MU a lock for the tourney per ESPN

[Wade for President]

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/bubblewatch?id=38

A toooooooooooooon of season left...but nice to get some early praise.

[mu_hilltopper]

What a bunch of speculation.  So we can just sit on our 3 BE wins and we're a lock and don't "have work to do" ?  Crazy.  Someone call the boys and tell them to easy up on the practicing, save yourself for March.


Work left to do: Villanova, Syracuse, West Virginia, DePaul, Providence, Georgetown, Connecticut

After Pitt, Marquette and Notre Dame, this is shaping up to be a giant free-for-all. At least the teams will settle it on the court and create their own separation, although the unbalanced schedule makes even that prospect a bit less reliable.

Work left to do:

Villanova [10-5 (1-3), RPI: 27, SOS: 11] Good RPI, no heft whatsoever (0-3 vs. RPI Top 50). Cats have lost three of their last four, so despite a series of decent road wins, they need to do something relatively soon in Big East play or risk being bumped.

Syracuse [14-4 (3-1), RPI: 41, SOS: 35] The Orange may be the best of this "on the bubble" bunch, but they have some bruises as well. The win at Marquette definitely helps on the marquee ledger.

West Virginia [12-3 (3-2), RPI: 49, SOS: 145] Very nice story but the dossier is very light on any substance. Beating UConn is not the marquee win the 'Eers probably hoped it would be.

DePaul [11-7 (3-2), RPI: 50, SOS: 30] Blue Demons are nominally on the list for now because of their win over Kansas, a handful of true road wins and a middling RPI. Really need to get next two at home (St. John's, L'ville) if they want to be serious about an NCAA bid run.

Providence [12-4 (2-1), RPI: 51, SOS: 42] Beat BC, routed GW and smoked Marquette. Lost at home to Brown, were destroyed at Florida State and lost badly at Louisville. Take all that and an RPI in the low 50s, and that smells like a bubble team to me. To be fair, PG Sharaud Curry missed the FSU debacle and hurt the Friars with poor play in his first game back, at Louisville.

Georgetown [11-5 (1-2), RPI: 54, SOS: 27] More was expected than what the Hoyas have provided thus far, and with a handful of so-so losses, a modest RPI and a 1-4 mark against the RPI Top 50, the Hoyas are far from the lock some perceive them to be. Hoyas only play one more game against a team that's currently ranked, so the chances for wins should be there, but the chance for marquee wins might not be.

Connecticut [13-4 (2-3), RPI: 72, SOS: 149] UConn better be very careful with its next four games (IU, at L'ville, Provy, at DePaul). There's not an auto-win in the bunch and dropping two or more of them could be very crippling to their NCAA hopes. If the season ended today, you would have a very hard time defending putting UConn into the bracket. They haven't done anything on the court to deserve an at-large.

[NYWarrior]

good to see........hey, with three road wins and two quality neutral court victories MU is in great position right now.  The best thing about the ESPN preview was that it did not mention the loss to NDSU.  MU seems to have separated itself from that bad loss nicely. 

[Nukem2]

Oh, I'm sure the NDSU loss will rear its ugly head in some fashion.  Certainly in seeding.  Can't hide the loss (even if it was in November).  Such is life.

[NavinRJohnson]

What's the big deal? Its January. Of course there is a lot of season left. I suppose Pitt could lose most of the rest of their games and go to the NIT, so by that logic they are no more a lock than MU or any other team at this point. Safe to assume they will probably get the required number of wins to make it though. I think it is probably safe to say that about MU and ND as well. If the season ended today, Pitt, MU and ND would be locks. I didn't see anybody say they could lose the rest of their games and get it. Those are projections, with certain assumptions being made.

[mwbauer7]

I don't know about anyone else but I thought it was nice to see a quote like "The win at Marquette definitely helps on the marquee ledger." (even though it meant a Marquette Loss)

[spiral97]

The best thing about the ESPN preview was that it did not mention the loss to NDSU.

What loss to NDSU?!?!