throwback

Gregie's conference record at D-1 level: 157-156 / .501 win pct Gregie's conference record minus Dougie: 106-135 / .439 win pct Gregie's conference record at CU minus Dougie: 39-48 / .448 win pct Plus he's paying players (allegedly). He's obviously not very good at it. If he was the coach at a school 1500 miles away instead of 50 miles away, no one around here would know who he was. He has done basically nothing on a national level minus Dougie. You may have a soft spot for all things Jays. I don't. He's a fraud. We can do better ... a lot better.

No thank you on Gregie. Take a look at his conference record at the D-1 level sometime. Definition of a .500 coach. And that includes several seasons in the Mo Valley. Then look at his conference record minus the years his son played for him. Hint: It's brutal. So unless he has another All-American son hiding somewhere, I couldn't pass on him fast enough. Plus with my luck he'd hire Grant Gibbs as an assistant coach and I'd have to find a new team to root for.

Thanks a million. Now I have an image of the Shim-Shams in various stages of undress performing around a stripper's pole at center court. As if this season hasn't been horrific enough.

Stupid Michigan 68 NU 44

What an incredible thread idea. I don't think anyone has discussed the coaching this season in any other thread. I wonder if this thread will determine whether Coach Miles keeps his job?

I rewound that part right after it happened, didn't see anything significant. Maybe he didn't pick up his man in the press? He headed back down court after his made shot, where the other guards were pressing. Other than that, the TV broadcast didn't show anything odd. He wasn't held out very long.

Even the NET could see that was a season-killing effort last night. We lost 8 spots to #46. Going to take a miracle now - and it's pretty obvious we don't have such a thing in us. Not that it matters anymore, but Illinois fell 6 spots to #83 somehow without playing and N'western fell to #80, both of which would've been disappointing if there was still any chance. PSU climbed 7 spots to #63. Iowa fell 1 spot to #29.

That was a closed fist to the family jewels, and Brad Davison wasn't even anywhere near the court. Horrible.

NU 66 PU 65

Our season ended with Cope's injury vs Ohio State. We were playing poorly before that, but his injury pushed it over the cliff. Nowhere near enough offense without him on the floor ... and we weren't exactly lighting the world on fire in B1G play before his injury. Too many good coaches in this league who spent the summer scouting our players extensively, and our coaches just haven't been able to adjust or come up with ways to make it easier on our guys to find offense during the entire league slate. Those issues have been significantly magnified without Cope. Tonight it was a defensive/rebounding issue, but the disappointing season ultimately comes down to our inability to score in league play.

Oklahoma St received an 8-step bump in NET to #83 after last night's win, so that's a big help for us to keep that game in Q2. OSU has a really tough next 4 games, so their NET ranking shouldn't fall too much, even with losses. If they can win their season finale at home vs WVa, that should lock them into the Top 100, even if they don't win any other games. Illinois climbed 3 spots to #77 after losing to Wisky, so that's helpful, getting closer to moving our 2 games with them each up a quad. N'western dropped 1 spot to #78 so it's still a Q3 win. NW has 4 of its last 5 at home after tomorrows game at Ohio St, so there's a chance they can sneak into Top 75.

I'm going to assume that's their biggest scoring run of the season.

Also interesting on Selection Sunday in 2018: Last season, of the 20 teams that had 10+ Q1/Q2 wins and were ranked in the top 40 of the RPI, all received a bid, and all were at least a 10 seed. Of the teams outside the top 40 of RPI with 10+ Q1/Q2 wins: Alabama had 11 Q1/Q2 wins, was ranked #42 in RPI --- 9 Seed Missouri had 10 Q1/Q2 wins, was ranked #43 in RPI --- 8 Seed Florida had 13 Q1/Q2 wins, was ranked #46 in RPI --- 6 Seed Georgia had 10 Q1/Q2 wins, was ranked #79 in RPI --- NO BID Of the non-Top-40-RPI teams that didn’t reach 10+ Q1/Q2 wins but had at least 5 Q1 wins: Oklahoma had 6 Q1 wins, was ranked #49 in RPI ---- 10 Seed Texas had 6 Q1 wins, was ranked #51 in RPI ---- 10 Seed Virginia Tech had 5 Q1 wins, was ranked #61 in RPI --- 8 Seed Oklahoma St had 5 Q1 wins, was ranked #88 in RPI ---- NO BID LSU had 6 Q1 wins, was ranked #94 in RPI ---- NO BID So if the NCAA committee follows last year's pattern: Get to 10+ Q1/Q2 wins and finish in the Top 40 of NET = in Get to 10+ Q1/Q2 wins or get to 5+ Q1 wins and have a decent NET rating (top 50s) = probably in

We need Illinois more - it would help a lot if they got into the Top 75 of NET, and they're 80th now. The NCAA committee pays no attention to conference finish, record. It's all about quads, strength of schedule.

