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Post by Deleted on Feb 12, 2013 13:58:48 GMT -5
we won't be a lock until we beat SLU, but if we lose to them there will be redemption in Brooklyn. I like our overall chances, because we are in the running and we haven't peaked yet.
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Post by vasalos on Feb 12, 2013 14:04:26 GMT -5
I don't know where you get your stats from, but we don't need to beat Saint Louis during the regular season. Their RPI is high enough where it's not considered a bad loss. Either result helps us since they are considered a bubble team. The Committee overweights teams that play bubble teams regardless of result and RPI.
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Post by lwc4591 on Feb 12, 2013 14:56:50 GMT -5
Finish 5-2 with our remaining games(unless they are losses to RI and Dukes)and we are in at 21-8 regardless of what we do in A10 Tourny. If we lose opening round 21-9 with a good RPI would still get us in (12 seed). If we go 1-1 in tourny we probably end up as 11 seed, 2-1 as 10 seed and if we win A10 probably a 7 seed with a 24-8 record.
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Post by vasalos on Feb 12, 2013 15:34:40 GMT -5
5-2 with losses against Temple and St. Louis will be acceptable to the committee. One win the tournament will solidy us either as a 11 or 12 seed especially if we get the bye and play a team like St. Joe's in our first round of A10 play.Beat a team like Temple or UMASS and we can even get a 10 seed.
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Post by goexplorers on Feb 12, 2013 15:36:32 GMT -5
After the Butler win, I thought we had to win 1 of VCU, Temple, SLU...and win all other games in order to get in. We won VCU but lost to UMass. Now, I think we have to win 1 of Temple and SLU and win all other games. Plus we need to win 1 in Brooklyn. 22-7 regular season plus 1-1 in Brooklyn. I'm not sure that 21-8 gets it done. www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/teams/rpi/LSALLEWe're only 2-1 vs the top 50. That's a good record but it isn't enough of a sample size. Compare vs Illinois, for example, who is 5-6 vs the top 50 (top 32 actually). We're 3-4 vs #51-80 (thats's a lot of games against quality, but not great, teams). So that's 5-5 vs the top 80. We need some of those 51-80 teams to make it back into the top 50. And it would also be nice if CCSU would stay on the right side of the 200 line.
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Post by coqui900 on Feb 15, 2013 11:43:47 GMT -5
From ESPN's A-10 Rankings:
4. La Salle. Were it not for that baffling mid-November home loss to Central Connecticut, the Explorers might well be the subject of some national discussion. Because other than that, the rest of La Salle's losses (at Bucknell, Miami, Charlotte and Xavier, and a 61-60 home loss to Massachusetts) are completely forgivable. Saint Louis has been stifling on the defensive end in conference play, but La Salle is right there with its friends from the Midwest, and perhaps it's time non-A-10-heads sat up and took notice.
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Post by luhoopsfan on Feb 15, 2013 12:39:09 GMT -5
I ahve to think the selection committee will take into consideration that 1- it was in mid-November that loss happened and 2- We were without Garland. Not saying that you can guarantee his presence would have meant a win but it's a factor the NCAA usually considers.
I wonder what our RPI would be without that loss. I imagine 4 or 5 points higher, no?
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Post by scarletexplorer on Feb 16, 2013 16:14:48 GMT -5
I think at this point if we go 3-2 and win one in the A-10 then we're in the Dance. I'm pretty sure 22 is good enough to get us there simply because of some of the marquee wins this year. This is the first time I've felt this was attainable since the Steve Smith era.
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Post by stlexplorer on Feb 16, 2013 16:24:50 GMT -5
I think 3-2 absolutely gets us into tournament even if we lose our 1st game of the conference tournament. At this point, I'm getting greedy and I want a Big 5 title and 1st rd bye in a-10 tournament
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Post by theneumann64 on Feb 16, 2013 19:56:59 GMT -5
My thought is 3-2 and getting to Friday (whether via Bye or winning on Thursday) in Brooklyn, makes it look pretty good. But 4-1, or a trip to the A-10 Semis makes it almost a lock. Doing both makes it a lock.
Let's do both.
