*****Official IOWA at the B1G Tournament Games Thread*****
- Thread starter Franisdaman
- Start date
Win tomorrow against Michigan and I gotta think you are in.
Iowa only has to beat Rutgers once to win the tournament? Seems unfair to Rutgers. No second chance.
It isn't, but Iowa has also been on the other side of that, such as in 2017.
I think there were years when the CWS was that way also. Something about allowing ESPN to claim a specific game as the Championship, without the complication of an if-necessary game.
Why don’t they skip the selection committee. Auto bids then the next (X) number of teams according to the RPI?
My God, it’s worse than the basketball selection used to be. The faults in the RPI have been so glaring for so long…
Yeah they changed it a few years back so that the CWS is now 2, 4-team double elimination brackets. The two winners of the brackets then play a best of 3 series. So if you go through your 4-team bracket unscathed you do get the benefit of having fresher pitching for the final best-of-3.
Hawks will need an unexpected pitcher to step up big today.
Because Iowa would be out and 31-27 Alabama would be in if they did that.
Didn't they go like 10-18 in conference? Yet go 2-2 in the vaunted SEC conference tournament and there is no doubt they are a tournament team.
I know that nobody has ever won the conference tournament in it's current format after losing their first game. Ohio State did after losing the second game one year.
Has a team even made the championship after losing the first game in the current setup?
Has a team even made the championship after losing the first game in the current setup?
That’s my point. Iowa is already out, apparently. It appears RPI is about the only thing that matters, so why even bother with anything else? If RPI is weighted that heavily, then why bother with a committee? I’m joking, but I’m not.
Also, you are just the messenger. It’s the message I want to kill, not the messenger. You are much appreciated.
The RPI can be manipulated too. You see schools cancel midweek games towards the end of the year. You can play a bunch of road games against quad 3 teams. Better win 90% of them though. I could go on. I've never seen a system where you can be punished for winning a midweek game or 2/3 of a home conference series and fall 10 spots.
It is definitely imperfect, but they have to start with something other than the "eyeball test." I'm not aware of systems in baseball like they have for basketball and football with Pomeroy ratings or S&P+ ratings where efficiency margin in basketball and football is a pretty good indicator of how "good" a team is.
For teams like Iowa, they are basically hoping that some of their non-conference teams they schedule early in the season end up being good. Iowa actually did a pretty good job of scheduling non-conference. Central Michigan, TTech, UC-Irvine, Washington State, Ball State, Texas A&M all Top 100 RPI teams. Some others that turned out to be not as good. And the mid-week games with Western Illinois, St. Thomas, Milwaukee turned out to be real boat anchors on the RPI. But the biggest factor for Iowa is the Big 10 just isn't very good. To date (including Big 10 tournament) Iowa has played 10 Quad 1 or 2 games in conference play. Going 6-4 in those games. It would have helped a lot if Indiana could get into Top 100 RPI, but IU sits at 101. Just having Maryland on the schedule this year would have helped Iowa's RPI.
Iowa has at least made itself part of the conversation. Beat Michigan again today and I would think they are a strong at-large candidate even if they don't beat Rutgers. But I'm not on the committee.
I hope Mazur’s back is feeling better this morning. He might be asked to carry Iowa into the championship game.
Might get an inning or two out of him at some point. This is where it hurts not having games played on Wednesday. Especially, early AM.
Yes, you have to start somewhere, but it has been obviously horribly flawed for a very long time.
It would be like traveling to Brazil on a moped, then saying “how else do you expect me to do this?”
I wonder if this is a sign that Mazur is still dealing with back spasms.
Heck of an opportunity for Brecht. He hasn’t pitched since May 15th.
Time for a legend to be born.
Doubtful. My guess is they are saving Mazur of they need a shutdown inning or two against Michigan or they make it to Rutgers. Need to be calculated with using him. By losing game #1 it was inevitable Iowa would need Brecht or Morgan.
Losing to a top 30 RPI team is preferable to beating a mediocre RPI team. Makes perfect sense.
Depends on what their record is. Losing to a 40-10 team on the road is better for your RPI than beating a 10-40 team at home.
The Updated Iowa Pitching Situation:
Heller said Mazur likely would be available today (Sunday), if necessary.
Heller has used 10 pitchers in 4 games so far in the B1G Tourney:
....................................Pitches.........IP
Mazur (Thu)...................95...............5
Nedved (Fri)...................93...............6
Langenberg (Sat AM)...112...............5 2/3
Baumann (Sat PM)........88.............. 5 2/3
Davitt (Thu)....................63...............2 1/3
Davitt (Sat AM)..............20...............2
Beutel (Thu)...................20................1 2/3
Beutel (Fri).......................9...................2/3
Beutel (Sat PM)..............31.................1 1/3
Henderson (Sat AM),.....9................0
Christophersen (Fri).....35................2 1/3
Llewellyn (Sat AM)........31.................1 1/3
Schultz (Sat PM)............36................2
Heller said Mazur likely would be available today (Sunday), if necessary.
Heller has used 10 pitchers in 4 games so far in the B1G Tourney:
....................................Pitches.........IP
Mazur (Thu)...................95...............5
Nedved (Fri)...................93...............6
Langenberg (Sat AM)...112...............5 2/3
Baumann (Sat PM)........88.............. 5 2/3
Davitt (Thu)....................63...............2 1/3
Davitt (Sat AM)..............20...............2
Beutel (Thu)...................20................1 2/3
Beutel (Fri).......................9...................2/3
Beutel (Sat PM)..............31.................1 1/3
Henderson (Sat AM),.....9................0
Christophersen (Fri).....35................2 1/3
Llewellyn (Sat AM)........31.................1 1/3
Schultz (Sat PM)............36................2
Yes, but that is not the issue.
The issue is that not playing a game doesn’t hurt you, but beating a bad team by 100 runs does. It’s a huge flaw. Beating anybody should be at the very least, as good as not playing a game at all.
What if shooting the messenger sends your own message in return for the message you did not like?
I think Michigan is pretty thin pitching wise plus their pitching overall has been average at best. They've done it more with offense.
There is always a price to pay.What if shooting the messenger sends your own message in return for the message you did not like?
I was a little surprised how bad their pitching has been this year. It explains why they were not all that great this season.
I think we have a lot of options today even without Beutel. Brecht can probably go for a while if he’s lights out. They said it yesterday at the beginning of the Michigan game. Iowa is the only team capable of winning through the losers bracket because of the pitching quality and depth
Brecht struggling with his command like we knew he was possible.
