In a game in which we were struggling to score, Mulkey took 13 shots (a bunch of them from offensive rebounds). As a senior in the championship game. Against a team without a player who plays considerable minutes taller than 6 foot. Flabbergasted. Went away from maybe the most unique and dangerous weapon in mid-major basketball, and possibly all of women's college basketball.

And, by the way, Mulkey finished with just two fouls. Sitting her for over 5 minutes in the first quarter was, as I expected when it happened, entirely unnecessary. She finished the game a +10. Closest second was Jackson, +2, in a total of 4 minutes.

Coaches can't control whether the shots fall. I get that. But this was a rotter from the coaching staff. Didn't make adjustments against Whitson and that proved fatal. She was 6-12 from 3, the rest of the team was 6-26. Sat Mulkey in the first because of one foul. Sat her in the fourth quarter to give her a rest, and MTSU went on a quick 5-0 run. I think they'll look back on this one with regrets. Even playing at best our C/B game, this was a completely winnable game.

Good game Owls! Very tough and competitive game. I think Rice is Top 25 quality and, IMO, should receive an at-large based on resume/quality of team. Hope the committee sees it that way too. Either way, your season isn't over. Could easily win WNITs if that's where y'all end up. If it makes you feel any better, I was (still am - to an extent) just as critical of our coaching decisions particularly keeping people in with 3 fouls and/or playing very poorly (looking at Whittington, an off night).

Mulkey and Schwartz made the All-tournament team.

It appears our NET rating is down to 65 now. Our RPI remains high at 22 so who knows what will happen.

I didn't realize that the only undefeated team in women's basketball this season (Cal Baptist - they're 24-0) is ineligible for the NCAA tournament since it's their 3rd (of 4) year in transitioning to D1 basketball. They're going to play in the women's NIT instead - which again is a tournament Rice would qualify for if they don't make the NCAA's.

And here's one for AlmedaMike. My brother said he saw a note that said Cal Baptist is the first undefeated women's team to not qualify for the NCAA's since either 1982 or 1983 (I can't recall which year now he said). I tried but couldn't figure out what team that was nearly 40 years ago. 1982 was the first year of NCAA women's competition for most sports, so I doubt it was a situation of a team transitioning into the NCAA.

Zero chance for NCAA. It will be NIT, then back to the mid-100s next season.

(03-14-2021 10:44 AM)Fort Bend Owl Wrote:  And here's one for AlmedaMike. My brother said he saw a note that said Cal Baptist is the first undefeated women's team to not qualify for the NCAA's since either 1982 or 1983 (I can't recall which year now he said). I tried but couldn't figure out what team that was nearly 40 years ago. 1982 was the first year of NCAA women's competition for most sports, so I doubt it was a situation of a team transitioning into the NCAA.

Don't mean to step on Mike's toes, but I took this as a challenge and found it. Cal Baptist's athletics says it was Oral Roberts in 1983 in their conference tournament win recap. The ORU WBB media guide I found isn't completely up to date, but they have the '82-'83 season results on page 159. They were 24-0 through the regular season but only got a WNIT invitation (2-1, 3rd place finish). It looks like ORU was a women's basketball independent until the following season, '83-'84, which explains why they didn't get an autobid. I know the AP poll isn't a perfect explanation for at-large selection, but this archived page puts them as the last "receiving votes" team in the final pre-tournament poll, #31 if rankings continued past #20, so their strength of schedule was apparently unimpressive. They didn't play an NCAA tournament until 1999 and haven't won an NCAA tournament game in 6 attempts.

Going into the final games today, Charlie Creme doesn't see Rice making it in.

Has the last four in as Washington St. (12-11), DePaul (14-8), Wake Forest (12-12), and UCF (16-4). First four out as Mississippi St. (10-9), Notre Dame (10-10), Ole Miss (11-11), and BYU (18-5). Next four out as Oklahoma (12-12), Seton Hall (14-7), Houston (16-7), Bowling Green (20-6).
http://www.espn.com/womens-college-baske...acketology

(03-14-2021 10:44 AM)Fort Bend Owl Wrote:  And here's one for AlmedaMike...

That would be AlmadenMike's comparatively hard-luck cousin...:)


(Not a jab at FBO; just struck me as an interesting juxtaposition.)

(03-14-2021 12:22 PM)dragon2owl Wrote:  Going into the final games today, Charlie Creme doesn't see Rice making it in.

Has the last four in as Washington St. (12-11), DePaul (14-8), Wake Forest (12-12), and UCF (16-4). First four out as Mississippi St. (10-9), Notre Dame (10-10), Ole Miss (11-11), and BYU (18-5). Next four out as Oklahoma (12-12), Seton Hall (14-7), Houston (16-7), Bowling Green (20-6).
http://www.espn.com/womens-college-baske...acketology

Interesting though that before we lost he had us as a 12-seed... which would still make us outside looking in without the auto bid, but it should at least put us as one of the eight “first four/next four out” teams, which we’re not.

Of the last four in, one is a 10-seed and the other three are 11s.
He’s projecting MT as a 13, right where I figured they be if they beat us to qualify.

I put our at-large chances as greater than zero, but less than 1 in 8. Call it 12%.

(03-14-2021 12:07 PM)franklyconfused Wrote:  

(03-14-2021 10:44 AM)Fort Bend Owl Wrote:  And here's one for AlmedaMike. My brother said he saw a note that said Cal Baptist is the first undefeated women's team to not qualify for the NCAA's since either 1982 or 1983 (I can't recall which year now he said). I tried but couldn't figure out what team that was nearly 40 years ago. 1982 was the first year of NCAA women's competition for most sports, so I doubt it was a situation of a team transitioning into the NCAA.

