirds pull the big upset over the Creighton Blue Jays tonight they will move into the top pool of ESPN TV matchup games. That would make SEVEN MVC teams. This is very good news as of today.

[Downtown Shocker Brown]

I don't know. I could see us losing to Missouri State, Indiana State, and Evansville. Toss Bradley in that group.

Right now, some of the mystique has rubbed off of Charles Koch Arena. Teams aren't intimidated. They thrive on the ability to shut the crowd up. Look at the dreadlocked guard from Illinois State that kept asking for the crowd to get loud.

I'm not offering an opinion on how good WSU is in regards to home v. away. Just that we have shown repeatedly the tendency to allow one man to beat us at home. Nic Moore almost did it. Taylor Brown could do it. Kyle Weems could do it. Jake Odum could do it. Colt Ryan could do it.