Biggest Surprise And Biggest Disappointments In The BE This Year

[Tugg Speedman]

Here is the coaches preseason Poll
MU was expected to finish tied to 8th with Louisville
   
Team (First Place Votes) Pts.
1. Pittsburgh (12) 222
2. Villanova (1) 208
3. Syracuse (2) 187
4. Georgetown 173
5. West Virginia 164
6. St. John’s (1) 145
7. Notre Dame 123
8. Louisville 121
    Marquette 121
10. Connecticut 113
11. Seton Hall 104
12. Cincinnati 91
13. USF 54
14. Providence 36
15. Rutgers 32
16. DePaul 26

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Here Are The Actual Results
MU finished tied for 9th (11th after tiebreakers)

Big East Standings
TEAM   CONF   OVERALL
1. Pittsburgh   15-3   27-4
2. Notre Dame   14-4   25-5
3. Louisville   12-6   23-8
4. Syracuse   12-6   25-6
5. St. John's   12-6   20-10
6. West Virginia   11-7   20-10
7. Cincinnati   11-7   24-7
8. Georgetown   10-8   21-9
9. Connecticut   9-9   21-9
10. Villanova   9-9   21-10
11. Marquette   9-9   18-13
12. Seton Hall   7-11   13-17
13. Rutgers   5-13   14-16
14. Providence   4-14   15-16
15. South Florida   3-15   9-22
16. DePaul   1-17   7-23

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Based On These Inputs ...

Biggest Surprises To Biggest Disappointment

Team      Preseason      Actual    Diff.
ND            7                  2         +5
Lou           8                  3         +5
Cincy        12                 7         +5
Rutgers      15                13        +2
SJU           6                  5         +1
Uconn       10                 9         +1
Pitt           1                  1           0
Prov          14                14          0
DePaul       16                16          0
WVU         5                  6         -1
SH             11                12        -1
Syra           3                 4         -1
USF            13               15        -2
MU             8                11         -3
GTown        4                 8          -4
Nova          2                  10        -8


The Surprises are ND, Lou and Cincy
The Disappointments are Nova, Nova, Nova and Gtown

The rest did not really diverge enough to say one way or the other especially when you consider tie-breakers.  (i.e., Mu tied for 9th but was 11th after tiebreakers so one could argue they finished 1 place below preseason.)

[ChicosBailBonds]

So you arbitrarily cut off the disappointments at a -4 differential instead of -3....how very clever of you.   


Nova had some key injuries this year as well....I didn't see that factored into their disappointment.  Maybe our loss of Reggie was that big of an issue that it played into our -3. 


I'd also take a look at Villanova's Big East schedule vs ours...the Big East schedule is unbalanced.  One team's 9-9 is not the same as another because of who they play and where.  (This is the part where you and Lenny get to say I'm negative but I'm just reporting facts and reality...one's reality is another's negative)

Villanova had to play Big East champ Pittsburgh...twice.  MU did not
Villanova had to play Syracuse twice...the third place team.  MU did not
Villanova got a break and played Rutgers twice....MU's mirror games were UCONN, Notre Dame and Seton Hall....who had the tougher road?  I'll let you decide, but I think the facts would say Villanova

So, if Nova played OUR Big East schedule, would they have been 9-9?  Would they have finished higher than 10th?  Yes.

[tower912]

Chico, you are stating a hypothetical as fact again in order to make MU look bad.   This is another example of why you get accused of having an agenda.   

[Tugg Speedman]

So you arbitrarily cut off the disappointments at a -4 differential instead of -3....how very clever of you.   


Nova had some key injuries this year as well....I didn't see that factored into their disappointment.  Maybe our loss of Reggie was that big of an issue that it played into our -3. 


I'd also take a look at Villanova's Big East schedule vs ours...the Big East schedule is unbalanced.  One team's 9-9 is not the same as another because of who they play and where.  (This is the part where you and Lenny get to say I'm negative but I'm just reporting facts and reality...one's reality is another's negative)

Villanova had to play Big East champ Pittsburgh...twice.  MU did not
Villanova had to play Syracuse twice...the third place team.  MU did not
Villanova got a break and played Rutgers twice....MU's mirror games were UCONN, Notre Dame and Seton Hall....who had the tougher road?  I'll let you decide, but I think the facts would say Villanova

So, if Nova played OUR Big East schedule, would they have been 9-9?  Would they have finished higher than 10th?  Yes.

