Charlotte 72...Western Kentucky 70

MeanGreenTexan · February 24, 2020

The Pod play idea came along after MT's run in 2017 when the Blue Raiders just decimated everyone in their way... then wound up winning a NCAA tourney game as a 12 seed.

Not being able to see further than 5 feet in front of them, C-USA leadership thought, "Oh! If we just make MTSU play the last part of the regular season against the top teams in the league, then they'll have a higher NET ranking, and possibly get up into an 11/10 seed!!!!!!"

I guess they were expecting to see a MTSU-like run by some team every year? I dunno, but it's not shaking out that way. If C-USA had a dominant team like MTSU again, pod play would definitely help. But instead, these past 2 years the top of the league has beat up on each other, and not really helped themselves.

MeanGreenHoops · February 24, 2020

4 hours ago, VideoEagle said:

Pod play does increase the strength of schedule. Strength of schedule is the chief determiner of bracket rankings. Thus pod play DOES give teams in the top pod the best chance of being ranked ranked higher if they get into the NCAAs. It's math, folks.

However, it is still up to the teams to actually WIN.

Maybe, is the science really in on math? 😉

tmjerm · February 27, 2020

On 2/23/2020 at 10:44 PM, greenminer said:

I think you and I have different ideas of almost anybody, but kindly request more info about your view on this.

I think outside the top 10 or so we could beat anybody on any given day. Our non-con against ranked and/or p5 (OU gave Baylor fits btw) teams showed that to be possible. Not saying it’s likely, just saying we have a punchers chance for sure and that goes for LT and WKU too.

Green Lantern · February 27, 2020

On 2/24/2020 at 1:29 PM, greenminer said:

Some of you are convinced (or seem to be) the bump in SOS is worth the loss. If that's you, maybe you think we are a lock for an at-large bid? I don't believe we are a lock, so these late season losses are very bad for a team that is building its resume as a bubble team.

I don't think we're a realistic bubble team regardless. CUSA tourney winner will be the only team in the NCAA tournament. League wide OOC play doomed the conference earlier in the season.

Shark84 · February 27, 2020

9 minutes ago, Green Lantern said:

I don't think we're a realistic bubble team regardless. CUSA tourney winner will be the only team in the NCAA tournament. League wide OOC play doomed the conference earlier in the season.

Conference USA will get only the automatic bid and maybe one or two NIT invites, if the regular season champ doesn't win the tournament. We probably have a decent chance at getting an NIT offer if we get to the tournament semi-finals. Our strength of schedule will help some.

bstnsportsfan3 · February 27, 2020

5 minutes ago, Shark84 said:

Conference USA will get only the automatic bid and maybe one or two NIT invites, if the regular season champ doesn't win the tournament. We probably have a decent chance at getting an NIT offer if we get to the tournament semi-finals. Our strength of schedule will help some.

This is why I want to win the CUSA regular season so bad. We get a guaranteed invite to the NIT incase we get upset in Frisco