the belly of the Beast is really tight. It is pretty amazing how close together the teams really are. Other than Pitt and Ville, the next nine teams in the conference are neck and neck. The next 3 or 4 games will be very interesting as we head into the second half of conference play.
And we've beaten three of those teams in that grouping.
What really ticks one off is that Loserville is in 2nd place. We could have taken them on their floor if it were not for the meltdown. I do not believe they are that good and Rick is a slimeball.
All four of our losses are to teams ahead of us which I think bodes well for two reasons. One we are done playing them and so far we do not have in conference losses to non NCAA teams. If we can go 2-1 in the next three games we will be in great shape.
Three games separate 3rd place from 14th. Is this because the conference is weaker this year or more teams are getting stronger (ex. St. John's)?
Quote from: bilsu on January 30, 2011, 12:15:44 PM
All four of our losses are to teams ahead of us which I think bodes well for two reasons. One we are done playing them and so far we do not have in conference losses to non NCAA teams. If we can go 2-1 in the next three games we will be in great shape.
We play at UConn on Feb 24. Would be nice to exact some revenge.
Quote from: TallTitan34 on January 30, 2011, 12:29:51 PM
Three games separate 3rd place from 14th. Is this because the conference is weaker this year or more teams are getting stronger (ex. St. John's)?
Good question IMHO. I'll say the latter based upon how the BE fared in non-league play.
As for the BE standings, MU right now is tied for 8th, but in a 7-way tie for 4th in the win column. If MU had held on at UL, they'd be tied for 2nd with ND right now.
Its nice to know that we are capable of beating all of these teams. Pitt is definitely the only real deal, but we can beat them too.
Quote from: bilsu on January 30, 2011, 12:15:44 PM
All four of our losses are to teams ahead of us which I think bodes well for two reasons. One we are done playing them and so far we do not have in conference losses to non NCAA teams. If we can go 2-1 in the next three games we will be in great shape.
Or it could suck, because if these teams lose some games and ultimately end up tied with MU in the standings, they would win the tiebreaker, thus pushing MU further down in the Big East tourney seeding order. You do NOT want MU playing on Tuesday of the BET. Wednesday either if at all possible, but not likely at this point.
Quote from: muguru on January 30, 2011, 02:15:51 PMOr it could suck, because if these teams lose some games and ultimately end up tied with MU in the standings, they would win the tiebreaker, thus pushing MU further down in the Big East tourney seeding order. You do NOT want MU playing on Tuesday of the BET. Wednesday either if at all possible, but not likely at this point.
The Big East will certainly be a logjam, but we do have a favorable schedule the rest of the way. Hopefully we avoid the bad loss, that pretty much gets us to 11 wins, with tough games at 'Nova, G'Town, and UConn. Win one, and the logjam might get us a double-bye with 12 wins. Win two and we're a very good shot to go top 4.
That being said, I'm expecting 1 win of those three, but probably a disappointing loss to finish 11-7 and get a first round bye only.
Quote from: brewcity77 on January 30, 2011, 02:21:12 PM
The Big East will certainly be a logjam, but we do have a favorable schedule the rest of the way. Hopefully we avoid the bad loss, that pretty much gets us to 11 wins, with tough games at 'Nova, G'Town, and UConn. Win one, and the logjam might get us a double-bye with 12 wins. Win two and we're a very good shot to go top 4.
That being said, I'm expecting 1 win of those three, but probably a disappointing loss to finish 11-7 and get a first round bye only.
I don't know why everyone thinks the schedule is that favorable. we have three very tough road games to play. In addition, I expect SJU, Cincy and for that matter Providence games to be tough at home. I would not be counting the wins just yet.
Well, just because we got off the snide vs. Syracuse, folks assume we suddenly are invincible.
Quote from: 4everwarriors on January 30, 2011, 06:06:43 PM
Well, just because we got off the snide vs. Syracuse, folks assume we suddenly are invincible.
Nah, I don't think its assumptions at all.
Its just people who actually pay attention to more then one game. The second half of the schedule is certainly more favorable then the first half.
Quote from: 79Warrior on January 30, 2011, 05:36:57 PM
I don't know why everyone thinks the schedule is that favorable. we have three very tough road games to play. In addition, I expect SJU, Cincy and for that matter Providence games to be tough at home. I would not be counting the wins just yet.
We've already played most of our games against teams ahead of us in the league--2 versus ND, Pitt, 1 versus UConn, West Virginia and Louisville. Only two more--at VU and @UConn remain.
We've only played two games against teams below us--DePaul and Rutgers--with 5 left to go: 2 versus Seton Hall, USF, St Johns and PC.
I understand the obligatory "every game is tough" attitude--but at some point you have to expect that you're going to beat the teams beneath you if you want to make it to the NCAA. If we can't win those five games, our tournament chances take a dive.
Take those five, plus one more against either Cincy or Georgetown. A win over Villanova or UConn would be a bonus.
somewhat related... Seth Davis putting 4 BEast teams in his top ten for this week. #4 Pitt, #5 UConn, #7 Nova, #8 ND
http://twitter.com/#/SethDavisHoops
The way I look at it we've got 3 straight road games. Winning 1 (most likely South FLA) would be a bit of a letdown. Winning two would really position us well for the stretch drive. Winning all three is more than we could really ask for but would shoot us up well into the Top 25.