Games of Interest (2.16.20 and 2.17.20)

[loca2874]

Sloppy win yesterday but a much needed road win. We got the Coogs next who lost to the SMOOO yesterday by 1 in Dallas. I would like to leave Texas with a win on Wednesday.

Today is a great day for Conference Basketball and also the other team on the GOI. Boise State hosts the NET ranking leader in San Diego State who is still undefeated. We also have Villanova playing at temple. I don't really have high hopes for that game. We also have the other three teams around us in the standings playing today.

All of our games today will be played back to back on ESPN and CBSSN.

Todays Games

AAC Games

Cincinnati (48) at East Carolina (212) - 11:00 a.m. CBSSN
Tulane (185) at Wichita State (50) - 1:00 p.m. CBSSN
Memphis (60) at Connecticut (73) - 2:00 p.m. ESPN

Rest of GOI

San Diego State (1) at Boise State (91) - 3:00 p.m. CBSSN
Villanova (21) at Temple (105) - 12:00 p.m. ESPN

NET Rankings Through February 15​

Houston (26) No Change
Cincinnati (48) No Change
Wichita St (50) Down 3
Memphis (60) Down 1
SMU (66) Up 6
UConn (73) Up 1
Tulsa (83) Up 3
Temple (105) Up 3
South FL. (120) Down 4
UCF (124) No Change
Tulane (185) Up 1
ECU (212) No Change

Quadrant Tracker

Q1

Win

UConn (A) - W (73)
Houston (H) - W (26)

Loss

Arkansas (A) - L (44)
Cincinnati (A) - L (48)

Q2

Win

Memphis (H) - W (60)
Wichita State (H) - W (50)
USF (A) - W (120)

Loss

UT Arlington (A) - L (119)
Kansas State (A) - L (95)
Colorado State (N) - L (97)
UConn (H) - L (73)
UCF (A) - L (124)

Q3

Win

Austin Peay (H) - W (144)
Vanderbilt (A) - W (148)
Boise State (H) - W (91)
Temple (H) - W (105)
ECU (A) - W (212)
Tulane (A) - W (185)

Loss

Q4

Wins

Houston Baptist (H) - W (344)
Southeastern LA (H) - W (343)
South Carolina State (H) - W (324)
Arkansas Pine Bluff (H) - W (349)
Oral Roberts (H) - W (146)
ECU (H) - W (212)

Loss

Arkansas State (H) - L (193)

 

[ba11game]

I was online before you posted so I went and looked at the NET myself this morning. What's up with the Big Ten teams? There are some pretty poor W-L records ranked unusually high.

 

[TU_BLA]

ECU hanging tough with Cincinnati. See if the pirates can keel haul the Bearcats in the 2nd half. I’d like that. Seems like ECU is always good for one of those “Huh? How’d that happen?” results each year.

Go UCONN. Go Temple. Just looking for some space between us and anyone that may knock us out of the top 4 in the AAC. We’ll absolutely need the bye. I think we can win 3 in Ft. Worth. Not sure about 4 in a row though

 

[TU_BLA]

I was online before you posted so I went and looked at the NET myself this morning. What's up with the Big Ten teams? There are some pretty poor W-L records ranked unusually high.

One of the guys on CBS was talking about that last week and how the B1G plays a lot of home “but” games in the OOC and they all prop up their records. Perfect case in point is Ohio State who got into conference play and lost 5 of 6. I think there are 2 really good teams in the B1G (Maryland & Penn State), 4-5 good teams (Michigan State, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois) and a bunch of mediocre to bad teams. The fact the talking heads keep thinking they should get 11 teams in is a travesty. There’s a ton of meh teams in conferences that are usually thought of well, I.e. the Big East. Outside of Villanova, I’d take any of them in the first round. Every last one of them is severely over rated. Seton Hall, Butler, Xavier, Creighton- all have good players and one super star but they rely on that one star way too much.

 

[rusty-c]

I was online before you posted so I went and looked at the NET myself this morning. What's up with the Big Ten teams? There are some pretty poor W-L records ranked unusually high.

That’s why there’s a secret recipe for cooking the rankings/ratings.

 

[tulsahurricane0530]

Theres going to be alot of 13-14 loss big conference teams that get in and eliminated in the first round as opposed to teams from other conferences with <10 losses. Happens every year

 

[TU_BLA]

Cincy and ECU ties with 11 seconds left. Cumberland (Jaron) has fouled out for Cincinnati.

 

[TU_BLA]

OT coming up and Cincy w/o their best player. Let’s go ECU!!!

 

[Henry Kendall]

Ugh. Cats win in OT

 

[nevadanatural]

I thought ECU was going to help us out and pull off the upset. Oh well, it was still an exciting game. Folks were talking the B-10 and the tourney earlier in the thread, I have two rules when filling out my bracket that have served me well over the years. Rule 1: pick against the BiG. Rule 2: pick against the PAC-12. I’m gonna add a third this year with all the parity, pick lots of upsets.

