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I like it. The status quo isn't working so let's at least give this a shot.

The key then would be to have 3 or 4 teams that have an RPI that matter at that point in the season.

Not sure we have had that the last several years.

I like it. Even if it doesn't help with NCAA Tournament bids, it'll (hopefully) ensure that UAB gets some guaranteed good conference games at the end of the season.

I'm getting pretty excited for hoops...how much longer until I can buy my season tickets? I have called and emailed and have been checking UABSports.com every day but tickets not on sale yet. Won't someone take my money?

EDIT: UAB Ticket Office just called me. Got my payment down for season tickets. Whoop whoop.

(05-29-2018 08:02 AM)ICB Wrote:  Beats doing nothing. Hopefully for the 5 teams in the upper group (is there a name for the groups yet) attendance will peak for those last 4 games.

That's my thought too. At least attendance may benefit slightly at the end of the season, and it should help a team heading into the tourneys. Unless of course a team loses 4 in a row and their confidence is tanked. Lol.

I know scheduling would not have been equal, but is there a way to determine easily the top 5 teams after 14 games this past season?

(05-29-2018 03:47 PM)ICB Wrote:  I know scheduling would not have been equal, but is there a way to determine easily the top 5 teams after 14 games this past season?

From the main board:

MTSU 13-1
WKU 12-2
ODU 12-2
Marshall 10-4
UTSA 8-6

(05-28-2018 07:01 PM)the_blazerman Wrote:  

(05-28-2018 02:09 PM)bigdunks Wrote:  Midmajors need to bring 6 teams to neutral site like BJCC for 3 games in 3 days based on RPI.. Play the games in the middle of February. The committee has manipulated RPI in a way to determine quality wins already. Do it regionally to reduce travel. It's an expanded version of Bracket Busters. This would guarantee quality wins for midmajors late in the season. It would make committee take notice.

Actually it would give losses to 3 teams that were borderline for an NCAA bid

The problem for midmajors is the lack of quality wins with the way RPI is being manipulated by the committee. It does no good to win 28 games and finish with a top 30 rpi. The ACC will get it's 12th place team in tournament ahead of C-USA regular season champion. Quality loses should not hurt near as much as a lack of quality wins. I'm just hoping the midmajors might get 3 or 4 more bids doing this. It's worth it if someone drops off the bubble instead of finding out they were out anyway on selection Sunday.

Chuck Landon: C-USA is making good changes to hoops tourney
http://www.herald-dispatch.com/sports/ma...user-share

"They're looking to maybe get all 14 teams in the Conference USA Tournament," said Marshall coach Danny D'Antoni, referring to a decision made during the league's spring meets that were held recently in Destin, Florida.

"The way they would do that is take the bottom quandrant and they would play each other to get to the quarter-finals and, then, all go to the tournament."

That means the two schools occupying the cellar in the Conference USA standings wouldn't have to stay home. That wasn't the case in 2018. Both Rice (7-24 overall and 4-14 C-USA) and Charlotte (6-23 overall and 2-16 C-USA) weren't permitted to participate in the tournament.

I am not in favor of that premise. If a school is a member of a league, it should be allowed to participate in the conference tournament. Anything less is treating those members as second-class citizens.

Come one, come all.

That's what I say.

And, now, that's what C-USA is saying, too.

"On a Monday, they will come and play each other and that will determine the other two (for the quarter-finals)," explained D'Antoni. "Then, you take the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds all the way to the semi-finals before they even play."

The Monday game would be reminiscent of the NCAA Tournament's play-in games.

"Yeah, basically," said D'Antoni.

But including all 14 schools is a bit like playing dominoes. The numbers all have to fall in place. Since Conference USA is opening the door for the No. 13 and No. 14 seeded schools to participate, it creates a domino effect for the No. 1 and No. 2 seeded schools.

As a result, the two top-seeded schools each receive a double-bye into the semifinals of the Conference USA Tournament.

"Since the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds get a double-bye into the semis," explained D'Antoni, "the fan bases would know that they're going to be in it. They won't get knocked out early."

That could lead to better attendance for the C-USA Tournament, which was a huge problem last season in expensive, faraway Frisco.

Did anyone keep attendance numbers in Frisco? Why the big secret since Judy said it was such a success. Post the numbers.

This is really dumb.

It seems to me that if after 7 weeks, you are in the 6-10 club, yet by the end of the season you have worked your way up to the fifth best record, you should be the fifth seed.

Likewise if you are in the top five, but lose every game in the final three weeks and drop out, you shouldn't be rewarded with a top five seed.

Just play the game and cut out the manipulation ****. It never works.

Yep, let's make a joke as well of the only sport in the conference where the conference is actually succeeded nationally - football.

Deadspin's take on it. More details, better explanation.

https://deadspin.com/conference-usa-is-c...1826386373

(05-30-2018 02:05 AM)UAB Band Dad Wrote:  Deadspin's take on it. More details, better explanation.

https://deadspin.com/conference-usa-is-c...1826386373

This is worth a try. You've got to fight back with the way committee manipulates RPI.

The committees manipulations is why this won't work. There have been mid majors passed over for NCAA slots, despite their excellent resume. It was because they were not from a P5 conference. Whatever manipulations that CUSA does to get a team with a better resume does not change that it is still a team from CUSA, and will be passed over for a P5 team.

And I still don't understand how saddling your best teams with more losses at the end of the season somehow improves their resume.

But it seems I am the only one who thinks this is dumb. Change for changes sake doesn't mean it is a good idea

It might wind up being dumb, and need to be tweaked somewhat in the future, but what have we got to lose at this point? Doing the same thing over and over and bitching about the results isn’t helping us in any way either. We ideally need 3 of the top 5 to be top 50ish teams, with the other 2 remaining in the top 100 for this to work the way we want. That hasn’t been seen in recent years, but we have some teams that are trending up now at least. We still need the bottom half of the conference out of the 200++ range, but that doesn’t appear to be something we are focused on at the moment.

(05-30-2018 08:07 AM)Memphis Blazer Wrote:  The committees manipulations is why this won't work. There have been mid majors passed over for NCAA slots, despite their excellent resume. It was because they were not from a P5 conference. Whatever manipulations that CUSA does to get a team with a better resume does not change that it is still a team from CUSA, and will be passed over for a P5 team.

And I still don't understand how saddling your best teams with more losses at the end of the season somehow improves their resume.

But it seems I am the only one who thinks this is dumb. Change for changes sake doesn't mean it is a good idea

Look at it this way. Right now only one team from C-USA is getting a bid. Whether they are in group 1-5, 6-10, or 11-14. So saddling losses doesn't put us in any worse situation than we are right now. We will still get at least one bid.

However, let's say 2 of the team can rack up 3 or 4 quality wins out of the pod. That may not guarantee a spot in a rigged system, but it makes your argument better.

We have nothing to lose, nothing, other than the griping from the purists who hate change. And as with any change, if it doesn't work, tweak it or undo it.

I think some coaches may have the pressure of making the top 5 pod now. Maybe even ours.

I'm not being a purist. I just see this doing more harm to a potential bubble team than helping it. And your quality wins in the Committees eyes aren't going to come from within the conference. They come out of conference.

(05-30-2018 08:57 AM)ICB Wrote:  

(05-30-2018 08:07 AM)Memphis Blazer Wrote:  The committees manipulations is why this won't work. There have been mid majors passed over for NCAA slots, despite their excellent resume. It was because they were not from a P5 conference. Whatever manipulations that CUSA does to get a team with a better resume does not change that it is still a team from CUSA, and will be passed over for a P5 team.

And I still don't understand how saddling your best teams with more losses at the end of the season somehow improves their resume.

But it seems I am the only one who thinks this is dumb. Change for changes sake doesn't mean it is a good idea

Look at it this way. Right now only one team from C-USA is getting a bid. Whether they are in group 1-5, 6-10, or 11-14. So saddling losses doesn't put us in any worse situation than we are right now. We will still get at least one bid.

However, let's say 2 of the team can rack up 3 or 4 quality wins out of the pod. That may not guarantee a spot in a rigged system, but it makes your argument better.

We have nothing to lose, nothing, other than the griping from the purists who hate change. And as with any change, if it doesn't work, tweak it or undo it.

I think some coaches may have the pressure of making the top 5 pod now. Maybe even ours.

Lol, I hope so.

(05-30-2018 09:01 AM)Memphis Blazer Wrote:  I'm not being a purist. I just see this doing more harm to a potential bubble team than helping it. And your quality wins in the Committees eyes aren't going to come from within the conference. They come out of conference.

I agree with this. We don't need gimmicky. We need to stop coming in last in these pre conference tournaments. We need to beat Auburn once. Actually beat somebody. Will this guarantee a trip to the NCAA tournament? No. But it might help us become relevant again. Might get people excited enough to come to a conference game in late January. When a few of our teams start beating people outside our conference then maybe the country and selection committee will respect us enough to award a second bid.

Right now, the BB season is divided between the OOC schedule in the fall and the conference schedule after Jan 1st. Would it help in RPI if the OOC and conference games were spread through the whole season like it is in football? This arrangement might help such conferences as the C-USA who presently risk having to play several bad (RPI) opponents in their last games.