(03-25-2014 10:52 PM)PirateTreasureNC Wrote:  FWIW, I feel confident that the AAC will be doing the same.

Not a chance. The 3 or 4 good programs are not going to fall on that RPI sword
twice a year, simply because the bottom half can't schedule anyone decent.

(03-25-2014 09:11 PM)Funslinger Wrote:  Our RPI (33) didn't matter but Iowa's (59) was a factor in their bid. The RPI should be scrapped or tweaked to be more accurate. I'd start with computing a more accurate SOS by using teams' AWP rather than actual record. It's easier to build up a better SOS by playing teams that play a majority of games at home (such as almost all P5 teams). Also needed is an objective way to factor in conference strength so that the committee doesn't have to subjectively factor it in.

I'm not arguing Iowa belonged in. I'm not going to sit here and argue that they didn't either though. For what it's worth, I'd be all for some of the adjustments you are suggesting here. The problem is that isn't a battle we are going to win.

I'm arguing the way things are, and what we as a conference need to do going forward. If you play two top 50 teams OOC and beat one, the selection committee has made it clear you are not worthy of an at large coming out of C-USA.(this would be different if we could get 3-5 teams in the top 50 in the conference) We have to, as a conference, win top 50 and top 100 games OOC. There are no ifs, ands, or buts about it. If these teams won't give us home and homes, we need to take what we can get. If we can't find power conference schools to play us, we need to play other mid majors. If we can't get any of them to play us either, we have a serious damn problem and our commissioner/ADs need to do something about it.

My main point is what we are currently doing is not working. This isn't just a USM problem either. UAB could have beaten New Mexico, won the 5 games in conference they should have, pulled off one against MTSU, and beat UTEP, and still had an RPI too high to be considered seriously for the tournament. That would be with 3 wins over tournament teams, 2 of which would have been on a neutral court. We all need to shoot for schedules similar to the one Tulsa had this year. We need to help ourselves as much as we can, because nobody else cares what happens to C-USA.

(03-25-2014 09:38 PM)papa_dawg Wrote:  

(03-25-2014 03:24 PM)Nugget49er Wrote:  

(03-25-2014 12:56 PM)papa_dawg Wrote:  

(03-25-2014 11:20 AM)blazers9911 Wrote:  You might be willing to match our top teams, but OOC is the difference between us and them.

Dayton beat Gonzaga, Cal, Iona and Mississippi
VCU beat Virginia, Belmont, and Eastern Kentucky
UMass beat LSU, Nebraska, New Mexico, Clemson, Eastern Michigan, BYU, Ohio, and Providence
George Washington beat Manhattan, Creighton, Maryland, Boston, and Georgia
St Louis beat Indiana State. They definitely benefited from the rest of the conference.
St Josephs beat Boston. They also won their tournament, so that's that.

If our top 5 or 6 teams had anything close to resembling those wins OOC, we would have been set too. The problem is we didn't. Southern Miss had 2 top 100's, so did La Tech, MTSU had 1, along with a loss to Maine, Tulsa had one along with 3 WTF losses, and UTEP had 1, along with that New Orleans loss. It's fun to sit here and say we are better than them because of _______ but the reality is they proved **** on the court and we didn't.

The only thing you are proving to me is that traditional power teams in the Midwest and Northeast are willing to play teams like us (just not us) and everyone below the Mason Dixon and out west are not.

I'm sure Oklahoma won't schedule us again, OK State might think about it. After this run in the NIT it's not going to get easier. I got 5 that no one in CUSA finishing 8 or better gets a game against an SEC team next season.

Keep your wallet out, Charlotte is talking to Georgia and Missouri, and South Carolina is also playing in the Charleston Classic.

Oh my bad. So the 8th placed team will play against an SEC opponent. That should do us a world of good. Totally worth the 5 spot.

LSU is supposed to be coming to UAB next year too.