Doc

Delaware's narrow escape over Drexel looks to have saved WVU, but we too were right there on the edge. Also, Fordham nearly took down St Joe's.

Congrats to the team! About the 10-seed, home-court assignments and the attempt to keep conference teams separated messes up the S-curve. A 10-seed is not necessarily better than the 11-seed. Happens every year and don't read too much into it. Looks like Wichita St was the only bid-bandit (from the Gators, HA!) as Toledo, FGCU, SDSU, Pacific are all out. Maybe if St Joe's doesn't make a run, it wouldve opened up a slot, but that's about it.

Interestingly, the WNIT website lists Pacific as the automatic bid (best team in each conference to not make the Big Dance) from the BigWest, but no mention of SDSU, Toledo, FGCU. They only list 19 of the 31 automatic bids, and so it doesn't look like they're too high on Pacific's chances at the big dance, nor Boston U's chances for that matter either. Conferences not listed: BE, B12, B10, ACC, SEC, Pac12, MWC, MAC, AtlSun, A10, MVC, WCC.

Not so fast. UH fans would give anything to join that version of the ACC over the current MWC, especially if the ACC manages to back-fill its membership fast enough to maintain the existing ESPN contract. I don't why but most UH fans loathe the MWC. I would hope so as well, as SMU/Houston would be solid additions over the other dead weight I had mentioned. The only reason I mention that is regardless of UH/SMU's fondness of the MWC is or isn't, the ACC would still want to keep their Atlantic/Coastal presence as much as possible, so even venturing over to Memphis and Texas for schools will be on their "later" list - and again, it depends how many schools were to leave. They have 14 now, and if four went to the Big 12 (FSU, Clemson, GT, Miami), possibly another 2 to the B1G (UVA and UNC), and perhaps 2 to the SEC (NCSU and VT), they'd be left with six schools (Pitt, Cuse, BC, WF, Duke, Louisville), and would need about eight to fill those gaps (USF, UCF, UConn, Cincinnati, Temple, SMU, UH, Memphis perhaps?). The ESPN contract would probably be retooled a bit to not be as high, but it certainly would not be $2M/year like our conference is getting shafted with. They get like $17M now, I'd expect about $12-14M, and I'd be perfectly okay with that. The basketball side with possible schools like: Duke, UL, Cuse, Pitt, Cincy, Temple, UConn, and others with potential like USF, UCF, Houston, BC. Maybe Wake Forest could turn things around in hoops at least. I am still holding out hope for the above scenario where only BC/WF/Duke are left behind in the ACC along with the newcomers (Pitt/Cuse/UL). Don't forget, they currently "have" ND on-board too, already opening the door for a hybrid league. Instead of jumping to 14-16, a better move might be to go to 12 for FB (USF/UC/UConn/Temple + UCF?/Mem?), then G'Town/Nova/SJU for BBall (16 schools). I agree that UH/SMU would be a poorer fit. The above would make for a stable eastern league for when the B12 eventually devours its own with its unbalanced revenue sharing and Texas/Oklahoma schools bolt (Pac) after the GoR expires . . . or so I would want to believe. And, yeah, I put no faith in the WV rumor mill. . . if these guys really had any of the sources they claim, they would work for an actual sports-news outlet. When I previously checked out one of their pages, it was just an on-going stream of random speculation cloaked with a sense of authority.

In!

Quinnipiac up big late and will win. No bubble bandits today. Now we wait...

The teams with better RPIs currently "out" per Creme's projections are all mid-majors. Our RPI is 54. Out are 45-Toledo, 48-SDSU, 49-StMary's, 50-Pacific, 51-FGCU, 53-Charlotte. Miami(FL) is the only at-large projected to be in with a worse RPI, at 59.

Today's games prevented bids from being stolen, but we remain squarely on the bubble. Quinnipiac up 15 early, which also would protect a bid.

Delaware wins!

0:19. Travel call. 0:09. Delaware to the line up 1.

0:34 left. Free throws put Delaware back up by one. Time out Drexel. Bubble spot on the line...

1:04 left. Drexel just hit a three to take the lead.

Delaware's 17-point lead cut to 2. Under 4:00 media timeout. Drexel ball. Uh-oh...

UW-GreenBay wins, so no bid stolen. Delaware up, but only by 3 at halftime; game is being broadcast on a Comcast feed.

