Ten ranked schools lost today with five more either playing or about to play. Could be a good time to have had a good week of wins.

Yeah, kind of a pipe dream with our schedule and 4 losses. Probably wouldn’t be ranked in 16-2.

(01-14-2023 09:01 PM)banker Wrote:  Yeah, kind of a pipe dream with our schedule and 4 losses. Probably wouldn’t be ranked in 16-2.

yeah .,.. let's not get 'carried away' ... however, finish the season with only 2 more losses (incl. making the final round of the tourney), and I don't see how the selection committee would leave y'all out....

it's always those "ifs", Ja?!

You have to be getting votes first. Of which Marshall isn't getting any. Being in the 70's in NET and kenpom and 80's in the Sagarin, isn't anywhere close to top 25. I think they would have to enter top 40 or so in at least one of those to even start getting votes.

(01-14-2023 09:44 PM)Eagleyed Wrote:  You have to be getting votes first. Of which Marshall isn't getting any. Being in the 70's in NET and kenpom and 80's in the Sagarin, isn't anywhere close to top 25. I think they would have to enter top 40 or so in at least one of those to even start getting votes.

It would take spectacular road wins the rest of the season to move up to any degree. I don't see any other path with conference play fixed. And I don't think that would even be enough. No one can move up now against SBC play, maybe 2-3 points a win. I'd like some conference hardware though. We haven't won (Not saying we will) a season conference title in 30+ years. Since we didn't have the OOC pedigree to make waves in the national scene, that's all we're playing for till the tourney.

It will hard to achieve any ranking due to the out of conference schedule. MU has played MAC and OVC teams which will not impress the voters. The highest profile team MU has beaten is Duquesne (Atlantic 10) which is 3-2 and 13-5 and no Atlantic 10 teams are ranked. Other decent wins are over MAC schools Akron and Toledo that are both 11-6. MU hasn't played a power school and the schedule was made for a winning record.

It would be great if any SBC MBB team got ranked (WBB too for that matter) this year. I don’t think either possibility is realistic this year.

Look at FAU right now. They are a good team. They have the win over Florida. But no other OOC win is against anyone at all even recognizable in this division except maybe FGCU. They'll gain some against the top CUSA teams. But that Florida win will carry them into a possible ranking and maybe a tournament at-large. We don't have that.

(01-15-2023 07:42 PM)MUther Wrote:  Look at FAU right now. They are a good team. They have the win over Florida. But no other OOC win is against anyone at all even recognizable in this division except maybe FGCU. They'll gain some against the top CUSA teams. But that Florida win will carry them into a possible ranking and maybe a tournament at-large. We don't have that.

OOC scheduling is the SBC's enema #1 ... it's been stated to ad nauseam...

if Gill wants to get serious about hoops, that guy should be at the top of the 'how to improve' list...

disclaimer: that's a tall ladder to climb

(01-15-2023 07:50 PM)stinkfist Wrote:  

(01-15-2023 07:42 PM)MUther Wrote:  Look at FAU right now. They are a good team. They have the win over Florida. But no other OOC win is against anyone at all even recognizable in this division except maybe FGCU. They'll gain some against the top CUSA teams. But that Florida win will carry them into a possible ranking and maybe a tournament at-large. We don't have that.

OOC scheduling is the SBC's enema #1 ... it's been stated to ad nauseam...

if Gill wants to get serious about hoops, that guy should be at the top of the 'how to improve' list...

disclaimer: that's a tall ladder to climb

Nothing stops us from scheduling a home and home OOC with each other and other top SBC teams. They're div I games against top 100 teams. Why not?

Yesterday, the Sun Belt became the first conference where each team has at least two conference losses.

(01-15-2023 08:00 PM)MUther Wrote:  

(01-15-2023 07:50 PM)stinkfist Wrote:  

(01-15-2023 07:42 PM)MUther Wrote:  Look at FAU right now. They are a good team. They have the win over Florida. But no other OOC win is against anyone at all even recognizable in this division except maybe FGCU. They'll gain some against the top CUSA teams. But that Florida win will carry them into a possible ranking and maybe a tournament at-large. We don't have that.