 

[TU_BLA]

I thought ECU was going to help us out and pull off the upset. Oh well, it was still an exciting game. Folks were talking the B-10 and the tourney earlier in the thread, I have two rules when filling out my bracket that have served me well over the years. Rule 1: pick against the BiG. Rule 2: pick against the PAC-12. I’m gonna add a third this year with all the parity, pick lots of upsets.

I’d modify the B1G rule. Pick against any B1G team seeded 6 or lower. Those teams are usually a disappointment and those that get in as bubble teams (seeded 10 or worse) are usually not as deserving of their bid and get in because of their conference affiliation vs their actual resume. Whereas Memphis is considered to have a “bad loss” on their resume because they lost to us by 40, no mention of a B1G team’s losses by 20+ to a pretty bad Purdue.

And you’re right on the PAC-12+2. The entire conference is meh this year. Their best team is mediocre at best (Oregon) and Arizona is a shell of its former self. USC is meh, UCLA and the leprechaun are just bad, and everyone else is meh to awful. Pundits always confuse the mediocrity of leagues and how everyone beats up on everyone else as the league being excellent and tough top to bottom.

On the AAC, it’s got 5 teams that have played really tough basketball once conference season hit. Cincinnati and Tulsa has subpar OOC seasons and that’s the reason it’s on the bubble. SMU had an awful conference loss to ECU. With the exception of Memphis and Wichita State, most teams in the AAC have actually gotten better as the season has progressed.

At least no one is touting the ACC as the greatest conference this year. They’ll likely only get 4 teams in and UNC is in real danger of no postseason period as they need to win 5 out of their last 6 to get to .500 and then win a game in the ACC tournament to stay there. Since one of those games is against Duke, they it margin for error is really low.

 

[TU_BLA]

Memphis and UCONN’t knotted at 47 with 5 min. left. What pisses me off...Gilbert had 17 against us and couldn’t miss. In the 3 games since then (including this one, 10 pts combined on 13 shooting combined).

 

[Gold*]

Akok blew his Achilles. They will struggle rest of year. He is elite.

 

[tulsahurricane0530]

Something about the Don Rey where players always have career games

 

[tulsahurricane0530]

Looks like uconn will pull it out. No idea how Memphis just now got lower on Lunardis projections. Must really want Hardaway in the tournament

 

[nevadanatural]

No way this crappy Memphis team is on the bubble.

 

[loca2874]

Down goes Memphis

 

[loca2874]

No way this crappy Memphis team is on the bubble.

They were first 4 out. They should be squarely off the bubble now

 

[libertychamp]

That makes it official no more talk of Memphis in the either tourney with 6 conference losses

 

[URedskin54]

That makes it official no more talk of Memphis in the either tourney with 6 conference losses

Conference record is not part of the selection criteria

 

[libertychamp]

Conference record is not part of the selection criteria

will teams with under 500 records not matter

 

[libertychamp]

will teams with under 500 records not matter

Conference games under 500

 

[tulsahurricane0530]

At the end of the day, whoever the committee wants in will get in. The year Trey Young was at OU the Sooners went 18-14 and 8-10 in the big 12. But trey being in would bring ratings. So they got in. And they were horrible to end the year if I remember. So, I could see them still putting in Memphis because Hardaway would be a talking point. As much as I hate conspiracy theories or whatever, that stuff goes on all the time

 

[ctt8410]

As much as I hate conspiracy theories or whatever, that stuff goes on all the time

No, it really doesn’t.

 

[tulsahurricane0530]

It does actually. The committee chooses teams they think will draw good ratings alot of times. If its between them amd one that wouldn't. Not saying it happens all of the time...but it does. Syracuse is another instance from a couple years ago.

 

[I.I.]

It does actually. The committee chooses teams they think will draw good ratings alot of times. If its between them amd one that wouldn't. Not saying it happens all of the time...but it does. Syracuse is another instance from a couple years ago.

The media is still trying to get Memphis and UConn a bid this year if possible. And if Temple wins a couple of games they will be a next four out. To them, SMU and Tulsa don't deserve mentions.

 

[drboobay]

But..our last NCAA bid was a shocking at large.

 

[URedskin54]

Kinda have a hard time believing that a wildly popular event like the NCAA tournament needs to invite mediocre teams with star players that will lose in the first couple rounds just to boost ratings

 

[hotterthanyourhusbandTU]

I’m sure there are teams the media are “hoping” stay in the hunt, but I don’t think there’s too much “home cookin’” during the selection.

If that was the case, the Ben Simmons LSU squad would have made it.

I still appreciate the TU selection in 2016.

