Looks like this league is splitting into three potential

[ecompt]

Final Four teams (Pitt, UL, UConn), seven dangerous Dance partners and six also-rans. Monday will tell us how close we are to the top three.

[DaCoach]

Right now there are 4 teams with either 1 or 0 losses including us. Two teams have 2 losses and we've beaten both of them. That puts us in an outstanding position to finish in the top 4 and earn bye time come BE tourney time. That's a critical goal for us respects the seeding in the NCAA. It also means we won't have the fatigue factor during the BE tourney.

[bilsu]

I am starting to think that the Big East will get only 7 or 8 bids as teams like Notre Dame and Villanova are going to play themselves out of a bid. I do not think Providence will get a bid either.

I think these teams will get bids

Uconn
Pitt
Louisville
West Virginia
Marquette
Syracuse
Georgetown

Georgetown will be in danger of playing themselves out of a bid if they lose to Seton Hall today. They are up 1 at half.

Borderline teams
Villanova
Notre Dame
Providence

The other six have no chance

[Eye]

The whole key to getting nine will be the mid-tier teams (WVU, nova, Gtown right now, though I think they'll finish no worse than 7th, and ND right now, thought I also think they'll finish no worse than 7th) not losing to anybody in the bottom 7. I think PC and UC are NIT teams, then in order, USF, SJU, Hall, Rutgers, DU. 9-9 will be enough IMO for any of the top nine teams, and they all ought to get there, barring as I said too many losses to teams in the bottom 7. Off the top of my head the only such loss through the first 3rd of the league season is ND to SJU.

And right now, I'd say 4 tiers.

1st tier (in no particular order) - MU, U of L, UConn, Pitt, cuse, Gtown

2nd tier (in no particular order) - WV, nova, ND

3rd tier (in no particular order) - PC, UC

4th tier (in no particular order) - SJU, USF, Hall, Rtgrs, DU

[nyg]

UL is playing very good right now.  They beat the Cuse for the first time at the Dome and had 22 offensive rebounds.  That is impressive.  Samuels, Clark, Williams and now the freshman Jennings are outstanding.  

I see PITT, UCONN and UL getting three of the top four bids in the BE tournament, with the fourth up for grabs.

Far as NCAA bids, I agree with BILSU, but will include Georgetown for sure.

ND goes to Pauley to play UCLA this week and if we defeat them Monday, then UCLA beats them, they will have issues.  Very important game for both us and ND on Monday.  

[DaCoach]

1st tier (in no particular order) - MU, U of L, UConn, Pitt, cuse, Gtown

2nd tier (in no particular order) - WV, nova, ND

3rd tier (in no particular order) - PC, UC

4th tier (in no particular order) - SJU, USF, Hall, Rtgrs, DU

With due respect, I don't see GT as a 1st tier team. I view them as a team living on their past laurels, not worthy of it based upon their current performance.

[DoubleMU0609]

GT down 1 with 30 seconds left against Seton Hall (with the Hall shooting FTs) on Full Court right now.

[nyg]

SH almost blew it with missed free throws at end.. until Hazell hits two.

GT shoots 3 for 24 from 3 point land, with two airballs in last minute.  Ouch.

Nice win for the cellar dweller Hall. Can never tell.

[Warrior1969]

UCONN, Pitt and U of l are just about locks for top four, MU and Cuse with best chance at fourth spot.  GT NOT in top tier, will not get a bye, to young.

[Eye]

To be honest gentlemen, I may have changed my opinion on them in the last two hours. I agreed with the living on past laurels assessment heading into the season, but was changing my mind based on the Memphis, UConn and cuse wins, and because I'm very impressed with Monroe. Now I'm swinging back to my pre-season assessment based upon the very poor second half at home against WVU and today's result. Will make the dance with those three pretty darned good wins, assuming they go at least 9-9 and make the quarters of the league tourney. They're one of those teams that could get beat in the first round, or could just as easily win three.

The more I look at it, MU's in pretty darned good shape for the top four right now. An essentially 2 1/2 game lead on WVU and PC, a 3-game lead on nova (with potential for an essentially 4 1/2 game lead if they pick them off there), a 4-game lead over Gtown (with two games off the schedule in essence if MU at worst splits with them), a four-game lead over ND (and potentially an essentially 5 1/2 game lead if they pick them off tomorrow). If it comes down to cuse and MU playing for the fourth spot on that last day, MU could go 7-4 in the next 11 and control its own destiny going into that final game, and that would be based on the assumption that cuse win each of its nine games between now and then.

[MarquetteVol]

Gentlemen, this league is a rollercoaster ride. Notre Dame and Georgetown have gone from Top 10 to maybe out of the polls. They'll be both be back, though. But it shows how critical it is to win the games against the bottom dwellers. At the end of the year, ND will be punished for losing to SJU and Georgetown will get hit for this one today. Both teams are too good to miss the NCAAs, and have a lot of winnable games left on the schedule.