Sun Jan 25th, 3g - Duke-SJU, Seton-Butler, Creigh-VU.

[MUPanther]

Inside the Big East is next!

[MUPanther]

I think Wednesday night is going to tell us a lot if we have any shot at 7 bids...

Seton Hall plays at Marquette
St John's plays at Creighton

If either of those teams lose- it's a crippling blow for making the tourney. Seton Hall right now has to go 6-5 rest of the way to have any chance. St John's has to go 7-5 most likely to have a realistic chance. Kind of tough for both teams to see a path to those # of wins with a loss to 9th/10th place teams, even on the road.

I think Xavier can go a long way this week in securing a bid if they can win just 1 of the 2 road games at Georgetown on Tuesday or Seton Hall on Saturday. 2 losses and they're 13-9- and 2-7 away from Cintas.

I agree in the concept in what your saying, but "crippling blow for making the tourney" in January?

[stever20]

I think Wednesday night is going to tell us a lot if we have any shot at 7 bids...

Seton Hall plays at Marquette
St John's plays at Creighton

If either of those teams lose- it's a crippling blow for making the tourney. Seton Hall right now has to go 6-5 rest of the way to have any chance. St John's has to go 7-5 most likely to have a realistic chance. Kind of tough for both teams to see a path to those # of wins with a loss to 9th/10th place teams, even on the road.

I think Xavier can go a long way this week in securing a bid if they can win just 1 of the 2 road games at Georgetown on Tuesday or Seton Hall on Saturday. 2 losses and they're 13-9- and 2-7 away from Cintas.

I agree in the concept in what your saying, but "crippling blow for making the tourney" in January?

For Seton Hall- they would with a loss need to go 6-4 rest of the way. With only 3 games left with DePaul, Marquette, and Creighton. I don't know if you can expect 3-4 with Xavier, Georgetown, @ Providence, @ Villanova, @ St John's, Providence, and @ Georgetown.
For St John's- a loss there and they would need to go 7-4 the rest of the way. With 3 games left with Creighton, DePaul, and Marquette. Would they be able to split with Providence, @ Butler, @ Xavier, @ Georgetown, Seton Hall, Xavier, Georgetown, and @ Villanova?

Either of those seem to be pretty big asks with a loss on Wednesday. I think especially for Seton Hall- a loss on Wednesday and it'd be 4 straight losses and 5 of 6. With an extremely difficult last 4 weeks of the season- oh, and their 2nd game with DePaul is in Chicago- which is no easy task this year either.

[HoosierPal]

My Dawgs and the Pirates combined for one of the worst FT shooting performances in recent memory. Combined the two teams were 25 of 48, 52%. That isn't acceptable in middle school. What the heck is wrong these days? College scholarship athletes, who practice basketball year round from 1st grade on, should be able to easily make at an absolute minimum 2/3 of unguarded 15 foot shots. I know they practice FT's at every practice session, but 52% is embarrassing.

Hinkle was almost sold out yesterday. Not sure why it wasn't, but the attendance was much better than the Creighton game.

[cu blujs]

Sometimes it becomes contagious. Couple of guys miss, then then next guy starts over thinking and misses, and pretty soon the good free throw shooters are missing. Even an 80% FT shooter is going to miss 2 in 10 on average, and if he has hit 14 of the last 15, then statistically he is probably going to be a miss or two under 80% in the next game or two. Might have been just a perfect storm where most of the guys fell back a miss or two toward their statistical norm all in the same game, resulting in an overall 52% average for the game.

[NJRedman]

So according to Stever losing to the #5 team in the country is a bad loss.

[stever20]

So according to Stever losing to the #5 team in the country is a bad loss.

it's not a bad loss, but it's a loss and a home loss.

[stever20]

From Lunardi about St John's:
For the record, I've always liked St. John's and spent a lot of friendly time with Steve Lavin during his ESPN days. But it was clear to me Sunday as Duke sprinted past the Red Storm that his team is a tease. And that Selection Sunday isn't going to end well for the Johnnies.

St. John's has seemingly done everything right to get back to the NCAA tournament. The Red Storm scheduled well, were decent in nonconference play and are headed to an acceptable numerical profile (current 51/13/43 RPI/SOS/BPI combo).

