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BullyPulpit

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Posts posted by BullyPulpit

  1. 22 minutes ago, bullstampede9922 said:

    Memphis is starting to heat up.  They are the only one that scares me going into the conference tournament.  Hopefully someone else knocks them off in one of the earlier rounds.  They've had the talent, but now starting to play like a team.

    I think they righted the ship more than started heating up. Yes, they beat Charlotte and FAU at home, but that was on the heels of a 10 point loss at North Texas and an embarrassing 27 point loss at SMU. They are 2-2 over their last 4 games. They obviously have the talent but they are not well coached and can wilt under the right pressure.  If Memphis ends up winning their last 3, especially the game at FAU, then I will be more concerned about them. 

  2. 7 hours ago, Dave_Glaser said:

    Who’s tuning in for that SMU at FAU game on Thursday? A good one and an important one. Good hoops is played in the AAC, despite what some think.

    It is competitive, high level basketball for sure. The league is better than the metrics indicate. Unfortunately, the marque OOC wins just weren't there this year aside from 3 or 4 games league wide. 

    • Upvote 1
  3. Just now, Mike Stuben said:

    12 as a AQ is respect, where we were almost good enough to get in without the AQ, as the at larges run out around the 11 seed. 

    It certainly shows that the super slim hopes for an at-large bid are still there if this team can win out until the conference semis or final. 

  4. In his latest version, Lunardi at ESPN has us up to a #12 seed facing Kentucky in Spokane. Jerry Palm at CBS has us as a #12 seed facing Wisconsin in Salt Lake City. USA Today has us down as a #13 seed playing Duke in Charlotte. That would be an awesome matchup. On3.com has us as a 12 seed facing Wisconsin in Spokane. Bracketville has us as a #12 facing Clemson in Brooklyn. Finally, Bleacher Report has us as a #12 seed facing Texas Tech in Spokane. 

    WWW.ESPN.COM

    There are a lot of similarities between Florida, which won back-to-back national championships in 2006 and 2007, and this UConn team.
    WWW.CBSSPORTS.COM

    CBS Sports is helping you get ready for March Madness with the latest news, picks, and predictions for the 2024 NCAA Basketball Tournament Bracket.
    WWW.USATODAY.COM

    There were losses by many of tournament committee's projected top 16 seeds. They didn't inspire major changes at the top of this week's bracketology.
    WWW.ON3.COM

    Check out the latest bracketology projections for the 2024 NCAA Tournament after the selection committee provided a hint.
    BRACKETVILLE.WORDPRESS.COM

    Welcome to Bracketville's home for Bracketology. This is where you will find bracket projections for the 2024 NCAA Tournament. At the time of publication (update) the...
    BLEACHERREPORT.COM

    As the loaded weekend slate of games in men's college basketball was just getting underway, the NCAA tournament selection committee revealed its "if the…

     

  5. 14 minutes ago, Bob Loblaw said:

    100%. The pack line defense is great strategy to slow the game down and control it to your liking, but you’re right, without just enough offense, it’s a gamble. Tony Bennett has not had enough consistent shooters since the 2019 natty run. It’s been up and down. Very much the opposite from USF this year. We have at least 5 guys who shoot from deep and the defense is stingy 🤘

     

    The margin of error with this strategy is razor thin. One year you can lose to a #16 seed and the next year win it all with essentially the same team. The year they won it all, they won by 4 points in the Sweet 16, went to overtime in the Elite 8, won by 1 point in the Final Four, and won in overtime in the Final. 

  6. 2 minutes ago, bcgruber said:

    That is why the cumputer system is too biased.  Memphis is way up on their metrics becasue of some quality wins very early on.  Now they are a mess.  they wouldn't win any of those games today.  FAU beat a very good Arizona team basically on the road.  They have taken everyones best shot in the low rated AAC yet are still right there at the top.  FAU is a very good team that returned 14 of 15 players and a week ago every pundit was expecting another run at a final 4...and we just beat that team, basically embarrased them for the first 30 min of that game.  USF is a very good basketball team as well and would beat most of those MWC on a nuetral site in my opinion.  I would put our top 5 up against their top 5 and think results would be very even 

    Your opinion is what is biased, a computer ranking really isn't. The computers and humans all believe the MWC is better than the AAC. There are some computer ranking systems that give more credit for recent results and others that do not. Should or win against FSU count any less now than our loss to Maine? We have undoubtedly improved from the 2-4 start and that is why we are even in the discussion for a potential at-large bid. You don't really hear or see anyone clamoring for Drake to be considered for an at-large, but they actually have a stronger resume than USF at this point. 

