MU "Almost" Has The Double Bye For The BE Tourney

[Tugg Speedman]

I think I have this right, please correct if not .....

If 'Nova wins at 'Cuse today (Sunday), then all MU has to do is win one more game and we finish in the top four and get the double bye for the Big East Tourney.

Without help, MU is guaranteed to finish in the top 4 and gets the double bye if they win two of the final four BE games.

MU could still lose all of the final four games and get a double bye, but that requires help.

[swimmer]

I'm pretty sure Villanova holds the tiebreaker over us by virtue of their win over Pitt, the common opponent with the best record.  So we either have to finish with a better record (2-2 in the last four assuming Villanova only loses one more game), or we need to swing the tie breaker in our favor with a win over UConn, Pitt, or Louisville, whichever becomes the champ.  But I'm not conceding anything yet, as of right now there is no reason to think MU won't be the champs themselves. 

[GGGG]

I think I have this right, please correct if not .....

If 'Nova wins at 'Cuse today (Sunday), then all MU has to do is win one more game and we finish in the top four and get the double bye for the Big East Tourney.

As I see it, we want Syracuse to beat Nova.  That would put us up 3 with four to play.  We can then go 2-2 and still catch the double bye.  Frankly I would be happy going 2-2 down the stretch.

[bilsu]

I want to earn the double-bye by winning. I am rooting for Villamova today. I am rooting for Georgetown tomorrow.

[ATWizJr]

bilsu, how does that help us in the NIT? (teal)

[Marquette84]

A Syracuse win would clearly help us more.  Realistically, this is VU's toughest remanning game.  If they finish 4-1, we only have to go 2-2 to get the double bye (or even 1-3 if the win is against Pitt.

If Villanova wins out, they would be 14-4.  We would have three options. 

1.  Finish at least 3-1 to wind up with a 15-3 record. 

2.  Finish 2-2, matching VU's wins over Syracuse and Pitt.  If that happens, then MU wins the tie breaker based on our win over WVU coupled with Villanova's loss:
--UConn:  Both Lost
--Pitt:  Both won
--UL:  Both lost
--Syr:  Both won
--WVU:  MU advantage

3.  Finish 2-2, including either UL or UConn, and hope that one of those two teams winds up as the outright champion or #1 seed, giving us the better record against the higher seeded team.

4.  Hope either UConn, Pitt or UL lose enough to drop out of the top 4 spots.

 
The ideal situation is for VU to lose two more games--that way MU only has to win one more to secure a top 4 spot.

[The Man in Gold]

Nova beats Syracuse 89-86.

With the win we are now guaranteed a top 5 finish in the BE, but we still need a 3-1 finish to clinch the top 4 spot.

[NotAnAlum]

That is a big win for Nova.  It means that 13-5 is now very likely for them and the only game that could pose problems is @ND. (otherwise Nova runs the table and finishes 14-4)  Call me unconfident but I don't like the odds of having to beat the #1 team on their floor to clinch the double bye.  Our path to the double bye just got a lot harder.  Gotta beat UCONN now.

[chapman]

We can clinch the 4 spot by going 2-2 with a win over Pitt or 3-1 overall in the last four.  Nova does play at Notre Dame, so it would be nice if ND could make things easier for us.

[MR.HAYWARD]

nova will lose at ND  ND despite everything that has gone down is back to plying reaaly well.  and over the last three seasons only MU and Uconn have won at ND

[ErickJD08]

nova will lose at ND  ND despite everything that has gone down is back to plying reaaly well.  and over the last three seasons only MU and Uconn have won at ND

I think Nova will lose to ND and Georgetown. 

[Big Daddy Z]

a lot of teams do not play well when they have bye's....I'm fine if we only have one. 2 leaves for too much down time. These guys are trained to play....

[DaCoach]

The most likely scenario has us playing Villanova. Obviously one of us is #4 and the other #5. So, what will it take to beat Nova on a neutral court? And, if we do lose to them will we look better as a #5 losing to a #4? In the meantime we'll have achieved another win getting to play them. I'g guess that the MU/Nova winner gets bracketed as a #3 and the loser a #4.

[Big Papi]

This team with no depth is not built to play consecutive days.  We have another thread on here about how did we lose to Dayton.  We lost because it was the second of back to back games.  If we are the 5 seed and win the first game, we will get smoked the second game and with that, we will lose any chance at a higher seed.  It is extremely important that we get a top 4 seed and get that extra day of rest playing against a team with tired legs and not vice versa.