Nevada is 8-0 in Q2 - but they have a couple of teams on the Q1/Q2 cut line, so they may end up with a Q1 win or two when it's all finished. Houston kind of surprised me, 4-1 in Q1 and 10-0 in Q2. That's a lot of impressive wins. Will be interesting to see how the committee handles those two teams. Houston deserves a 2 seed especially if they win at Cincy to close out the season.

Here's a look at how we stack up vs the rest of the Top 60 in the NET ... as of Feb. 15 - that's the latest Nitty Gritty the NCAA has put out, so no weekend games in here. Based on NET rankings thru Feb 15 Top 60 NET teams - Plus **other Big 10 teams Q1 Games Played · 14 – Kansas · 13 – Michigan St · 13 – Wisconsin · 12 – Purdue · 12 - Indiana · 10 – Nebraska (tied for 10th out of 60) · ** Penn State – 14 · ** Illinois - 12 · 0 - Nevada Q1 Wins · 10 – Michigan St · 9 – Kansas · 7 – Wisconsin · 7 – Kentucky · 7 – Marquette · 7 – Virginia · 7 – Duke · 2 – Nebraska (tied for 34th out of 60) · 0 – Northwestern** / UCF / Nevada / San Francisco / Hofstra / Toledo / New Mexico St Q1 and Q2 Games Played · 20 - Kansas · 19 – Wisconsin · 18 – Nebraska (tied for 3rd out of 60) · 18 – Michigan St / Purdue / Texas / Oklahoma / Oklahoma St · ** Illinois - 18 · 4 – Hofstra / Toledo / New Mexico St Q1 and Q2 wins · 14 – Kansas · 14 – Michigan · 14 – Houston · 13 – Duke · 13 – Michigan St · 12 – Virginia / Marquette / LSU / Villanova · 11 – Tennessee / Texas Tech / Maryland / Purdue/ Wisconsin · 10 – Kentucky / Kansas St / Iowa / N Carolina / Baylor / Missi St · 7 – Nebraska (tied for 29th out of 60) · 1 – Hofstra / San Francisco Through Feb. 15, 20 teams have 10+ Q1/Q2 wins – last year, 23 of 24 teams with 10+ Q1/Q2 wins on Selection Sunday made the NCAA Tourney Looks like there will be 25 - 30 teams with 10+ Q1/Q2 wins this season.

Good point - every B1G Tourney game, minus Rutgers, will be at least Q2 with plenty of Q1 chances. A deep run there will greatly boost someone's resume.

Probably not really worth updating this without a win Tuesday, but since I'm an eternal optimist... 5 takeaways: Northwestern fell out of Q2 territory after we beat them. That makes our task more difficult. I don't like the way the NET rankings of our opponents are starting to trend (as discussed below). N'western fell out of Q2, and if we beat Iowa and Penn St -- which we need to do -- they may fall to the lower quad also, which would be a huge problem. We're currently 7-11 in NET Q1/Q2 games with 5 chances left plus whatever we get in the B1G tourney ... there's still a shot, but we probably need 3 more Q1 wins or some combination of 4-5 Q1/Q2 wins to feel good. If the NCAA were still using RPI, this season would be over. Our RPI, and the Big Ten's RPI as a whole, stink ... except for Minnesota. The RPI loves the Gophers, so we can deduce: RPI = Jackwagon. We need the teams close to the quad cut off lines to stay on ( or climb to ) the right side - if a few of those don't go our way, we need extra wins from someplace ( i.e., B1G Tourney ). Teams to keep an eye on over the next few weeks: IOWA - #28 now - so it would help us if they stay in the top 30 and make the season finale a Q1 game for us ... of course we also need to win that game, which may knock it down to a Q2 ILLINOIS - #80 now - If they could move into the top 75, that would make our Q2 (L) and Q3 (W) games into Q1/Q2 games PENN ST - #70 now - they need to stay in the top 75 to keep our games as Q1 ( ? ) and Q2 (W) instead of Q2/Q3 games ... again, though, we need to win Tuesday, which may kick them out of the top 75 OKLA ST - #91 now - but they've been falling fast the past few weeks, need them to stay in top 100 to keep that as a Q2 (W) instead of a Q3 N’WESTERN - #77 now - they need to climb back into the top 75 to move our game from Q3 (W) into Q2 CREIGHTON - #63 after another loss at home Sunday – so to stay as Q2 (W) they need to ... ahhh, screw 'em. Don't care if they fall to Q4. Also, Fullerton is close to climbing into Q3 from Q4 , but I don't think the NCAA committee even looks at Q3/Q4 games, so it probably doesn't matter. If all 6 of those teams go our way, we'd be on pace for 25 Q1/Q2 games before the B1G Tourney ---- We'd be 2-9 now in Q1 with 5 games left / 7-2 in Q2 with 0 games left ... this would be really good If all 6 of those teams go against us, we'd drop to on pace for 20 Q1/Q2 games before B1G Tourney ---- We'd be 2-8 now in Q1 with 3 games left / 2-3 in Q2 with 2 games left ... this would almost certainly sink us, barring a miracle 5-0 finish plus a B1G Tourney win or 2 If those 6 teams stay in the quads where they are now, we're on pace for 23 Q1/Q2 games before B1G Tourney ---- We'd be 2-8 now in Q1 with 5 games left / 5-3 in Q2 with 0 games left Bottom line: We need a handful of opponents' games to go our way, plus we need some more wins ourselves. So it's a typical NCAA bubble season in mid-February for us ... minus watching Delaware State scores. Go MVSU!

