At-Large Talk-Thursday

Earlier this we we identified basically 23 teams vying for those 15 slots (in alphabetical order). Their activity this week is noted:



Arizona

BYU (finished games)

California

Connecticut (Beat WVU 71-67 and moves on to 3rd round BE tournament facing Syracuse)

CSU

Dayton

Drexel (finished games)

Iona (finished games)

Miami

Miss. State

NC State

Northwestern

Oregon

S. Florida (beat Villanova 56-47, moves on to 3rd round BE tournament facing Notre Dame)

Seton Hall (lost to Louisville 61-55)

So. Mississippi

St. Joseph's

St. Louis

Tennessee

Texas

Washington

Xavier

WVU (lost to S. Connecticut 67-71)



Games of interest to BYU-there are many today:

Connecticut vs Syracuse (Go Cuse)

South Florida vs Notre Dame (I believe that USF has now worked themselves into a lock)

Southern Mississippi vs East Carolina (Go Pirates)

North Carolina State vs Boston College (Go Eagles)

Washington vs Oregon St (Go Beavers)

CSU vs TCU (Go Horned Frogs)

Northwestern vs Minnesota (Go Gophers)

Arizona vs UCLA (Go Bruins. A loss here would be the coffin nails for the Wildcats)

Miami vs GA Tech (Go Yellow Jackets)

Texas vs Iowa St. (Go Cyclones)

Mississippi State vs Georgia (Go Bulldogs)





In the helpful category (RPI related):

Weber State lost last night to slightly decrease the value of that win

Nevada vs San Jose St. (Go Wolfpack)

Oregon vs Colorado (Go Ducks)

Virginia Tech vs Clemson (Go Hokies)

Baylor vs KSU (Go Bears)

USU vs Louisiana Tech (our worse loss. Come on Aggies!)

I have to admit things don't look great for us right now. We might still sneak in but probably will be in the play-in games.

Qman wrote:
I have to admit things don't look great for us right now. We might still sneak in but probably will be in the play-in games.

I'd take even a play-in game at this point. Today's result will tell us a lot of which of the At-Large teams will be able to pass over us, that might have been behind us. I'm hoping for a good day.

Syracuse beat UCONN. That helps a little, but many think that UCONN was in either way.

It was nice to see Baylor beating KSU today too. The Bears had been on a bit of a slide lately.

So. Mississippi defeated E. Carolina in OT 81-78



Here is what ESPN's Brennan said about S. Mississippi's At-Large potential:



Southern Miss [24-7 (11-5), RPI: 17, SOS: 58] If USM and Memphis played each other so close this season, and USM likewise has a top-20 RPI, why aren't the Golden Eagles a lock too? Because there are still some holes here, and Saturday's loss at Marshall didn't help. Still, if Larry Eustachy's team handles business against the winner of Rice-East Carolina in its first C-USA tournament matchup, the worst it could do would be a semis loss to Tulsa, and that probably wouldn't be enough to sink a profile with alternately glittering and solid computer numbers, a 3-2 mark against the RPI top 50, and a 9-4 figure against the top 100. Barring disaster, they'll get in.



So they did what they were expected thus far and I would believe that they have one of the At-Large bids locked up now. Okay probably if no one else from the conference, besides Memphis, makes it to the auto-bid.

Interesting that Oregon St. is up by 13 on Washington at halftime. If Washington, the PAC12 regular season champ, loses in their first round of their tournament, are they gone?



Here is what ESPN's Brennan said about Washington before this game:



Washington [21-9 (14-4), RPI: 57, SOS: 86] These are the facts: With a 14-4 record, the Washington Huskies won the Pac-12 regular-season title outright. Their best nonconference win came at home against UC-Santa Barbara, a team ranked No. 124 in the RPI. They have one win against the RPI top 75. ONE. The cognitive dissonance is almost overwhelming; those are just not things you expect to write in sequence about any high-major champion. It really was just one of those seasons. Of course, Washington did play some good nonconference games in November and December, when it played Duke and Marquette tough on the East Coast, but it didn't win either (and it also lost by 19 at home to South Dakota State). And UW's nonconference SOS wasn't so strong, even with those games, to excuse the dearth of non-league wins. Right now, that's the biggest threat to this team's chances of getting in the NCAA tournament, which is why a strong performance is so desperately needed in this Pac-12 tournament, starting Thursday against UCLA. The good news? The bubble is still very soft. And the Huskies did win the Pac-12 title. That's got to be worth something, right? Right?



Based on the issues noted above, the ONLY saving grace for Washington would have to be that they are the regular season champs. Could the committee really shut out the regular season champ from one of the major conferences. I think the answer will be no, when it should be yes. If the Huskies don't mount a comeback in the 2nd half, I think they will be sweating more than BYU because based on their resume, they don't deserve the nod if they can't beat OSU after losing to UCLA in their season finale.

Wow, Washington is up by 5 with 7 minutes to go. Amazing when teams make 18 point swings like that. Earlier comment probably a mute point now if the Huskies continue on, but having Washington beaten was exactly the kind of upsets I would have loved to see today.

NC State beat BC 78-57. No breaks yet today.

http://scores.espn.go.com/ncb/boxscore?gameId=320680264" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;



Washington loses... they should be NIT bound

Wow, Oregon St beat Washington 86-84. Let the talk begin. I think they should be out to be the #1 seed in your tournament and lose your first game when your RPI is 57. Their only valid win was vs Oregon. They split the season with them.

craigoscarson wrote:
http://scores.espn.go.com/ncb/boxscore?gameId=320680264



Washington loses... they should be NIT bound

Does anyone ever remember a regular season major conference champ not making the Dance? I don't, but I'm far from an expert on such matters.