I was a little shocked that at team that is 19-4 with an RPI of 38 is listed that far back in ESPNs latest bracketology. Realtime RPI is projecting UTEP to finish the regular season at 24-4. I beleive their RPI would be around 30 if that happened and they would have finished their last 12 games. I also think their RPI would be right at 30 if that happened. They also rank CUSA's women as the #10 conference with 5 teams with an RPI under 100 and 3 under 50. Just kind of crazy that UTEP would be left out of the NCAA tournament with that kind of season.

(02-19-2014 09:01 AM)stanman505 Wrote:  I was a little shocked that at team that is 19-4 with an RPI of 38 is listed that far back in ESPNs latest bracketology. Realtime RPI is projecting UTEP to finish the regular season at 24-4. I beleive their RPI would be around 30 if that happened and they would have finished their last 12 games. I also think their RPI would be right at 30 if that happened. They also rank CUSA's women as the #10 conference with 5 teams with an RPI under 100 and 3 under 50. Just kind of crazy that UTEP would be left out of the NCAA tournament with that kind of season.

The ole saying....SOS

It would be complete and utter BS if UTEP is left out of the women's big dance!

Playing 2/3 of your games at home doesn't help. I do believe they should be in, however.

Does anyone have information on the Women's Tournament? Are the times and seeding exactly the same?

I wouldn't mind walking over to Memorial Gym to check out a few women's games in between the men's games.

(02-19-2014 09:45 AM)nastybunch Wrote:  

(02-19-2014 09:01 AM)stanman505 Wrote:  I was a little shocked that at team that is 19-4 with an RPI of 38 is listed that far back in ESPNs latest bracketology. Realtime RPI is projecting UTEP to finish the regular season at 24-4. I beleive their RPI would be around 30 if that happened and they would have finished their last 12 games. I also think their RPI would be right at 30 if that happened. They also rank CUSA's women as the #10 conference with 5 teams with an RPI under 100 and 3 under 50. Just kind of crazy that UTEP would be left out of the NCAA tournament with that kind of season.

The ole saying....SOS

UTEP's SOS 106 right now. They have BYU in with an RPI of 40 and a SOS of 109.

(02-19-2014 12:34 PM)stanman505 Wrote:  

(02-19-2014 09:45 AM)nastybunch Wrote:  

(02-19-2014 09:01 AM)stanman505 Wrote:  I was a little shocked that at team that is 19-4 with an RPI of 38 is listed that far back in ESPNs latest bracketology. Realtime RPI is projecting UTEP to finish the regular season at 24-4. I beleive their RPI would be around 30 if that happened and they would have finished their last 12 games. I also think their RPI would be right at 30 if that happened. They also rank CUSA's women as the #10 conference with 5 teams with an RPI under 100 and 3 under 50. Just kind of crazy that UTEP would be left out of the NCAA tournament with that kind of season.

The ole saying....SOS

UTEP's SOS 106 right now. They have BYU in with an RPI of 40 and a SOS of 109.

I may be wrong, but I think he was saying "same old sh**."

(02-19-2014 12:42 PM)TribeNiner Wrote:  

(02-19-2014 12:34 PM)stanman505 Wrote:  

(02-19-2014 09:45 AM)nastybunch Wrote:  

(02-19-2014 09:01 AM)stanman505 Wrote:  I was a little shocked that at team that is 19-4 with an RPI of 38 is listed that far back in ESPNs latest bracketology. Realtime RPI is projecting UTEP to finish the regular season at 24-4. I beleive their RPI would be around 30 if that happened and they would have finished their last 12 games. I also think their RPI would be right at 30 if that happened. They also rank CUSA's women as the #10 conference with 5 teams with an RPI under 100 and 3 under 50. Just kind of crazy that UTEP would be left out of the NCAA tournament with that kind of season.

The ole saying....SOS

UTEP's SOS 106 right now. They have BYU in with an RPI of 40 and a SOS of 109.

I may be wrong, but I think he was saying "same old sh**."

