Chris Mack on Xavier's NCAA chances and BE vs A10

[admin]

Some really strong comments from Mack tonight after the loss to Villanova. I love this guy - saying what we're all thinking

As reported by Shannon Russell on twitter:

Said Mack "I know people had us predicted at seventh in the preseason poll. And we’re going to..."
"finish the regular season with 20 wins. Our strength of schedule right now sits at 20. And history has shown that..."
"...any team with a Top 20 schedule in the country that finishes with 20 wins is a NCAA tournament team. Period."

"Maybe we haven’t won the PR battle but I do know this: I coached in the A-10. And I coach in the Big East now," Mack said.
"And I’m telling you right now, Georgetown would be a Top 2 or 3 team in the Atlantic 10. And it’s not even close," Mack said. #Xavier

[Jim Neutron]

Hard for me to believe Xavier wouldn't make the tournament finishing 3rd in the big east.

Really though, I think the issue is ESPN. They don't have Big East basketball and they don't push big east. They have AAC and they push them like crazy, which results in 5 top 205teams in the AAC. Sorry, but that's a joke, IMO. They play a big role in how teams/conferences are perceived. Looking at the computers, big east is the 3rd or 4th ranked conference in America. No way should we not get at least 3 teams in the tournament.

[GumbyDamnit!]

Props to Coach Mack. Good stuff.

[ReynoldsWrap]

Isn't one of their wins a non-D1 win?

[SJHooper]

Hard for me to believe Xavier wouldn't make the tournament finishing 3rd in the big east.

Really though, I think the issue is ESPN. They don't have Big East basketball and they don't push big east. They have AAC and they push them like crazy, which results in 5 top 205teams in the AAC. Sorry, but that's a joke, IMO. They play a big role in how teams/conferences are perceived. Looking at the computers, big east is the 3rd or 4th ranked conference in America. No way should we not get at least 3 teams in the tournament.

This. ESPN is like a magnifier for its conferences it covers. They will make them seem like the greatest thing since sliced bread…remember when the Big East was on ESPN? They loved us. There was lots of coverage and St. John's was even discussed on their show PTI in 2011. That would NEVER happen today. The whole contract switch has really opened my eyes. It has nothing to do with actual success or actual conference strength. It's all about money, and the conferences that play on their channel. That's it. When ESPN goes out of their way to ignore things like unranked teams beating top 10 caliber teams, you know it's purposeful negligence.

[ruechalgrin]

Sorry, BE with only 3-5 teams making the NCAA is more about the committee being consistent than any PR issue. If anything, the BE is simply having an off-year and receiving more publicity because of the first year of the "new" BE. The BE will be great over the long-haul consistently having 4-6 teams in the NCAA tourney (yes, I realize all of you rather have not had your off-year the 1st year of the "new" BE, but it happens). Even this off-year, Villanova and Creighton have legitimate shots at Elite 8/Final 4; and X, etc. could make deep runs as well.

The dance card will change over the next 9 days -- http://www.unf.edu/~jcoleman/dance.htm -- but it shows not lack of publicity, but lack of teams qualifying based on the criteria the committee uses (the dance card simply has an algorithm that mimics the same criteria the committee has used for the past 10+ years). Villanova and Creighton in. I really think X will be in; just a question of whether Providence, St. John's, Marquette, and/or Georgetown make a run.

[ruechalgrin]

BTW, Xavier board questioning the wisdom of these comments.

[Flyer75]

Admin, you can think it all you want, but it doesn't make it true.

I use this for a barometer...Xavier and Dayton (both should make the NCAA). These two teams have been almost identical the last two seasons. Both only won 17 games last year and they split against each other. This year both improved and are on the verge of similar seeds in the NCAA. Xavier is the #3 seed as of tonight in the BE....UD is the #6 seed as of tonight in the A10. Georgetown trails Xavier in the BE standings.

So do you really think Gtown would finish in 2nd place in the A10?? If that's the case, then Xavier would probably win the A10 right???

You are smarter then this and so is Chris Mack.

