Bracketbusters

[GoShockers89]

In regards to the at-large, I think if we win Wednesday or at Utah State and win the other remaining games, we have a pretty good shot. Lose both and hello St. Louis or bust. Lose to any remaining team outside of UNI or Utah State and it's St. Louis or bust.

Completely agree with this. The only caveat I would throw in is that we would need to reach the finals in St. Louis, and if we lose, it would need to be against UNI. There is almost no way the committee grants the MVC three bids this year if a darkhorse wins Arch Madness.

Beating the Panthers Wednesday would take this from assessment from 'longshot' to 'very possible'. Let's get it done.

[ShockerFever]

In regards to the at-large, I think if we win Wednesday or at Utah State and win the other remaining games, we have a pretty good shot. Lose both and hello St. Louis or bust. Lose to any remaining team outside of UNI or Utah State and it's St. Louis or bust.

Completely agree with this. The only caveat I would throw in is that we would need to reach the finals in St. Louis, and if we lose, it would need to be against UNI. There is almost no way the committee grants the MVC three bids this year if a darkhorse wins Arch Madness.

Beating the Panthers Wednesday would take this from assessment from 'longshot' to 'very possible'. Let's get it done.

Yeah, I forgot to mention St. Louis (a dreaded phrase around these parts). I completely agree. Just showing up or winning 1 in St. Louis won't do it. A lot will depend on what happens there.

And this complicates the whole process. We have to do something we've NEVER done before. Make the freaking finals in St. Louis and it HAS to be UNI who we play.

Ugh, now you really got me in a pissy mood.. :-x

[WuDrWu]

Yeah, I forgot to mention St. Louis (a dreaded phrase around these parts). I completely agree. Just showing up or winning 1 in St. Louis won't do it. A lot will depend on what happens there.

And this complicates the whole process. We have to do something we've NEVER done before. Make the freaking finals in St. Louis and it HAS to be UNI who we play.

Ugh, now you really got me in a pissy mood.. :-x

It ain't just you....I remember having this conversation with the staff shortly after they arrived. They were STUNNED we hadn't been even to the finals in almost 20 years.....STUNNED. Speculation and goals were discussed and bantered right there. They doubted that trend would continue for an appreciable time going forward. There was plenty of pissyness to go around at that point.

:wsu_posters: :goshocks: :posterwu: :posterwsu:

[ShockRef]

3 minutes later and it still sucks, period. 8)

Why?

Playing a meaningless game at Midnight EST does nothing for exposure or RPI.

The premise behind BB is to supposedly provide "Prime time exposure" to teams under consideration for an at-large bid.

No one (except supporters and fans) will tune in and care about the outcome.

Really...Who cares about a game played in Utah that ends @ 2:00 AM in EST? 8)

I would have watched the 11:00pm game no matter who it was. And I'm not on the committee.

Complain all you want but we're playing a good RPI team on national tv. Yeah, it's a tough venue, but that's life.

This is what happens when you drop fudgebombs at sCUm and Drake. Sorry.

Hard to argue your 3rd point.

I guess the moral to the story - Lose to teams like CU and the like and get sent to Utah to play @ Midnight.

Seems more like a sentencing than a reward for being 19-4.

The committee must have recently watched Papillon a few times before making this decision. 8)

Quit your bellyaching already. WSU had its chance to get a better matchup but couldn't take care of business on the road against two sub .500 teams. We now must lay in the bed we made. We are not 19-4, we are 18-4 (don't count the non-D1 win). You are blinded by the record, our SOS stinks and we have no marquee wins. Having beat 11 teams with sub .500 records isn't going to give us high rewards so accept this game and move on.

Utah State is a good opportunity. If we can win there, it will definitely open some eyes, however, if we can't beat Drake and Creighton on the road, there is no way we are going to beat them at their place - so if you are pissed about playing this team on the road, I'll give you that.

Interesting the same day Groundhog Phil pops out of his hole you do the same.

My point is the initial hype and premise of the BB was to promote The Valley and equal league teams that had a good season and worthy of at-large consideration.

By showcasing each in a prime time slots on the ESPN, teams essentially have a opportunity to make their case on a national stage.

Now that '400' teams have joined the party (from lesser leagues) the BB is diluted to the point where WSU is a Midnight EST fill-in spot for ESPN.

I am not degrading USU. They are a good team and will be favored in the game.

My issue is with ESPN and the BB premise.

If this is what it's about, then get out and move forward. 8)

[RoyalShock]

Lunardi may be right, that for one of WSU or USU, this event will be their BubbleBurster. But I have to think if we win Wednesday at UNI, we can absorb a loss at USU and still be in the discussion if we win out in the regular season and win at least one game in the MVC tourney. That would put us at 25-6 (D1 only). Win two in the tourney and 26-6 with two wins over UNI and a strong finish will be tough to ignore.

[Denny Crane]

Recipe for the dance at large:

-Win at either UNI or USU;
-Finish with 25+ wins;
-Finish no worse than second in the league;
-No one other than UNI can win the conference tourney;
-Win at least one game in the conference tourney.

If the above recipe is followed, we are in. Put money on it.