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Post by calsufan on Feb 16, 2013 20:46:50 GMT -5
We got some love at halftime of the Temple - Umass game from the talking heads. It was Scerzbiak, Abdelnaby and someone else (I'm sure I butchered the spelling, but I'm too lazy to look it up). One of the guys said that La Salle was a "burgeoning program" and the other said something along the lines like "they've already arrived." It was great to hear.
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Post by coqui900 on Feb 16, 2013 21:57:02 GMT -5
FROM CNNSI:
- La Salle won again in the Atlantic 10 and remains "that team not enough people are talking about" in terms of an at-large from that conference. The Explorers may be Philadelphia's best hope to keep its "at least one team in the NCAAs every year" streak going.
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Post by belfieldhappyhour on Feb 16, 2013 22:16:23 GMT -5
From CBS Sports - La Salle has now won four in a row after beating Saint Joseph's. The Explorers continue to state their case for an at-large bid. They're going to be a fun team to watch.
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Post by coqui900 on Feb 18, 2013 13:43:09 GMT -5
sports.yahoo.com/blogs/ncaab-the-dagger/bracket-big-board-rite-spring-izzo-spartans-vying-153635020--ncaab.htmlYahoo's Bracket Big Board has us as the last 10 seed. They have 10 teams below us in the at-large picture. They are: Wichita State, Iowa State, Belmont (in as conference champs), Nova, Ole Miss, California, Temple, Arizona State, Charlotte and Middle Tennessee State (in as conference champs). The 9 and 10 seeds ahead of us are: Colorado, Oklahoma, Memphis, St. Louis, Baylor and Creighton
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Post by luhoopsfan on Feb 18, 2013 16:26:05 GMT -5
The Bracket Project has us in 81 of 81 Brackets they are projecting. Another win Thursday gets us off the bubble and solidly IN the tourney I think. A loss probably doesn't keep us out but reduces any future margin for error.
Need to win these next 2 games and then catch their breath for this last sprint. GW at home will be tough b/c of the revenge factor and the possibility that GW is fighting for a spot in brooklyn. I have to assume that us fighting for an NCAA berth outweighs their urgency to make it to the conference tourney.
Our guys constantly talk about how "it's nice to win but the next game..."
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Post by vasalos on Feb 18, 2013 21:49:45 GMT -5
Bracket project prjects La Salle as an 11 seed. The temple game could really entrench La Salle in the bracket
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Post by luhoopsfan on Feb 18, 2013 21:54:01 GMT -5
81/81 brackets- first time all season we were 100%
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Post by Deleted on Feb 19, 2013 11:54:33 GMT -5
This is what we need to lock it up now: -For all 9 other A10 teams in the top 100 to stay in the top 100 by year's end, making us a strong conference worthy of a fourth bid after Butler, VCU, and STL. -For La Salle to win either @ STL or @ Temple. Preferrably the better RPI one, which would likely be STL, but then again Temple is the one we'd be able to all but knock off the bubble. -For STL and/or Temple to be in the Top 50 by winning most of their remaining games. -For CCSU to win again. They have lost 3 straight. They are now in 8th place, and only 8 teams advance to the conference tourney. If they end up in 8th place, they will play Robert Morris (likely) in the first round, an RPI booster game for us. If they end up in 9th place or worse, they will probably go sub 200, which is by most standards a "bad loss". -Redemption comes in Brooklyn. If we can face a Xavier, UMass, or Charlotte in the 2nd round and beat them, I think it would be good for our resume. Like taking a failed class over again in school. The committee will ignore the previous result.
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Post by coqui900 on Feb 19, 2013 12:13:12 GMT -5
Winning the A-10 regular season is a distinct possibility. If we do that, we're a lock.
If VCU loses to St. Louis tonight, we'll be in second place behind Butler. If we beat Temple and then Butler knocks off VCU this week, all the teams will have three losses an we have all the tiebreakers.
We then have three easy (as far as the A-10 goes) matchups leading into the final game of the year against the Billikens.
Actually, now that I think of it, will we be in second place no matter what as of tonight? St. Louis beating VCU places them in first and us, Butler and VCU all have the same record and we have that tiebreaker?
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Post by Shout out to my Cousin Bern on Feb 19, 2013 12:29:57 GMT -5
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Post by luhoopsfan on Feb 19, 2013 12:31:57 GMT -5
yes - an SLU win tonight vaults us into 2nd place. It's a realistic possibility that three teams finish 11-5 in our conference and the most likely teams to do that are us, VCU, Butler and SLU. we own tiebreaks over two of them.
