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Three Games Against Final 4 Teams

Norm Peterson

By Norm Peterson
in The Haymarket Hardwood

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Swan88

Swan88

Posted
Posted (edited)

Rasmussen will be off the Committee starting next year, right?

Edit:  I found the answer in this March 13, 2018, report:

 

In what seemed like an innocuous press release, last week the NCAA announced that Atlantic 10 commissioner Bernadette McGlade and Bradley Athletic Director Chris Reynolds would begin five-year terms on the Division 1 men's basketball selection committee starting with the 2018-2019 season. At the time, it didn't raise many eyebrows. Each member of the ten-person selection committee serves a five-year appointment, and this year was the final season for Southland Conference Commissioner Tom Burnett and Creighton Athletic Director Bruce Rasmussen. McGlade and Reynolds will replace them starting next season.

The buried lede in this release is huge news if you think mid-majors deserve more representation in the NCAA Tournament. What this means is that the majority of the ten-person committee will be represented by mid-major or low-major conferences for the first time since 2013. Why? Because of the two departing members, one is from the power conferences (Rasmussen - Creighton) and one is from a low-major (Reynolds - Southland).  McGlade and Reynolds, the two incoming members, are both from mid- or low-major conferences. This shifts the power to 6-4 in favor of the smaller conferences. Listed below are the members of the 2019 selection committee:

Power conference members:
Bernard Muir (Chair) - Stanford
Mich Barnhart - Kentucky
Kevin White - Duke
Jim Phillips - Northwestern

Mid or low-major conference members:
Mountain West Commissioner (yet to be named)
Jim Schaus - Ohio University
Tom Holmue - BYU
Janet Cone - UNC-Asheville
Bernadette McGlade - Atlantic 10
Chris Reynolds - Bradley

Edited by Swan88
Norm Peterson

Norm Peterson

Posted
  • Author
Posted
2 hours ago, cipsucks said:

So much for not giving down arrows for a difference of opinion, and it wasn't a difference of opinion.  I stated the scores of two games that kept us out of the tourney. 

 

Whatever, Norm.

 

It's not an issue of your opinion.  I've deliberately stayed away from the annual piling on by people saying we need to fire the coach. I've left plenty of room for those who want to bash the staff, the players, the bench, the effort, the scheduling, the recruiting, the conference, whatever, to do that without interruption from me.  Let them have their go.  And, for those who want to rub everyone's noses in their "realism," there are plenty of threads out there, I'm sure, to point out the downside.

 

I just wanted to carve out one tiny little slice of positivity and point out that, in three games against Final 4 foes, we played 'em even. And less than 5 posts and 2 hours later, someone has to come along and remind us that, well, yeah, but we lost to St. John's and UCF, so ...

 

I'm pretty sure everyone on the board already knew we lost those games; I figured people might not have put together the fact that the aggregate scores of those three games against teams that made the Final 4 was a draw.

 

So, thanks for pissing in my Wheaties.  Yeah, whatever. 

Dead Dog Alley

Dead Dog Alley

Posted
Posted
57 minutes ago, Handy Johnson said:

Would Nebraska be favored over Loyola? 

 

51 minutes ago, The Polish Rifle said:

Absolutely not.

 

Would Loyola have made the tournament if they had played with the same roster in the Big Ten?  No.  The size and athletes they'd face game after game would have ground them down; their roster isn't built to handle that.  Putting together a roster that can compete in the Big Ten, and putting together one that can advance in the tournament, are often two different things.

The Polish Rifle

The Polish Rifle

Posted
Posted
13 minutes ago, Dead Dog Alley said:

 

 

Would Loyola have made the tournament if they had played with the same roster in the Big Ten?  No.  The size and athletes they'd face game after game would have ground them down; their roster isn't built to handle that.  Putting together a roster that can compete in the Big Ten, and putting together one that can advance in the tournament, are often two different things.

