Big dance possibilities

[Cdizzle]

In my opinion:

ISUr's at-large hopes went up in smoke on Saturday. They needed another good win to counter the bad losses they have.

WSU's at-large hopes went from life-support to ICU. WSU is going to be banking on gaudy record, name recognition, and the lack of bad or even mediocre losses to sniff a bid. They still need to win out to Sunday in St. Louis.

[Stickboy46]

In my opinion:

ISUr's at-large hopes went up in smoke on Saturday. They needed another good win to counter the bad losses they have.

WSU's at-large hopes went from life-support to ICU. WSU is going to be banking on gaudy record, name recognition, and the lack of bad or even mediocre losses to sniff a bid. They still need to win out to Sunday in St. Louis.

WSU also has the benefit of stupid good (Top 20-25) computer metrics. While they aren't official metrics yet, they do still look at them.

[Redbirds4Life]

In my opinion:

ISUr's at-large hopes went up in smoke on Saturday. They needed another good win to counter the bad losses they have.

WSU's at-large hopes went from life-support to ICU. WSU is going to be banking on gaudy record, name recognition, and the lack of bad or even mediocre losses to sniff a bid. They still need to win out to Sunday in St. Louis.

Going up in smoke seems a bit harsh. I think that they are in real trouble that's for sure...but by saying up in smoke, says to me that it is a certainty that they can't get an At-Large. If nothing else, 27-6 (17-1) for ISU, if they lose the title game, would keep them in the conversation and probably a 50/50 shot at a bid....

I think that WSU is in the same position, banking on the same gaudy record. I would absolutely agree, Wichita State has a better shot at an At-large. I don't think that both teams are too far apart when it comes to at-large though. You can make a case for either being higher depending on what you look at. Hopefully when the top 16 rankings come out, we can get a good idea of what this committee values to help gauge what their chances really are.

Bottom Line - NEITHER TEAM CAN AFFORD ANOTHER CONFERENCE LOSS. As an ISU fan, I want Wichita to run the table. The better they look, that can only help ISU at this point. Granted, I would love to see them win the league outright, but if ISU wins the league outright and WSU takes a tumble, that title won't help them at all. If WSU can keep winning, that becomes a top-50 RPI win, which is something that the Birds desperately need.

[squirrel]

Maybe if the Redbirds would actually challenge themselves out of conference for a change, their NCAA fortunes would improve.

[BuBrave2006]

Maybe if the Redbirds would actually challenge themselves out of conference for a change, their NCAA fortunes would improve.

Not to defend ISUr here, because I certainly hate doing that. But last season, they did play @ #1 Kentucky and #2 Maryland, as well as @ San Diego St. So i'll cut them a little bit of slack with regard to scheduling. That being said, In a year where they have a legit shot at an at-large bid, it would be nice to see them with more than one game against the RPI top 50 (3, potentially 4 if Wichita creeps in there but still).

[Cdizzle]

In my opinion:

ISUr's at-large hopes went up in smoke on Saturday. They needed another good win to counter the bad losses they have.

WSU's at-large hopes went from life-support to ICU. WSU is going to be banking on gaudy record, name recognition, and the lack of bad or even mediocre losses to sniff a bid. They still need to win out to Sunday in St. Louis.

Going up in smoke seems a bit harsh. I think that they are in real trouble that's for sure...but by saying up in smoke, says to me that it is a certainty that they can't get an At-Large. If nothing else, 27-6 (17-1) for ISU, if they lose the title game, would keep them in the conversation and probably a 50/50 shot at a bid....

I think that WSU is in the same position, banking on the same gaudy record. I would absolutely agree, Wichita State has a better shot at an At-large. I don't think that both teams are too far apart when it comes to at-large though. You can make a case for either being higher depending on what you look at. Hopefully when the top 16 rankings come out, we can get a good idea of what this committee values to help gauge what their chances really are.

Bottom Line - NEITHER TEAM CAN AFFORD ANOTHER CONFERENCE LOSS. As an ISU fan, I want Wichita to run the table. The better they look, that can only help ISU at this point. Granted, I would love to see them win the league outright, but if ISU wins the league outright and WSU takes a tumble, that title won't help them at all. If WSU can keep winning, that becomes a top-50 RPI win, which is something that the Birds desperately need.

It is harsh. But it's reality. 27-6 ISU, with losses to Tulsa, USF, and Murray St. and one solid home win against WSU just isn't getting in.

WSU would be 29-5 in the other scenario. A game and a half better in the W/L columns, with 3 less bad losses, the same number of good wins and advanced metrics that blow ISU out of the water.. And even at that, I'd be sitting on pins and needles on selection Sunday.

If ISU gets an at-large bid, I will be more optimistic about the Selection Committee and the future prospects of the conference than I have been in 5+ years.

[TheAsianSensation]

ISU played Diamond Head and went on the road to TCU. In a year they needed their non-con SoS to be great...it was good. Needed a bit more high-end stuff. Got burned by UNM and Tulsa being down, missing Utah in Diamond Head. They need to figure out how to get more access to power conference teams, but gone are the days of Jankovic.

[Cdizzle]

ISU played Diamond Head and went on the road to TCU. In a year they needed their non-con SoS to be great...it was good. Needed a bit more high-end stuff. Got burned by UNM and Tulsa being down, missing Utah in Diamond Head. They need to figure out how to get more access to power conference teams, but gone are the days of Jankovic.

I think ISU's schedule is good enough. It's not amazing, but it's pretty good, even after a little bad luck. They just didn't perform well enough. You flip the Murray St. game to a 'W' and I feel differently about their odds.

[hot nuts]

ISU played Diamond Head and went on the road to TCU. In a year they needed their non-con SoS to be great...it was good. Needed a bit more high-end stuff. Got burned by UNM and Tulsa being down, missing Utah in Diamond Head. They need to figure out how to get more access to power conference teams, but gone are the days of Jankovic.

TheAsianSensation, I checked out your "bracketball" site. I noticed it's dated Monday, February 13, 2017...do you know something we don't?

[WSpringsBird]

In my opinion:

ISUr's at-large hopes went up in smoke on Saturday. They needed another good win to counter the bad losses they have.

WSU's at-large hopes went from life-support to ICU. WSU is going to be banking on gaudy record, name recognition, and the lack of bad or even mediocre losses to sniff a bid. They still need to win out to Sunday in St. Louis.

Going up in smoke seems a bit harsh. I think that they are in real trouble that's for sure...but by saying up in smoke, says to me that it is a certainty that they can't get an At-Large. If nothing else, 27-6 (17-1) for ISU, if they lose the title game, would keep them in the conversation and probably a 50/50 shot at a bid....

I think that WSU is in the same position, banking on the same gaudy record. I would absolutely agree, Wichita State has a better shot at an At-large. I don't think that both teams are too far apart when it comes to at-large though. You can make a case for either being higher depending on what you look at. Hopefully when the top 16 rankings come out, we can get a good idea of what this committee values to help gauge what their chances really are.

Bottom Line - NEITHER TEAM CAN AFFORD ANOTHER CONFERENCE LOSS. As an ISU fan, I want Wichita to run the table. The better they look, that can only help ISU at this point. Granted, I would love to see them win the league outright, but if ISU wins the league outright and WSU takes a tumble, that title won't help them at all. If WSU can keep winning, that becomes a top-50 RPI win, which is something that the Birds desperately need.

I'll be stunned if we're undefeated for the balance of the regular season. Based on how we've played since halftime of the Bradley game, I expect we'll have a couple more losses. If I'm wrong, I'll come back here and admit it. But I don't think I'll have to do that.