Standings as of Monday

[stever20]

Def tough scheduling for both Butler and SHU but it's a marathon not a sprint. Creighton is going to be interesting to watch this year. They have the biggest home court advantage in the league IMO. I expect them to get at least 6 or 7 home wins in conf. If they can beat DePaul away and steal 1 or 2 others, they could finish .500 or better. That gets them on the bubble.

.500 for Creighton doesn't get them even close to the bubble unless they win 2 games in the conference tourney. They are 9-4 right now, you add 9-9 and that's 18-13. Even 2 wins in the tourney and they're only 20-14 and even that's difficult to get in the tourney with a record that mediocre. Creighton really needs 11 wins in conference play to get in the tourney IMO. That gets them to 20-11 going into the BET and should get them in.

As St John's showed last year, a bad start can be fatal. They were 7-2 2nd half of the conference season(2nd best) but because of the hole they dug early, they were out. Or a team like Butler who never recovered from their slow start. It can get real late real quickly. Given how most every team needs 10 conference wins, you go 0-3, and you are faced with going 10-5 the rest of the way to get in. That's tough in a league with as much parity as we have.

I guess it all depnds on what your meaning of bubble is. Not saying CU would be in with a .500 record but they'd still be in the mix going into the BET. If they finished say 6th with wins over Nova and SJU or Gtwon or whoever else might be a Top team by years end, they'd be going into the BET with a chance. That would give them 3 Top 25 wins. Few bubble teams ccan usually tout something like that. Last year SJU had the same opportunity and then proceeded to lose to another bubble team in the BET. If CU and say Xavier are both on "the bubble" and face off in the BET first round I would imagine it would serve as an elimination game of sorts for both. You say they'd need 2 BET wins. Certainly with the parity in the league that isn't a huge ask. My point is that CU is certainly not dead in the water yet and if they do well at home (as they always have) they could surprise us all.

Kind of a big thing for Creighton is going to be how Oklahoma does in the brutal Big 12. It's no lock at all that end of the year the Oklahoma win is a top 25 one. Even with 3 top 25 wins, a 20-14 record is hard to get in. Nova did a few years ago- but they had wins over Louisville, Syracuse, Marquette, and Georgetown- 4 top 15 teams. And if they don't have any top 25 wins, pretty much forget about it. Also hurting Creighton would be the distro of home/road records. Say they go 7-2 at home and 2-7 on the road. They would be 4-10 away from home.

[R Jay]

I guess it all depnds on what your meaning of bubble is. Not saying CU would be in with a .500 record but they'd still be in the mix going into the BET. If they finished say 6th with wins over Nova and SJU or Gtwon or whoever else might be a Top team by years end, they'd be going into the BET with a chance. That would give them 3 Top 25 wins. Few bubble teams ccan usually tout something like that. Last year SJU had the same opportunity and then proceeded to lose to another bubble team in the BET. If CU and say Xavier are both on "the bubble" and face off in the BET first round I would imagine it would serve as an elimination game of sorts for both. You say they'd need 2 BET wins. Certainly with the parity in the league that isn't a huge ask. My point is that CU is certainly not dead in the water yet and if they do well at home (as they always have) they could surprise us all.

Kind of a big thing for Creighton is going to be how Oklahoma does in the brutal Big 12. It's no lock at all that end of the year the Oklahoma win is a top 25 one. Even with 3 top 25 wins, a 20-14 record is hard to get in. Nova did a few years ago- but they had wins over Louisville, Syracuse, Marquette, and Georgetown- 4 top 15 teams. And if they don't have any top 25 wins, pretty much forget about it. Also hurting Creighton would be the distro of home/road records. Say they go 7-2 at home and 2-7 on the road. They would be 4-10 away from home.

You're just grasping at straws now. How many Big 12 teams are really better than Oklahoma? Kansas and Iowa State, probably. Texas, West Virginia, and Baylor, maybe? RPIForecast has them going 11-7 in conference and 20-10 overall, I expect it to be closer to 13 or 14 in conference and 22 or 23 wins overall.

[stever20]

I guess it all depnds on what your meaning of bubble is. Not saying CU would be in with a .500 record but they'd still be in the mix going into the BET. If they finished say 6th with wins over Nova and SJU or Gtwon or whoever else might be a Top team by years end, they'd be going into the BET with a chance. That would give them 3 Top 25 wins. Few bubble teams ccan usually tout something like that. Last year SJU had the same opportunity and then proceeded to lose to another bubble team in the BET. If CU and say Xavier are both on "the bubble" and face off in the BET first round I would imagine it would serve as an elimination game of sorts for both. You say they'd need 2 BET wins. Certainly with the parity in the league that isn't a huge ask. My point is that CU is certainly not dead in the water yet and if they do well at home (as they always have) they could surprise us all.

Kind of a big thing for Creighton is going to be how Oklahoma does in the brutal Big 12. It's no lock at all that end of the year the Oklahoma win is a top 25 one. Even with 3 top 25 wins, a 20-14 record is hard to get in. Nova did a few years ago- but they had wins over Louisville, Syracuse, Marquette, and Georgetown- 4 top 15 teams. And if they don't have any top 25 wins, pretty much forget about it. Also hurting Creighton would be the distro of home/road records. Say they go 7-2 at home and 2-7 on the road. They would be 4-10 away from home.

You're just grasping at straws now. How many Big 12 teams are really better than Oklahoma? Kansas and Iowa State, probably. Texas, West Virginia, and Baylor, maybe? RPIForecast has them going 11-7 in conference and 20-10 overall, I expect it to be closer to 13 or 14 in conference and 22 or 23 wins overall.

right now in the polls- Oklahoma is behind Iowa St, Texas, Kansas, and West Virginia. Just ahead of Baylor. TCU and Oklahoma St are also getting votes. Even Kansas St will get some wins in there. That conference is going to be a blood bath.