Well that wasn't the question, the question was would we be favored over Loyola-Chi? and the answer is no. Also seems silly to say they couldn't handle the grind of the B1G when they just beat 3 top 25 teams over the course of 7 days. Do people on here really think we are a better team than Loyola-Chicago this year?

jayschool

jayschool

Posted
Posted (edited)
11 minutes ago, The Polish Rifle said:

Well that wasn't the question, the question was would we be favored over Loyola-Chi? and the answer is no. Also seems silly to say they couldn't handle the grind of the B1G when they just beat 3 top 25 teams over the course of 7 days. Do people on here really think we are a better team than Loyola-Chicago this year?

Not right now. We haven't won a game in more than a month. :)

Edited by jayschool
jayschool

jayschool

Posted
Posted (edited)
10 minutes ago, The Polish Rifle said:

Well that wasn't the question, the question was would we be favored over Loyola-Chi? and the answer is no. Also seems silly to say they couldn't handle the grind of the B1G when they just beat 3 top 25 teams over the course of 7 days. Do people on here really think we are a better team than Loyola-Chicago this year?

To answer your question more directly, I don't know. I'm not a good judge of watching teams from mid-majors and projecting how'd they do against teams from major conferences through the course of a season.

 

I know that Nebraska was very nearly unbeatable at home this year. Thus, we should be favored to beat them at home. They lost to Indiana State, Missouri State and Bradley in road games.

 

Were we to play them on their home court, we'd be underdogs, just as we were underdogs in nearly EVERY SINGLE ROAD GAME Nebraska played this year. So there's nothing new there.

 

On neutral courts, Nebraska most recently was blown out by a Final Four NCAA team. Loyola has won four in a row on neutral courts against what was judged to be better competition than Nebraska.

 

Short answer: depends on where the game is played. 

Edited by jayschool
Swan88

Swan88

Posted
Posted

I agree with Jay.  Right now, we wouldn't--obviously.

But we probably would have been favored during most of the regular season.

Loyola's losses (all but Indiana St. were away games):

   Boise St. 53-87

   Milwaukee 56-73

   Missouri State 59-64

   Indiana State 57-61

   Bradley 67-69 (on Jan. 31--their last loss)

Loyola's Conference Tournament wins:

   UNI 54-50

   Bradley 62-54

   Illinois St. 65-49

 

The Polish Rifle

The Polish Rifle

Posted
Posted
1 minute ago, jayschool said:

To answer your question more directly, I don't know. I'm not a good judge of watching teams from mid-majors and projecting how'd they do against teams from major conferences through the course of a season.

 

I know that Nebraska was very nearly unbeatable at home this year. Thus, we should be favored to beat them at home. They lost to Indiana State, Missouri State and Bradley in road games. Were we to play them on their home court, we'd be underdogs, just as we were underdogs in nearly EVERY SINGLE ROAD GAME Nebraska played this year. So there's nothing new there.

 

On neutral courts, Nebraska most recently was blown out by a Final Four NCAA team. Loyola has won four in a row on neutral courts against what was judged to be better competition than Nebraska.

 

Short answer: depends on where the game is played. 

I always assume its a neutral court game. And me saying I think LC is better than us, is not to take away from our season, but they're a freaking final 4 team, who just got done dominating a physical KSU team. I don't really see LC as a typical Cinderella team. 32-5, won both their conf regular season and tournament, 5-0 against tournament teams (including going to gainesville and beating Florida in the non-con).

Fullbacksympathy

Fullbacksympathy

Posted
Posted
53 minutes ago, The Polish Rifle said:

Well that wasn't the question, the question was would we be favored over Loyola-Chi? and the answer is no. Also seems silly to say they couldn't handle the grind of the B1G when they just beat 3 top 25 teams over the course of 7 days. Do people on here really think we are a better team than Loyola-Chicago this year?

 

Their regular season losses include:

 

87-53 at Boise State

73-56 at Milwaukee 

61-57 at home vs. Indiana State

69-67 at Bradley

 

They'd have no chance beating us at PBA.  That's for sure.  

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