197

[Eight Legger]

That’s the number of Division I teams that have made the tournament since we last did. I counted.

Paint it on the damn hallways of the Robins Center so these fools running our athletic department have to stare at the level of their ineptness every single day.

 

[Eight Legger]

Here are some random teams that have made it more recently than us:
Prairie View A&M
Northern Kentucky
Troy
Cal Poly
Call State Bakersfield
Lipscomb
Gardner Webb
Jacksonville State
North Dakota
North Florida
UC Davis
Abilene Christian
Loyola MD
Northwestern State
American
Mercer
Colgate
NC Central
UNC Asheville
Milwaukee
Lafayette
Coastal Carolina
My. St. Mary’s
New Orleans
Marshall
Green Bay
Georgia State
Delaware
Harvard
Hawaii
Yale
Albany
Lamar
UNCW
Kent State
Austin Peay
Detroit Mercy
LIU
Texas Southern
Robert Morris
Bradley
NC A&T
Mississippi Valley State (currently la in the NET rankings)

Here are the teams from Virginia that have made it more recently than us:
Virginia
Virginia Tech
VCU
Old Dominion
JMU
Liberty
Radford
Norfolk State
Hampton

Here are the teams from the A10 that have made it more recently than us:
All of them except Fordham, George Mason and Duquesne

 

[Marley13]

And here are the Mooney teams that have made the Tournament in the last 10 years:

 

[DTSpider]

EL - looks like your random list will be a lot of who we feature on our schedule over the next couple of years so that we can trot out that we’ve played “recent final four tournament teams”. I shudder to think how we’re going to schedule so that we can ensure winning seasons.

 

[urmite]

197 that did, 159 that didn't

.553 I feel I've heard a similar number mentioned before...

 

[GKiller]

This number will also be higher once you factor in this year's tournament. I can think of 1 right now but suspect there have to be a few more coming too.

 

[97spiderfan]

Saw Cal State Bakersfield on the list. Would love to see Buck make it.

 

[SpiderRick]

Here are some random teams that have made it more recently than us:
Prairie View A&M
Northern Kentucky
Troy
Cal Poly
Call State Bakersfield
Lipscomb
Gardner Webb
Jacksonville State
North Dakota
North Florida
UC Davis
Abilene Christian
Loyola MD
Northwestern State
American
Mercer
Colgate
NC Central
UNC Asheville
Milwaukee
Lafayette
Coastal Carolina
My. St. Mary’s
New Orleans
Marshall
Green Bay
Georgia State
Delaware
Harvard
Hawaii
Yale
Albany
Lamar
UNCW
Kent State
Austin Peay
Detroit Mercy
LIU
Texas Southern
Robert Morris
Bradley
NC A&T
Mississippi Valley State (currently la in the NET rankings)

Here are the teams from Virginia that have made it more recently than us:
Virginia
Virginia Tech
VCU
Old Dominion
JMU
Liberty
Radford
Norfolk State
Hampton

Here are the teams from the A10 that have made it more recently than us:
All of them except Fordham, George Mason and Duquesne

Most are in leagues lower than the A10. That's why I'm fine with a move to the CAA. Greater opportunity to win the automatic qualifier bid. Big fish small pond.

 

[8legs]

I guess we’ve come full circle. Seems I remember we left the CAA and joined the A10 so that we could have a better chance of an NCAA bid, whether automatic or at large. How has that worked out the past 16 seasons? You’re right Rick, maybe a better chance of automatic qualifier, but you still have to be able to win a must-win game.
I laughed when it was posted that FGCU has danced more often than us recently.
Certainly hard to take pride in being picked first and finishing eighth where we are now.
Plus in the CAA we could probably avoid VCU and I could hang my UR flag outside again. (Note sarcastic font)

 

[Eight Legger]

If the best we can do is one NCAA trip every decade, I agree — drop down to a lower conference and take your chances with the conference tournament. In a 10-team league, random luck would get us one bid every decade, and we could save $10 million on a coach while also pocketing NCAA unit money. Don’t we have an economics program? The absurdity of this situation is so apparent.

 

[localspider]

Dropping to a lower conference so maybe a better chance at the Dance, oh boy we really suck!

