Probably true.
But to watch/listen to him it seems like at times he's almost doing the opposite of promoting us. It's almost as if hiring him has caused him to go out of his way to talk us down vs other teams so as to not appear biased.
Teams to root against
- Thread starter SpiderDogg
- Start date
Probably true.
But to watch/listen to him it seems like at times he's almost doing the opposite of promoting us. It's almost as if hiring him has caused him to go out of his way to talk us down vs other teams so as to not appear biased.
Nah. How do you define promote with his gig it's almost impossible. If ESPN was going to do that they might as well just prevent him from consulting with the schools to begin with...which is what they should have done.
And if he did have such a clause, that just looks even worse for Hardt. It can't look much worse but that would do it. You mean he hired the most public bracketologist in a season we had ncaa expectations and he couldn't even talk us up? LOL. That's Iowa dumb.
Alright what do we got today...
Massive one early with Wisco at IU. We want TTech, South Carolina (mainly b/c playing Vandy), Rutgers, LSU, Missouri, UCLA, Texas, Arkansas, Utah St. (think they may be in tho), Oklahoma, Arizona St., Tennessee (Auburn #'s in decline) Providence, UMASS (need URI win to look best?), Cincy, Xavier, Hawaii, UAB, and Stanford all to LOSE.
Did I miss any? Not going to list out all opponents, someone else can if they want. Some games obv way more important than others.
If I had to rank the most important for our purposes, not in any order, I'd say IU, Rutgers, UCLA, Oklahoma, Xavier, Texas, and Stanford.
Massive one early with Wisco at IU. We want TTech, South Carolina (mainly b/c playing Vandy), Rutgers, LSU, Missouri, UCLA, Texas, Arkansas, Utah St. (think they may be in tho), Oklahoma, Arizona St., Tennessee (Auburn #'s in decline) Providence, UMASS (need URI win to look best?), Cincy, Xavier, Hawaii, UAB, and Stanford all to LOSE.
Did I miss any? Not going to list out all opponents, someone else can if they want. Some games obv way more important than others.
If I had to rank the most important for our purposes, not in any order, I'd say IU, Rutgers, UCLA, Oklahoma, Xavier, Texas, and Stanford.
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What, you don't want me to publish my cheat sheet? I mean how else did y'all know to root against Duquesne last night?
I did a haphazard job. Please go ahead. Need to keep me my eye on this Lunardi thing anyway. I bet Lunardi had a mom who tied a leash around him like a dog out on walks. You ever see that? That was Lunardi as a kid.
Ive been saying this all year. Like a coach who’s son is on the team. He has to be hard on him. Absolutely the dumbest hire in history.
and what, is Hardt gonna call him and ask “wtf?” Of course he cant.
It almost doesnt matter. These teams lose (wichita st and cincy are the exception because they are from non P6 conferences) and they dont drop. Every win is big and every lose doesnt hurt very much. Sorry to seem like such a downer but when you win 9 of 10 games and stay exactly where you are, its hard to think anything is going to change. I had professed that if we were 24-7 after reg season we would be comfortably in. I was very wrong.
And what's weird too, even though I know you hate the NET, is we're now ahead of virtually all those teams in the NET w a few exceptions - TTech, LSU, Stanford, Rutgers. But they get love from the bracket guys especially Hardt's butt buddy Joey Brackets. But the committee showed mild favorability last year to non p6, and the makeup is about the same, as gospiders said they have to be more nuanced.
We didn't stay exactly where we are in the NET, though......Yay NET!
I think every win and loss is huge over the next 8 days, no matter the opponent. So many teams with so few spots up for grabs.
ESPN dropped two teams from bubble watch yesterday. Clemson was definitely one; I can't tell who the other was.
I had us with work to do in the A10 tourney if we finished 24-7. I still think that's true. If we get Davidson in the QF and win, I believe that will do it. A SF win will almost certainly do it.
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Not your fault you were wrong. We should be comfortably in right now. 5 years ago, we went 7-6 OOC and 12-6 IC, then lost our 1st round tourney game and just missed at 19-13. Now, we are talking about maybe just missing with 24+ wins? Crazy.
Does it really seems like a USC loss moves them closer to out, than a UCLA loss moves them closer to out? I wouldn’t have guessed that one.
Working today, and a ton of games, so I'm going to have to break this up. Early games:
- Auburn at Tennessee - Tennessee is not on the bubble, but we should root for the team we played
- Wisconsin at Indiana - The Hoosiers are still in the "Work to do" category, but are safer than many others with that status. Still, they are the bubble team in this matchup, and of course, anything to make our best win of the season look even better. A road win in Bloomington will do just that.
- VMI vs ETSU - I am sticking with my "root against bid-thieves." I can see why some would root for ETSU to lose. Of course, it would be worse if ETSU wins this game and then loses later in Asheville. Plus, this is a Quad 4 game for ETSU, which would be even more damaging than UNI losing to Drake. I think our resume is better than ETSU's, I'm just feeling risk-averse with this many teams on the bubble. Why add one more to the mix.
- Sacred Heart at St, Francis (PA) - Battle of the Brawling (literally) Catholics! It's not going to move the needle much if a team we beat wins their way into the 16 vs 16 game, but hey why not?
- Marquette at St. John's - Eagles are pretty safe, but they have lost five of six and if they finish 1-6 that has to affect them - and the Big East - in the committee's eyes.
- Baylor at West Virginia - WV is a lock; sorry fatherspider. However, a home loss (even to Baylor) would hit their metrics, which would ripple into the Big 12 bubble teams that have been beating them up lately
- Kentucky at Florida - Rooting for Calipari makes me physically ill, and Florida is now pretty safe, but what the heck?
- South Carolina at Vanderbilt - The Gamecocks are still somehow considered on the bubble. A loss to our pillow-soft SEC opponent would have a nice double-whammy effect.
Ordinarily with a one-bid league, I'd be with you, but Furman and UNCG are dangerous. ETSU has only three Q1/Q2 wins (@LSU and UNCG, vs. Furman) and a Q4 loss to Mercer. Plus three non-DI games. I think another Q4 loss would be very damaging to them.
I'd take my chances going up against that resume rather than banking on them winning the auto.
Like I said, I can see both sides. It's probably moot - they are up 12 at halftime. VMI might not even score 12 in the second half.
What do we think about Rutgers vs Purdue? I don’t think either deserve a bid but both are listed close to the bubble, with Purdue out and Rutgers in.
I'm routing for Purdue but that probably means they will both get in. But Rutgers just beat Maryland so we need to make that one look like a fluke.
That Wisconsin win just keeps looking better
Georgetown loses to villanova and is officially done, two games under .500. We should pass Indiana now.
First Rotation going pretty well. Wisconsin was the key. Come on Vandy.
Next Rotation:
Next Rotation:
- Kansas at Texas Tech - TT is kinda safe, and they are the 2019 runner-up. But just like WV above, a home loss will affect the "quality" of the wins of Texas and Oklahoma.
- GMU at Fordham - We would like for GMU to stay above the Quad 4 line.
- Georgia at LSU - LSU is pretty safe, but just keep losing, Will Wade. Make the wins by other teams that beat you look worse. We are in no danger from Georgia.
- Rutgers at Purdue - One of these teams is probably getting in. Purdue is so close to .500 they are in more peril. A home loss by Purdue will count as 1.4 losses in the NET, and considering Rutgers "can't win on the road," could be fatal. Just be sure to follow it up with a loss in the B1G first round.
- La Salle at St. Joes - We've played La Salle twice. See GMU, above. It's a tougher task.
- Alabama at Missouri - hmm. I don't know. I'm torn. I think Bama is cooked already, but they did beat us and some articles still have them on Bubble Watch. Do we really want them still under consideration with that H2H win?
- UCLA at USC - Barf. The Trojans are ahead of the Bruins in most brackets; gotta do it. We don't want UCLA getting a road win. On the Matrix, UCLA is one spot above us.
- Drake vs Bradley - What the heck, might as well make UNI's loss look even worse, right?
Rutgers has won one road game all season. We've won 10 road/neutral court games.
Is Purdue on the bubble at 16-14
I think that result is good for us. Get Perdue out of here . Rutgers was in anyway I think.
I think that result is good for us. Get Perdue out of here . Rutgers was in anyway I think.
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I dont see how TT is safe. They are in the last 4 in and in Palm’s bracket they are playing us. This loss prob doesnt hurt them but awin would have moved them def in. Lose in Rd 1 in Big12 and they r out
The rest...
- Temple at Cincinnati - The Bearcats are in the least brackets of the "in" teams on the Matrix. A home loss should move us ahead of them. This one is huge.
- Boston College at Florida St. - Just because
- GW at Dayton - Yes, we played GW twice. But now that Baylor's opened the door, I have to think it helps the A10 (really, us) if we have a 1 seed from our conference
- Rhode Island at UMass - I can't see how UMass winning helps us. URI is in the Top 60. They are safely behind us. Let them climb past a few of these P6 teams - NC State, Tennessee and Texas are right above them - and make our win look better.
- St. Bonaventure at Saint Louis - Same as above. Indiana, Mississippi St. and Arizona St. are just ahead. Let the Billikens climb past them and see the committee try to justify putting any of them in ahead of us.
- Oklahoma St. at Texas - End this Longhorn Havoc madness, now.
- Oklahoma at TCU - Oklahoma may be safe, but they are just OK.
- DePaul at Providence - Another Quad 3 loss for Providence? Yes, Please. A rare opportunity for a bad loss in that conference.
- Butler at Xavier - Won't go down as a bad loss, but it is a home loss, and the NET punishes those.
- Maine at Vermont - Vermont's NET is in the 70s, so this one goes out to the "Davidson must be Top 75" crowd. Would be a Quad 4 loss
- Hawaii at CSUN
- ODU at UAB
- Yale at Harvard - Wait a minute. Didn't Yale play last night? Yep. Was it a tournament game? Nope. In fact, the whole Ivy league is playing on consecutive nights. I knew I wasn't smart enough to go to an Ivy. Now I'm sure. This seems really smart.
- Utah St. vs San Diego St. - Go Aztecs. By a lot.
- California at Oregon St - Say what? The Beavers did their job by beating Stanford. Thank you for your service. Now they are one spot above Davidson. If they can drop below 75 it has all sorts of nice side effects
- Stanford at Oregon - Go Ducks Go
- Washington St. at Arizona St. - Bobby Hurley's team got safely in on most brackets, now they are falling fast.
- Arkansas at Texas A&M - I really like Eric Musselman, but today we all love Buzz Williams
- Ole Miss at Mississippi St. - Well, the Bulldogs are still in one bracket, so let's just clean that up
- Wofford vs Furman - How about we clear a path for ETSU
- Chattanooga vs UNC Greensboro - same. Also, UNCG is in that Davidson NET vicinity
- McNeese at Lamar
- Sam Houston St. at SFA - SFA is 24-3 and #80 in NET. A Quad 4 loss should put this to bed
- Pepperdine at Saint Mary's (CA) - I think the Gaels are a lock, but why not?
