Both teams would have a crucial first round bye (if the season ended today).
6 games left for both teams. Women need 3 more wins, Men IMO need 4 more.

4th place WOMEN:


5th place MEN:

(02-11-2023 09:00 PM)Almadenmike Wrote:  

(02-11-2023 06:45 PM)owl at the moon Wrote:  Still, a good day for the women in the standings.

Oh and don’t look now but 10th place FAU leads 1st place MTSU early 18-16

??? Typo, perhaps?

FAU women lost @LaTech today ... and Middle Tennessee women beat UAB at home.

I got so excited to see another
BOTTOM-DWELLING-AAC-BOUND team leading first place MTSU that I conflated FAU with UAB. UTSA pulling off the trick last Saturday had me so flustered I can’t even think straight!!

(02-11-2023 09:04 PM)owl at the moon Wrote:  

(02-11-2023 09:00 PM)Almadenmike Wrote:  

(02-11-2023 06:45 PM)owl at the moon Wrote:  Still, a good day for the women in the standings.

Oh and don’t look now but 10th place FAU leads 1st place MTSU early 18-16

??? Typo, perhaps?

FAU women lost @LaTech today ... and Middle Tennessee women beat UAB at home.

I got so excited to see another
BOTTOM-DWELLING-AAC-BOUND team leading first place MTSU that I conflated FAU with UAB. UTSA pulling off the trick last Saturday had me so flustered I can’t even think straight!!

LOL!!!

It's understandable, since both have an 'A' in the middle of their initials.

It's a good thing FAU is not the University of Atlantic Florida instead. :)

Despite the twin fiascos Thursday, both Men and Womens teams still currently maintain their top 5 seedlings.


The men at #5 lost their half game lead to tie idle FIU, but currently have the H2H tiebreaker (with potential to sweep). We lead a pack of four more teams just one game back who are tied for the 7th thru 10th spot. Any of these 6 teams is still in the running for the fifth place bye. MTSU getting a win against FAU didn’t help us any.


The women at #4 lost their lead on LaTech but have the second tiebreaker against them. Two more teams (FIU and Charlotte) trail us by one game.

Today Rice Women are at WKU, FIU hosts first place Middle. La Tech is at Charlotte. I will cheer LaTech, Middle, and Rice in order to hopefully build a 2-game gap on 6th place with four to go.

The Mens standings are too messy to pick favorites other than hoping Rice can just string together some wins and we’ll be fine. We don’t have to win them all but we definitely have to win today to stay in the top five.

(02-18-2023 07:38 AM)owl at the moon Wrote:  Today Rice Women are at WKU, FIU hosts first place Middle. La Tech is at Charlotte. I will cheer LaTech, Middle, and Rice in order to hopefully build a 2-game gap on 6th place with four to go.

As a Rice fan I’m usually just happy when MY team wins. But we did get the trifecta and there is now a nice cushion for the women’s team to lock up that top-5 bye soon.




Rice can clinch that with a 2-0 home stand this weekend against two sub-.500 teams (UAB and Charlotte) and FIU winning no more than one on their Texas swing (@uTEP and @UTSA)

And on the Mens side, more good news if you’re angling for a top 5 bye. While all the teams ahead of us won, most of the teams behind us lost. Except for the one (Charlotte) that we preferred to win, because of the tiebreaker situation with LaTech. So once again probably best case scenario last Saturday.

We are in 5th with a 1 game lead on both the teams behind us. And we play them both (@Charlotte and vs FIU). So, win those two (and as long as La Tech doesn’t finish 4-0) then we are guaranteed a 5-seed. Not a bad position to be in after Thursday’s disappointment.

Notice that FIU and Charlotte womens teams have the same record as their mens teams and the same record as each other.

The two schools are tied for 6th with 7-9 marks in both sports.

And we play them both in the next two weeks.

Charlotte has been good at home - that's a lot of pressure. But I think we match up relatively well with them (I'm talking about the men here).

The women really need to be thinking more about a top 3 seed than a top 5 seed based on a relatively manageable final four games. But a lot may depend on the health of Fisher and Gooden. I still haven't heard anything on their status.

(02-21-2023 06:27 PM)Fort Bend Owl Wrote:  The women really need to be thinking more about a top 3 seed than a top 5 seed based on a relatively manageable final four games. But a lot may depend on the health of Fisher and Gooden. I still haven't heard anything on their status.

We’ll if you’re aiming for a top 3 seed (yes, I am hoping for one, too), then you’ll be glad to hear that 3. UTEP only leads 7. FIU by just one point midway through the 2Q.

Friday seeding possibilities for MEN

If you saw my comments in the MEN’s game thread, I quickly moved into the “we don’t need this one“ camp after falling behind big early. Losing at UAB did knock us out of contention for a top 3 seed. But we are still in the 5 spot today and have a pretty good schedule to secure that seed. We just have to play better tomorrow.

