The Bubble

[PGsHeroes32]

No one can argue that. But we're trending upward, so I think everyone here feels pretty good about where we're going.

Yup. Beat Creighton, the chatter will start to flow in.

Follow that up with two very winnable games...and 18-10, 10-5 in conference....we will have everyone buzzing about the turnaround.

[BM1090]

Yup. Beat Creighton, the chatter will start to flow in.

Follow that up with two very winnable games...and 18-10, 10-5 in conference....we will have everyone buzzing about the turnaround.

Completely agree. Actually think if we win our next two we'll be in every bracket. 17-10, 9-5. RPI should take a major jump with a big win and a road win.

[PGsHeroes32]

Completely agree. Actually think if we win our next two we'll be in every bracket. 17-10, 9-5. RPI should take a major jump with a big win and a road win.

I think I saw something that said be beating creighton would jump us to like 58 in RPI. That would be big.

[bilsu]

Does playing & losing to Creighton raise or lower our RPI?

[source?]

If anyone is interested in the "what if" game
http://www.rpiforecast.com/wizard/Marquette.html

[Nukem2]

Does playing & losing to Creighton raise or lower our RPI?

Probably lowers it as it would be a home loss due to the ridiculous RPI weighting factors.

[BM1090]

If anyone is interested in the "what if" game
http://www.rpiforecast.com/wizard/Marquette.html

Just ran the numbers. Pretty much every combination of 4-2 leaves us with an RPI of 52-55. That would give us a shot. 5-1 puts us in the low 40s

[BossplayaOtto]

If anyone is interested in the "what if" game
http://www.rpiforecast.com/wizard/Marquette.html

This is excellent.  Thanks.

[BossplayaOtto]

Just ran the numbers. Pretty much every combination of 4-2 leaves us with an RPI of 52-55. That would give us a shot. 5-1 puts us in the low 40s

Exactly what I did.  Minimum of 4-2 gives us a shot and then we'll see how the conf. tourney shakes out and how "soft" the bubble is this year.

[source?]

This is excellent.  Thanks.

No problem. It's an exercise in futility, but I spent a fair amount of time messing with the OOC losses. We really were only a couple of losses away from being on the right side of the bubble. Too bad.

[JamilJaeJamailJrJuan]

No problem. It's an exercise in futility, but I spent a fair amount of time messing with the OOC losses. We really were only a couple of losses away from being on the right side of the bubble. Too bad.

It really is. If they would have beaten Arizona State OR New Mexico, things would look fine with a 4-2 record to close out the regular season. 

Really is a shame, but the opportunity is still there for the taking, and if the team that showed up Saturday continues to, they'll take three more in a row and go into Nova with 18-10 record with a chance to seal up a bid, and if not, a loss is not devastating.   

[ChitownSpaceForRent]

Yea, the only 2 games I changed in the what if category were the 1st Butler game and the SDSU. game. What a huge difference those would have made...

[ChicosBailBonds]

Just ran the numbers. Pretty much every combination of 4-2 leaves us with an RPI of 52-55. That would give us a shot. 5-1 puts us in the low 40s

Don't you know the wizard is broken?

[ChicosBailBonds]

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/college/sc-ncaa-tournament-bubble-ryan-spt-0218-20140218,0,5517431.story

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaab/2014/02/17/bubble-tracker-nebraska-highlights-big-tens-on-the-fence-teams/5551975/

[ChicosBailBonds]

So far, not a sniff...meaning of the 81 brackets that are thus far included, not one picked us a even a 13 seed.  Beat Creighton, I suspect some might start to change.

http://www.bracketmatrix.com/

[ChitownSpaceForRent]

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/college/sc-ncaa-tournament-bubble-ryan-spt-0218-20140218,0,5517431.story

Darn pay wall...I feel like if youre a resident of that city the online paper should be free.

[ChicosBailBonds]

Darn pay wall...I feel like if youre a resident of that city the online paper should be free.

I must not have hit it yet, basically no love for MU but they long posted 4 bubble teams

Last four in

St. Joseph's (17-7, RPI 43, SOS 57). A bad loss in November to Temple hurts, but victories against Massachusetts and VCU should make up for it.