I think our coach summed it up best on her call in show a week ago. If Middle tenn is a 8 seed and we are a one bid league then something is wrong.

Any team that comes back from 23 down in the 2nd half to defeat our Lady Eagles deserves to get in the dance.

UTEP really hurt their chances with their piss poor OOC schedule.

Under the new RPI format, teams gain bonus credit for road wins. But UTEP played seven of their first eight games at home. You can't get any bonus from that schedule. And the opponents themselves were Marshall level bad. If you want a chance at an at-large bid, don't schedule more than 3-4 OOC games against teams that you KNOW are going to be outside the top-150 RPI. UTEP had eight such RPI killing teams in the OOC schedule.

UTEP was picked to contend for the C-USA title. There is no excuse for that pathetic schedule. You say you want to represent the conference in the Big Dance? Then put your big girl panties on and go play some teams.

Who says girls ball is slow and boring???

Southern miss just beat FIU on the road 106-96

UTEP doesn't have to worry anymore about Creme's bracketology.

UTEP 64
North Texas 73

At this moment, the only way C-USA gets two teams into the NCAA tournament is if MT loses in the conference tournament.

(02-19-2014 09:57 PM)Stephen Shirley Wrote:  UTEP doesn't have to worry anymore about Creme's bracketology.

UTEP 64
North Texas 73

At this moment, the only way C-USA gets two teams into the NCAA tournament is if MT loses in the conference tournament.

This loss and the loss against mtsu, really hurts. We'll probably be a 1 bid conference regardless of who plays in the final

(02-19-2014 11:05 PM)randaddyminer Wrote:  

(02-19-2014 09:57 PM)Stephen Shirley Wrote:  UTEP doesn't have to worry anymore about Creme's bracketology.

UTEP 64
North Texas 73

At this moment, the only way C-USA gets two teams into the NCAA tournament is if MT loses in the conference tournament.

This loss and the loss against mtsu, really hurts. We'll probably be a 1 bid conference regardless of who plays in the final

MT is in even if we lose in the conference tournament. We've got one of the best OOC schedules in the nation, and the committee recognizes us. That said, the conference will only be multi-bid if MT does happen to fall.

With that said, I guess the conference will be a multi-bid conference.

(02-19-2014 11:54 PM)randaddyminer Wrote:  With that said, I guess the conference will be a multi-bid conference.

LOL :)

MT will have a large number of fans for our women's team. Hopefully, we can make it all the way to the championship (and win, of course). They look very good and just crushed Marshall by 39 earlier today.

Admittedly, I don't follow women's basketball.... but I'm curious about how a conference with MTSU, UTEP, Southern Miss, East Carolina and Tulane all putting together good seasons can be 1-bid.

Is it a lack of good OOC wins?

(02-19-2014 11:05 PM)randaddyminer Wrote:  

(02-19-2014 09:57 PM)Stephen Shirley Wrote:  UTEP doesn't have to worry anymore about Creme's bracketology.

UTEP 64
North Texas 73

At this moment, the only way C-USA gets two teams into the NCAA tournament is if MT loses in the conference tournament.

This loss and the loss against mtsu, really hurts. We'll probably be a 1 bid conference regardless of who plays in the final

Not on the women's side. Two bids minimum barring a total collapse of the top teams. Maybe as many as four.

(02-20-2014 09:54 AM)Chappy Wrote:  Admittedly, I don't follow women's basketball.... but I'm curious about how a conference with MTSU, UTEP, Southern Miss, East Carolina and Tulane all putting together good seasons can be 1-bid.

Is it a lack of good OOC wins?

I think a lot of fans become enamored with the simple number of wins. But most tournament caliber teams could rack up 25+ wins in the regular season by scheduling the way UTEP and ECU did. Thankfully, the selection committee isn't made up of fools. They look at the quality of the opposition. And that is where UTEP and ECU come up sorely lacking.