 

[CarolinaSpider]

So what does that do for recruiting? We already struggle with depth and higher caliber player.

 

[712_VT]

You can’t convince me that UR would have even won the CAA this year. Would have been hard not to have been a top 3 team in the league but they probably would have choked in the conference tournament.

 

[FRS1976]

EL - looks like your random list will be a lot of who we feature on our schedule over the next couple of years so that we can trot out that we’ve played “recent final four tournament teams”. I shudder to think how we’re going to schedule so that we can ensure winning seasons.

Such powerhouses like Oglethorpe, Bluefield College and West Va Tech!

 

[Spider B]

The A10 is not the issue. Its our leadership. We have everything in place to be wildly successful in the A10 except the leadership and desire to be an Al0 power. It is possible to be a highly respected academic institution AND a very successful athletic institution. We lack the leadership to be both right now.

 

[8legs1dream]

You can’t convince me that UR would have even won the CAA this year. Would have been hard not to have been a top 3 team in the league but they probably would have choked in the conference tournament.

speaking of the CAA, looks like Hofstra lost today in the CAA Semifinals by nearly 20 points! woooooo boy those dudes must really suck, right guys?

 

[SpiderRick]

So what does that do for recruiting? We already struggle with depth and higher caliber player.

Different coach could change that.

 

[KWeaver]

speaking of the CAA, looks like Hofstra lost today in the CAA Semifinals by nearly 20 points! woooooo boy those dudes must really suck, right guys?

Elon and Drexel are battling to be an 18th seed

 

[GKiller]

Elon and Drexel are battling to be an 18th seed

I believe Elon or Drexel would increase the 197 number. GA Tech looks to be another. It will be over 200 quickly.

 

[SFspidur]

Yep, Elon's never been to the dance (moved up to D-I in the late '90s). Drexel hasn't been in 25 years. They came oh so close in 2012...27–6 regular season CAA champs with a 3-point loss to VCU in the CAA tourney final, and they didn't get an at-large because their RPI was in the mid-60s.

 

[urmite]

An Opponent from 2016-2017 & 2018-2019 now in NCAA as Summit Champs ...Oral Roberts...

Interesting OOC 3 non DI wins, 5 losses (worst may be Wichita ST)

 

[ChoppinBroccoli]

Dragons are dancing.

 

[I-M-UR]

Dropping to a lower conference so maybe a better chance at the Dance, oh boy we really suck!

Plus good luck getting any meaningful OOC games. The A10 is where we belong we just need a competent coach

 

[plydogg]

Waiting for Mooney to announce our game against Gonzaga before the A10 final. Should be coming any time now

 

[97spiderfan]

Waiting for Mooney to announce our game against Gonzaga before the A10 final. Should be coming any time now

Yeah, remember last week on to how we were looking to play another game this week before the A 10 final. Mooney probably isn't even the Robins Center now.

 

[GKiller]

Yeah, remember last week on to how we were looking to play another game this week before the A 10 final. Mooney probably isn't even the Robins Center now.

As expected nothing else on that. Just really naive if Mooney thought they would pull something like that off. Or it was just another big hat no cattle attempt at deceiving the fanbase. Maybe some of both. And before people claim it was only relevant to NCAA, well apparently we are very interested in the NIT. and we are on firmly on NIT bubble, likely out. So we should be playing a game to impress the NIT committee! What a shot to the pride that would be....even Mooney and Hardt who accept 7-20 records vs VCU and no NCAAs since 2011, may even have enough pride to not schedule a game to help get us into the NIT.

But think we should get an update, given this was something they pushed multiple times publicly.

 

[SFspidur]

Surprised we haven't heard anything about SLU scheduling a game. Ford had mentioned the possibility and they could really use a boost to get them over the hump.

Have any teams with early conference tourneys added any games?

 

[Eight Legger]

SLU and a Belmont ought to play a game.

 

[plydogg]

Surprised we haven't heard anything about SLU scheduling a game. Ford had mentioned the possibility and they could really use a boost to get them over the hump.

Have any teams with early conference tourneys added any games?

Travis Ford is too busy going on his nationwide complaining tour. He still has a few more stops left to bitch and moan and be a scumbag. After that he can coach another game

 

[urmite]

SLU and a Belmont ought to play a game.

