ESPN weighs in....Bilas says "lock 'em up" even if they lose out.
http://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/
http://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/
Lock?
- Thread starter NJCat
- Start date
This tells you just how BIG that comeback win against Rutgers was last Saturday. I thought we were dead several times in that one.
I have never understood the "no bad loss thing" until now.
I would sure love to see one more win before the seasons over though. 21 win season best ever, I think.
I would sure love to see one more win before the seasons over though. 21 win season best ever, I think.
I like the karma that accompanied that piece. Note the "Go Wildcats" signs in the background, albeit other Wildcats.
Just shows haw the perceptions of many on this board differ from the experts. Even I think we need at least one more win (and two to be certain), but there are a number people who did the math after Wisky and stated that we would have to lose out from that point to miss the Dance (which of course we didn't with the Rutgers win) because the bubble is just so atrocious (there are not even that many 20-win teams this year so far, nevermind on Power 5 conferences). There is some credence to this theory, since after Rutgers there are just so few teams that can do damage to our Metrics (only in the BTT, truly), but I do not think we pass the eye test if we lose out, especially due to the loss to an otherwise terrible Illinois team. But the good thing is, a win vs. ANYONE essentially undoes the Illini damage, so I am actually leaning toward only needing one win rather than two to get in, unless we lose to Rutgers in the BTT. And remember one thing; i the history of the tournament, if there has been a bubble team from a mid-major, and a bubble team from a P-5, the P-5 team almost always wins out (example: Iowa a few years ago, when they were embarassed by us in the BTT and most everyone thought they were out....)
I don't believe NU could afford to lose out, but Bilas is pointing out what some of us having been saying for several weeks. This year's bubble is incredibly weak, even by post expansion standards. That's why anyone trying to correlate the number of bids a weak BIG received in 2004 to 2017 is utterly clueless of the situation facing the committee.
With a surprisingly thin crop of mid majors with at large potential, the biggest threat to the 'Cats NCAA hopes will be high major underdogs (bid thieves) in their respective conference tournaments.
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It's fun watching the games today with the bubble in the back of my mind. While the easiest path (and best for our fingernails and stomachs) is just for NU to win, preferably tonight, we can watch some teams that are right around the same pecking order as NU and root hard for their opponents. Games with bubble ramifications:
Texas Tech @ Okla. State
Penn State @ Minnesota
Baylor @ Iowa State
Tennessee @ South Carolina
Iowa @ Maryland
Duke @ Miami (FL)
Purdue @ Michigan
VCU @ Rhode Island
Kansas State @ Oklahoma
Arkansas @ Auburn
Virginia Tech @ Boston Coll.
Marquette @ Providence
West Virginia @ TCU (tied with nine seconds left as I type this. Go Mountaineers!)
Seton Hall @ DePaul
Mississippi State @ Vanderbilt
VCU @ Rhode Island
TCU's loss to WV means they've dropped 9 of their last 12, 5 in a row, and yet bracketeers have them in. They have no win as good as Wisconsin or even Dayton on their resume. And they are now 6-10 in their conference. That's how soft this bubble is! Of more concern to me is Illinois sneaking ahead of us in NCAA pecking order. They could win their last 3 and finish 9-9. Will be rooting hard for Nebraska to beat them in Lincoln tomorrow night.
TCU's loss to WV means they've dropped 9 of their last 12, 5 in a row, and yet bracketeers have them in. They have no win as good as Wisconsin or even Dayton on their resume. And they are now 6-10 in their conference. That's how soft this bubble is!