UTEP played only three top-100 RPI teams in OOC play. MT played that many in the first three games of the season. ECU didn't play a SINGLE team in the top-100 in OOC play and instead faced nine teams outside the top-200. Nobody (outside of Pirate fans) takes a shiny win/loss record against that slate of opposition seriously. So UTEP and ECU will basically be punished by the selection committee for such weak scheduling. The fact that they both have two bad losses (outside the top-100) is icing on the rejection cake.

Tulane just lacks enough quality wins. They lost five out of the seven games against top-100 competition.

Southern Miss actually has the best argument for an at-large bid. They are playing their best ball down the stretch. They have only one "bad" loss. And they have by far the best win in the conference (over MT). But even there, they played far too weak an OOC schedule.

If C-USA teams want to improve their chances for at-large bids in the future, follow three simple rules:
1. Schedule at least four games against Power-6 (BCS) conference foes. They don't even have to be the BEST teams from those conferences. The bottom teams in the ACC, SEC, Big 10/12 and Pac-12 are ones that good C-USA teams should beat and those teams generally carry strong RPIs based upon the top competition they play. Plus those teams are "name" teams that fans/media know and pay attention to.
2. Schedule no more than 3 games against foes you KNOW are going to be outside the top-150. Everyone has some local teams they play to save on expenses. But don't pick your ENTIRE OOC schedule from the pastry section.
3. Win against quality opponents. There is no getting around the fact that you have to beat some good teams to warrant inclusion in the NCAA tournament.

(02-20-2014 05:29 PM)Stephen Shirley Wrote:  

(02-20-2014 09:54 AM)Chappy Wrote:  Admittedly, I don't follow women's basketball.... but I'm curious about how a conference with MTSU, UTEP, Southern Miss, East Carolina and Tulane all putting together good seasons can be 1-bid.

Is it a lack of good OOC wins?

I think a lot of fans become enamored with the simple number of wins. But most tournament caliber teams could rack up 25+ wins in the regular season by scheduling the way UTEP and ECU did. Thankfully, the selection committee isn't made up of fools. They look at the quality of the opposition. And that is where UTEP and ECU come up sorely lacking.

UTEP played only three top-100 RPI teams in OOC play. MT played that many in the first three games of the season. ECU didn't play a SINGLE team in the top-100 in OOC play and instead faced nine teams outside the top-200. Nobody (outside of Pirate fans) takes a shiny win/loss record against that slate of opposition seriously. So UTEP and ECU will basically be punished by the selection committee for such weak scheduling. The fact that they both have two bad losses (outside the top-100) is icing on the rejection cake.

Tulane just lacks enough quality wins. They lost five out of the seven games against top-100 competition.

Southern Miss actually has the best argument for an at-large bid. They are playing their best ball down the stretch. They have only one "bad" loss. And they have by far the best win in the conference (over MT). But even there, they played far too weak an OOC schedule.

If C-USA teams want to improve their chances for at-large bids in the future, follow three simple rules:
1. Schedule at least four games against Power-6 (BCS) conference foes. They don't even have to be the BEST teams from those conferences. The bottom teams in the ACC, SEC, Big 10/12 and Pac-12 are ones that good C-USA teams should beat and those teams generally carry strong RPIs based upon the top competition they play. Plus those teams are "name" teams that fans/media know and pay attention to.
2. Schedule no more than 3 games against foes you KNOW are going to be outside the top-150. Everyone has some local teams they play to save on expenses. But don't pick your ENTIRE OOC schedule from the pastry section.
3. Win against quality opponents. There is no getting around the fact that you have to beat some good teams to warrant inclusion in the NCAA tournament.

The conference is better this year than it has been in ages.
Tulane played enough quality opponents ooc, including 2 top 20. Our problem is a)we didn't beat enough of them and b) 0-22 University of New Orleans is killing our RPI and SOS. We have only 1 loss out of the top 100 (Ole Miss).
We could have overcome that with more wins against the top of C-USA, but so, far we're only 1-2. But we have 2 left. But that UNO 0-22 will continue to depress the RPI.