Can we all stop looking into our crystal balls for 5 minutes

[TheHall]

The heck with the next 3 weeks you've been talking this way since the exhibition games. So no need to try to elaborate/pontificate, you've already made it clear that tracking stats is more enjoyable for you than the games themselves. Remember you called for the permanent benching Joshua Smith by game 4, and that was after a game you didn't even watch. Some of us want to smell the roses during this inaugural season, not just talk about our teams like stock futures all season.

And you act like OOC play is pretty much meaningless.. OOC means a lot now in the tournament- way more than it used to. For one- while before teams would be playing 27-28 games, teams now play 31 games. So instead of like 10-11 OOC games, you get 12-13.

All I said for Smith was that the Hoyas were focusing way too much on him- that they were playing better when he was out of the game. You look at the numbers and he's one of the worst defensive players on the team.

I've been watching/following ALL the OOC games and you know that, so ho can you say I think they are meaningless. I wasn't trying to be funny, I thought it was an obvious point about how you've been fixated on the end of the season since the exhibition season. I just think there's plenty of time later to be disappointed with your team's season or the BE's season, no rush. As a hoya fan you should be well aware of that.

[GumbyDamnit!]

The thing is, a lot of times, November and December are the deciding factors. We may not know which team it is, but like let's say GW turns out to be a 20 win team and makes the tournament. Marquette beating them could be the difference in getting in or not getting in. Or Vandy does a lot better than projected. That makes a difference for Butler and Providence. everything that we're seeing indicates that we're going to have a lot of bubble teams. Been that way since the start of the season. Even the numbers I posted- for most teams just 1-2 more wins and it changes the RPI considerably. Like Butler- 1 more win and their RPI goes from a projected 69 up to a projected 57. If you are at 57, you have a really good chance to make the tourney(especially with even 1 win in the BET). Every game matters. I think folks are discounting as a whole the impact of the conference OOC schedule in determining how many bids you get as a conference. These next 3 weeks have more to do in a lot of ways what our maximum potential is for tourney bids than anything we do in Jan/Feb.

I think you are making my point Stever. Why should we consume ourselves with whether or not GW will be a top A10 team or Vandy doing very well in the SEC? If Marq does what it should do during conf play to prove that it is a tourney team, it is getting a bid. I understand the conversation that some teams have not helped themselves OOC, and that our conf as a whole has a few disappointing losses, but to keep a daily tally on which specific team is getting in, here in Dec, is somewhat pointless. There are so many variables yet to play out that we can drive ourselves nuts trying to consider every possibility. The task of each team come 12/31 is to finish near the top of the conference. Period. Especially with the round format, I think the tourney committee will be able to more easily make sense of which teams in the BE deserve bids. Our schedules are identical. Worrying about # of bids now, IMO, is silly. Case in point what if Marq beats Wisconsin, if Gtwn beats KU, and those 2 schools finish 3rd and 4th in the league; what if Nova finishes 5th in the league and Iowa wins the B1G and KU wins the B12--I would guess they are still in; what if 1 & 2 in the league both win 13 games in conference, and yet the 6th place team ends up winning the BET? Are we a 6 bid league then? All of these things can happen so why not sit back and enjoy, and wait and see a little more before laying out every scenario. I would say let's get half of conf play under our belts before worrying about this. It's going to change every day/week.

[DeltaV]

Who's selling the crystal balls? I can't seem to find one in stock.

http://www.amazon.com/Clear-Crystal-Inc ... ystal+ball

[stever20]

The thing is, we'll know a lot more by Dec 30th. Teams will generally know what they have to do in conference play to have a shot. The thing is- good teams sometimes don't get bids because they screwed up so much OOC- see UVA last year. I just hear folks say we're going to get 5 bids like it's our birthright to get 5 bids. We have to earn those bids....Folks are just acting like the way to get bids is to contort the conference in conference play. It's so much easier if you take care of business in OOC play. Then you have so much less pressure on you.

[GumbyDamnit!]

The thing is, we'll know a lot more by Dec 30th. Teams will generally know what they have to do in conference play to have a shot. The thing is- good teams sometimes don't get bids because they screwed up so much OOC- see UVA last year. I just hear folks say we're going to get 5 bids like it's our birthright to get 5 bids. We have to earn those bids....Folks are just acting like the way to get bids is to contort the conference in conference play. It's so much easier if you take care of business in OOC play. Then you have so much less pressure on you.

I agree with this... It's just tough when people already have the teams slotted here in Dec., and there is so much parity in college basketball that anything can happen between now and March.

[ta111]

I think we are putting too much emphasis on the conference and not on the individual teams. Things are subject to change, but teams really have to take advantage of OOC opportunities when they present themselves. Right now only Nova and GTown have top 50 RPI wins and most of the teams have a losing record against the top 100. When you go back and look at the mock selection shows you see that these two criteria are very important, as well as losses against 150+ RPI teams. Now is the time to make hay and get good wins.

[stever20]

vs rpi top 100
Nova 4-0
Providence 2-1(Maryland is 118 right now)
Creighton 1-2
Butler 2-2
Georgetown 1-1(Northeastern is 144 right now)
St John's 1-1(Penn St is 101 right now)
Marquette 1-3
Xavier 0-2(Tennessee is 119 right now)
Seton Hall 0-2(Fairleigh Dickinson is 260 right now- note Mercer is 54)
DePaul 0-3

[Wizard of Westroads]

This conference is built for the long term. We're recruiting well and we have a solid lineup of teams. As for this year, the league lost Louisville and Syracuse, GT and Marq are down. That's the story. Meanwhile, Nova is carrying the banner for us and everybody else is trying to find where they fit in. It's going to be a great season regardless of OOC.

This year's conference strength matters mostly in terms of who's yakking about us on ESPN. I don't care what they say, but this is a message board and debating OOC results seems like what a message board in built for.

[TheHall]

This conference is built for the long term. We're recruiting well and we have a solid lineup of teams. As for this year, the league lost Louisville and Syracuse, GT and Marq are down. That's the story. Meanwhile, Nova is carrying the banner for us and everybody else is trying to find where they fit in. It's going to be a great season regardless of OOC.

This year's conference strength matters mostly in terms of who's yakking about us on ESPN. I don't care what they say, but this is a message board and debating OOC results seems like what a message board in built for.

I came into this season with this perspective. Anything above this is a bonus for this season IMO.

[stever20]

I think this year matters to us a lot more than you are making it out to be. A year where we got the bids that Lunardi was saying the other day- would not be good for us as our first one. Especially with UConn, Louisville, Cuse geting very high seeds. We have to perform on the floor, or eventually the recruiting will start to dry up some.