    As for USF's game against FAU, the first 30 minutes were not sustainable. USF played and shot the 3 ball out of its mind and FAU was shooting poorly. The writing was on the wall that the margin was most likely going to narrow. I thought that FAU was going to make their run sooner, but when it came, it came quick. That is not to say it wasn't an extremely impressive win over FAU, but that same FAU team lost at home to Bryant and on the road to FGCU. Historically, you really don't see Final Four contenders with two losses as bad as those two. 

  7. 15 minutes ago, bcgruber said:

    Shows how biased these polls are again....Not being a total homer, but the AAC is way undervalued, the MWC is way over valued this year.  All because of the names on the front of the Jersey's.  The AAC has alot of really good basketball teams that could win a game or 2 in the NCAAT FAU, UAB, Charlotte and us are really good teams SMU is a slight notch below in my mind and Memphis has the talent to be the best of all of us.  Rice is actually a really tough team just hasn't put it all together, ECU is decent and Tulane should be better then their record.  They are talking 6 teams in the MWC  and AQ for AAC makes no sense from anyone who watches alot of College BBall.

    The quality non-conference wins just aren't there for the AAC this season, aside from Memphis and FAU. I haven't seen a computer metric that doesn't show the MWC as being significantly better as a conference than the AAC. The MWC had the 5th best non-conference winning percentage while the AAC was 10th. The MWC has the 4th highest RPI, while the American is 10th. We are behind the A10 and the MVC this season in terms of top-to-bottom quality. That is saying something. Make no mistake, I believe that the AAC is better than its rankings, but the MWC is the better conference, especially at the top. 

    • Upvote 1
  8. 19 minutes ago, John Lewis said:

    This is the thing that bothers me the most in regards to how a team is viewed. I remember that we started off the 2011 - 2012 season 7-6 and went on a good run in Big East play. Obviously, playing in that league was a huge reason that we received an at large bid.

    2 losses 2 and half months ago shouldn't be an anchor holding this team back from an NCAA Tournament bid. We obviously have to continue to win, but no one can say that we are not one of the better teams in the country at this moment. 

    That is why the NET is not the end-all-be-all. Ultimately, a committee of humans is going to sit down and consider our case for inclusion. If USF is 25-6 they will be in the mix. Anything less than that, I don't think we have a chance. 

  9. 2 hours ago, flsportsfan83 said:

    nothing changed yesterday, only way we are getting in is if we win the whole **** thing. Should be a lock for the NIT (even with rule changes) if we dont get in.

    I could see a scenario where USF wins out until the AAC final and loses a close one to FAU or even SMU where they COULD get in, but they will need the bubble to soften and for Mountain West teams to start losing to the bottom half of the conference. I am not at all saying it is likely, but there is a chance. The reason the percentage is low is that the computers have USF with only about a 5% chance of winning out at this point. 

  10. 2 hours ago, flsportsfan83 said:

    hope we can avoid a matchup with Memphis in our first conference tourney game. SMU looks really hot right now, that will be a tough but winnable game on Sunday. No way we should lose Wednesday UTSA blows, but it could be a trap game. Boys need to stay focused.

    SMU is definitely looking like the best team in the conference at the moment. When their offense and defense clicks they are able to blow teams out by 20 to 30 points. The ESPN BPI actually has us as a slight underdog at home against them Saturday. Going to be a tough one for sure. We can still afford to lose that win and still hold the #1 seed in the conference so long as we beat Charlotte. The goal needs to remain the same, win the AAC tourney! 

    • Upvote 1
  11. The big win over FAU is making a double-bye look like a foregone conclusion. Even if USF were to go 3-2 over the final 5 games, they are guaranteed a top-4 spot as UAB and SMU still have to play each other and USF holds the head-to-head tiebreaker over FAU. 

    Unfortunately, all the other top 5 teams in the conference keep winning. If USF just wins the ones they are supposed to (UTSA, Tulane, and Tulsa) then they are looking at no worse than a #3 seed in the AAC. 

    • Upvote 1
  12. 7 hours ago, jjlovecub said:

    So since we normally have like 4000 fans at a game, the other 6000 fans who showed up today, what are you normally doing during the USF basketball games? Imagine if that was our regular atmosphere! 

    I'm one of the guilty ones that doesn't go enough (2 or 3 games a season most years). My excuse is that I have a young child, a career, and live 30+ minutes from the arena. It's just tough to make a lot of the games. I really wish I could be there more often. 

    • Upvote 1
  13. 2 hours ago, bcgruber said:

    kinda doesn't matter becasue if we beat FAU they will no longer be a quad 1 either.  Shows the flaws in the system that they use.  Plus margin of victory is another aspect becasue we start so poorly.  I always like the eye test best

    They supposedly removes margin of victory from the NET equation in 2020 or 2021. 

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