You got it - Charlotte at the Devaney Center in '08. I drew a complete blank on that one.

NU 67 PSU 64

Agree that NCAAs are always ultimate goal. And some years, a successful NIT run can help a team/program going forward. Spit balling, but maybe if the '13-14 team had gone on an NIT run instead of losing to Baylor in the NCAAs, maybe the '14-15 season is different. I doubt it, but maybe. Regardless, if that was an NIT team, even one that made it to New York, we wouldn't have had No Sit Sunday, the win at Top 10 MSU, the excitement of seeing NU's name pop up on Selection Sunday, etc. I'd take those events/memories over a couple of NIT wins any day., even with a first-round NCAA loss Does anyone remember NU's last NIT win? Off the top of my head, I don't. I had to look it up. But I can remember every NU NCAA game the past 35 years ... even the one against W Kentucky where it wasn't televised locally. (Granted, there aren't that many NCAA games to remember.) Even when thinking back to winning the NIT in '96, my first thought isn't how much fun that run was - it's how that team squandered its real chance, as it could've been a Sweet 16 NCAA team. I appreciate the NIT title, but it's more about what could have been with that team. So I'm always taking an NCAA bid over an NIT run. Just how I look at it. EDIT - I may have misread your post the first time, so I'll clarify - agree that NCAA is always the ultimate goal. But if in the end you don't make the NCAA, you nearly always take the NIT bid - it's not the goal, but it's better than sitting at home. This year, though, I think we might turn down an NIT bid, as it does nothing for the program in its current position.

Agree - but I think those 3 have to all be Quad 1, otherwise we probably need 4, like 2 Quad 1 and 2 Quad 2. So if we can get 3 of the next 5 -- and PSU stays as a Quad 1 -- we'd be in good shape heading in the B1G tourney. Long odds, though. I'd give us maybe 12-15% shot of winning 3 of the next 5. Need PSU (#70 as of yesterday) to stay in Top 75, need Okla St (#87) to stay in Top 100 ... and it'd be a big help if Illinois (#80) could claw into the Top 75. Basically, we need a lot to go our way, plus control our own business. But we're due some good luck, right?

Exactly - it's NCAA or bust. This large senior class might even turn down an NIT bid ... and even if they didn't, we'd almost certainly have an interim coach during any NIT games. Some years, an NIT run can be beneficial. With the program in its current state, though, the NIT does nothing for us.

Our current #38 NET ranking isn't all margin of victory. We're on track to play 23-25 Quad 1 and 2 games before the B1G tourney - that's a crazy high number. Only Kansas, N Carolina, Vanderbilt and Kentucky had played 24+ Q1/Q2 games last year on Selection Sunday (after their conference tournaments). Only 9 teams total had played 23+ Q1/Q2 games last year by Selection Sunday. 3 of the 9 didn't make the tournament. Our schedule has been/will finish among the toughest in the country based on the criteria the committee emphasized last year. That doesn't get us in and we certainly don't deserve to be in the way we've been playing, but it's why we're still in the conversation and still have a shot in the final month.

It was #110 before Wednesday.