If they do, it might make Belmont ineligible for the NCAA...
I believe they have played 27 non conference tournament games already...

 

[SpiderRick]

Plus good luck getting any meaningful OOC games. The A10 is where we belong we just need a competent coach

You're missing the point, I-M. If the only avenue for having a chance is through the automatic qualifier, it doesn't matter who we play OOC! It doesn't even matter if we win any of the OOC games period. Besides, even the best teams in the nation (except maybe Gonzaga) schedule cupcakes. We could play the cupcake role and travel all over being canon fodder.

 

[urmite]

You're missing the point, I-M. If the only avenue for having a chance is through the automatic qualifier, it doesn't matter who we play OOC! It doesn't even matter if we win any of the OOC games period. Besides, even the best teams in the nation (except maybe Gonzaga) schedule cupcakes. We could play the cupcake role and travel all over being canon fodder.

We could join the OVC.
12 teams, combined 0-12 in Quad 1, 2-27 in Quad 2. A Morehead loss at home was one win, the Morehead win in the final was the other.
Belmont will be 24-4 NET 91 and not near the bubble.

 

[I-M-UR]

You're missing the point, I-M. If the only avenue for having a chance is through the automatic qualifier, it doesn't matter who we play OOC! It doesn't even matter if we win any of the OOC games period. Besides, even the best teams in the nation (except maybe Gonzaga) schedule cupcakes. We could play the cupcake role and travel all over being canon fodder.

Not missing the point at all....there is no guarantee we’d win the conference tournament (we did just lose to Hofstra) and we’d watch a season of crappy basketball to boot. Did you watch some of the recent conference finals? You want to see that night after night? Not to mention we struggle to recruit now think what it’d be like in the lesser conferences

 

[Eight Legger]

I think Rick and I are of the same mindset. Of course we want to stay in the a10, but the whole point of coming here was to be able to get at-large bids. We obviously can't do that anymore with Mooney, so since the school appears prepared to keep him as head coach until he dies, wouldn't it make more sense to quit pretending about getting a bid and just drop down, save some money and hope for the best in the conference tournament? If we win it once every decade, we are in the exact same spot we have been anyway.

 

[spiderman]

I can't believe this is even a discussion.
no, we don't want to drop to a lower conference. it's embarrassing to even have to type that.

 

[plydogg]

I can't believe this is even a discussion.
no, we don't want to drop to a lower conference. it's embarrassing to even have to type that.

It’s even more embarrassing to type that our administration has no interest in even trying to compete in the current conference

 

[spiderman]

fans are frustrated. they decide we should fire a coach and do it yesterday. it'll cost about $4 mil. despite popular opinion we surprisingly haven't budgeted an extra $4 mil for this year. and an endowment isn't a check book. so we look to boosters to help defray the cost. but they don't want to write that check. and that means our administration doesn't care about winning. think I got it now.

 

[Eight Legger]

Well, first we don't know what buying him out will cost. And buyouts are paid out the same way the contract is scheduled to be paid, so not all at once.

Second, it's fair to ask why we gave him the extension in the first place after one good year preceded by two terrible ones (and eight non-NCAA years at that point, plus last year).

The point is IF we cared about winning, we would be looking at the entire picture, not jumping to extend a coach after one good year out of nine when there was no chances he would be leaving anyway. Who was going to hire mooney for more than we are paying? Who would do it today? And if someone would, why in the hell would we stop that from happening?

 

[plydogg]

The future doesn’t determine whether or not we are trying to compete. Not firing Mooney today is irrelevant, the AD has already bungled his tenure multiple times.

The past 10 years has shown that underachieving and coming up short 10 seasons in a row is not only encouraged, but REWARDED by the athletic department. It’s one thing to keep a guy who is bad because of financial obligations. It’s another thing to see a guy doing badly and say “how much of a salary increase do we have to give this guy more years to stay here”

Our administration has actively devalued our program by rewarding mediocrity and by showing that the public goals announced don’t have to be met.

 

[Spiders4ever]

The A10 will get easier for us when VCU, SLU and Dayton all leave for other conferences.