Glass half full...

[ChicosBailBonds]

I'm more disappointed that we played poorly the last game and didn't play that well today.  Defensively down the stretch was not good.  Need to get it going.

Only 7 assists today, really struggled from 3 pt land and ft stripe.  14 turnovers but we only turned them over 7 times. 

There's always tomorrow...at least I'm spared the UNC destruction that was going to loom from the UNC grads here at work.

[rocky_warrior]

We play Wednesday no matter what happens. However, lose to Miss. State and we play Chaminade. Not good.

Or Texas...

[muwarrior97]

And Jae got a DNP tonight w/Mavs looks like he's back in Carlisle's doghouse....need some MU mojo 2morrow

[MarquetteDano]

We play Wednesday no matter what happens. However, lose to Miss. State and we play Chaminade. Not good.

Not so fast about playing Chaminade.  If they pull off the upset Chaminade goes to be winner's bracket and we will not see them.

[jesmu84]

Did we catch a break in the long run with Texas losing in terms rpi/sos?

would it be better to beat Butler, lose to unc and beat chaminade or lose to Butler, beat miss st and beat Texas/USC/Illinois? (I know I'm getting ahead of myself with the wins)

Impressive win by Georgetown, hope they can knock off iu. Tough loss for UCLA.

[AirPunches]

Did we catch a break in the long run with Texas losing in terms rpi/sos?

would it be better to beat Butler, lose to unc and beat chaminade or lose to Butler, beat miss st and beat Texas/USC/Illinois? (I know I'm getting ahead of myself with the wins)

Impressive win by Georgetown, hope they can knock off iu. Tough loss for UCLA.

I think it would be close. Obviously, beating butler would be better than beating Mississippi State but beating two BCS teams in this tournament wouldn't be a bad consolation either. I actually think it would be better than playing Chaminade in the third place game. Kind of a no win situation for MU in that scenario. So, MU still has a chance to accomplish what I expected them to in this tournament by winning 2 games.

[Benny B]

Like I said in the game thread, MU has too much to work on before facing a team the likes of UNC. And playing Chaminade for 3rd wouldn't be helpful at all for RPI... it simply wouldn't count. In that regard, I'd much rather go home with two wins against power conferences and a consolation championship than 1-1 against D-I opponents.

[brewcity77]

Did we catch a break in the long run with Texas losing in terms rpi/sos?

would it be better to beat Butler, lose to unc and beat chaminade or lose to Butler, beat miss st and beat Texas/USC/Illinois? (I know I'm getting ahead of myself with the wins)

There is one definite positive to this. If we beat MSU (shouldn't be an if, they're god-awful) and Texas, it will be a positive RPI week. Texas will NOT be affected negatively by losing to Chaminade. As a D2 team, Chaminade has ZERO impact on RPI, win or lose. So the real positive is that we will not play a non-RPI affecting game.

We just need to hope Butler will be a top-50 team, which will significantly take the sting out of a neutral-court loss, that MSU can keep themselves above 200 (might be a tall task), and we get a Texas team in the final that despite a bad loss in the eyes of the voters, will still likely be a RPI-powerhouse in the long run.

[muwarrior69]

There is one definite positive to this. If we beat MSU (shouldn't be an if, they're god-awful) and Texas, it will be a positive RPI week. Texas will NOT be affected negatively by losing to Chaminade. As a D2 team, Chaminade has ZERO impact on RPI, win or lose. So the real positive is that we will not play a non-RPI affecting game.

We just need to hope Butler will be a top-50 team, which will significantly take the sting out of a neutral-court loss, that MSU can keep themselves above 200 (might be a tall task), and we get a Texas team in the final that despite a bad loss in the eyes of the voters, will still likely be a RPI-powerhouse in the long run.

Just curious. How did they pick the backets for the Maui Invitational? You would think UNC should have played Chaminade, not Texas.

[MerrittsMustache]

At season's end, Butler won't be a "bad loss" and like others have said, it may be a blessing in disguise. Potential wins over 2 "BCS schools" would end up as a better mark than beating Butler, getting thumped by UNC and then beating Chaminade.

[frozena pizza]

There is one definite positive to this. If we beat MSU (shouldn't be an if, they're god-awful) and Texas, it will be a positive RPI week. Texas will NOT be affected negatively by losing to Chaminade. As a D2 team, Chaminade has ZERO impact on RPI, win or lose. So the real positive is that we will not play a non-RPI affecting game.

We just need to hope Butler will be a top-50 team, which will significantly take the sting out of a neutral-court loss, that MSU can keep themselves above 200 (might be a tall task), and we get a Texas team in the final that despite a bad loss in the eyes of the voters, will still likely be a RPI-powerhouse in the long run.

Exactly.  This took the sting away from the loss for me.  Beating Miss State (hopefully) and then likely getting Texas is a much better path than likely getting crushed by UNC and then playing Chamindae, which is a dangerous game under those circumstances with no upside for us.

[bilsu]

Just curious. How did they pick the backets for the Maui Invitational? You would think UNC should have played Chaminade, not Texas.

They ranked the schools 1 through 8, which shows you how bad Mississippi St is.

[GGGG]

At season's end, Butler won't be a "bad loss" and like others have said, it may be a blessing in disguise. Potential wins over 2 "BCS schools" would end up as a better mark than beating Butler, getting thumped by UNC and then beating Chaminade.

I appreciate the optimism, but I don't think this is a very good Butler team.  Mid-pack in the A10 at best.

[LAZER]

Butler should be on the border of 100 RPI, which is usually the definition of a "bad" loss.

Also, I'm not sure how valuable a win over Miss St will be, if at all.  It will be nice to slap the "BCS" tag on it, but I don't think that will fool anyone on the committee.

[bilsu]

This will be a quality win for Butler (which helps them) and I suspect Stevens will get enough out of this team that they will get an at large bid out of A-10.

[brewcity77]

Butler should be on the border of 100 RPI, which is usually the definition of a "bad" loss.

Personal opinion, but I highly doubt it. The Atlantic 10 typically has 5-6 teams in the top-75 or so of the RPI, and I think Butler will be one of those. With the strength of that league, they have a very good chance to be a top-50 team. Highly unlikely they will be a bad loss. So they lost big at Xavier...it was a true road game early in the season. Once they settle in they'll be fighting for an at-large.

[Clam Crowder]

Personal opinion, but I highly doubt it. The Atlantic 10 typically has 5-6 teams in the top-75 or so of the RPI, and I think Butler will be one of those. With the strength of that league, they have a very good chance to be a top-50 team. Highly unlikely they will be a bad loss. So they lost big at Xavier...it was a true road game early in the season. Once they settle in they'll be fighting for an at-large.

Just curious...Why were they playing an in conference opponent so early in the year??

[GGGG]

It wasn't a conference game.  It was a left over from a previous contract when Butler was still in the Horizon.

[Clam Crowder]

That makes sense. Pretty crazy how that worked out.

[bilsu]

Just curious...Why were they playing an in conference opponent so early in the year??

It was not a conference game. Butler was susposed to play in the Horizon this year, so the Xavier game was scheduled as a non-conference game. When they decided to move a year early, it remained on the schedule as a non-conference game.