College basketball 2009-10 running thread No. 1

It pains me to say this, but the Hokies are definitely in the mix if they keep playing well. They've got a history of snatching NIT from the jaws of the Big Dance, but they're on pace now.

 

At 12-2, VT has defeated three teams with a winning record: Seton Hall, Georgia, Penn State. Schedule strength somewhere in the 250s. They have a LOT of proving to do.

EDIT: And Hummel has 29 AT THE HALF for Purdue, including the final 18 of the first half. Pur-don't 41, Hummel 29, Ohio State 29. Holy cow.

 

Hummel was 6 of 8 from the 3-point line when Ohio State called time out. Hummel came out of the timeout with back-to-back 3s. So much for slowing him down.

 

Outside of Kentucky, is there any team out there that you would go out of your way to watch play this year?

 

Texas, Villanova, Purdue and Kansas

 

Mountain West will probably be a three-bid league this year, at least. Missouri Valley could go three deep too. I agree with the Pac-10 assessment. Probably the worst non-conference season for a BCS conference in a long, long time.

 

Who's the 3 from the Valley? UNI ... Wichita if it finishes clearly 2nd and doesn't f(*& it up much on the way there ... and who? Southwest has a nice team but needs another season. Illinois State ain't the answer either.

EDIT: And, as has been said previously in this thread, waiting for Alford to dump the bed is pure unadulterated theater. Pass the popcorn. I'll bet 2 from the MWC (Mormons, Vegas ... with SDSU and UNM taking NIT seeds).

 

I'm not sure it's fair to say that Truck Bryant sucks ... inconsistent is probably a better term. And it certainly doesn't help when Mazzulla has trouble lifting his arm or that Casey Mitchell is streaky as all get out.

If anyone is the Mountaineers' star, IMO, it's Da'Sean Butler ... the guy does everything for that team.

 

I agree - I said Mazzula is hurt and Truck Bryant is not very bright and makes too many stupid decisions

 

zag, you're talking out of your ass.

Mazzula's back and playing, and has been back and playing. And if you really knew what you were talking about, you'd know that Butler's been playing the point for large periods of time.

And if you really really knew what you were talking about, you'd know that G
town is far from a borderline NCAA team and that they have one of the best recruiting classes in the conference coming in for next season.

But you don't know what you're talking about. So carry on.

 

Northern Iowa and Missouri State both have good shots with their RPI numbers, and Wichita can sneak up if they keep on winning. I know the Shockers' strength of schedule isn't the best, though. Mountain West currently has four teams in the RPI Top 40 -- BYU, UNM, UNLV and SDSU. No way all four get in, but I could easily see three making it.

Fully realizing analyzing the RPI in January is a choppy proposition, I'll do it anyway:

When you look at the big six:
Big East -- Villanova, Georgetown, Syracuse, Pittsburgh, WVU and UConn are all in great shape, then there's a big lump of teams right around the 50 range. One of them probably sneaks a bid. So that's seven right there.

ACC -- Kind of like football, deep but deep with moderately good teams. Kind of surprised to see only one ACC in the RPI Top 25 (Duke). Wake, Carolina, Clemson and Georgia Tech are all in the top 50. Florida State, Miami, Virginia Tech and Maryland are in the 50s-70s. Probably safe to say four ACC teams will go. Five or six wouldn't shock me.

Big 12 -- Kansas, K-State and Texas all look great. Baylor and Missouri look decent (but nice way to shit the bed in Boulder last night, Bears). Oklahoma State and Texas Tech will probably be in the mix. I'd say five bids minimum here.

SEC -- Kentucky, Tennessee and Vandy are the only RPI Top 50 teams, which doesn't bode well for the league getting a bunch of bids since they'll mostly play each other from here on out. Someone in the Mississippi/Mississippi State/Florida/South Carolina group will snag a bid probably. So I'm thinking four max.

Big 10 -- Purdue, Wisconsin, Michigan State and Minnesota all look solid. Ohio State will play its way back into at-large territory. Either Northwestern or Illinois will probably sneak a bid. So that's six there.

Pac 10 -- Wow. No one in the RPI Top 30. Cal is the best team at 31 and the second-best team (USC) is postseason ineligible. I can't imagine the Pac-10 will be a one-bid league, though, unless the regular-season champ also wins the tournament. Still, maybe two bids max. Arizona has great strength of schedule numbers and if it gets on a run, it can get in.

It looks like there will be room for a few non-major at-larges. The second team in the WCC will have an argument (big Gonzaga at St. Mary's game Thursday, BTW); the Missouri Valley, CAA and Mountain West have multi-bid potential; and the A-10 looks like it could go four deep this year with Temple, Xavier, Dayton and Rhody, maybe even Charlotte. I don't think this will be a good year to be an ACC or Big Ten team sitting in the high 50s. Too many high mid-majors with good resumes will be sitting there.

 

Don't forget Richmond on the A-10 list; they have a top 25 RPI, I believe.

CAA could be multi-bid if William and Mary keeps this up. VCU's RPI dropped like a rock the last two weeks, so they need to get some wins quickly1. Old Dominion is probably the best team in the league, but they'll probably have to win the league or finish second to William and Mary, then get to at least the CAA semifinals, and also pick up and beat a good BracketBuster opponent (they seem to draw sucky opponent in that thing).

1 -- VCU did beat Hofstra this week, so Mystery Meat's alma maters 2, BYH's alma maters 0.