ADVERTISEMENT

Bubble Watch Rooting Interests

HeRKeYHoPeFuL

HB MVP
Dec 5, 2007
2,208
1,013
113
We're officially in the first four out from the last update I saw from Lunardi. Unfortunately bubble teams performed well last yesterday. Here's a rundown:

  • Rutgers beat Ilinois
  • Vanderbilt added a quality win vs Florida.
  • Seton Hall won @ Butler
  • Cal lost @ Colorado
  • Marquette beat Creighton
  • Syracuse beat Georgia Tech
  • Wake Forest beat Virginia Tech
  • UT Arlington lost to Louisiana Lafayette (no more at large possibility)
----------------------------------------
Smaller slate of games today, so enjoy a day off, after our game, people!

Penn St @ Iowa - We still have a path with a loss (need to make the BTT finals beating Illinois, Purdue, and #4/5), but a win positions us to only need one "upset" in the BTT.

East Carolina @ Houston - Houston is hanging around looking for a shot to beat SMU or Cincinnati to climb back in. A loss like this would be damaging.



RPI/Seeding games:
Purdue over NW
Nebraska over Michigan (this is close, as Michigan would stop being a Top 50 win, but I like our matchup with Nebraska better and we played them twice)
Omaha over Fort Wayne
 
I'll be interested to see if Iowa, having just entered the picture with two big wins, earns a little more scrutiny from the pundits. I suspect that a win against Penn State would give the Palm/Lunardi/Kreskins of the world a chance to "adjust" things a bit. And it will be their last chance until Thursday.

I'd like to see some free salesmanship from the media, on the plus side for a change.

I'll be looking for comments like, "The Omaha loss came without Cook, as did others."

The bubble is filled with teams that have something going for them, and something keeping them on the bubble and not locks. It gets really tough trying to measure what makes one team more worthy than another.

What I think helps our chances, and yeah we gotta win some games, is that there is a story here of a young team playing giant killer. We're a better team now than we have been all season. And none of that counts, but I believe it does add up.

I think we get to see if the national perception, what little we get, is going to help us get in this year, or if we have to do it on our own.

Two more wins or three, I'm saving my guess for what I hear from the All Powerful Wizards today.
 
I'll be interested to see if Iowa, having just entered the picture with two big wins, earns a little more scrutiny from the pundits. I suspect that a win against Penn State would give the Palm/Lunardi/Kreskins of the world a chance to "adjust" things a bit. And it will be their last chance until Thursday.

I'd like to see some free salesmanship from the media, on the plus side for a change.

I'll be looking for comments like, "The Omaha loss came without Cook, as did others."

The bubble is filled with teams that have something going for them, and something keeping them on the bubble and not locks. It gets really tough trying to measure what makes one team more worthy than another.

What I think helps our chances, and yeah we gotta win some games, is that there is a story here of a young team playing giant killer. We're a better team now than we have been all season. And none of that counts, but I believe it does add up.

I think we get to see if the national perception, what little we get, is going to help us get in this year, or if we have to do it on our own.

Two more wins or three, I'm saving my guess for what I hear from the All Powerful Wizards today.
You're my favorite poster Dan. I feel like having a beer together would turn into a night of acid, PCP, and midget hookers!
 
  • Like
Reactions: Mohawkeye
Agreed, Dan! I'm not looking for credit for the Minnesota game (but boy that one hurts), but agree that Cook should be a mitigating factor for at least the Omaha loss that weighs us down if not more.

I'm running some scenarios for other bubble teams as conference tournament brackets are clarifying...

Georgia Tech: Must win 3 in ACC tournament (Pitt, Virginia, Notre Dame) for the RPI to be reasonable for an at large.

Syracuse: Probably only needs to beat Miami. A loss would have them biting their nails on Selection Sunday.

Wake Forest: Must beat Boston College, then will play Va Tech again -- do they need to win that one again, or was once enough? I tend to think they could lose and survive, but they'd be sweating.

Rhode Island needs to win at least 2 (Most likely St Bonaventures and Dayton before losing to VCU in the championship) to have a chance.

Xavier has a rematch with DePaul that I think they must win to stay in the field (they lost their PG and haven't beaten anyone of substance since).

Seton Hall and Marquette play in their first Big East Tournament game. Does only one make the tournament, or are they both solid enough already?

USC has to play Washington before UCLA. Are they solid enough to get in with 1-1 and no more good wins?

Vandy gets Texas A&M in their SEC Tournament opener before a rematch with Florida. They probably only need one win with their SOS, but 2 would lock them up and likely get them out of the First Four.

Kansas State gets a shot at Baylor, and 1-1 would have them back right at the cut line.
 
In a game not mentioned, Illinois St was killed by Wichita. I'm seeing a couple people moving Ill St OUT with that loss.
 
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT