I'm so happy for them. They got their guts stomped out by Digger Phelps, Jay Bilas, Dick Vitale and Herbert last Sunday night on Bracketology..."They don't deserve to be in"..."There are 3 better teams left out that should be in their place"...yada, yada, yada ...I'll bet they spent 30 minutes trashing VCU and UAB. They can shut up now.

I like the idea that the committe puts a great emphasis on your non-conference scheduling because that puts the onus on the teams themselves to play some decent OOC opponents on the road early in the year. You should not get the automatic "well they play in a tough power conference so they shouldn't have to play any tough OOC teams either at home or on the road". I'm tired of these marginal power conference teams getting a pass to the tournament just as long as they can have a .500 record in their conferences. All of these talking heads think that is justified instead of taking a mid-major like Missouri State or St. Mary's with a 23-6 record or whatever.

I have an idea for the committe....give heavy weight in the RPI to a power conference team that is willing to go to a so-called mid-majors home court and play a game. Whether they win or lose they gain more points by wiling to schedule and play a mid-major on their home court. I don't know how you would technically score the power points to your RPI rating but something should be done. Probably crazy thinking on my part but some of these power conference teams are in fact willing to do it such as Ole Miss coming to the Stephens Center this past season. It should be a bonus to Ole Miss RPI for playing on a non-power conference teams home floor in my opinion win or lose. In other words on a scale of 1 to 10 Ole Miss should get a 6 for beating South Alabama on their home floor and a 5 for losing to South Alabama on their home floor but should get a 8 for beating South Alabama at South Alabama and a 7 for losing at South Alabama. So in effect willing to play at a mid-major's home floor and even losing to them will give you a better power rating (7 versus 6) than playing them on your home floor and still winning. I'm sure better ideas are out there but don't they need to give these power conference teams some incentive to be willing to go on the road to play these mid-majors on their home courts?

(03-19-2011 09:27 AM)Former JUCO Wrote:  I have an idea for the committe....give heavy weight in the RPI to a power conference team that is willing to go to a so-called mid-majors home court and play a game.

+1

(03-19-2011 09:32 AM)Scotto Wrote:  

(03-19-2011 09:27 AM)Former JUCO Wrote:  I have an idea for the committe....give heavy weight in the RPI to a power conference team that is willing to go to a so-called mid-majors home court and play a game.

+1

These VCU boys just keep rolling and dominating. Are they this years Bulter of the NCAA tournament? I hope they make the Final Four so the expert talking heads will have to face up to them for another two weeks :).

I saw Dick Vitale and he admits he was dead wrong about VCU. Hey. They all have opinions, but nobody's going to be right all the time, and as long as they can laugh about it and admit they were wrong, I think that's what makes it all fun. If I'm ever wrong about anything I plan to make a full confession!

(03-21-2011 09:55 AM)outsideualr Wrote:  They all have opinions, but nobody's going to be right all the time

With those "experts," very few of them will be right much of the time once you leave the Big Six.

(03-21-2011 04:32 PM)MICHAELSPAPPY Wrote:  With those "experts," very few of them will be right much of the time once you leave the Big Six.

Kind of like the rest of us.

(03-21-2011 04:36 PM)Scotto Wrote:  

(03-21-2011 04:32 PM)MICHAELSPAPPY Wrote:  With those "experts," very few of them will be right much of the time once you leave the Big Six.

Kind of like the rest of us.

That's what really gets me about the so called experts. They know a lot about the teams that play in the BCS leagues because they watch their games all the time, but with very few exceptions, they know very little about teams that play outside those six leagues. Yet, they do not hesitate to tell you who is better than whom, without having any actual knowledge of one side of the comparison.

Dick Vitale admitted as much this week. As posted earlier, at least he was honest about it.

(03-21-2011 04:36 PM)Scotto Wrote:  Kind of like the rest of us.

Well, it would be more than a fulltime job to keep up with all 300 plus programs, but those of us who closely follow mid-level teams do perhaps keep up with them better than a lot of the experts. At least as far as non-budgets will allow. I would put the knowledge about the SBC of those of you who attend all the SBC games and who have regular board contact with knowledgeable fans from other schools up against the guys on the major media sites.

I think it would be a good move by ESPN to assign someone to cover mid majors during the year, and add them to the broadcast team during Selection Sunday and the Tournament. I understand why the focus is on the Big 6, but adding a guy like that would bring a lot to the table when analyzing these games.

(03-21-2011 07:28 PM)eh9198 Wrote:  I think it would be a good move by ESPN to assign someone to cover mid majors during the year, and add them to the broadcast team during Selection Sunday and the Tournament. I understand why the focus is on the Big 6, but adding a guy like that would bring a lot to the table when analyzing these games.

Obviously, playing that play-in game really hurt VCU. They obviously had no "legs" left against Purdue.

(03-21-2011 05:39 PM)MICHAELSPAPPY Wrote:  I would put the knowledge about the SBC of those of you who attend all the SBC games and who have regular board contact with knowledgeable fans from other schools up against the guys on the major media sites.

From a statistical standpoint, I consider myself to be relatively well-informed about non-Big Six conferences and schools, and I only do it slap-dash (mainly in the "library" at work). But I don't get to see many of them in person. Those of you who see a couple of dozen games each year against non-Big Six teams ought to be as well-informed as the commentators. They just focus very little on the smaller schools. ('Taint where the money is.)