Congratulations, you really outdid yourself in this post to find a way to make MU as the biggest disappointment in the BE.

Serious question, why do you post here?  You went to Kansas.  Why don't you go over their and post 10,000 times why every angle and consideration concludes with they suck.

[ChicosBailBonds]

Chico, you are stating a hypothetical as fact again in order to make MU look bad.   This is another example of why you get accused of having an agenda.   

I don't think it's a hypothetical Tower.

MU's Big East mirror games were against the 2nd, 9th and 12th place teams.

Villanova's mirror games were against the 1st, 3rd and 13th place teams.

Fact or hypothetical?  It's a fact.  They had a tougher Big East schedule than we did.  Their 9-9 finish is different than our 9-9 finish. Every computer rating system says their conference SOS was tougher than ours...fact.

I fail to see where bringing up facts means having an agenda.  Hell, I'd like to see more people around here actually bring up facts, and not half baked ones or those that are parsed for THEIR OWN AGENDA.

We came in under the Big East Coaches expectations...fact.  It's not hard.

[ChicosBailBonds]

Congratulations, you really outdid yourself in this post to find a way to make MU as the biggest disappointment in the BE.

Serious question, why do you post here?  You went to Kansas.  Why don't you go over their and post 10,000 times why every angle and consideration concludes with they suck.

Nope, didn't state MU was the biggest disappointment...not even close. I  challenged you on your data, you don't like it so now you start with the name calling.  Love it.

Why do I post here, because my love is Marquette hoops and I'd like us to do better and achieve our potential.  I don't sugar coat things.  I don't believe in trophies for everyone...life is hard.  I deal with data every day in my job and the last thing I want is skewed data with an agenda or comparisons that are BS.  I find yours to be that way...you tell half the story often or don't explain the complete picture.  I'm guilty of it at times too....guilty as charged.  Plenty of people jump me when I do, seems only fair that the reverse should be in order as well. 

Let's go win on Tuesday, hey Another84?  We can celebrate our 6th straight NCAA tournament appearance.

[Tugg Speedman]

Ok Chicos twist this into a "MU sucks" post.

KenPon Gives us this data

                         MU         Nova
SOS                 .7256      .7646
non-Conf SoS    .3941      .5013

Subtract them and you get a conference SoS

                       .3341      .2633

Oh, what's this ... MU had a tougher conference SoS than Nova.  So, Chicos posts above are 100% wrong.

Everyone sit back and watch the 15 posts that are coming that will define the definition of tortuous logic and all conclude with ... MU Sucks.

[Dr. Blackheart]

I don't think it's a hypothetical Tower.

MU's Big East mirror games were against the 2nd, 9th and 12th place teams.

Villanova's mirror games were against the 1st, 3rd and 13th place teams.

Fact or hypothetical?  It's a fact.  They had a tougher Big East schedule than we did.  Their 9-9 finish is different than our 9-9 finish. Every computer rating system says their conference SOS was tougher than ours...fact.

I fail to see where bringing up facts means having an agenda.  Hell, I'd like to see more people around here actually bring up facts, and not half baked ones or those that are parsed for THEIR OWN AGENDA.

We came in under the Big East Coaches expectations...fact.  It's not hard.

According to Pomeroy, Nova was 5th in Conference SOS and MU was 6th.  MU offense was better and their defense worse than Nova.  So, 50/50 comparison which is why they were both 9-9.  No real difference.

http://www.kenpom.com/conf.php?c=BE

Fact is, Nova was ranked 4th in the nation pre-season by SI.  Total flame-out like MSU.

One surprise was only Pitino was (almost) right about SJU as he picked them to win. The standings again remind me how important experience is in the BE. Every team ahead of MU in the conference is more experienced.