Is a bad loss more likely to keep you out of the tourney than a quality win is to put you into the tourney? I ask because though we may not have a quality non-conference win this year, we do not have a devastating loss like we've had in past years. My gut tells me that a bad loss usually drops your seed in the tourney but usually won't keep you out as long as you have quality wins. It seems like most teams are left out of the dance because they don't have the quality wins not because of a North Dakota State-like loss.
Last year in conference our bad loss was at DePaul. The year before our bad loss in conference was at South Florida. They were both later than this. To soon to say we have no bad losses.
Well, regardless of any bad losses for this team moving forward, is there a consensus about which is better or worse, if there is one?
The Homer once said "Its not who you lose to, its who you beat". I agree. Take a win at No 5 Pitt and a loss to DePaul vs the alternative any day.
Quote from: NotAnAlum on January 06, 2011, 10:34:06 PM
The Homer once said "Its not who you lose to, its who you beat". I agree. Take a win at No 5 Pitt and a loss to DePaul vs the alternative any day.
I agree. Bad road losses probably are only a small factor, but who you beat is a much greater factor. Beating teams ranked in top 25--or when tourney selection comes--beating teams already selected is much more important.
Having no bad losses certainly helps, but quality wins get you in.
Quality win better than bad loss. Any team can have a bad day, but typically it takes a team to play at it's highest level to beat quality opponents.
The question then becomes the volume of each. If a club has 4 quality wins and 4 or 5 bad losses, it shows the team is inconsistent as hell and the NCAA selection committee might want someone that brings their A game much more frequently.
Case in point.... with our identical records, if selection Sunday were held today, I think Tennessee has a better case than us, despite some downright ugly losses, because of their wins over Villanova and Pitt. They have proved they can beat elite teams. Although we have no bad losses, we haven't beat a top tier team (yet).
I know some will disagree with me, and I hate Pearl and Tennessee and Tim Maymon as much as anyone, but right now I think an impartial observer on the committee, if it were between us and them...would see the wins and give the spot to Tenn.
Quote from: Victor McCormick on January 07, 2011, 01:55:11 PM
Case in point.... with our identical records, if selection Sunday were held today, I think Tennessee has a better case than us, despite some downright ugly losses, because of their wins over Villanova and Pitt. They have proved they can beat elite teams. Although we have no bad losses, we haven't beat a top tier team (yet).
I know some will disagree with me, and I hate Pearl and Tennessee and Tim Maymon as much as anyone, but right now I think an impartial observer on the committee, if it were between us and them...would see the wins and give the spot to Tenn.
So what we need to do is get some quality wins against say, Pitt, Syracuse, ND, etc.
Ah, the joys of the Big East. Plenty of shots to get those needed quality wins.