The game that really cost us....

[GooooMarquette]

Xavier.

If you look at the team sheets, MU looks as good or better than ASU, Oklahoma and 'Cuse overall.  The one thing those teams all have that MU doesn't?  One or more really big wins.

Our best:  @ Providence (31 RPI)
ASU:  neutral vs X (3 RPI), @ Kansas (5 RPI)
Okla: home vs Kansas (5 RPI), @ Wichita State (11 RPI)
Cuse: home vs Clemson (10 RPI)

Given that the home/road distinction doesn't seem to matter as much as we thought, I think the key loss was the home game against X.  The DePaul loss sucked...but all three of them have at least one comparable loss.

[peterpan]

Agree. I actually think we can put to bed the fact that the DePaul road loss killed us. It was the fact we didn’t beat top tier teams. We lost 7 games or so to the top 12(?) but lost all of them. One of those wins would have gotten MU in. DePaul road game would have maybe moved us up a bit but not enough.

[4everwarriors]

This year's team really isn't very good.

[jonny09]

If we win that Depaul game what place do we finish in the BE?     If it's 1-6 we are in.    Those are just facts.

[GB Warrior]

Think this is dead on.

[Its DJOver]

100% right. Everybody complains about the DePaul game, but if we weren't even first four out, adding a win against DePaul, or subtracting a loss however you want to look at it wasn't getting us in. That X game would have made us a lock, even with the DePaul loss.

[🏀]

If we win that Depaul game what place do we finish in the BE?     If it's 1-6 we are in.    Those are just facts.

3rd.

The third place team in the BE gets in. Anyone who says otherwise in this thread in an idiot.

[Its DJOver]

3rd.

The third place team in the BE gets in. Anyone who says otherwise in this thread in an idiot.

Untrue if the comitee actually doesn't look at the conference standings. Adding a DePaul win doesn't jump us over 4+ teams, the xavier game would have. X loss hurts more than DePaul loss looking back

[jonny09]

3rd.

The third place team in the BE gets in. Anyone who says otherwise in this thread in an idiot.

Exactly!!!!!    Stop with the BS.  That loss cost us big time. 

[🏀]

Untrue if the comitee actually doesn't look at the conference standings. Adding a DePaul win doesn't jump us over 4+ teams, the xavier game would have. X loss hurts more than DePaul loss looking back

Hahaha. Okay.

[peterpan]

3rd.

The third place team in the BE gets in. Anyone who says otherwise in this thread in an idiot.

What place did USC finish in the pac 12? What place did asu finish in the pac 12? Which team made the tournament?

[awilhelmscream]

Argument could be made for both games.  If we win @depaul then we get the 3 seed and a shot at Providence who we can absolutely beat and a legitimate shot to beat another tourney team.  Beat X and we've beaten a top team.  Both were turning points in the season in retrospect and ones that led us down this path.

[cheese ball chaser]

Untrue if the comitee actually doesn't look at the conference standings. Adding a DePaul win doesn't jump us over 4+ teams, the xavier game would have. X loss hurts more than DePaul loss looking back

Actually adding a DePaul win would've put us in a more favorable position in the BE tournament. We would've avoided DePaul in the first round and faced a much stronger opponent on a neutral site.

[Its DJOver]

Hahaha. Okay.

You think beating DePaul jumps us 4 teams, you must think DePaul is a really good team.

[jonny09]

If u truly think the 3rd place team in the BE gets left out I’m not really sure what to say.  Honestly, you really can’t believe that can you?   Seriously?   

[Its DJOver]

Actually adding a DePaul win would've put us in a more favorable position in the BE tournament. We would've avoided DePaul in the first round and faced a much stronger opponent on a neutral site.

Conference tourney doesn't really matter unless you win it. X stayed a 1 seed PC only got up to a 10

[🏀]

What place did USC finish in the pac 12? What place did asu finish in the pac 12? Which team made the tournament?

Completely different conferences, jabroni.

[🏀]

You think beating DePaul jumps us 4 teams, you must think DePaul is a really good team.

MU's RPI doesn't drop double digits when you beat DePaul.

[mileskishnish72]

I think if we had beaten DeP, and finished 10-8 with the other teams at 10-8 there would have been a little mini-tourney and I believe we were 5-1, so yes, we would have been 3rd and in easily.

[cheese ball chaser]

What really cost us was losing 4 BE games in a row and giving ourselves 0 margin for error.

[Its DJOver]

If u truly think the 3rd place team in the BE gets left out I’m not really sure what to say.  Honestly, you really can’t believe that can you?   Seriously?

considering that conference standing don't matter and how close the middle of the pack was adding a DePaul win would not have gotten us in. If we were first four out, it'd be a different conversation. Unless DePaul is much better than everyone here give them credit for, beating them doesn't give us that much of a better resume.

[cheese ball chaser]

Conference tourney doesn't really matter unless you win it. X stayed a 1 seed PC only got up to a 10

It's still another game or two to add to our resume. I'm not saying it would've made a huge difference though. Beating DePaul at a neutral side didn't do much for us.

[Its DJOver]

What really cost us was losing 4 BE games in a row and giving ourselves 0 margin for error.

This. PC, and X hurt much more than. Depaul.

[GooooMarquette]

Newsflash: Winning the X game would have put us at 3rd...but MORE IMPORTANTLY would also have given us a marquee win.

For those who think the position in conference was the key: 

Cuse finished behind both UL and ND in the ACC.  Didn't seem to bother the committee because Cuse had a top-10 win.

ASU finished behind USC, Stanford, Utah, Washington, Oregon and Colorado. That's six teams that got left out. Didn't seem to bother the committee because ASU had two top-10 wins.

The DePaul loss hurt, and maybe we would have gotten in if we had finished 3rd with a DePaul win. But like it or not, the Xavier loss hurt even more because a win would have gotten us into 3rd and given us a marquee win, which was clearly more important to the committee than conference standings.

[🏀]

You know what loss really hurt? Nova, if only we could have knocked them off...