College Basketball Countdown

[stever20]

Wake Forest got added today, #94 and #10 in the ACC.

Just shows how great the Big East was a few years ago when we had 11 in the tourney(so 11 in the top 50).

[Wizard of Westroads]

Just saw USA Today is doing a thing where they are counting down the 68 teams making the tourney. Today 1st day- Texas Southern.

Also- College Sports Madness does top 144... so far they are up to 97.

1 Big East team so far-
#98 St John's, who they have #8 in the Big East.
http://www.collegesportsmadness.com/article/9516

I'm guessing Butler and DePaul would have been outside the top 144.

Both are set where when they get to #1 it's the opening week of the college basketball season.

I have a hard time believing Butler won't make the top 144. They had a train wreck of a season last year with injuries, a coaching change and close losses. But they still finished 104 in KenPom. Roosevelt Jones is going to be a big change this year. May not contend, but they're gonna surprise people. I think DePaul's the only BE out of the top 144.

[stever20]

Could be more along the lines of RPI, where Butler finished at 154.....

And one point- it's actually BAD for the conference if DePaul is the only BE team out of the top 144 RPI wise. What kills us is there's no seperation from 3-8 like last year. It just lends to what happened last year where 3rd seed got stuck in PIG and 4th seed had to win the conference tourney to make the NCAA.

Yes, it's great for the regular season to have that much parity, but come March, it's not good at all.

[Bill Marsh]

Just saw USA Today is doing a thing where they are counting down the 68 teams making the tourney. Today 1st day- Texas Southern.

Also- College Sports Madness does top 144... so far they are up to 97.

1 Big East team so far-
#98 St John's, who they have #8 in the Big East.
http://www.collegesportsmadness.com/article/9516

I'm guessing Butler and DePaul would have been outside the top 144.

Both are set where when they get to #1 it's the opening week of the college basketball season.

I have a hard time believing Butler won't make the top 144. They had a train wreck of a season last year with injuries, a coaching change and close losses. But they still finished 104 in KenPom. Roosevelt Jones is going to be a big change this year. May not contend, but they're gonna surprise people. I think DePaul's the only BE out of the top 144.

I agree with your assessment of Butler. It was a transition year to a new coach. Whenever I watched them, they played better than their record. They will miss Marshall, but they are a much more experienced team than last year with 3 seniors back + Jones who is a red shirt junior and with the addition of Indiana transfer Austin Etherington, who will be a grad student eligible right away. Throw in junior Kellen Dunham, who is a star in the making. That is a very experienced bunch.

[ljay]

I think DePaul's the only BE out of the top 144.

Don't think so. They claim St John's as team #8 in the league so they have two out of the Top 144. Not a sure thing it's Butler. They could say Creighton or perhaps Marquette who both lost a lot.

No worries. It's probably the opinion of one or two guys. Really, what do they or anyone know at this point?

[stever20]

up to #90 now with no more Big East teams in there.

Preseason predictions are a lot better than folks want to admit.

[Bill Marsh]

up to #90 now with no more Big East teams in there.

Good. We don't want to see any more Big East teams showing up for a long time.

[DudeAnon]

up to #90 now with no more Big East teams in there.

Preseason predictions are a lot better than folks want to admit.

They are also completely pointless. Nobody can predict the future.

[Chalmers0]

up to #90 now with no more Big East teams in there.

Preseason predictions are a lot better than folks want to admit.

They are also completely pointless. Nobody can predict the future.

If absolutely nothing else, they are good for gauging the public perception of our teams and the conference, which I think everyone on this board can agree is at least relatively important to the conference and it's future going forward.

[DudeAnon]

up to #90 now with no more Big East teams in there.

Preseason predictions are a lot better than folks want to admit.

They are also completely pointless. Nobody can predict the future.

If absolutely nothing else, they are good for gauging the public perception of our teams and the conference, which I think everyone on this board can agree is at least relatively important to the conference and it's future going forward.

See, I actually couldn't care less about public perception. I know its a rough transition for the 7 BE Teams because they could piggyback on Syracuse, Louisville and UConn but the 3 "mid-majors" have had success regardless of conference affiliation.