Games of Interest (2015-16 Edition)

[Shocker85]

Baylor was the only ranked team that won tonight. This is one crazy season.

[Jamar Howard 4 President]

Flipping channels on TV, it is usually easy to decide who to root for when one or both teams are ranked. Here are some games you might stumble across between unranked teams. Root for the teams in bold/underlined.

Tonight
UConn @ Temple
Washington State @ Colorado
VCU @ UMass
Gonzaga @ Portland

Saturday
Washington @ Colorado
Eastern Carolina @ Cincinnati
Alabama @ Florida
Vanderbilt @ Auburn
St. Louis @ VCU
Oregon St @ Cal
Tulsa @ UConn

[ShockdaWorld]

Flipping channels on TV, it is usually easy to decide who to root for when one or both teams are ranked. Here are some games you might stumble across between unranked teams. Root for the teams in bold/underlined.

Tonight
UConn @ Temple
Washington State @ Colorado
VCU @ UMass
Gonzaga @ Portland

Saturday
Washington @ Colorado
Eastern Carolina @ Cincinnati
Alabama @ Florida
Vanderbilt @ Auburn
St. Louis @ VCU
Oregon St @ Cal
Tulsa @ UConn

So home teams tonight, minus Colorado, and road teams Saturday, minus Vanderbilt...got it!!

[Eric]

Ok, who's an Evansville fan tonight?

[gdb620]

Ok, who's an Evansville fan tonight?

Can't get myself to pull for either one. Can they both lose?

If Evansville wins they have a good shot at winning all their remaining games.

[ShockdaWorld]

If Evansville wins, there are 4 of us (I believe) that will get a perfect 10 spot in this round of pick 'em, so I suppose I'm an Evansville fan tonight.

[Stickboy46]

Ok, who's an Evansville fan tonight?

Quick thoughts using the RPI Forecast Tool. If ISU wins tonight, then wins every game except vs us and UNI, they end up with an ~95 RPI going into the MVC tourney.

If Evansville loses tonight then wins out except for their game vs UNI, then UE ends up with ~89 RPI

If UNI wins out except against us they end up with ~90 RPI.

That would be the ideal scenario for us. We win out, we have ZERO losses outside the Top 100, and end up with 6 Top 100 wins too.

[Cdizzle]

Quick thoughts using the RPI Forecast Tool. If ISU wins tonight, then wins every game except vs us and UNI, they end up with an ~95 RPI going into the MVC tourney.

If Evansville loses tonight then wins out except for their game vs UNI, then UE ends up with ~89 RPI

If UNI wins out except against us they end up with ~90 RPI.

That would be the ideal scenario for us. We win out, we have ZERO losses outside the Top 100, and end up with 6 Top 100 wins too.

This made my head hurt, but I guess it will help me decide who to root for over the next 2 weeks.

[1972Shocker]

If Evansville wins, there are 4 of us (I believe) that will get a perfect 10 spot in this round of pick 'em, so I suppose I'm an Evansville fan tonight.

As far as the pick 'em contest goes I actually come out better if ILS wins even though I have 1 point bet on Evansville. If ILS wins I lose 1 point to the 3 guys who picked ILS to win but I pick up 1 point on the 13 guys who put 2 points on Evansville and 2 points on the 6 guys who have 3 points riding on Evansville.

That said I want to see Evansville maintain their Top 100 RPI status. Illinois State is currently 125 in the RPI rankings and I don't have a great deal of confidence ILS can get to a Top 100 ranking even with a win over Evansville. OTOH perhaps if Illinois State does win this game perhaps they do have a shot at a Top 100 ranking and maybe Evansville can still maintain their Top 100 ranking. Giving the Shocks 4 Valley games against Top 100 opponents.

On a personal level I dislike Illinois State more than I dislike Evansville.

I guess that based on the RPI analysis by @Stickboy46 that perhaps I should be rooting for Illinois State tonight and hope that things work out as projected although that might be somewhat of a longshot.

[Stickboy46]

This made my head hurt, but I guess it will help me decide who to root for over the next 2 weeks.

The margin of error is super slim in those calculations and don't include the MVC Tourney. So all 3 could end up Top 100, or all 3 could end up outside of the top 100 at this point too by selection Sunday

[Jamar Howard 4 President]

It would take a near perfect scenario for teams 2-4 to all finish top 100 in the RPI. Right now, I'd rather see 2 of them (Evansville and ???) separate from the pack and ensure that we don't see a crappy scenario where only 1 finishes top 100.

[Dave Stalwart]

It would take a near perfect scenario for teams 2-4 to all finish top 100 in the RPI. Right now, I'd rather see 2 of them (Evansville and ???) separate from the pack and ensure that we don't see a crappy scenario where only 1 finishes top 100.

For the sake of the conference, I'd like for the two top 100 teams to be Evansville and UNI. UNI has good wins on their resume. THey need to get their resume put back together and get into the top 100. NCAA fans at least somewhat respect UNI from year to year. I'd like to see them stay in the top 100 in year one of their new 4 year plan. For Evansville, this is it. They will be fighting it out with Bradley, Drake and Loyola next year. Hopefully, they can muster a top 100 finish and an NIT run. I'd hate to see Balentine and Mock go out quietly. Those are two guys I like to root for and it's a lot easier to do that now that we own 2 wins over them. If anyone is gonna hose us in St. Louis, I hope it's them and that we've put together an at large resume that can absorb the blow...not because I think they stand a chance, but because it would be nice for them to get to taste the dance.

I'd like to see Illinois State be the team that gets cannibalized to make all of this happen :) They could lose every game going forward and probably still maintain an rpi inside the 150-200 range. I suppose if they get shredded, it becomes a worse and worse loss for us, but I guess I'll take it if that means I get to watch them fall apart.

[MadaboutWu]

I agree Dave but I would greatly prefer ISUr to no one but UE.

[ShockerFever]

I wouldn't root for Illinois State if it was my grandmother's dying wish.

[shoxilla]

OMG - Bill Walton with a shirt for the ages and keep Berkeley weird and Bear domination and Cal with 18-6 start over Oregon Dux.