[Maggie]

I am not sold on WSU’s at-large chances. While I think that WSU can make a case for an at-large bid, an argument they have several opportunities to strengthen, in the end it still will be a close call in the eyes of the committee (unless WSU runs the table).

If WSU fails to earn an automatic bid (which, lets face it, is more likely than not) I think they are asking for trouble.

[ripemupshocks]

If you haven't seen it, check this out. Classy fans.

http://mbd.scout.com/mb.aspx?s=208&f=2745&t=5555720

[TxShox]

One blogger's take on the WSU v. USU matchup:

#3: Wichita State @ Utah State, 11:59pm ET, 2/20, ESPN2 - The final televised game of the Busters is sneaky-cool. Utah State fans are known for rocking the Spectrum, making it one of the nation's hidden gems in terms of atmosphere. The Shockers are beginning to shine under former Winthrop coach Gregg Marshall.

And another one here:

Wichita State (48 RPI) vs. Utah State (54 RPI) is a game that makes sense. As much as I am a history buff and the thought of a 2006 rematch between the Sweet 16 Shockers and the Final Four George Mason Patriots would have been grand PR, the fact is that Mason's low RPI (105) would not help Wichita State. Thus Utah State, one of really the best and most underrated mid major teams over the past several years, should give Wichita State a good test. A Shockers win helps the at large bid cause somewhat. Utah State needs to win the WAC conference tournament to get in.

And still one more here:

2/20 - 11:59 pm: Wichita State @ Utah State (ESPN2): If you want an idea of how weak the bubble is this season, both the Shockers and the Aggies have a shot at earning an at-large bid this season. The Shockers probably have the better chance at making a run to a bid, simply because they get another shot an Northern Iowa on Wednesday. They probably need to sweep UNI (they beat them in their first meeting at home earlier in the season) and pick up the win at Utah State if they want any serious consideration. The Aggies have a very nice win over BYU, but other than that they have not played much of anyone. The WAC probably doesn't warrant an at-large bid this season, but if anyone is going to get it, it will be USU. To do that, however, the Aggies are probably going to have to win out.

[shocker22]

I think if we win either the UNI game or the USU game and take care of business how we are supposed to the rest of the way we are in. A win on the road at either place is a huge boost to the RPI and a big road win. A loss on the road to either doesn't hurt RPI that much. As much as I didn't want us to go to USU to play there is a bigger chance of it helping us than hurting us.

[Snapshot9]

And with USU playing 5 games before bracketbusters, they could end up being a top 50 rpi team (55 rpi now).

[shock-it-to-me]

Recipe for the dance at large:

-Win at either UNI or USU;
-Finish with 25+ wins;
-Finish no worse than second in the league;
-No one other than UNI can win the conference tourney;
-Win at least one game in the conference tourney.

If the above recipe is followed, we are in. Put money on it.

I agree with this with one exception, I think we have to win two games and make a decent showing in the finals.

[ShockCity]

Get rid of Bracketbuster right now!!!! It serves absolutely ZERO purpose! It's actually hurting us this year.

[ShockerFever]

Get rid of Bracketbuster right now!!!! It serves absolutely ZERO purpose! It's actually hurting us this year.

How?

Just by playing the game our mid-300 non-con SOS will jump by about 80 points.

If we win, we'll add another Top 50 win and make our grand total for the year of "3".

In 2 years, we'll get a good RPI team back at Koch.

It hurts if you suck and have no realistic shot at an NCAA bid, but I fail to grasp the "it's actually hurting us this year" response..

[ShockerFever]

Recipe for the dance at large:

-Win at either UNI or USU;
-Finish with 25+ wins;
-Finish no worse than second in the league;
-No one other than UNI can win the conference tourney;
-Win at least one game in the conference tourney.

If the above recipe is followed, we are in. Put money on it.

I hope you don't have a lot of money to put on it.

While your recipe would meet the "bare minimum" required to make the dance, those ingredients definitely aren't iron-clad guarantees.

1.) I agree a win at UNI or USU would be huge. We definitely need 1 of those.
2.) 25+ wins isn't a dealbreaker. We have to do that anyways to get a shot. However, assuming we win one of the UNI/USU combo, we could still drop a deuce at Bradley or God forbid Evansville and not win a game in St. Louis and still finish with 25 wins. See, that doesn't work.
3.) Well duh. If we finish outside of 2nd that would've meant we tanked against the likes of Indiana State, Bradley, Evansville, and SIU in some form or another.
4.) This I agree with. If someone other than UNI wins in St. Louis, you can make your NIT plans. The most the Valley is getting NO MATTER WHAT is 2 this year.
5.) Seriously, just 1 game? Do you really think a loss to Creighton or Drake or Illinois State in the semifinals is going to give us a good look come tourney time? This isn't 2006, where a loss in the semifinals is still acceptable. As much as it pains me, we have to make the finals this year to have a shot at the dance. Win it (for the auto) or lose it to UNI and hope we did enough in the regular season.

Revised recipe:
1.) Must win either UNI/USU
2.) Can only afford one more conference loss (UNI, but if we beat UNI, maybeeeeee Bradley)
3.) Play UNI in the finals

Simple as that.