MTSU now ranked #24 in AP

[Coach Bill Lewis]

Really proud of these guys.  Class of the conference along with Western Kentucky.

[Ben Gooding]

This is good news and pub for the conference as a whole. It also opens the door up for 2 teams to get in the NCAA tourney if Middle slips up in Frisco. 

[chrisfisher]

Nice. And we hung with them along with the other powers in CUSA. I feel like we are one player short of us having dominant team.  I think next year will be our year to take over CUSA barring serious injuries or players leaving the team. 

[drex]

It is my understanding that we have three players currently on the bench who areas good or better than those currently playing....time will tell.

[greenminer]

I would lovelove for this to be a conference that gets at least 2 bids, the auto + an at-large.

Question: what is CUSA's history of number of at-larges since Memphis left? Before Memphis left?  This might suggest how having a consistently ranked team helps (or doesn't help) the view of the conference.

[MCMLXXX]

They are also #24 in the USA Today Coaches Poll.

[CMJ]

MTSU really should have a favored seed (say a 7 or 8) in the NCAA Tournament, but instead they'll probably be an 11.

[MeanGreenTexan]

17 minutes ago, CMJ said:

MTSU really should have a favored seed (say a 7 or 8) in the NCAA Tournament, but instead they'll probably be an 11.

You don't think they would be rewarded by their performances in their past 2 tourney's 1st round matchups?

[diehardUNTfan]

Hot take :  They are not going to win the conference tourney.

[CMJ]

2 hours ago, MeanGreenTexan said:

You don't think they would be rewarded by their performances in their past 2 tourney's 1st round matchups?

Most likely not.  It took Gonzaga years to really build their rep.  Remember the year they were like #10 in the country and got a 9 seed?

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/23/sports/2003-ncaa-tournament-west-gonzaga-leaves-arizona-gasping-but-it-s-still.html

I can't remember their exact ranking going into the Dance that year, but they were very high and most people assumed they'd be a top 5 seed in the West.  Instead they weren't even favored in their first round game if you look at the seeds.  This was after several Tournament runs.

Edited February 20, 2018 by CMJ

[Mean Green Matt]

This is pretty big for the conference. Hopefully they are still ranked when we beat them in the conference tournament. 

[drex]

I still look for upsets in the conference tournament.  It happened a lot in Hot Springs.

[southsideguy]

Doubtful, with the way the refs officiated the UNT/WKU game, I think the fix is in to try and get WKU in the tournament. It is a long shot but if they lost to us no possibility.