new press

[Capitol Shock]

Apologize if posted already. http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=5938372

It's good to see ucf in the rankings. Hopefully Tulsa can take a game from them for an rpi boost.

[pie n eye]

So now it appears that the A-10 and WAC have been welcomed into the BCS folds?...

[jocoshock]

Apparently there are four levels of conferences now:

Big 6
Major (non-Big 6) A-10 and Mountain West
Mid-Majors
Low-Majors

Which probably explains the 4 extra bids in the tourney.

Big 6 will keep their over allotment, maybe a couple more.
Majors will get their share, maybe a couple more.
The mids will be squeezed just like the middle class
The lows will continue to get their automatic bids minus the play-in rounds...

[ShockTalk]

Apparently there are four levels of conferences now:

Big 6
Major (non-Big 6) A-10 and Mountain West + C-USA
Mid-Majors
Low-Majors

Which probably explains the 4 extra bids in the tourney.

Big 6 will keep their over allotment, maybe a couple more.
Majors will get their share, maybe a couple more.
The mids will be squeezed just like the middle class
The lows will continue to get their automatic bids minus the play-in rounds...

Fixed. Eventhough I don't believe C-USA is any better, because of football, they're placed in this group.

As far as basketball is concerned, our lack of being a part of this Quasi Major group is as much a product of the MVC decline as anything. The Valley has dropped back in the pack with other mid majors catching, or passing us. There should be no reason the Valley should have let this happen.

[swish1]

Apparently there are four levels of conferences now:

Big 6
Major (non-Big 6) A-10 and Mountain West
Mid-Majors
Low-Majors

Which probably explains the 4 extra bids in the tourney.

Big 6 will keep their over allotment, maybe a couple more.
Majors will get their share, maybe a couple more.
The mids will be squeezed just like the middle class
The lows will continue to get their automatic bids minus the play-in rounds...

this makes no sense, ZERO sense.

[shox1989]

Apparently there are four levels of conferences now:

Big 6
Major (non-Big 6) A-10 and Mountain West + C-USA
Mid-Majors
Low-Majors

Which probably explains the 4 extra bids in the tourney.

Big 6 will keep their over allotment, maybe a couple more.
Majors will get their share, maybe a couple more.
The mids will be squeezed just like the middle class
The lows will continue to get their automatic bids minus the play-in rounds...

Fixed. Eventhough I don't believe C-USA is any better, because of football, they're placed in this group.

As far as basketball is concerned, our lack of being a part of this Quasi Major group is as much a product of the MVC decline as anything. The Valley has dropped back in the pack with other mid majors catching, or passing us. There should be no reason the Valley should have let this happen.

There is no reason the MVC shouldn't be in the quasi-major group with the A-10, C-USA and the MWC. I believe that the Valley has finished in the top 8 conferences in rpi every year since about 2001 and has been higher than those conferences many times. This year is the exception (currently #13 and not likely to change much).

But one year shouldn't keep us out of the non-BCS major category.

[ShockTalk]

Apparently there are four levels of conferences now:

Big 6
Major (non-Big 6) A-10 and Mountain West + C-USA
Mid-Majors
Low-Majors

Which probably explains the 4 extra bids in the tourney.

Big 6 will keep their over allotment, maybe a couple more.
Majors will get their share, maybe a couple more.
The mids will be squeezed just like the middle class
The lows will continue to get their automatic bids minus the play-in rounds...

Fixed. Eventhough I don't believe C-USA is any better, because of football, they're placed in this group.

As far as basketball is concerned, our lack of being a part of this Quasi Major group is as much a product of the MVC decline as anything. The Valley has dropped back in the pack with other mid majors catching, or passing us. There should be no reason the Valley should have let this happen.

There is no reason the MVC shouldn't be in the quasi-major group with the A-10, C-USA and the MWC. I believe that the Valley has finished in the top 8 conferences in rpi every year since about 2001 and has been higher than those conferences many times. This year is the exception (currently #13 and not likely to change much).

But one year shouldn't keep us out of the non-BCS major category.

I don't disagree, shox1989. However, this is the media we're talkin' about and timing is everything. I'm sure that the Valley slipping over the last few years and only getting the auto bid has placed us there.

[ShockTalk]

By the way, this is why the Valley cannot afford to take a year or four off. Butler's run didn't change the media's view of the Horizon anymore than UNI's did the MVC.

This media perception is very important when competing with other non-BCS schools for recruites. The MWC, Atl-10, and C-USA may have gained an advantage.

[shox1989]

Apparently there are four levels of conferences now:

Big 6
Major (non-Big 6) A-10 and Mountain West + C-USA
Mid-Majors
Low-Majors

Which probably explains the 4 extra bids in the tourney.