Don't mean to step on Mike's toes, but I took this as a challenge and found it. Cal Baptist's athletics says it was Oral Roberts in 1983 in their conference tournament win recap. The ORU WBB media guide I found isn't completely up to date, but they have the '82-'83 season results on page 159. They were 24-0 through the regular season but only got a WNIT invitation (2-1, 3rd place finish). It looks like ORU was a women's basketball independent until the following season, '83-'84, which explains why they didn't get an autobid. I know the AP poll isn't a perfect explanation for at-large selection, but this archived page puts them as the last "receiving votes" team in the final pre-tournament poll, #31 if rankings continued past #20, so their strength of schedule was apparently unimpressive. They didn't play an NCAA tournament until 1999 and haven't won an NCAA tournament game in 6 attempts.

No problem. Good research!!

I followed up, looking for local and ORU student newspaper articles that might have explained why ORU didn't get chosen for the NCAA tourney (which, BTW, had only 36 spots). I didn't find any. The closest was one about ORU accepting the WNIT bid in which ORU's coachspeaking coach said how proud he was of the team and that he was glad that ORU was one of 44 teams playing in the post season.

FTR, three independent teams were in the 1983 field: LaTech and Cheyney (Pa.) were #1 seeds (LaTech hosted the Midwest Regional; Cheyney played in the East Regional at Penn State/#5 seed), and Long Beach State was the #2 seed in the West Regional (at UCLA/#6 seed).

The final was between LaTech and West Regional winner (#1 seed USC) -- who had split a pair of regular-season games. The Trojans won the title, 69-67, after future Baylor coach Kim Mulkey's last-second shot didn't go it.

Oral Roberts didn’t make the NCAAs as an undefeated independent because half their schedule was non D1 programs
—-
If it completes an undefeated season, it will be the first team in men’s or women’s college basketball to go undefeated and not reach the NCAA tournament since 1983, when the Oral Roberts women’s team didn’t qualify. Back then, the women’s tournament featured only 36 teams, the Golden Eagles weren’t in a conference and played almost half of their games against non-D-I teams.

https://www.si.com/.amp/college/2021/03/...undefeated

(14) MTSU vs (3) Tennessee

FYI, Rice is the CUSA automatic qualifier for the WNIT so it really is about whether Rice accepts the bid.

https://womensnit.com/sports/2019/2/10/P...=post_wnit

Looks like it is official but bracket will be announced later tonight.

AQ’s (9)
Bowling Green (20-6), Mid-American
California Baptist (24-0), Western Athletic
Dayton (14-3), Atlantic 10
Delaware (21-4), Colonial
Louisiana (16-6), Sun Belt
New Mexico (15-4), Mountain West
Rice (18-4), Conference USA
Samford (14-9), Southern
UT Martin (20-5), Ohio Valley

At-Large (23)
Arizona State (11-10), Pac-12
Charlotte (10-10), Conference USA
Clemson (11-13), Atlantic Coast
Colorado (10-10), Pac-12
Creighton (9-11), Big East
DePaul (14-8), Big East
Drake (16-11), Missouri Valley
Florida (11-13), SEC
Fordham (12-4), Atlantic 10
Fresno State (16-10), Mountain West
Houston (16-7), American
Illinois State (15-7), Missouri Valley
Milwaukee (19-7), Horizon
Missouri (9-11), SEC
Nebraska (12-12), Big Ten
Northern Iowa (14-12), Missouri Valley
Ohio (14-8), Mid-American
Ole Miss (11-11), SEC
Saint Louis (12-4), Atlantic 10
San Francisco (15-10), West Coast
Tulane (17-8), American
UMass (14-7), Atlantic 10
Villanova (15-6), Big East

(03-15-2021 07:21 PM)dragon2owl Wrote:  FYI, Rice is the CUSA automatic qualifier for the WNIT so it really is about whether Rice accepts the bid.
https://womensnit.com/sports/2019/2/10/P...=post_wnit

Silly not to.

I posted this on the conference board too, but it's obvious this league gets zero respect. MTSU was a 14 seed. Two teams seeded higher than them were Bradley and Lehigh.

Bradley is an 11 seed which is an absolute joke. They only got in because Missouri State opted out of the MVC tournament in the semis, giving Bradley a walkover into the conference finals. They did win the tournament finale despite missing a coach and 4 players due to Covid, but if you look at their overall body of work, it's very average.

An even worse job was seeding Lehigh as a 13 seed. Lehigh got hot at the end of the year to win the Patriot League but was just 10-5 on the year and only played 5 different teams on the season! They were 3-1 against Lafayette (a 5-win team whose other 4 wins were against a winless Loyola, MD team), 3-0 against a sub .500 Holy Cross, 2-0 against American, 1-4 against Bucknell (but won the last one when it mattered in the conference tournament) and 2-0 against American.

Texas and West Virginia get the benefit of those two very questionable seeds. Why is it not surprising a Big 12 AD (Kansas State) is on the committee?

Winning either of two games would have gotten us in.

3 point loss to MT (obviously), or
4 point loss to A&M.

(03-15-2021 10:49 PM)owl at the moon Wrote:  Winning either of two games would have gotten us in.

3 point loss to MT (obviously), or
4 point loss to A&M.

We played our worst basketball those two games against ODU and MTSU. The score was closer than the actual game. We were badly outplayed and out hustled in both.