The problem with Gtown, Xavier and Dayton is that they are FLAWED teams and that's why all three are battling for their lives right now. Take away a couple of bad losses for each team and we wouldn't be having this discussion...but we are, and there's a reason for that. Xavier going 0-3 in an OOC neutral site tourney has nothing to do with how tough the BE is or isn't. UD losing at Illinois St and home to USC has nothing to do with the Be / A10 debate. Gtown lost to Northeastern, like Xaiver, twice to Seton Hall.

Another thing biased glasses tend to forget is the fact that bids are set (for the most part) in OOC We all knew even going into conference play the A10 was probably going to get at least 1 bid more then BE...that hasn't changed. You make your bed in OOC. Xavier played ONE true road game. We can crunch the numbers (RPI, SOS, road/neutral record, conf record, ect) until we are blue in the face and it won't matter at the end of the day. Gtown can finish at best .500 in conference play and get 18 wins total. We can claim they would finish "in 2nd or 3rd place in the A10 and it's not even close" and we can believe in unicorns at the same time.

[GumbyDamnit!]

Admin, you can think it all you want, but it doesn't make it true.

I use this for a barometer...Xavier and Dayton (both should make the NCAA). These two teams have been almost identical the last two seasons. Both only won 17 games last year and they split against each other. This year both improved and are on the verge of similar seeds in the NCAA. Xavier is the #3 seed as of tonight in the BE....UD is the #6 seed as of tonight in the A10. Georgetown trails Xavier in the BE standings.

So do you really think Gtown would finish in 2nd place in the A10?? If that's the case, then Xavier would probably win the A10 right???

You are smarter then this and so is Chris Mack.

The problem with Gtown, Xavier and Dayton is that they are FLAWED teams and that's why all three are battling for their lives right now. Take away a couple of bad losses for each team and we wouldn't be having this discussion...but we are, and there's a reason for that. Xavier going 0-3 in an OOC neutral site tourney has nothing to do with how tough the BE is or isn't. UD losing at Illinois St and home to USC has nothing to do with the Be / A10 debate. Gtown lost to Northeastern, like Xaiver, twice to Seton Hall.

Another thing biased glasses tend to forget is the fact that bids are set (for the most part) in OOC We all knew even going into conference play the A10 was probably going to get at least 1 bid more then BE...that hasn't changed. You make your bed in OOC. Xavier played ONE true road game. We can crunch the numbers (RPI, SOS, road/neutral record, conf record, ect) until we are blue in the face and it won't matter at the end of the day. Gtown can finish at best .500 in conference play and get 18 wins total. We can claim they would finish "in 2nd or 3rd place in the A10 and it's not even close" and we can believe in unicorns at the same time.

I think some of these comments have merit but you are missing some key points. First of all if you point to OOC as where bids are earned and then neglect to mention that Gtwn beat: Mich St, VCU and K state, then perhaps you are supporting Mack's statements more than not. The problem with the A10 is a team like St Joe's. First show me a quality win outside of the conference. Boston U at home? And then look at their conference scheduling and recognize that they only played the other 3 best teams (SLU, VCU, GW) once each and two of them were at home. Had they played at VCU and at SLU, you'd probably see 2 more L's and their resume loses some luster. St Joe lost to Temple who is worse than Northeastern and lost to Nova at home by 30. Outside of the A10 they have done absolutely nothing of note. I think at the end of the day, teams 1-6 in the A10 are prob very close to teams 3-7 in the BE. Gtwn beats VCU, PC loses at UMASS by 1. Similar. The problem is that we have a round robin schedule so you can't hide and the bottom of the BE (especially SHU) are pretty solid teams despite their conf records. I don't see a 2nd weekend team in any of the 6 A10 teams unless VCU gets the right matchup. Reminds me of last years MWC.

[ta111]

Stupid, stupid thing for Mack to say even if he truly believes it. Sounds like complete sour grapes, considering that the A-10 is likely to get 6 bids and the BE 3, possibly 4 if Providence can get a big win at Creighton. I said this at the beginning of the season and have been proven correct-the top of the A-10 is stronger than the NBE this year and the bottom of the NBE is stronger than the bottom of the A-10.