RPI #42 Pacific lost (was projected as 13-seed, and may be out now), Cal Poly gets auto bid. RPI #47 San Diego St lost (was projected as 12-seed, and may be out now), Fresno St gets auto bid. RPI #31 Creighton lost (was projected as 11-seed and "last-four-in"), but Creme already had Wichita St in (RPI #69, as 13-seed), so no newly stolen bid. WSU plays Illinois St Sunday. On the bright side, RPI #36 St Joe's came back to barely beat Fordham. Also, RPI #17 Delaware keeps winning, with championship game Sunday. Upset loser SMU completely out of Creme's bracket. Upset loser Toledo in "first-four out" despite their better RPI. For those keeping track on Sunday: RPI #17 Delaware needs to beat Drexel, or bid stolen (2PM on local TV). RPI #24 UW-Green Bay needs to beat Loyola (IL), or bid stolen (1PM ESPNU). RPI #43 Quinnipiac (12-seed projection) would preferably beat St. Francis (PA), although despite their RPI, may be out with a loss (5PM ESPNU). RPI #69 Wichita St (13-seed projection) plays RPI #74 Illinois St (3PM ESPN3), and probably doesn't matter to USF who wins.

What about the MVC? Creme currently has Wichita State IN as the automatic bid (highest seed in conference tournament) but their RPI is 69 and are projected only as a 14-seed. It seems unlikely that they get in should they lose in the MVC tournament. Creighton's RPI is 31 and are currently IN as one of the "last-four" in. It seems that a Creighton victory would free up a spot. Maybe I need to make the short trip over to St Charles to cheer on the Blue Jays. . . Also on the radar: St Joe's preferred over Fordham tomorrow. I'm not sure about Pacific (42 RPI), Quinnipiac (43), or San Diego State (47), who despite their better RPIs, are projected lower than USF in the bracket, and should they lose in their tournaments are probably out (like Toledo). Same went for SMU who lost in cUSA (and Boston U too).

How about Army? Yeah, I know things didn't work out for them a decade ago. But I'm not sure that Tulsa or UMass add any more than Army would, and at least it would make the Army-Navy game a conference affair. Adding Tulsa would wreck a divisional geographic split. North: Army, Navy, Cincy, UConn, Temple, ECU South: USF, UCF, Tulane, Memphis, SMU, Houston

Thanks guys, I really do appreciate that. I have brought this up with people I know in the organization and judging by how things have gone, I don't know what else they could promise me to change my mind. As I live in Missouri, I suppose they'll have to "show me" with action at this point.

    I had specifically brought up the issue about the lapel pins and jacket several times, as well as in-person at the DePaul game in Chicago, then forwarded them my jacket size upon request. Was told repeatedly that they were on top of this . . then silence. As for the softball tickets, I vocally expressed my displeasure and they did first help by calling the venue to find out that individual-session tickets were still available in the outfield (I had first tried getting an all-sessions pass as I intended to stay, win or lose), but not available for all sessions -- some were completely sold out and were available only through scalpers. And even so, nothing for the USF section -- where everyone else wearing green and gold would be sitting (and end up being 1/3 empty). The Sheriff, who was making travel plans as well, just happened to call me at that time and also unfortunately got quite a memorable earful of my frustrations being vented. There have also been problems with the BigEast BBall tournament tickets.   If you weren't dealing with Eric on the Bulls Club stuff, I'd try that ... Would be curious to know if/how any other out of town GJ level donors got their jackets. I got a coupon to take to Kirby's here locally. As far as the softball tickets, did USF get a set number to try and sell to fans in a certain amount of time?   The guy I spoke with about the Green Jacket said he just needed my size and would get it taken care of. Had I not brought it up, I would've never known about a coupon or anything else. For a while, I had no idea there was even an actual jacket. I do make it to Florida several times a year and was more than happy to show up in person if needed. As for the softball tickets, it seems that the school was not attempting to "sell" its allotment. My take is that if you weren't an athletics dept employee, family member of player/coach, or former player yourself, you wouldn't have access. Just the traveling entourage -- an attitude of "why on earth would anyone ELSE make the trip for softball?" that I encounter all too often for sports other than football. The leftover tickets just never got used/distributed. I can certainly understand being in line behind families & former players, but after that, the school needed to make an effort to accommodate donors and other traveling fans. Even a simple "don't worry, just buy any ticket and sit in one of our empty leftover seats" would have saved me several hundred dollars.

