Essentially a three day break without basketball for Christmas. But there are a couple good games today, followed by a full slate tomorrow. The best game tonight is obviously Butler and Southern Illinois from Carbondale. An important game for both teams. Butler still has not wrapped up an at-large bid. They don't have the glamor wins that they had last year, and Southern Illinois will qualify as one. As for SIU, I know that a lot of people don't even have the Salukis in their bracket right now. But, come on. I don't know how anyone can think that this team won't have some big wins and a good RPI by the end of the year. And they're still probably the favorites to win the Missouri Valley. This would be a good resume-building win, though. If they want something like a 6 or 7 seed, they need to start winning games like this. Some other games to watch for tonight:
Rhode Island at Eastern Michigan - this is my upset watch for the day. An untested team reaching the Top 25 for the first time in a very long time, on the road against a halfway decent mid-major? Definitely an upset special.
Sam Houston State at San Diego State (no preview available from ESPN)- Should be the game where Sam Houston State returns to reality. They're 10-0, but it's a fake because only 6 of the games were against D-I opponents. The RPI has slipped from 1st to 29th, but a bunch of their fans still think this team is headed for something like a 12 seed. I'm sorry, but they're not a very good team. San Diego State is the better team, and should win this one easily at home.
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6 comments:
You do know that Rhode Island game was on a neutral floor, right? Also, how can you say they're untested if they went on the road to beat a team that's #7 in your projections.
Also, please explain why Sam Houston State is not a "very good team".
Well, I realized it was a neutral court game after the fact. I was just skimming through the schedule for interesting games, and the page I was on didn't list that game as being at a Tournament. As for being untested, Rhode Island still is. Yes, they pulled an upset over Syracuse. But one thing I constantly try to emphasize to my readers is that one game does not a team analysis make.
You see it so often - a team that rolls over a couple bad teams, then pulls off a big upset, then rolls over a few more bad teams. Suddenly they're 12-1 and everybody is on the bandwagon, calling them an elite team. But they're not an elite team, all they did was pull one upset and then beat the teams they're supposed to beat. Anything can happen on any given night, and I want to see Rhode Island in a few more big games before I start calling them deserving of the Top 25.
As for Sam Houston State, it depends on how you define "very good team". To me, it's a loose term that means someone in the top 75 or so. A team that, on any given night, has the ability to beat just about anybody if everything falls their way. Sam Houston State was overrated when I made this post because they were still undefeated. Everyone hopped on their bandwagon when they had an RPI of 1... but we all knew that it was a computer quirk. Within three weeks they'll be out of the Top 100 and back down to where they belong, somewhere around 150-175.
Firstly, with such a highly esteemed blog you've got going on here, wouldn't you pay a bit more attention before writing something?
Now for the URI win over Syracuse, how can that be considered an upset at this point? Syracuse is one of the worst defensive teams in the country and have losses to UMass and an average ( thus far ) Ohio State team. Of course, that could contradict my argument that URI obviously deserves to be in the tournament, but I'm going to play by your rules here. If Syracuse is a 7 seed in your projections, and Rhode Island has beaten them, a pretty good Providence team, and only loss has come to BC on the road shouldn't they be in as well?
You make a nice straw man argument for Sam Houston State. NOBODY thought Sam Houston State was one of the top teams in the country when they were ranked #1 in the RPI. Nor do you have to be one of the top teams in the country to get a 12+ seed. Can you give one good reason for projecting Marist out higher? Probably not.
I don't respond to personal insults. Please raise your level of discourse if you want to post here.
Again, one-sentence personal attacks will be deleted.
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