But here's the rub: The Johnnies aren't going to win enough games (or, more precisely, enough of the right games). Forget about being on the wrong side of history Sunday. If the Red Storm had held on against Duke, as they should have, the remainder of their season is entirely different. Instead, St. John's will have to bank on flipping a 2-4 Big East record.

The Johnnies have had four huge opportunities at home -- Gonzaga, Butler, Villanova and Duke -- and came up empty each time. Additional chances remain, but do you trust this team to win more than it loses at Butler (away), Georgetown (twice) and at Villanova? That's what it's going to take for the Red Storm at this point, and I'm not buying.

St. John's is the first team out today for the same reason it would miss the NCAA field in March: a losing conference record and a 2-5 mark against top-50 opponents. Our last team in, Kansas State, is 5-2 in a better league and 4-4 against the top 50. The Red Storm would win the so-called "eye test," but K-State has won more meaningful games.

So for everyone who tweeted me today that Duke was a "good loss," I'll say only that too many of them put your team in the NIT.

[Red Rooster]

From Lunardi about St John's:
For the record, I've always liked St. John's and spent a lot of friendly time with Steve Lavin during his ESPN days. But it was clear to me Sunday as Duke sprinted past the Red Storm that his team is a tease. And that Selection Sunday isn't going to end well for the Johnnies.

St. John's has seemingly done everything right to get back to the NCAA tournament. The Red Storm scheduled well, were decent in nonconference play and are headed to an acceptable numerical profile (current 51/13/43 RPI/SOS/BPI combo).

But here's the rub: The Johnnies aren't going to win enough games (or, more precisely, enough of the right games). Forget about being on the wrong side of history Sunday. If the Red Storm had held on against Duke, as they should have, the remainder of their season is entirely different. Instead, St. John's will have to bank on flipping a 2-4 Big East record.

The Johnnies have had four huge opportunities at home -- Gonzaga, Butler, Villanova and Duke -- and came up empty each time. Additional chances remain, but do you trust this team to win more than it loses at Butler (away), Georgetown (twice) and at Villanova? That's what it's going to take for the Red Storm at this point, and I'm not buying.

St. John's is the first team out today for the same reason it would miss the NCAA field in March: a losing conference record and a 2-5 mark against top-50 opponents. Our last team in, Kansas State, is 5-2 in a better league and 4-4 against the top 50. The Red Storm would win the so-called "eye test," but K-State has won more meaningful games.

So for everyone who tweeted me today that Duke was a "good loss," I'll say only that too many of them put your team in the NIT.

Win enough games, and they are in. The season isn't over.

[NJRedman]

From Lunardi about St John's:
For the record, I've always liked St. John's and spent a lot of friendly time with Steve Lavin during his ESPN days. But it was clear to me Sunday as Duke sprinted past the Red Storm that his team is a tease. And that Selection Sunday isn't going to end well for the Johnnies.

St. John's has seemingly done everything right to get back to the NCAA tournament. The Red Storm scheduled well, were decent in nonconference play and are headed to an acceptable numerical profile (current 51/13/43 RPI/SOS/BPI combo).

But here's the rub: The Johnnies aren't going to win enough games (or, more precisely, enough of the right games). Forget about being on the wrong side of history Sunday. If the Red Storm had held on against Duke, as they should have, the remainder of their season is entirely different. Instead, St. John's will have to bank on flipping a 2-4 Big East record.

The Johnnies have had four huge opportunities at home -- Gonzaga, Butler, Villanova and Duke -- and came up empty each time. Additional chances remain, but do you trust this team to win more than it loses at Butler (away), Georgetown (twice) and at Villanova? That's what it's going to take for the Red Storm at this point, and I'm not buying.

Exactly! It's not like the old big east where we have a murders row ahead of us. Every team in this league can be beaten. Even if we lose those four games he thinks we can't win we can still go 8-4 down the stretch to finish 10-8 in conference. Butler can be beaten. Same with Gtown, I know they are hot now but they did lose to X. The season isn't over, we're the first team out, not that far from being in.
St. John's is the first team out today for the same reason it would miss the NCAA field in March: a losing conference record and a 2-5 mark against top-50 opponents. Our last team in, Kansas State, is 5-2 in a better league and 4-4 against the top 50. The Red Storm would win the so-called "eye test," but K-State has won more meaningful games.

So for everyone who tweeted me today that Duke was a "good loss," I'll say only that too many of them put your team in the NIT.

Win enough games, and they are in. The season isn't over.