Georgetown (15-10, RPI 58, SOS 24). A loss to Seton Hall is deplorable. Another to Northeastern (No. 223) is even worse. But the Hoyas have strong victories against Kansas State, VCU, St. John's, Michigan State and Providence. They lack a defining road win.

Tennessee (15-10, RPI 54, SOS 11). Put the Vols in the same boat as the Hoyas, lacking in sheer number of victories. Tennessee's best win came against Virginia in late December.

St. John's (17-9, RPI 52, SOS 33). Losing to DePaul is never a good sign. But beating Creighton? That can define a season. The Red Storm have five wins against top-50 RPI teams.

Bubble watch

Nebraska (14-10, RPI 53, SOS 23). The Cornhuskers, winners of six of eight, are getting to work just in time. A victory at Michigan State is a boost. If they win out in the regular season, they'll have 20 victories.

Oklahoma State (16-9, RPI 45, SOS 12). It's do-or-die time for the Cowboys, who have lost seven of eight. Opportunities remain with games against Kansas, Kansas State and Iowa State.

Providence (17-9, RPI 57, SOS 59). The Friars have two victories against top-50 RPI teams (Creighton and Xavier), and their win at St. John's counts as a solid road victory. They'll hope a New Year's Eve loss to Seton Hall doesn't haunt them.

Richmond (17-8, RPI 39, SOS 45).The problem with the Spiders' schedule is not much stands out. That might be a deal-breaker in comparison with other bubble teams. A victory against UMass earns them some credit.

[JamilJaeJamailJrJuan]

So far, not a sniff...meaning of the 81 brackets that are thus far included, not one picked us a even a 13 seed.  Beat Creighton, I suspect some might start to change.

http://www.bracketmatrix.com/

To be fair, at least half of the brackets haven't been updated since MU's win on Saturday. But I agree, win Wednesday and people will notice.

[ChicosBailBonds]

To be fair, at least half of the brackets haven't been updated since MU's win on Saturday. But I agree, win Wednesday and people will notice.

Correct, though the half that have don't include us either.  With our RPI, we have a lot of work to do.

[BM1090]

Florida State (Lunardi Next four out) just lost at home to UNC. Every little bit helps

[wardle2wade]

So far, not a sniff...meaning of the 81 brackets that are thus far included, not one picked us a even a 13 seed.  Beat Creighton, I suspect some might start to change.

http://www.bracketmatrix.com/

I was expecting someone to post about bracketmatrix.  While I'm a fan of the site, you and I both know that it would be the last place a team with MU's trajectory would start showing up on.  It uses old data (often a week old) and bases all of their data based off who is actually IN people's brackets.  Pretty much everyone is in consensus right now that we are not in anyone's bracket, but are maybe close (within 8-10 teams).  On bracketmatrix, you don't get any votes for that.  I agree that if MU beats Creighton and Depaul, votes will start popping out... it will take a few days for the old brackets to drop off the matrix though.

[BM1090]

Bubble action from February 18th. Bubble team is bold. Admittedly I'm reaching for some of these.

Villanova @ Providence
Kentucky @ Ole Miss
Wake Forest @ Maryland (bubble, kinda?)
NC State @ Clemson (both, Clemson probably is a bit closer)
George Washington @ Richmond
Butler @ St John's
Georgia @ Tennesee

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

Not much bubble action tonight.

UNC beats FSU in Tallahassee
After late game heroics, OkSt falls to Baylor on the road

In other news, former Marquette cupcakes Southern and Grambling State both won today.

[ChicosBailBonds]

Not much bubble action tonight.

UNC beats FSU in Tallahassee
After late game heroics, OkSt falls to Baylor on the road

In other news, former Marquette cupcakes Southern and Grambling State both won today.

Grambling on a role....no longer 348 out of 349....now rising with a bullet at 347

[willie warrior]

Not much bubble action tonight.

UNC beats FSU in Tallahassee
After late game heroics, OkSt falls to Baylor on the road

In other news, former Marquette cupcakes Southern and Grambling State both won today.

Oh boy, those two wins must really improve our RPI.