A Couple More Before The New Bracket

Remember, there will be a new BP65 out after tonight's games are completed. I'm going to try to stay up tonight to put it together, although there's a chance I might wait until the morning. A couple more games to discuss before that, though:

Alabama 76, Mississippi 67
I talked about this game earlier this evening. Right now the SEC is just an absolute mess. Obviously Tennessee is a Tournament team, but they are the only lock in the SEC right now. Vanderbilt is looking pretty safe, although they can't afford a collapse down the stretch. But after that, what is there? Arkansas would be in if the season ended now, but they don't have a huge margin of error. I do think Arkansas will stay in the Tournament, but it's not completely out there to think that the SEC might only get three teams. Especially if Ole Miss has more games like this. This loss drops the SEC record to a horrid 3-6. The RPI has also fallen to 34th. Seeing as how 9-7 is looking like a long-shot right now, the question will be if the Rebels can get in at 8-8. An 8-8 finish would make them 22-8 overall. If they could win a couple of SEC Tournament games to get to 24 wins, that's going to look pretty good. They'll definitely be in the bubble discussion. I do think at this point that they've fallen behind Mississippi State in the pecking order. Despite an inferior RPI, the Bulldogs are 7-2 in the SEC and their out-of-conference resume isn't all that awful (out-of-conference RPI of 119th). They can't get in as a 9-7 team, but 10-6 is a real possibility and that could very well be enough. Either way, the SEC needs to learn from the Big Ten. The bottom of the Big Ten has been rolling over, and even though the conference as a whole is having a down year they are looking very safe for five Tournament bids. Five teams have cleared the field and are rolling over everyone other than themselves. The SEC basement, however, is made up of spoilers. And it's going to shrink the conference's Tournament contingent.

Southern Illinois 65, #15 Drake 62
I don't really understand why Drake hasn't been getting a lot of national love. I'm sure that Drake fans will be angry that they're only finally going to get national attention because they got upset by Southern Illinois. The real story here is that it's even an upset for SIU to beat Drake. It's like the "Sign of the Apocalypse" moment during the college football season when Kansas football coach Mark Mangino had to remind fans that Nebraska was still a decent team. Either way, the Missouri Valley is the eighth best conference in the land (by basically every ranking system), and Drake has been rolling. No fan is going to jump off a cliff because the team is only 21-1 in their last 22 games. I really think that they're primed for something like a 4 seed. Southern Illinois, meanwhile, could use this win as a way to make a desperate push for an at-large bid. The 13-12 record means that the odds are long, but the Top Ten ranked schedule means that they have good computer numbers. They end the season with four winnable games. If they win those and make it to the Valley finals they'll end up 19-13, and with eight wins in their final ten games. And the computer numbers will be there. It's obviously an unlikely scenario, but I don't understand why people are dismissing Southern Illinois. They still have good defense, and they still have Randal Falker. Don't forget that this team could easily win the Missouri Valley Tournament outright. I don't think we've heard the last of the Salukis this season.