Big 6 will keep their over allotment, maybe a couple more.
Majors will get their share, maybe a couple more.
The mids will be squeezed just like the middle class
The lows will continue to get their automatic bids minus the play-in rounds...

Fixed. Eventhough I don't believe C-USA is any better, because of football, they're placed in this group.

As far as basketball is concerned, our lack of being a part of this Quasi Major group is as much a product of the MVC decline as anything. The Valley has dropped back in the pack with other mid majors catching, or passing us. There should be no reason the Valley should have let this happen.

There is no reason the MVC shouldn't be in the quasi-major group with the A-10, C-USA and the MWC. I believe that the Valley has finished in the top 8 conferences in rpi every year since about 2001 and has been higher than those conferences many times. This year is the exception (currently #13 and not likely to change much).

But one year shouldn't keep us out of the non-BCS major category.

I don't disagree, shox1989. However, this is the media we're talkin' about and timing is everything. I'm sure that the Valley slipping over the last few years and only getting the auto bid has placed us there.

The odd thing is that the Valley really didn't slip in rpi (from top to bottom) until this year.

The problem has been that our league has been too balanced. We needed two or three teams to earn some separation the last couple of years and it didn't happen, so we ended up with one bid.

[Ricardo del Rio]

The problem has been that our league has been too balanced. We needed two or three teams to earn some separation the last couple of years and it didn't happen, so we ended up with one bid.

Balanced = 10 mediocre?

[jocoshock]

Apparently there are four levels of conferences now:

Big 6
Major (non-Big 6) A-10 and Mountain West
Mid-Majors
Low-Majors

Which probably explains the 4 extra bids in the tourney.

Big 6 will keep their over allotment, maybe a couple more.
Majors will get their share, maybe a couple more.
The mids will be squeezed just like the middle class
The lows will continue to get their automatic bids minus the play-in rounds...

this makes no sense, ZERO sense.

I was being somewhat facetious (should have used an emoticon), but that how it feels at least to me. Wasn't meant to be literal. I gave up guessing what's on the mind of the "powers that be".

[ShockTalk]

The problem has been that our league has been too balanced. We needed two or three teams to earn some separation the last couple of years and it didn't happen, so we ended up with one bid.

Balanced = 10 mediocre?

RDR, I think you hit the nail on the head. For example, look at the MWC last year. Four teams separated themselves from the rest and all got their dance ticket punched. Eventhough the Valley won 5 to 4 in the MVC/MWC match-ups, the appearance by dance time was that the MWC was a much better conference. It didn't help that the #2 Valley team lost at home in the NIT first round.

[shox1989]

The problem has been that our league has been too balanced. We needed two or three teams to earn some separation the last couple of years and it didn't happen, so we ended up with one bid.

Balanced = 10 mediocre?

RDR, I think you hit the nail on the head. For example, look at the MWC last year. Four teams separated themselves from the rest and all got their dance ticket punched. Eventhough the Valley won 5 to 4 in the MVC/MWC match-ups, the appearance by dance time was that the MWC was a much better conference. It didn't help that the #2 Valley team lost at home in the NIT first round.

That is a good example. According to Warren Nolan, the Valley also finished #7 in Conference rpi last year and MWC #8.

That is how important separation is. The MWC with a worse rpi gets 4 bids and the MVC gets ONE.

But it also contributes to the media perception that the Valley is a weak league. The Valley must hold the record now for the number of times a #7 or #8 ranked conference gets one bid.

Usually if you are in the top 8, you get 3 or more bids.

[shox1989]

It also is showing up this year already in Lunardi's bracket projections.

He is currently giving the WCC two bids (Gonzaga and St. Mary's) even though the WCC is the #14 ranked conference.

It is pretty wild that the #14 rpi conference can get an at large but the #7 conference last year got one.

Lundardi's projections also show that the Valley as bad as it is this year, could get 2 teams into the dance if there was separation between the top and bottom (based on the current #14 conference, getting an at large in his current projections).

[Kung Wu]

It also is showing up this year already in Lunardi's bracket projections.

He is currently giving the WCC two bids (Gonzaga and St. Mary's) even though the WCC is the #14 ranked conference.

It is pretty wild that the #14 rpi conference can get an at large but the #7 conference last year got one.

Lundardi's projections also show that the Valley as bad as it is this year, could get 2 teams into the dance if there was separation between the top and bottom (based on the current #14 conference, getting an at large in his current projections).

Would you agree that last year that was pretty decent separation between UNI and WSU, from the rest of the pack? UNI won the conference and the tourney, but we were very clearly number two in both and split with them. I think the separation theory makes sense to a degree, but last year was a counter-example.