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

[lolhoya]

Good point Gumby. Tournament performance matters too.

[Xudash]

I think the problem here is that everyone points to a different metric as the defining one for the argument. I think you can't make these arguments in early March--I think these discussions are best debated after the tourney. If I am looking at it objectively I would consider these individually:
- overall conf RPI
- # of teams in Top 25
- # of tourney teams / % of conf teams in tourney
- # of total wins in the tourney / conf win % in tourney
- # of teams in Sweet 16 / % of teams in S16
- # of teams in FF
- Nat Champ

Not one metric stands on its own. If FL wins the NC it doesn't mean the SEC is the best conf and 6 bids does not make the A10 the best. Look at the entirety of the performance. The BE could get 3 teams in and go 6-3 in the tourney very easily and the A10 could get 6 and end up going 3-6 very easily. So who's better then? Taking an approach to argue your point with one data point is meaningless.

Great post. Very complete way to look at it.

[BillikensWin]

Doesn't it more or less boil down to the fact that everyone's going to argue what's best for their side?

Gumby is right. There's a lot of things to consider in terms of "strength" of conferences. As an A-10 fan, I don't value depth as much as a more balanced league (like the BE) fan would.

[PMThor]

If you want a true metric comparing conferences, just look at head to head and shared opponents. That will give you a really good indicator of which conference was best.

No, I'm not going to do that research outside of head to head, where the BE pretty much dominated the A10.

[BEwannabe]

Creighton and Nova are both dangerous teams and I expect both to do well but outside those 2 the Big East teams will be underdogs in any other game they play...to think A10 teams will go and underperform is a pipe dream. if they're healthy they're good, there is no chance in hockey sticks they're not winning games.

[DudeAnon]

No chance that mutual respect could be a possibility is there?

[BillikensWin]

No chance that mutual respect could be a possibility is there?

What the heck, logic?

[GumbyDamnit!]

Creighton and Nova are both dangerous teams and I expect both to do well but outside those 2 the Big East teams will be underdogs in any other game they play...to think A10 teams will go and underperform is a pipe dream. if they're healthy they're good, there is no chance in hockey sticks they're not winning games.

Ok. So tell us all right now, how many wins in the tourney for each A10 team. Please tell us all where a team like St Joes is going to go in the tourney. This is a team who's best OOC win is Boston U at home and lost to Temple. Please enlighten us on which A10 teams will be 8 seeds or higher (1st round favorites). I see VCU,maybe SLU. The rest will be underdogs.

[BEwannabe]

Creighton and Nova are both dangerous teams and I expect both to do well but outside those 2 the Big East teams will be underdogs in any other game they play...to think A10 teams will go and underperform is a pipe dream. if they're healthy they're good, there is no chance in hockey sticks they're not winning games.

Ok. So tell us all right now, how many wins in the tourney for each A10 team. Please tell us all where a team like St Joes is going to go in the tourney. This is a team who's best OOC win is Boston U at home and lost to Temple. Please enlighten us on which A10 teams will be 8 seeds or higher (1st round favorites). I see VCU,maybe SLU. The rest will be underdogs.

Ahhhh, if you can predict who wins, when and where please let me know. The A10 teams going to NCAA all are good teams, each has weaknesses but that pretty much defines NCAA field this year. trust me big east worst nightmare is to draw an A10 opponent.

[stever20]

Creighton and Nova are both dangerous teams and I expect both to do well but outside those 2 the Big East teams will be underdogs in any other game they play...to think A10 teams will go and underperform is a pipe dream. if they're healthy they're good, there is no chance in hockey sticks they're not winning games.

Ok. So tell us all right now, how many wins in the tourney for each A10 team. Please tell us all where a team like St Joes is going to go in the tourney. This is a team who's best OOC win is Boston U at home and lost to Temple. Please enlighten us on which A10 teams will be 8 seeds or higher (1st round favorites). I see VCU,maybe SLU. The rest will be underdogs.

Right now- Bracket matrix has SLU as a 6, UMass a 6, VCU a 7, and GW a 8. St Joe's a 10, and Dayton a 12 in the PIG.