http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20140...ext|Sports

It was our night. Now the Broncos have to represent the MAC well so future 26 win teams have an at-large chance. Its a shame that the conference has fallen so far in the last decade that the tournament is zero sum.

I think it's a shame that a team with 27 wins and a #35 RPI gets a team ZERO representation whatsoever in all NCAA field projections. RPI used to be a huge indicator and we all thought expanding to 68 teams would help the cause of teams like us. Now the at-large bids have become less about RPI and more about who the Lunadi's of the world say are deserving of the at-large invitations, and you know who they're gonna pick. That's why the sports channel introduced ass-pulled this BPI nonsense that I'd never seen before this season. Just another lame way to give them control over things that are better left to collective insight. They did the same thing with football.

(03-16-2014 07:41 AM)Liam9903 Wrote:  It was our night. Now the Broncos have to represent the MAC well so future 26 win teams have an at-large chance. Its a shame that the conference has fallen so far in the last decade that the tournament is zero sum.

Well you are right about it being WMU's night, and their season as well; however, as regards a deep run in the tournament helping the MAC get some future at-large bid, FORGET IT! Ohio's run to the Sweet Sixteen or even the Kent State run to the Final Eight did NOTHING to get the MAC a subsequent at-large bid, so you can forget that train of thought. As long as the power conferences control the NCAA and as long as TV $$$$ make each game played in the tournament worth about $1-1.5 million (paid out over six years), something like 90% of at-large bids will continue to go to the power conferences because the "poor babies" need all the money they can get their greedy little hands on in order to keeping giving away those multi-million dollar coaching contracts that allow them to buy each and every successful mid-major coach they want to.

However, WMU still needs to win as many NCAA games as possible in order to deprive the power conferences of as much money as possible----besides it represents better value because the MAC get better results $ for $ than a lot of big budget power conference teams.

The obstacle to WMU winning ANY NCAA games however, will be their seeding. WMU is very likely to end up with a #14 (or even #15) seed which will almost guarantee a loss in the first game----the power conference NCAA bias extends beyond at-large invitations to seeding as well----they like to keep all the power conference teams in the tournament for as long as possible earning those BIG $$$$----Now if by some miracle WMU gets a #13 (or a #12) seed, then that is an entirely different story because they could make it all the way to the Sweet Sixteen without having to face a top 12 national team that would be clearly and vastly superior.

Anyway, good luck.