Of our final three games, tonight at Charlotte is not a true “must-win” but it is the most valuable of the remaining three to win. To wit:

To clinch a top 5 seed, and a first round bye in the conference tournament in Frisco, Rice men need to either:

-win at Charlotte, plus win one of two at home vs FAU or FIU next week
-win at Charlotte, plus Charlotte and FIU both lose at least one additional game in the final 2 or 3.
-win our final two at home vs FAU and FIU, plus Charlotte loses 1 of their final two (at UTSA and home vs UAB).

Bottom line: beat Charlotte and our magic number becomes 1.
Or lose to Charlotte and our magic number is 3 (with 4 games left).

In other words: our magic number is 3 and beating Charlotte (our primary competition for that seed) counts double toward hopefully reducing that magic number to one.

Here’s the teams 4 through 10 that we can possibly tie or be tied with in the 20 game conference schedule. Most teams have 3 games left.




We have sweep tiebreaker on WKU, UTEP.
MTSU and LT have sweep on us.
We have 1-0 lead on Charlotte and FIU.
If we split with Charlotte, they win 2nd tiebreaker on us due to their win over MTSU. Unless we beat FAU next week.

Friday seeding possibilities for the WOMEN:

Rice currently sits tied for 4th place and currently “leads” LaTech on the 2nd tiebreaker.

We are one game away from clinching a top 5 first round bye.

The more interesting question now, is whether we can move up to claim a top three seed, which would allow us to avoid the (ranked) 1-seed until the finals.

We trail 2nd place WKU and UTEP by just one game.
As it sits now, we would win almost any 2- 3- or 4-way tiebreaker in this group of 4 teams. We swept UTEP which has multiple benefits. It gives us the edge in the H2H with them, but it also serves as the winning 2nd tiebreaker if we tie with either WKU or LT, since UTEP will most likely be a top five team. The only way that might change significantly is if LaTech can beat 1.MTSU tonight. That would give LaTech a tiebreaker edge over most teams. (Except UTEP, who swept LT). UTEP also has a game remaining against MTSU, and they have already beaten the Raiders once.

What’s the ask for Rice?
1. Win all three remaining: clinches a top three seed (the two teams ahead of us play each other next week so in this scenario we know we would catch one of them and have the tiebreaker)
2. Win two of three (and have the loser of WKU v UTEP also lose one more, and LaTech lose tonight at MTSU)
3. Just win one more to guarantee that 5-seed bye. In this third scenario it is not realistic to “move up” into a top three seed)

Here’s the tight 2-5 seeds plus the 6-8 which we can drop from catching us with a win tomorrow night.



Our “top three” magic number is three.
Our “top five “ magic number is one.

Interesting we were picked 4th in the conference so prob we will end up there.

(02-24-2023 07:44 AM)owl at the moon Wrote:  Friday seeding possibilities for the WOMEN:

Rice currently sits tied for 4th place and currently “leads” LaTech on the 2nd tiebreaker.

We are one game away from clinching a top 5 first round bye.

The more interesting question now, is whether we can move up to claim a top three seed, which would allow us to avoid the (ranked) 1-seed until the finals.

We trail 2nd place WKU and UTEP by just one game.
As it sits now, we would win almost any 2- 3- or 4-way tiebreaker in this group of 4 teams. We swept UTEP which has multiple benefits. It gives us the edge in the H2H with them, but it also serves as the winning 2nd tiebreaker if we tie with either WKU or LT, since UTEP will most likely be a top five team. The only way that might change significantly is if LaTech can beat 1.MTSU tonight. That would give LaTech a tiebreaker edge over most teams. (Except UTEP, who swept LT). UTEP also has a game remaining against MTSU, and they have already beaten the Raiders once.

What’s the ask for Rice?
1. Win all three remaining: clinches a top three seed (the two teams ahead of us play each other next week so in this scenario we know we would catch one of them and have the tiebreaker)
2. Win two of three (and have the loser of WKU v UTEP also lose one more, and LaTech lose tonight at MTSU)
3. Just win one more to guarantee that 5-seed bye. In this third scenario it is not realistic to “move up” into a top three seed)

Here’s the tight 2-5 seeds plus the 6-8 which we can drop from catching us with a win tomorrow night.



Our “top three” magic number is three.
Our “top five “ magic number is one.

Good win for the Women, still control their destiny for a top three. And they clinched a top five bye today.

Men missed an opportunity but still have a chance to catch Charlotte

Women win, they will clinch a top three seed with either a win Saturday at FIU or a UTEP loss Saturday at MTSU.

UTEP trailed the entire game at WKU. Took their first and only lead at :30 left. WKU retook the lead. UTEP missed a FG to tie at :03 and after fouling, missed the 3 to tie at the buzzer.

And the mens game vs FAU goes final, just a couple minutes ahead of the Charlotte @ UTSA that “could have” allowed Rice to “control its destiny” for that bye.

Even though Charlotte’s about to lose, they’ve clinched the 5 seed with the Rice loss, on tiebreakers against both Rice and WKU.