 

[loca2874]

Latest NET Rankings came out before I went to bed. A couple of no meaning games today this presidents day.

Todays Games

Morgan State (295) at South Carolina State (322)
Arkansas Pine Bluff (349) at Alcorn State (323)

NET Rankings Through February 16

Houston (27) Down 1
Wichita St (46) Up 4
Cincinnati (51) Down 3
Memphis (60) No Change
SMU (67) Down 1
UConn (71) Up 2
Tulsa (82) Up 1
Temple (106) Down 1
South FL. (121) Down 1
UCF (125) Down 1
Tulane (187) Down 2
ECU (208) Up 4

Quadrant Tracker

Q1

Win

UConn (A) - W (71)
Houston (H) - W (27)

Loss

Arkansas (A) - L (48)
Cincinnati (A) - L (51)

Q2

Win

Memphis (H) - W (60)
Wichita State (H) - W (46)
USF (A) - W (121)

Loss

UT Arlington (A) - L (120)
Kansas State (A) - L (93)
Colorado State (N) - L (97)
UConn (H) - L (71)
UCF (A) - L (125)

Q3

Win

Austin Peay (H) - W (144)
Vanderbilt (A) - W (148)
Boise State (H) - W (96)
Temple (H) - W (106)
ECU (A) - W (208)
Tulane (A) - W (187)
Oral Roberts (H) - W (145)

Loss

Q4

Wins

Houston Baptist (H) - W (344)
Southeastern LA (H) - W (343)
South Carolina State (H) - W (322)
Arkansas Pine Bluff (H) - W (349)
ECU (H) - W (208)

Loss

Arkansas State (H) - L (194)

 

[Gmoney4WW]

At the end of the day, whoever the committee wants in will get in. The year Trey Young was at OU the Sooners went 18-14 and 8-10 in the big 12. But trey being in would bring ratings. So they got in. And they were horrible to end the year if I remember. So, I could see them still putting in Memphis because Hardaway would be a talking point. As much as I hate conspiracy theories or whatever, that stuff goes on all the time

3,2,1... comment by Rippin.

 

[rusty-c]

But..our last NCAA bid was a shocking at large.

Remember that Castiglione from OU was chairing the committee that year and was the o e that had to make the compelling argument of why Tulsa was in to the media.

We deserved to be in, but it took Castiglione pulling for us to keep us from getting screwed.

 

[nevadanatural]

I also think that might have been a bit of a makeup call. The previous year we won 23 games, finished second in the conference (which got multiple bids) and were left out.

 

[rusty-c]

Remember that Castiglione from OU was chairing the committee that year and was the o e that had to make the compelling argument of why Tulsa was in to the media.

I also think that might have been a bit of a makeup call. The previous year we won 23 games, finished second in the conference (which got multiple bids) and were left out.

Maybe, but we all know the NCAA has no conscience or love for non P5 schools so that argument may be out, but we'll never know. That's how they like it and plan to keep it.

 

[seniorgolfer]

Something about the Don Rey where players always have career games

Yeah, that's been true for too long....On the other hand, especially this
season, how often do we shut down the opponent's leading scorer to
almost nothing....

The theory being "make someone else beat us"????

 

[TU_BLA]

Yeah, that's been true for too long....On the other hand, especially this
season, how often do we shut down the opponent's leading scorer to
almost nothing....

The theory being "make someone else beat us"????

We've done well at that since the Cincinnati game. And the guys that did go off against us vs UCONN and @ UCF gave no indication they were capable of shooting high outside %. Gilbert went for 17 against us here, has had 10 pts combined in the 3 games since. Bouknight was shooting about 28% from 3 for the year, hit 3 of 4 at the start of the 2nd half to really put us behind the 8 ball. Green (UCF) hadn't done much outside of a game or two, freaking shoots like Reggie Miller against us. Vital didn't do much until the end of the game vs us, the big guy from UCF was pretty much nonexistent against us.

Everyone thinks we leave too many open 3s. That's our defense by design. We took away Echenique in the 2nd half of the WSU game and essentially let Stevenson shoot. Worked out for us. Played the same defense against UCONN as we did the 1st game against them...didn't let Vital beat us...they had nothing in the 1st game. They had 2 guys step up. UCF-took away their primary inside threat. Did nothing. No name FR goes off. USF- took Rideau away for most of the game. They had one player play OK against us...but really, that game isn't close if we hit our season avg FG%. We shot terribly that game.

HOUSTON- let them shoot the outside shot. We need to rebound and not give them 4 chances on one possession. We did reasonably well in the 1st match-up against them. We can be effective by not allowing Jarreau and Mills to get too deep in their dribble penetration and force the passes outside instead of too a post player. I think we can pressure Grimes into forcing things and turning it over. SMU did a pretty good job of frustrating him the other day and I think our defense is 10x of what SMU has to offer.