I had a feeling from the get-go that the game @ SLU was going to be huge for our guys. I think it may very well come down to being the deciding game for the A10 regular season title as both teams could enter that game with 11 or 12 wins. A10 Regular season champ would absolutely get a bid. In fact, most prognosticators have 5 or 6 A10 teams in the dance at the moment, I believe the CBS mock selection went with 5 and Charlotte was right on the cusp.
At this point winning at either SLU or Temple will be equally beneficial because both will be road wins against top 100 opponents and the committee seemingly loves road wins, which I believe we have 7 or 8 of right now. Good point about the other teams continuing to win and get as many into the top 100 as possible. At different points this season we've had as many as 10 teams in the top 100.
Winning 2 more road games here on out is really going to be key and is totally doable. Thursday night is going to be a crazy atmosphere. not quite like the palestra simply because that building is like nothing else, but it will be intense.
Do we get to hang a banner for A10 reg season champs? Hawks hung one for a perfect* season.
*may include 1 regular season loss.
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Post by coqui900 on Feb 19, 2013 14:09:12 GMT -5
Glockner has us a 10 seed and had this to say in his Bubble Watch:
The Explorers keep quietly moving toward an at-large spot, notching another two-win week. They have three very winnable games in between roadies at Temple and Saint Louis. The opportunity is there not only to dance, but to win the regular-season crown. The other contenders have very tough run-ins.
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MisterD
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Post by MisterD on Feb 19, 2013 14:20:27 GMT -5
So what would be worse at this point, a loss to Duquesne or a 1st round tourney loss to a team better than Duquesne?
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Post by scarletexplorer on Feb 19, 2013 14:21:54 GMT -5
The former.
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Post by explorerman on Feb 19, 2013 14:41:37 GMT -5
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Post by luhoopsfan on Feb 19, 2013 15:35:12 GMT -5
absolutely MUST win the GW, DUQ, URI slate and hopefully not bookend it with losses. I remain firmly conviced that this team can win the next 2 and then pause for a week to catch its collective breath before really turning it on for the final stretch. Not saying it leads to winning out just that the cadence of the schedule is really favorable in terms of getting rest at the right time.
First 8 games, no bye week, toughest stretch out of anyone in league play, we went 5-3 Bye Week to recover 5 game stretch starting with an easy win at home, a tough road game against a lower-rated opponent, back-to-back rivalry games followed up with another tough road game against a lower-rated opponent Bye week to recover 3 game stretch with two highly winnable home games ending with a tough road game against a really tough opponent 4 (maybe 5) days off for recovery Conference tourney 3 (maybe 4) days off for recovery Post Season tourney
What I see is a brutal long stretch to start that we weathered nicely followed by a stretch that provides plenty of opportunities to get healthy and rested while having enough tough games sprinkled in to keep the team sharp and focused without totally wearing them out. I like the way things line up from a physiological standpoint for this group in terms of rest and recovery.
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Post by coqui900 on Feb 19, 2013 16:20:23 GMT -5
Lunardi FORCED to give us props!
Brian (Philly)
How about a little love for La Salle? Why is no one talking about the possibility that their backcourt of Duren and Galloway could take some "Power 6" scalps in the tourney?
Joe Lunardi (3:41 PM)
Totally agree, Brian. Duren is especially unknown outside the city (and even within the city, for that matter). Explorers really have it going, but also face a very dangerous game at Temple on Thursday.
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Post by stlexplorer on Feb 19, 2013 23:22:25 GMT -5
St. Louis HAMMERED VCU. SLU may be the most dangerous team in the A-10 come March.
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Post by ltrain38 on Feb 19, 2013 23:30:10 GMT -5
SLU got almost every difficult game at home this year, except for @butler Friday. They played one true road game in OOC. That's ridiculous scheduling. They are an excellent team, but I'm sure that has been a nice advantage to play with.
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Post by theneumann64 on Feb 20, 2013 4:26:33 GMT -5
We want to be in a position where we don't NEED that game @ SLU on 3/9. That probably means winning the other 4 before that.
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