OOC scheduling is the SBC's enema #1 ... it's been stated to ad nauseam...

if Gill wants to get serious about hoops, that guy should be at the top of the 'how to improve' list...

disclaimer: that's a tall ladder to climb

Nothing stops us from scheduling a home and home OOC with each other and other top SBC teams. They're div I games against top 100 teams. Why not?

name the schools that are willing to do that with a 1-bid conference that isn't geo-efficient ... I'll wait...

(01-15-2023 08:00 PM)MUther Wrote:  

(01-15-2023 07:50 PM)stinkfist Wrote:  

(01-15-2023 07:42 PM)MUther Wrote:  Look at FAU right now. They are a good team. They have the win over Florida. But no other OOC win is against anyone at all even recognizable in this division except maybe FGCU. They'll gain some against the top CUSA teams. But that Florida win will carry them into a possible ranking and maybe a tournament at-large. We don't have that.

OOC scheduling is the SBC's enema #1 ... it's been stated to ad nauseam...

if Gill wants to get serious about hoops, that guy should be at the top of the 'how to improve' list...

disclaimer: that's a tall ladder to climb

Nothing stops us from scheduling a home and home OOC with each other and other top SBC teams. They're div I games against top 100 teams. Why not?

that's interesting ... I misunderstood upon the initial glance ... you're right ... there is nothing that prevents such...

I will add this ... we were the preseason pick to finish 14th....

(01-15-2023 08:39 PM)stinkfist Wrote:  

(01-15-2023 08:00 PM)MUther Wrote:  

(01-15-2023 07:50 PM)stinkfist Wrote:  

(01-15-2023 07:42 PM)MUther Wrote:  Look at FAU right now. They are a good team. They have the win over Florida. But no other OOC win is against anyone at all even recognizable in this division except maybe FGCU. They'll gain some against the top CUSA teams. But that Florida win will carry them into a possible ranking and maybe a tournament at-large. We don't have that.

OOC scheduling is the SBC's enema #1 ... it's been stated to ad nauseam...

if Gill wants to get serious about hoops, that guy should be at the top of the 'how to improve' list...

disclaimer: that's a tall ladder to climb

Nothing stops us from scheduling a home and home OOC with each other and other top SBC teams. They're div I games against top 100 teams. Why not?

that's interesting ... I misunderstood upon the initial glance ... you're right ... there is nothing that prevents such...

I will add this ... we were the preseason pick to finish 14th....

Might take a few seasons to understand the league and get consistency, but I don't think it's ever a detriment to play USM extra in anything for us.

Even if you were 14th, beats Coppin St or Div II Glenville St. from our illustrious schedule. And it wouldn't count against conference rankings so we could put on a show. Good crowds, good rivalry, not horrible geography.

The MAC SBC challenege should help the OOC's a little. If for nothing else then to get a couple d2s off the schedule.

(01-15-2023 09:41 PM)Randy Tortilla Wrote:  The MAC SBC challenege should help the OOC's a little. If for nothing else then to get a couple d2s off the schedule.

Yeah that's nice to have, although really low NET opponents can end up hurting more than a non-D1 opponent... The MAC has an average NET of 208.5 putting them at #17 while ours is 180.6 putting us at #13. Ideally it'd be nice to reach up a little instead of down and swing a challenge with someone like the A10(#12, 167.2), WAC(#11, 161), or CUSA(#10, 143.5).

But the A10 has already turned their noses up at us and fat chance they'll ever admit we're anything close to their equal. CUSA likely wouldn't be too eager to strike a deal with us either. The WAC could be worth pursuing, as well as reaching very very slightly down to the Missouri Valley(#14, 181.5) or Ivy(#15, 183.3). CUSA is about to lose their current top 4, but are adding two that are currently pretty strong, one that's pretty solid, one meh, and one that's terrible. The WAC is about to lose their top team.

