Seeding

[Fred Garvin]

If our seeding drops,I would rather us being a 6 or 7.The 4 and 5,and the 8 and 9 end up playing number 1.The 1's are going to be really tough.But I can't see us not hanging really tough with the 2 and 3's.I think its a toss up being a 2,3,6 or 7.Of course the first round game is usually much easier with a 2 or 3.

[StillWarriors]

Probably a bad time to have Pitt and Lou--if they blow us out, which is realistic w/out DJ, we could drop like a rock. With him I have to think we would have hung in there even if we don't win and the seed wouldn't be affected much.

[ecompt]

The NCAA takes into account player injuries so I wouldn't be surprised to see us drop pretty low. A win against Syracuse may be very much needed.

[CTWarrior]

Probably a bad time to have Pitt and Lou--if they blow us out, which is realistic w/out DJ, we could drop like a rock. With him I have to think we would have hung in there even if we don't win and the seed wouldn't be affected much.

I'm worried about Syracuse now, too.  We were better than them both times we've played them since joining the Big East and both times they handled us easily.  Tough to say how we handle the zone without DJ.

[g0ldmember42]

One game at a time. We hung with a very talented team tonight without James and we can't ignore that we still have 3 active 1,000+ point men on the squad. We'll regroup and focus on L'ville between now and Sunday. This sucks a lot tonight, but hopefully the experience on our team will be enough to help us remain competitive and continue to have success over the next few weeks.

[bilsu]

The NCAA will have to consider if we are still worthy of a bid, if we do not win another game. Becomes an even bigger worry if we get blown out by Louisville and Pitt. Aker played fairly good tonight, but Louisville is going to press him and wear him done. Pitt will just physically beat him to death. I believe Buzz should move Matthews to guard and start Butler vs starting Aker at point.

[wardle2wade]

Bilsu - where's the teal?  will it hurt seeding? yes... will the committee drop us completely?   

[bradforster]

If Marquette loses every game it plays from here on out by 20 points, it's still a lock for the tourney.  You can't ignore a 12-6 team from the top conference in the land, especially when people are still discussing Notre Dame as a potential NCAA participant.  The Eagles are in, but the question becomes, does their seeding take a precipitous drop? 

[SCdem@MU]

 Tough to say how we handle the zone without DJ.

Are you nuts? DJ's poor shooting is what kills us against zone defenses. Hayward and McNeal are why we play much better against the zone.

Syracuse has played pretty piss poor defense this year, giving up 100 points three times (twice to Villanova, once to Seton Hall) and 94 points to G-town.

As long as we play half-way decent D, we win the Syracuse game.

[dwaderoy2004]

we NEED to win one of the next two games AND the cuse game, or the cuse game and beat a big timer in the BE tourney.  If we prove we can beat a good team without james, our seed should not be affected too much.

[AlumKCof93]

If DJ was returning for the tourney, then our seeding would not be impacted too much.  But since DJ is not returning, the committee will judge us based on how good of a team they beleive we'll be without DJ.  That doesn't mean that we won't make the tournament, but a fall to a 7 or 8 seed certainly possible.

This is somewhat reminiscient of the Kenyon Martin injury at Cincy years ago.  Cincinnati was ranked #1 and then lost to St. Louis in the first round of the Conference USA tournament when Martin broke his leg(?).  Without the player of the year, Cincy went from a certain 1 seed, to a 7 or 8 (I don't remember which).  The committee was right as Cincy played poorly w/o Martin - I  don't recall if they won the first game.

The obvious differences here is that MU was not ranked #1 and is probably looking at 3 seed.  Also, DJ is probably our 3rd best player and not the impact that Martin had.  And Martin was lost in the conference tournament, so CIncy couldn't prove how they would play without him.  If MU plays well in the upcoming games, the loss of DJ shouldn't hurt too much from a seeding standpoint.  If they lose its upcoming games, the great season to this point will be a distant memory when the committee determines our seed.

[jmayer1]

This is somewhat reminiscient of the Kenyon Martin injury at Cincy years ago.  Cincinnati was ranked #1 and then lost to St. Louis in the first round of the Conference USA tournament when Martin broke his leg(?).  Without the player of the year, Cincy went from a certain 1 seed, to a 7 or 8 (I don't remember which).  The committee was right as Cincy played poorly w/o Martin - I  don't recall if they won the first game.

It's as easy as a click away.  Cincy was a consensus 1 seed but then dropped to a 2 seed after Kenyon got hurt.  They won their frist round game but then lost in the second round to 7 see Tulsa.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2000_NCAA_Men's_Division_I_Basketball_Tournament

The NCAA will have to consider if we are still worthy of a bid, if we do not win another game. Becomes an even bigger worry if we get blown out by Louisville and Pitt. Aker played fairly good tonight, but Louisville is going to press him and wear him done. Pitt will just physically beat him to death. I believe Buzz should move Matthews to guard and start Butler vs starting Aker at point.

There is absolutely no worry for MU about getting into the tournement.  None. Zero. Zip. Zilch.  I hope you meant that to be in teal.  Too bad I don't think you did though, seeing as you were also the one who said after the Nova game that if MU finished at 11-7 and then 0-1 in the Big East they would be in the NIT.  I'm not sure what alternate universe you live in but MU has been a virtual lock for the tournement for quite some time.