Welcome to The Holy Land of Hoops

We are bad. We might be stuck being bad. Two options: Hope things get better eventually, expand and hope new blood raises the competitiveness of the conference. There are no other options.

DudeAnon wrote:We are bad. We might be stuck being bad. Two options: Hope things get better eventually, expand and hope new blood raises the competitiveness of the conference. There are no other options.

Yeah, let’s dilute the league with a so-so program. That will solve everything. I mean it worked for the AAC this year.

Everyone needs to relax. March happens. Look at Mich State. 3 straight early exits and to double digit seeds. He’s got a stable of 5 star players and a huge front line and has been coached by a guy who got them to like 8 FF’s. Should they change everything? Boeheim barely gets in and his team goes on another run as a low seed. Things happen.

We’ve been together for 5 years. We had 2 #1 seeds and two teams in the top 10 all year. We won a NC. The Pac12 was 0 for the tourney and they, along with both the B1G10 and B12, haven’t won a NC in decades. We’re doing fine. Stay the course.

Hall2012 wrote:

kayako wrote:

Bill Marsh wrote:Villanova and Xavier were the only two with a realistic chance to get past the 2nd round.

BE's 6-11 seeds seems to have lower ceiling than its counterpart from other conferences.

I wouldn't say they have a lower ceiling, they just didn't pull their games out. Butler and Seton Hall were no worse than Florida State, they both played their top seeds down to the wire. They both were right there at the end, SHU in a defacto road game, but unfortunately teams are judged by results rather than performance and the results just didn't go our way. I know it's irrelevant, but I have little doubt that Seton Hall would've beaten Kansas if that game was played on a true neutral court.

If there's one positive, it's that Villanova's the only 1 seed that didn't get anything close to scare in the opening weekend.

The thing is though, 1 seeds are always going to have the home court advantage. It's a perk of being a 1 seed. Next year Kansas would be playing at Tulsa.

X got unlucky that they were 1 year off. Next year they would have gotten Columbus.

Big East in rd 2 hasn't fared that well at all. 5-12 in 2nd rd games. With only last year a winning record in rd 2. Part of it is 4 8/9 vs 1 or 7/10 vs 2 games in there obviously. But also losses in 4/5 and 3/6 games that are tossups. I wonder if part of the problem with the round robin is you get so focused on knowing your opponent so well thru playing them 2-3 times each year- that you don't focus as much on scouting- so when you get in the tourney, you aren't prepared as much.

GumbyDamnit! wrote:

DudeAnon wrote:We are bad. We might be stuck being bad. Two options: Hope things get better eventually, expand and hope new blood raises the competitiveness of the conference. There are no other options.

Yeah, let’s dilute the league with a so-so program. That will solve everything. I mean it worked for the AAC this year.

Everyone needs to relax. March happens. Look at Mich State. 3 straight early exits and to double digit seeds. He’s got a stable of 5 star players and a huge front line and has been coached by a guy who got them to like 8 FF’s. Should they change everything? Boeheim barely gets in and his team goes on another run as a low seed. Things happen.

We’ve been together for 5 years. We had 2 #1 seeds and two teams in the top 10 all year. We won a NC. The Pac12 was 0 for the tourney and they, along with both the B1G10 and B12, haven’t won a NC in decades. We’re doing fine. Stay the course.

I admire your optimism, but if you take Nova out of the picture it is obvious this conference is not prepared for March. Expansion is no guarantee that it helps, but after 5 years of this I can only look for some kind of change to mix things up.

Honestly, I am very pessimistic about the future of this conference. We are being out-recruited by middling P5 teams.

Hall2012 wrote:I wouldn't say they have a lower ceiling, they just didn't pull their games out.

After 5 years and consistently losing close games, I refuse to chalk it up as bad luck. Kansas State, Purdue, and Kansas were all dealing with significant injuries.

Butler certainly missed a great opportunity, but I'm not sure the fall off from being without Haas made it an expected win as some may have thought.
Either way, it was a 50/50 game vs. a top 10 team that we lost to by 20 earlier in the season, in a 10/2 matchup. Fan/ Conference/ Gambler expectations are one thing - reality is that BU was not favored in this game even with the injury.

Seton Hall definitely was not expected to win vs. Kansas in that situation, but was right there. Credit that awesome senior class, what a fun group to watch.

These doom and gloom conference comments are hilarious. BE hoops is up there with anyone. If Xavier hadn't been overseeded (yes they were) we would have had some better seeds for the lower teams.

DudeAnon wrote:wo options: Hope things get better eventually

I don't think the situation is that dire. Did you think we were really better than the Big12? We're arguably better at top, but they are much better 3-10. This is a 3rd, 4th, or 5th best conference in any given year. If any combination of Georgetown, Marquette, and St. John's get back to being relevant, that'd be the next step and we think about competing with ACC and Big 12. But otherwise, this is just a solid conference. Gotta live with that.

DudeAnon wrote:
I admire your optimism, but if you take Nova out of the picture it is obvious this conference is not prepared for March. Expansion is no guarantee that it helps, but after 5 years of this I can only look for some kind of change to mix things up.

Jeez... your team blows a historic opportunity and all of a sudden the conference needs to be changed? Get a grip. You blew that one like a Trevon Bluiett attempt at a drive...

Nildogg wrote:Butler certainly missed a great opportunity, but I'm not sure the fall off from being without Haas made it an expected win as some may have thought.
Either way, it was a 50/50 game vs. a top 10 team that we lost to by 20 earlier in the season, in a 10/2 matchup. Fan/ Conference/ Gambler expectations are one thing - reality is that BU was not favored in this game even with the injury.

Seton Hall definitely was not expected to win vs. Kansas in that situation, but was right there. Credit that awesome senior class, what a fun group to watch.

These doom and gloom conference comments are hilarious. BE hoops is up there with anyone. If Xavier hadn't been overseeded (yes they were) we would have had some better seeds for the lower teams.

Xavier would have been worst case a 2 seed. So then Butler would have been able to be a 9 seed instead of a 10 seed. Not exactly a huge difference. would have seen-
Creighton- no change
Butler- moves to 9 line, plays UNC in Charlotte in rd 2
Providence- stays on 10 line, switches to have to play Purdue in rd 2
Seton Hall- no change