Looks like we're going to have to count on NotreLame to knock out the Hall

[Sellular1]

Where do you get "only 8 teams allowed to get invites" from?  That is not the case.  Just 2 months ago the Big east had 9 teams in the Top 25...

There is no rule that says only 8 teams from a conference will get an invite. ND, G'Town and Marquette are in regardless of what they do in NYC.

There is a rule that says 2 teams from the same conference cannot be paired off until a certain time (E8 or S16, forgot which).

My interpretation of this rule is that no conference will be allowed more than 8 teams.

I hope I'm wrong, but my gut says the 9th best team in the BE is NIT-bound.

Mike Tranghese is the Big East commissioner. 

Now, as the Big East’s coaches and players gathered at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday for media day, the league is so strong that there was talk of 10 teams reaching the tournament.

“It’s going to happen some year, whether it’s this year or not,†Tranghese said.

Getting 10 teams in, thus earning nine at-large bids, would be astonishing considering that the selection committee hands out only 34 at-large bids.

But with as many as nine conference teams landing in various preseason top-25 rankings, it is hard to argue that the Big East does not have a legitimate shot at breaking that glass ceiling.

[Guest nybullsfan]

“It’s going to happen some year, whether it’s this year or not,†Tranghese said.

I suppose so, but look how long it took for a sophomore to win the Heisman.

The only scenario I can think of where it might happen is for USF, MQ and ND to keep winning, and USF takes the auto bid against one of them

This puts UL, ND or MQ as the #9 team, all of whom have long b'ball histories and many legends of the game. It would be very tough to keep them out.

USF, on the other hand, would be easy to dismiss if we were the #9 team.

[Sellular1]

“It’s going to happen some year, whether it’s this year or not,†Tranghese said.

I suppose so, but look how long it took for a sophomore to win the Heisman.

The only scenario I can think of where it might happen is for USF, MQ and ND to keep winning, and USF takes the auto bid against one of them

This puts UL, ND or MQ as the #9 team, all of whom have long b'ball histories and many legends of the game. It would be very tough to keep them out.

USF, on the other hand, would be easy to dismiss if we were the #9 team.

I hear what you're saying... I just posted that because somebody mentioned something about not allowing teams from same conf to play until Great 8 or so.  I went back the last 10 years and have not found an instance where more than 8 teams from the same conf were in the tourny and could not find an instance of 3 teams from a conf in the same region.  Whenever there were 2 teams from the same conf in a region, they couldn't meet up till the great 8 so it got me thinking maybe there was a rule about it.  This would mean a hard cap at 8 teams in a 4 region bracket.  Then I found the quote from the commish.  I just assume he knows what he's talking about.

[South_Florida_Flip]

There is a rule that says 2 teams from the same conference cannot be paired off until a certain time (E8 or S16, forgot which).

My interpretation of this rule is that no conference will be allowed more than 8 teams.

I hope I'm wrong, but my gut says the 9th best team in the BE is NIT-bound.

The committee would make sure they get the pairings in the right round.

[Sellular1]

There is a rule that says 2 teams from the same conference cannot be paired off until a certain time (E8 or S16, forgot which).

My interpretation of this rule is that no conference will be allowed more than 8 teams.

I hope I'm wrong, but my gut says the 9th best team in the BE is NIT-bound.

The committee would make sure they get the pairings in the right round.

If there were 9 teams from the B.E.  2 would have to play eachother in the sweet 16 hypothetically

[Guest nybullsfan]

As it turns out, it doesn't matter for us, as we're off to the NIT with the loss to the Hoyas.

I'm still rooting for SHU though, as I want to see if the committee will actually put 9 teams in. Besides, I hate ND!!  >