Looks like 3 bids for them. I'm thinking the Valley only gets Drake into the Dance.

I would have to think considering the MVC..

1. This conference has at least put 2 in the NCAA's for 10 straight years. Committee does look at history regardless of what they say.

2. Illinois State has an RPI of 34, a conference record of 15-6 coming out of the #8 rated conference. Over the last 12 games a 9-3 record. Not many cases of a school with that resume being denied an at-large bid.

3. There is only 2 cases where a school has been rated that highly in the RPI rankings and not have made the NCAAs in the last 10 years.

2007-Air Force, RPI #30. Lost last 4 games of the regular season. MWC had 2 other schools make the NCAAs.

2006-Missouri State, RPI #21. The RPI was screwy this year, so the numbers the committee was using were different. Also the MVC had placed 4 in the NCAAs that year and with six teams worthy there was no way the committee would allow a mid major 6 bids.

With attendance being high in the MVC along with the MWC these conferences are considered automatic two bid conferences.

Saint Mary's is in a world of trouble right now.....They will pin that home loss to Kent State on that team as exhibit A as the evidence they should be left out.....Gonzaga is the regular season champ.....as is Kent State. VCU is a regular season champ. You look at South Alabama as a regular season champ.......Saint Mary's blew the NCAA bid losing to San Diego twice this year.....That strong rpi's of Ohio, Akron and Miami in the East protected Kent State.....the WCC has 4 20 loss teams.........after their big 3 and Santa Clara.....its bottom half is worse than the MAC west.

top 100 rpi
WCC 3
MAC East 4

The trump card the WCC has is that Gonzaga plays a better non-conference schedule than any MAC school ever has, and they fare far better most years than any MAC team would.

KStud Wrote:The trump card the WCC has is that Gonzaga plays a better non-conference schedule than any MAC school ever has, and they fare far better most years than any MAC team would.

so what. memphis is great but that doesn't mean cusa should get an automatic 2 or 3 bids. gonzaga is good this yr, but not a powerhouse team. st marys nipped them at home with the help of some ridiculous calls, then lost soundly on the zags home floor. that league has only 3 good teams and 1 decent team. the middle of the mac is a lot stronger. i will say st mary's is real good and proved it in the non conf season. but they're not playing their best ball now. illinois state has a weaker overall resume than kent and lost to kent on a neutral floor. s. alabama is very good but has less quality wins than kent and lost to miami (who kent beat twice) on a neutral floor. the thing kent has going for it is basically winning all their games against the top teams from other mid major leagues, plus a mac title.

Gonzaga and St Mary's are easily in.South Alabama is in. I'd say this hurts other mid major schools and other non-bcs conf schools. Lots of 1 bids coming out of other places.

I'm thinking this knocks the MWC down to a pair of bids. BYU is a given and whomever gets farther between UNM/UNLV (they would play in the semis if they both won).

This could hurt the A-10 too. They cannibalized themselves so much after Xavier that it could be tough trying to justify that the #8 seeded A-10 team deserves a bid (Dayton).

KStud Wrote:The trump card the WCC has is that Gonzaga plays a better non-conference schedule than any MAC school ever has, and they fare far better most years than any MAC team would.

Does that matter as much as the fact the are 7-7 against teams in the top 100 (3-5 top 50), while Kent State is 9-3?

listening to espn radio this afternoon they mentioned illinois st as probably not getting in. They did not beat 1 likely ncaa tournament team this season, they have also lost to drake 3 times, and lost their final game byt 20 points.

yeah, when you look into the numbers kent matches up really good. i mean, they may not need an at large bid anyway, but if they do. look at these other teams closely. s. alabama was very good but didn't win many games against quality teams. their resume is based on creaming all the weak teams on their schedule and having all their losses be close games to mostly excellent teams. virginia tech was destroyed out of conference and lost all their games to teams above them in the acc. they played well against nit type teams in acc play, but beat far fewer tourney teams than kent. st mary's was real good early but has only been mediocre vs good teams since then and has lost 3 of their last 5. illinois st hasn't beaten anybody real good and has some bad losses. vcu cleaned up on average comp but lost most of their games to good teams. nobody in the a10 after xavier has a clear cut tourney resume. i think the committee will just take whoever is hot from among the bubble teams there. dayton probably has the best wins but they lost 8 of 11 recently so they need a good conf toruney run. umass is solid but their top100 resume is weak compared to kent.

so, while kent isn't a lock. they certainly have the best top 100 record of any of these bubble teams and won their league and those are supposed to be the key things.

My comment was more in reference to OUBobcatJohn's listing of top 100 teams. Gonzaga doesn't get an at-large bids and high seeds because of their conference. They do their work out of conference. They typically beat a top 25 team every year. Kent State got their first top 25 win in the regular season a couple weeks ago. It puts things in perspective. This year they will end with similar RPIs, but I would put Gonzaga one seed higher.