[NU Sports] There is still hope

Fri Feb 17 10:28:45 CST 2012

it is interesting that he is projecting Illinois as an 11th seed in the west, NU as a 13th seed in the south, and Minny a 14th seed in the west.

It's interesting because we are ranked 44th in RPI while Illinois is 53rd.  Our RPI is likely to go down compared with Illinois because we aren't playing as many ranked teams in the next five games.  But our RPI is also better than Purdue even though they have a better W-L record.  They are projected 10th in the East.

So they must think that Illinois will turn things around, because my bet at this point is that they are going to lose at least three of the next five.

Jeff

________________________________

From: jonathanwhodges at gmail.com on behalf of Jonathan Hodges
Sent: Fri 2/17/2012 11:04 AM
To: hakirsch at aol.com
Cc: nwu-sports-bounces at tssi.com; Beamsley, Jeff; nwu-sports at tssi.com
Subject: Re: [NU Sports] There is still hope

For those interested, Jerry Palm still has NU in the tournament as of this morning (in one of the "first four" play-in games):

http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/bracketology?ttag=gen10_on_all_fb_na_txt_0001

Note that both NU & Minny are in the "last four in" so that game will be very important, as others have noted.  (Palm has 9 Big Ten teams getting in as of right now.)

My main argument about conference standings had to do with the fact that the committee does not predetermine how many teams a given conference will have in the tourney (outside of the auto qualifier) and does not consider conference standing.  Of course if NU wins 3 or 4 games, they'll finish higher but they'll also have a better record and RPI and will compare better to other teams including those in the conference.

If NU only manages to win 3 games down the stretch (which still won't be easy) they'll likely be in the conversation but making the field would be unlikely.  Getting a 4th win and/or winning 2 conf tourney games would go a long way.  (Note that I'm presuming the OSU game is a guaranteed loss).

Jonathan

--
Jonathan Hodges
Contributor, HailToPurple
Web: http://www.hailtopurple.com/jhodges/
Twitter: @hailtopurple
Email: j-hodges at alumni.northwestern.edu

On Fri, Feb 17, 2012 at 10:44 AM, <hakirsch at aol.com> wrote:

	Tough to speculate on all of the somewhat long shot possibilities but assuming we don't win the BT tourney but that we get past the first 2 rounds, it would only add  2-1 to our record. I hardly think that would pull us from the outside to the inside.  Only if we were on the bubble,might it do the trick. And to get on the bubble we absolutely need to go 3-1 down the stretch and then pray

	Harry
	Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

	-----Original Message-----
	From: Jonathan Hodges <j-hodges at alumni.northwestern.edu>
	Sender: nwu-sports-bounces at tssi.com
	Date: Fri, 17 Feb 2012 09:35:28
	To: Beamsley, Jeff<Jeff.Beamsley at covisint.com>
	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

	--
	Jonathan Hodges
	Contributor, HailToPurple
	Web: http://www.hailtopurple.com/jhodges/
	Twitter: @hailtopurple
	Email: j-hodges at alumni.northwestern.edu

	On Fri, Feb 17, 2012 at 7:41 AM, Beamsley, Jeff
	<Jeff.Beamsley at covisint.com>wrote:

	> Iowa lost to PSU last night.
	>
	> That means that there are now four teams tied for 7th in BT at 5-8, Minny,
	> Illinoise, NU, and Iowa.
	>
	> The cats have the easiest schedule of these four with three unranked teams
	> among the last five games (Minny, PSU, and Iowa).
	>
	> They simply have to take care of business to end up in 7th place in the BT
	> conference.
	>
	> Minny has a better overall W-L record at the moment, but looking at their
	> schedule they are likely to end up 1-4 over their last 5 which will leave
	> them 6-12 in the conference and 18-13 overall compared with NU's projected
	> 18-12.
	>
	> Illinoisy is also likely to go 2-3 over their last five which will leave
	> them at 7-11 in the conference and 18-13 overall.
	>
	> Speaking of Illinoying, their fall from grace is facinating.  They have
	> all of the talent and the big man that many on this list crave.  They also
	> have a good coach who has had success in the NCAA tourney.  What they lack
	> according to their own coach is mental toughness.  Weber blames himself,
	> but I think it is a natural by product of recruiting divas.  You end up
	> with a selfish bunch of kids who put themselves ahead of the team.  Weber
	> was either unwilling or unable to change that mindset.  Without a
	> commitment to team-first values, they folded like lawn chair in the face of
	> adversity.  It will likely cost Weber his job.
	>
	> Say what you want about Carmody, but he gets this part right.  As we saw
	> with Kevin Coble, Carmody is willing to show his best player the door
	> rather than compromise his team-first approach.
	>
	> Hopefully that philosophy pays off in a demonstration of the cats' mental
	> toughness in this late season run.  I look for Sobo to bounce back with a
	> great game against Minny.
	>
	> Jeff
	> _______________________________________________
	> nwu-sports site list
	> nwu-sports at tssi.com
	> http://romaine.tssi.com/mailman/listinfo/nwu-sports
	>
	_______________________________________________
	nwu-sports site list
	nwu-sports at tssi.com
	http://romaine.tssi.com/mailman/listinfo/nwu-sports