[NU Sports] There is still hope

[Beamsley, Jeff]

I agree that the selection committee looks at the whole body of work. It is also true that the BT has sent at least 7 teams to the tourney in most years.  Some pundits are saying that because of the expanded field and the strength of the conference 8 might go this year.
 
Based on that fact alone, NU ending up in sole possession of 7th place should get us an invite.
 
Looking at the schedules of the other teams in 7th place, we have the best chance to end up with sole possession of 7th because we play three unranked teams, two of whom we have already beaten, and the third we have at home. 
 
That doesn't mean that it will happen.  
 
It also doesn't mean that Illinoisy won't find themselves, get some big wins, and edge us out.  Or that Minny or Iowa get some upsets and edge us out.
 
Cats still have to go out and win at least three starting with Minny.
 
But it does mean that there is still hope, and that our path to the dance at this point seems more plausible than Iowa, Minny, or Illwhiny.
 
What is highly unlikely IMHO is that only six BT teams are invited.
 
Jeff

________________________________

From: nwu-sports-bounces at tssi.com on behalf of Eric C West
Sent: Fri 2/17/2012 10:04 AM
To: nwu-sports at tssi.com
Subject: Re: [NU Sports] There is still hope



While I disagree with parts of this -- given NU's higher-than-usual RPI (and all that entails), three wins could easily be enough this year, and with the soft national bubble the Big Ten could certainly get eight teams in -- the main point is they need to beat Minnesota, far more than they "needed" to beat Purdue or Indiana. For me, the rest of the schedule is moot until after Saturday.

Eric West
e-west at northwestern.edu


-----Original Message-----
From: nwu-sports-bounces at tssi.com [mailto:nwu-sports-bounces at tssi.com] On Behalf Of Jonathan Hodges
Sent: Friday, February 17, 2012 8:35 AM
To: Beamsley, Jeff
Cc: nwu-sports at tssi.com
Subject: Re: [NU Sports] There is still hope

The thing is that the selection committee honestly does not care where a team finishes in the conference standings (unless it wins the conference, at which point it gets some extra weight), and instead focuses on the entire body of work.  The fact is that NU needs 4 more wins to put itself in a good spot (it's possible that one of those wins could come in the conf tourney).  Just finishing tied or above certain teams in the conference standings won't mean anything come selection time, and fewer than 4 wins would find NU slipping down the bubble.

Jonathan

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