Unfortunately Charlotte and Florida the only 2 bubble teams to stumble this week

[bamamarquettefan]

Unfortunately five of the teams MU is fighting for the final 8 at-large spots in the tourney improved their standings against us the last two nights.  Richmond, Clemson, Illinois and Dayton were probably already ahead of us, but Virginia Tech crushing NC State could push them ahead of us to put us two spots out of the tourney.

The only good news is that Charlotte got embarrassed tonight, and Florida lost to South Carolina, so it's possible those two could drop below us with those losses to put us in position to be the "last team in" if we beat USF Saturday. Hopefully, Xavier will come into Florida and beat the Gators Saturday, which would really put us ahead of them.

We still play the three BE teams right around us (Lville, Cincy, ND and USF), so we probably control our own destiny, but it's doubtful we can run the table, so a couple of these teams faltering would give us a little margin for error if we have a couple of more losses.

Below are the basic 16 teams fighting for 8 spots to the tourney, but remember the 8 spots will drop anytime there is a surprise winner in a conference tourney that results in a 2nd team making a tourney that wasn't supposed too.

Top 8 of 16 make tourney
1--. Charlotte getting blown out by Dayton 47-75 hopefully really drops them and starts to sort out A-10.
2+. Richmond went in and got a big upset win at RI 69-67 to unfortunately up their stock.  Sat at St. B
3-. Florida lost at SC 71-77, and if Xavier can come into Gainsville and win Saturday MU would have clear edge over Florida.
4+. Clemson unfortunately their win vs. Flo State 77-67 gives them a big edge of MU, so hopefully Miami can beat them Saturday.
5++. Illinois very unfortunate to have them go into Wisconsin Tues and win 63-56 at Wisc.
6. Oklahoma State Sat Oklahoma
7+. Dayton while it hurts Charlotte, Dayton's 75-47 shoots them way ahead of us.
8. Louisville Thur at St. johns, Sun at Syracuse
CUT
9. Marquette - JUST BEAT USF SATURDAY BABY!
10. Cincinnati getting blown out by Syracuse hurts them, and but they get us at home Feb. 21.
11. Notre Dame Thur it would be nice if they lose at SH today to leave us alone in 7th place heading into USF game and knock them below us here.
12. South Florida Sat at Marquette - if they beat us they move ahead of us in BE standings and pecking order for tourney - this is huge.
13. UConn Wed L at Syr, Sat Cincy GOOD
14+. Virginia Tech unfortunatley crushing NC State 72-52 looks bad for us - hopefully UVa will knock them off Saturday.
15. Virginia at Va Tech Sat - they are chasing us too but need them to knock off Hokies.
16-. Wichita State loss at Evanston tonight (ranked 241st in Pomeroy) knocks them out.

[77ncaachamps]

Forget the others.

Just take care of your own bizness...

C'MON MU! JUST WIN BABY!

[TheButlerDidIt]

VCU lost on Tuesday at James Madison. That helped a bit, but it was a road loss. The CAA could put in up to four teams this year. We need ODU, VCU, JMU, and Northeastern to take their lumps also. But of course, we could just win out and everything'll be taken care of

[NavinRJohnson]

Almost half the conference season yet to be played...this stuff is meaningless.

[romey]

Almost half the conference season yet to be played...this stuff is meaningless.

It gives us a reason to watch the other teams.  I love this stuff.  An otherwise benign game has meaning.

It's like when people say - just let the season play out - when they are talking about the wild card race in football.  I want to have more reasons to watch the games.

[NavinRJohnson]

It gives us a reason to watch the other teams.  I love this stuff.  An otherwise benign game has meaning.

It's like when people say - just let the season play out - when they are talking about the wild card race in football.  I want to have more reasons to watch the games.
[/quote

Oh, I'm with you there. I am just suggesting that the teams you have an eye on today, could be completely different a couple weeks from now.

[TheButlerDidIt]

Ahh the beauty of the bubble; there's literally a flavor of the minute this time of the year.

[mu_hilltopper]

Almost half the conference season yet to be played...this stuff is meaningless.

Weren't you the guy who chastised me for suggesting the same thing just a few weeks ago?

[TheButlerDidIt]

Sorry, I'm an idiot, I meant George Mason and not James Madison

[boyonthedock]

I really don't that Louisville is considered ahead of us. They lost to charlotte and west carolina at home on both occasions. Their best win is either USF at home or UCONN at home. We have identical records. BUt actually beat a couple people, Xavier and Gtown. This is one part of the pecking order I need help with.

[madtownwarrior]

this is great - just like the references to the 5 new bracket projections that get posted each day from all the different bracket sites.    Too much to worry about who is winning and losing now, just need to worry about MU winining...

pretty simple - MU needs to go 5 - 2 in their last 7 and then there is no need to worry about the other teams.    

[bamamarquettefan]

On boyonthedock's comment on Lville, you are right for sure now, Lville is definite behind us!  Actually, I was just listing in the teams in the order Lunardi has them in, but I completely agree.

As for this stuff not mattering though, it really does.  We should certainly be in if we go 5-2, but if all the other teams around us keep winning and we get a few surprise conference tourney wins, then it will come down to how the teams around us are doing.  ND and Lville losing tonight helps make sure a 5-2 holds up.

It is also true that if we win the rest noen of this matters.  However, statistically even if we are a 2-to-1 favorite in all seven remaining games, which is not the case, there is only a 7% chance of winning all 7.    We could go 7-0, but more likely we could play great and go 5-2, and if that happens it will come down to how these teams do.  Plus, what else are you going to do when we have 6 days before games!

[bamamarquettefan]

Both RealTime RPI and Pomeroy now predict we will go 5-2 down the stretch.  However, RealTime RPI says that record makes us 61st in the RPI, and traditionally the Top 50 make it.  i think that gets us in due to the Georgetown win, where we could end up in the Big East, and the host of other near misses.  However, it does point out again that having some of these other teams lose some games could be the difference.

[NavinRJohnson]

Weren't you the guy who chastised me for suggesting the same thing just a few weeks ago?

No. I believe I chastised you for saying we fans need to take it one game at time and not look ahead, when what we fans do is meaningless. What I was saying above is that paying attention to what other individual teams do in early February is pointless because the bubble has about 40 teams on it at the moment, and a week from now it will probably look somewhat different.

[radome]

when what we fans do is meaningless.

A real sick fan like me believes in kharma.  If I take one game at a time, I believe that I can transfer that feeling to the team.

[NavinRJohnson]

A real sick fan like me believes in kharma.  If I take one game at a time, I believe that I can transfer that feeling to the team.

I'm sorry to hear that.

[mu_hilltopper]

No. I believe I chastised you for saying we fans need to take it one game at time and not look ahead, when what we fans do is meaningless. What I was saying above is that paying attention to what other individual teams do in early February is pointless because the bubble has about 40 teams on it at the moment, and a week from now it will probably look somewhat different.

Ah, well now I understand:  You misread what I said 3 weeks ago.  My point then was that the frequent bracketology discussions were (closer to) meaningless because the season was so young with so much to go.  Had nothing to do with a one game at a time concept.  This matches quite nicely with your "a week from now it will probably look somewhat different" statement.