I sure hope the MAC is improved next year though, they currently have seven teams sub-200 and only one team ranked above our #4 team. I don't know if the two SBC teams left out will be our bottom two or what, but this could lead to something like our #207 or #244 having to play their #313 or #331. That's one way the A10 would be pretty ideal, instead of leaving off our very bottom and still having their very bottom drag us down, they'd be leaving off their very bottom.

The SBC must decide if they want to be relevant in college basketball and I am taking about becoming a two bid league. Teams must improve their out of conference competition. The first step would be doing road games at good programs and then neutral sites for games.

(01-15-2023 09:18 PM)MUther Wrote:  

(01-15-2023 08:39 PM)stinkfist Wrote:  

(01-15-2023 08:00 PM)MUther Wrote:  

(01-15-2023 07:50 PM)stinkfist Wrote:  

(01-15-2023 07:42 PM)MUther Wrote:  Look at FAU right now. They are a good team. They have the win over Florida. But no other OOC win is against anyone at all even recognizable in this division except maybe FGCU. They'll gain some against the top CUSA teams. But that Florida win will carry them into a possible ranking and maybe a tournament at-large. We don't have that.

OOC scheduling is the SBC's enema #1 ... it's been stated to ad nauseam...

if Gill wants to get serious about hoops, that guy should be at the top of the 'how to improve' list...

disclaimer: that's a tall ladder to climb

Nothing stops us from scheduling a home and home OOC with each other and other top SBC teams. They're div I games against top 100 teams. Why not?

that's interesting ... I misunderstood upon the initial glance ... you're right ... there is nothing that prevents such...

I will add this ... we were the preseason pick to finish 14th....

Might take a few seasons to understand the league and get consistency, but I don't think it's ever a detriment to play USM extra in anything for us.

Even if you were 14th, beats Coppin St or Div II Glenville St. from our illustrious schedule. And it wouldn't count against conference rankings so we could put on a show. Good crowds, good rivalry, not horrible geography.

with NIL and the portal, it's always going to be best guess...

regardless, eliminating DII games/<250 NET OOC should be at the top of any bucket list ... today, that's easier said than done ... however, one can always schedule exhibitions with local/regional squads to eliminate the DII guys unless they can't develop a complete schedule...

D2 games or NAIA don't count against your ranking. As for scheduling road games it's a guaranteed loss so what's the point other than money. ESPN recently had an article that compared road games for the bottom 20 conferences against the top 10 conferences. Minus Cal and Louisville the bottom 20 conferences won 3% of away games. You have to not only outscore them, but you also have to outscore them by 20 on the free throws they will get. Look at South Alabama. So demoralized by their hard schedule OOC they suck. I don't think their actually bad. Their just demoralized.

Get better tourneys, get home and homes if you can. But, other than that get an easier schedule and run it That way you have multiple teams in the quad 1 net who can then win against each other in conference.

(01-16-2023 06:03 PM)Eagleyed Wrote:  D2 games or NAIA don't count against your ranking. As for scheduling road games it's a guaranteed loss so what's the point other than money. ESPN recently had an article that compared road games for the bottom 20 conferences against the top 10 conferences. Minus Cal and Louisville the bottom 20 conferences won 3% of away games. You have to not only outscore them, but you also have to outscore them by 20 on the free throws they will get. Look at South Alabama. So demoralized by their hard schedule OOC they suck. I don't think their actually bad. Their just demoralized.

Get better tourneys, get home and homes if you can. But, other than that get an easier schedule and run it That way you have multiple teams in the quad 1 net who can then win against each other in conference.

Quad 1 is what? Top 30? We won't get multiple teams that high to make it a conference of Quad 1 games and if any Quad 1 teams lose to boost another conference school, we'll immediately be ousted. It'll raise overall conference Net for better seeding, but won't get us a second bid. Second bid will come from someone excelling against a really tough schedule and then losing in the championship game. Just like most of the mid-majors. But that means having some top teams on the schedule to beat. We need to get the conference net down to like <150 for better seeding and your method will do that, but we'll always need 1 or 2 giant killers to get multiple bids.