For the NCAA basketball tourney, I wasn't the only one inconvenienced by the sudden downgrade in seats for the Ohio game (things were perfectly fine for the Cal and Temple games) -- the story I got was that the school sold out to a powerful donor who made a special request and got special treatment (hunting for that one big donor, I guess). For the softball CWS, the first person I dealt with didn't know me personally but once I hit resistance I made it clear that I make yearly contributions and travel for softball on a regular basis to Louisville and Chicago. Further complicating matters was that it was Memorial Day weekend and I didn't hear back until Tuesday when general tickets were already scarce. I've had ticket difficulties previoulsy, and brought these up earlier (most recently in Chicago at the DePaul BBall game). I was assured that these were being taken care of, and so DOUBLED my donations. Since then, the problems only got worse. If this is a result of out-sourcing their ticket mgmt, well then it serves the school right and that's the price they'll have to pay -- and only more reason to give my money to a scalper on the street corner instead.

    I had specifically brought up the issue about the lapel pins and jacket several times, as well as in-person at the DePaul game in Chicago, then forwarded them my jacket size upon request. Was told repeatedly that they were on top of this . . then silence. As for the softball tickets, I vocally expressed my displeasure and they did first help by calling the venue to find out that individual-session tickets were still available in the outfield (I had first tried getting an all-sessions pass as I intended to stay, win or lose), but not available for all sessions -- some were completely sold out and were available only through scalpers. And even so, nothing for the USF section -- where everyone else wearing green and gold would be sitting (and end up being 1/3 empty). The Sheriff, who was making travel plans as well, just happened to call me at that time and also unfortunately got quite a memorable earful of my frustrations being vented. There have also been problems with the BigEast BBall tournament tickets.

Since you ask, here is my chance to vent. . . My donations will never be dependent on how the teams perform, who they hire as coach, or what conference we belong to. A year ago (after the football collapse and before the basketball run), I increased my donations from Green Jacket to Scholar Bull. Never got my lapel pin, still never got my green jacket (after years at that level). I don't live in Florida and can't attend many home games, and so most of the perks are of no value to me, especially those from moving up a level, but that didn't matter -- here's my money and go USF. But. . . when it came time to cash in, it was a whole different story. Post-season priority? Maybe for football, but if you follow other sports, that's pretty much a joke. In Nashville for the BBall tourney, they apparently ignored their ticket-maximum policy to accommodate a big-time donor who stepped up at the last minute. Then came softball. When I called for tickets to the USF section in OKC, I was told "sorry" and to get on line at the general ticket window like everyone else, when only a few outfield seats remained and a few sessions were already completely sold out. Unacceptable. After spending several hundred dollars on scalped tickets, it turned out that there were plenty of empty seats in the USF section, where I was able to find a seat. When I travel to basketball road games, I have found it more reliable to now just purchase tickets from a scalper. It'll cost a few extra bucks but at least I'll know where I'll be sitting. I'll be scaling back my donations to USF by about 90%. I'll always support our teams and travel when I can, but if they want my money again, they'll have to start by giving me what I've already paid for, not to mention those lapel pins and the Green Jacket I've already earned.

If the B10/SEC take their bite, FSU, Clem, etc won't sit around for long. We just need that first domino to fall.

If WF ends up as the only traditional ACC school left, it would be kind of silly to keep the name and have teams/players/coaches playing for and breaking "ACC" records. Just name it something else at that point. However, if the reverse-poach occurs, the BE is reunited with Pitt/Cuse/BC and possibly the traditional Catholic schools who would have more reason to stay. I'd keep the name and defiantly say "screw you" to those who gleefully cheered its demise. Without eastern competition to pull away its members, this arrangement could actually be quite stable, at least until the B12 GoR expires. Such a conference would still have its niche in being the strongest BBall conference even if the football money and playoff access are limited.

I'm still thinking the "old" BE could absorb the ACC leftovers if all this goes down before July. However, the rationale to go the other way (where a gutted ACC takes a massive influx of BE schools) would be to cherry-pick the BBall schools and leave out the likes of Providence and Seton Hall. They have already set themselves for a hybrid league with the ND invite. It's not too crazy to see something like: USF, UC, UL, UConn, Temp, Pitt, Cuse, WF, BC, otherACC(?Duke), ?UCF, ?Mem, ND, GTown, SJU, Nova This couldn't happen with the "old" BE absorbing the ACC schools, as PC/SHU/DeP/Marq would have something to say about it.