The unofficial online home for fans of the UAB Blazers. Part of Collegiate Sports Nation (CSN).

1. Southern Miss 5-1 18-3 - Did not play
1. UTEP 5-1 14-6 - Defeated La. Tech 89-79
3. Louisiana Tech 5-2 17-4 - lost to UTEP 79-89
4. Middle Tennessee 4-2 14-7 - defeated ECU 84-67
4. Old Dominion 4-2 10-11 - lost to UAB 66-75
4. Tulsa 4-2 9-11 - Did not play
7. Charlotte 4-3 13-7 - Defeated FAU 62-53
8. UAB 3-3 14-6 - Defeated ODU 75-66
8. Florida International 3-3 11-10 - lost to Marshall 68-80
8. Tulane 3-3 11-10 - Did not play
8. UTSA 3-3 7-12 - Defeated Rice 89-76
12. North Texas 2-4 11-9 - Did not play
12. Florida Atlantic 2-4 7-14 - Lost to Charlotte 53-62
14. Marshall 2-5 8-14 - defeated FIU 80-68
15. Rice 1-6 6-14 - lost to UTSA 76-89
16. East Carolina 0-6 11-10 - lost to Middle Tenn 67-84

Just TCB. We'll be fine.

According to Warren Nolan, C-USA has four teams in the RPI Top 100 after tonight: Southern Miss (36), La Tech (74), UTEP (86), and MTSU (94). Three other teams are not that far outside the Top 100: UAB (119), Charlotte (121), and Tulsa (127).

Looks like we have a good shot at qualifying for the conference tournament.

It appears to be a three horse race between Southern Miss, La Tech, and El Paso.

(01-31-2014 12:59 AM)KevMo4UAB Wrote:  It appears to be a three horse race between Southern Miss, La Tech, and El Paso.

We still have a chance to put a dent in the records of 2 of those and maybe move up to the top 4 in the process.

It's unlikely, but there's a chance we could even get up to #1. We play USM and Latech at home. We've either beaten or will play again most or all of the teams ahead of us. This conference has pretty good parity (outside of the true bottom feeders), so I believe everyone will lose at least one WTF game before it's all said and done (hopefully, ours was @UNT). Just keep taking care of business. Top 4 is certainly possible, at the least.

(01-31-2014 11:10 AM)BlazrDawg Wrote:  

(01-31-2014 12:59 AM)KevMo4UAB Wrote:  It appears to be a three horse race between Southern Miss, La Tech, and El Paso.

We still have a chance to put a dent in the records of 2 of those and maybe move up to the top 4 in the process.

If we win out we'll be top 4 without a doubt. If we lose one, I still think that'd be enough. If we lose 2+, I think we're in trouble. The UTEP loss really hurts now because we were so close to winning that one and having that gap at nothing.

Yeah, and UTEP's only tough games remaining are @Southern Miss and vs Tulsa, so I think it comes down to them and Southern Miss at this point, with La Tech at a close third.

The fourth spot is up for bids in my opinion between UAB, Charlotte, and Middle Tennessee. UAB is a game back from MT right now for the 4 seed but gets the revenge f*** at Bartow Arena to close out the season. My personal FN prediction:

Win out - 13-3: likely 2 seed, outside shot at 1 seed
Lose 1 more - 12-4: likely 3 seed, outside shot at 2 seed
Lose 2 more - 11-5: tossup between 4/5 seed
Lose 3 more - 10-6: forget about the double bye, but we would get a single bye

In addition, I think there is a chance for a 2-bid league as well. If Southern Miss wins the regular season, I think they're in as an at-large. The bubble actually looks to be a little weaker this year than years past (which will roll downhill and could help us get into the NIT if we don't win the conference tournament).

FN, how bubbly would we be if we won out? RPI Forecast gives us an expected RPI of 59, plus another top 50 win over Southern Miss and maybe a couple more top 100 wins as well. 2-1 against top 50 and 3-3 against top 100 with no WTF losses looks pretty good to me.

I think UTEP will fall back to earth a bit and have some WTF losses. I hope our WTF loss was at UNT. Assuming we beat USM and LaTech at home (that's a big ASSumption, I know), we could move up high in the rankings. Top 4 would be a victory after the way we started the conference season.

(02-01-2014 12:13 PM)HSV_BLAZER Wrote:  FN, how bubbly would we be if we won out? RPI Forecast gives us an expected RPI of 59, plus another top 50 win over Southern Miss and maybe a couple more top 100 wins as well. 2-1 against top 50 and 3-3 against top 100 with no WTF losses looks pretty good to me.

I'm afraid it wouldn't be very bubbly at all. 2 Top 50 wins is a great place to start, and there's a slim chance we could have a third if Nebraska picks it up. But we are only sitting on 2 Top 100 wins at the moment, and the most we could finish with in the regular season is only 5, unless Tulsa were to make the Top 100. In any event, that's nowhere near enough.

Not to mention the WTF losses vs Temple and North Texas--those are absolute killers. We'll see how things play out, but it's just unrealistic to assume we have a shot at an at-large bid when only 4 of our 14 wins are vs teams in the Top 200.

I think CUSA is competitive enough that no team is without the potential for a loss to a UTSA or UNT type team. You don't expect them to lose to Rice or ECU but many of the others pose a risk. Heck, FAU beat a good Harvard team.

Rice up by 9 on UTEP at the half... that would be a shocker if Rice pulls it off.

(02-01-2014 10:02 PM)Blazer85 Wrote:  Rice up by 9 on UTEP at the half... that would be a shocker if Rice pulls it off.

UTEP is up by 11 points with about one minute left in the game.

(02-01-2014 10:50 PM)KevMo4UAB Wrote:  

(02-01-2014 10:02 PM)Blazer85 Wrote:  Rice up by 9 on UTEP at the half... that would be a shocker if Rice pulls it off.

UTEP is up by 11 points with about one minute left in the game.

Rice self-destructed and UTEP turned it up. It was a tie game with about 5 minutes remaining in the game.

After today's play, we are in a 5-way for 8th with F_U, UTSA, and Tulane. 2 games back from the 4th spot (MT and Tulsa are 5-2). Gotta sweep next week. Well f***, at this point we need to win everything.

(02-01-2014 10:57 PM)FNblazer Wrote:  After today's play, we are in a 5-way for 8th with F_U, UTSA, and Tulane. 2 games back from the 4th spot (MT and Tulsa are 5-2). Gotta sweep next week. Well f***, at this point we need to win everything.

This week will be a huge challenge. FIU and FAU on the road won't be easy.

...and it makes me weep openly that what you wrote is a reality.

Maybe we can get the 1st pick in the draft.