12/3 Games

[butlerguy03]

Butler avoids a trap game after Atlantis 77-54 at Indiana State. If I'm correct, this is the final bracket busters return game Butler had left from the HL days.

[admin]

Creighton's on a long drought to end the half. Went from up 25-20 to losing 33-25. I keep telling you this is going to be a long year for us.

Jays look like a 9th place team tonight. Hopefully they can close out the non-conference part of the schedule strong.

[billyjack]

So, we went 2-1 tonight, in 3 road games against solid opponents. Not a bad night...!

[WaitingPatiently]

Creighton's on a long drought to end the half. Went from up 25-20 to losing 33-25. I keep telling you this is going to be a long year for us.

Jays look like a 9th place team tonight. Hopefully they can close out the non-conference part of the schedule strong.

I see the season like this....at home where the crowd gives them a huge energy boost, they will be pretty tough. On the road, not so much. I think they'll do better in a hostile road environment than a 'dead' one - but still struggle because they don't have a go-to guy when they need an important bucket. The two tourney games and last night weren't even HS quality environments. And when things get off the rails for them it'll be pretty ugly at times. Last night was ugly. They couldn't get to the rim, couldn't hit an outside shot, couldn't stop Tulsa from getting to the rim, couldn't stop fouling when Tulsa did get to the rim. Tulsa's putrid FT shooting is the only thing that kept it from being an absolute blowout.

Even with that, if they protect home court and win 3 road games like North Texas, DePaul, Marquette that would leave them at 21-11 going into the Garden. That would probably have them in decent shape to dance. Maybe get lucky to steal another road one somewhere and then they're not even worrying about the bubble. But it's also a very, very thin line for them. Lose more than a game or two at home and they'll be no more than hopeful of an NIT bid.

[Jet915]

Sorry, piss poor effort by Creighton. We are gonna lose games we should win and win some we should lose (mostly at home). We are NIT at best. Atleast we got the Oklahoma win which helps the Big East and hopefully we'll keep our RPI under 100. If we can get out the the nonconference with just 3 losses, that will be what is expected IMO. Next year, we'll be back.

[Edrick]

Home environment is certainly something, but its not everything. Anyone in the conference, in any given year, who is going to finish near the bottom is going to drop their home games to the elite teams in the league. That's just how it works. Someone has to finish 8-10 and when 7 programs are Top 50 that's not even that terrible a statement about you.

[marquette]

Sorry, piss poor effort by Creighton. We are gonna lose games we should win and win some we should lose (mostly at home). We are NIT at best. Atleast we got the Oklahoma win which helps the Big East and hopefully we'll keep our RPI under 100. If we can get out the the nonconference with just 3 losses, that will be what is expected IMO. Next year, we'll be back.

Substitute "Creighton" for "Marquette" and "3 losses" for "4" and you have a pretty accurate assessment of us as well. Next year should be fun, though.

[adoraz]

I think nearly all the expected lower half teams this year, with the exception of Marquette, have exceeded expectations so far. Butler was picked #7 and they're ranked. Creighton has a respectable record and a big win. SHU is undefeated. DePaul is playing solid with only 1 loss. Even Marquette is still in an okay position since their schedule has been so difficult.

5-6 of the teams will make the dance and 4-5 won't. Just how it'll work out once conference play starts. It's still difficult to tell who will separate themselves but all we know for certain is some teams will have to.

[handdownmandown]

Home environment is certainly something, but its not everything. Anyone in the conference, in any given year, who is going to finish near the bottom is going to drop their home games to the elite teams in the league. That's just how it works. Someone has to finish 8-10 and when 7 programs are Top 50 that's not even that terrible a statement about you.

Agreed. There is only one team in the conference who doesn't have to sweat that possibility.

[stever20]

I think nearly all the expected lower half teams this year, with the exception of Marquette, have exceeded expectations so far. Butler was picked #7 and they're ranked. Creighton has a respectable record and a big win. SHU is undefeated. DePaul is playing solid with only 1 loss. Even Marquette is still in an okay position since their schedule has been so difficult.

5-6 of the teams will make the dance and 4-5 won't. Just how it'll work out once conference play starts. It's still difficult to tell who will separate themselves but all we know for certain is some teams will have to.

we have to see where we are in a few weeks before we can make your last statement confidantly. RIght now we have 4 teams with 2+ losses(and one of those isn't DePaul). If we go into conference play with most every team with 3 OOC losses(or in St John's case 2- but with Duke coming)- it's going to be really hard for teams 5 and 6 to get in. Don't think you want to count on the committee allowing a team with 13 or 14 losses to get in the tourney.

This weekend to me is a big one. Have 3 road games against F5 teams, and then Marquette hosting Wisconsin. Also Xavier hosts Alabama and Seton Hall gets Rutgers. Have to go bare minimum 3-3 in those 6 games. Anything worse, and the narrative starts going south on us again(could start seeing stories like Big East is back where they were last year now).