[NU Sports] Bubble?

Mon Mar 12 10:51:10 CDT 2012

I guess I just find the hair shirt that some on the list want our kids
to wear just a little too itchy.

Clearly our body of work for this season wasn't sufficient, in the
opinion of the selection committee, to make the cut.  

But take a look at the last couple in.  As others have posted, the
PAC-12 this year was a joke.  Cal got the requisite 21 wins, but NONE
came against the RPI top 50.  They were 21-6 against sub RPI-50
competition.  By comparison, NU was 17-3 in sub RPI 50 games.  

So did Cal "deserve" to get an invite, or were they the benefit of a
committee who didn't want Colorado to be the lone PAC-12 representative?

What do you think our record would have been if we played the same
schedule as Cal?

Also what do you think our record would have been if Cobb had played the
whole season?

I'm not trying to make excuses for this team.  You have to play the
games on the days that they are scheduled against the team that is
scheduled with whomever on your team is ready to play.  Bottom line is
that we play in a very competitive conference and we need to be able to
win the close games, particularly at home, if we are going to make it to
the tourney.  The team this year, for whatever reasons, couldn't figure
out how to do that.

BUT....

This team never quit regardless of what fate seemed to throw at them.
As others have said, they represented the school admirably.  I'm proud
of them for their effort and will be cheering them on the NIT run.

Jeff

BTW, Seton Hall (21-13) certainly wouldn't appreciate being called a
pre-conference cream puff.

From: hakirsch at aol.com [mailto:hakirsch at aol.com] 
Sent: Monday, March 12, 2012 10:21 AM
To: Jonathan Hodges; jonathanwhodges at gmail.com; Beamsley, Jeff
Cc: Roy S. Lamberton; Dennis W. Brandt; Willie Weinbaum;
nwu-sports at tssi.com
Subject: Re: [NU Sports] Bubble?

Jonathan's points support my contention (and others on our list) that we
didn't deserve to get in. Had we got in,it would have been for the wrong
reasons.

We beat the creampuffs pre conference(that is the portion of the
schedule of our own making) and lost to all of the good teams(pre
conference and conference) save 1. If I attached an blind name to a team
with that record ,would any of you had voted for them ? 

Harry

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

________________________________

From: Jonathan Hodges <j-hodges at alumni.northwestern.edu> 

Sender: jonathanwhodges at gmail.com 

Date: Mon, 12 Mar 2012 10:07:27 -0400

To: Beamsley, Jeff<Jeff.Beamsley at covisint.com>

Cc: Roy S. Lamberton<rstetson at capps-assoc.com>; Dennis W.
Brandt<tbng at comcast.net>; <hakirsch at aol.com>; Willie
Weinbaum<Willie.Weinbaum at espn.com>; <nwu-sports at tssi.com>

Subject: Re: [NU Sports] Bubble?

Something that I think also helped rule out NU is that they had just 1
good win (over MSU, a 1 seed, but still just 1). Their record against
RPI top 50 was 1-10, and against top 100 it was 5-13. They had just 2 Ws
over tourney teams (MSU & Miss Valley St, who won their conference
tourney & are a 16 seed in a play-in game).

NU had a tough strength of schedule and a high RPI thanks to that but
just couldn't beat the good teams they played (and played just decent
against the other decent teams). I believe the committee looks for teams
that can win tourney games, and NU showed that they just couldn't do
that (particularly away from home: those 2 Ws over tourney teams both
came at home).

In other worse, good wins are valued much more than lack of bad losses.
Maybe NU beat everyone that it definitely should have, but it only beat
tourney worthy teams once despite numerous chances (11, not counting
Miss Valley St).

Jonathan

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

On Mon, Mar 12, 2012 at 9:59 AM, Beamsley, Jeff
<Jeff.Beamsley at covisint.com> wrote:

Seems like the committee has to create a series of filters that allows
them to get to 60 or so teams and then they argue about the rest.

The pundits speculate every year on what those filters are going to be
based on what past committees have used.

The filters this year appeared to be 20+ wins and then the quality of
those wins (versus the quality of losses). WKU with 15 wins is the only
sub-20 team in the field and they are there because they won their
tourney.

So even though NU had a high RPI, 18 wins wasn't enough to even be in
the debate over who fills the last slots.

It's certainly possible, based on the nature of next year's committee
that they will focus on something else and an 18 win team with "good"
losses will get in.

Bottom line, at least for a team in the BT, get 20 wins including half
your conference games.

Jeff

-----Original Message-----
From: nwu-sports-bounces at tssi.com [mailto:nwu-sports-bounces at tssi.com]
On Behalf Of Roy S. Lamberton
Sent: Monday, March 12, 2012 9:24 AM
To: 'Dennis W. Brandt'; hakirsch at aol.com; 'Willie Weinbaum';
nwu-sports at tssi.com
Subject: Re: [NU Sports] Bubble?

The Washington coach was on the radio last night, and he didn't have any
explanation of
how they didn't get picked, but he wasn't calling for changes to the
system either.

Someone during the interview mentioned it was because of their
pre-conference schedule and
one loss to a top RPI team. I guess beating everyone in a down
conference doesn't count
any more.

rsl

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-----Original Message-----
From: nwu-sports-bounces at tssi.com [mailto:nwu-sports-bounces at tssi.com]
On Behalf Of Dennis
W. Brandt
Sent: Monday, March 12, 2012 9:26 AM
To: hakirsch at aol.com; Willie Weinbaum; nwu-sports at tssi.com
Subject: Re: [NU Sports] Bubble?

You're right. Colorado is in. But my original question stands.

----- Original Message -----
From: <hakirsch at aol.com>
To: "Dennis W. Brandt" <tbng at comcast.net>; "Willie Weinbaum"
<Willie.Weinbaum at espn.com>; <nwu-sports at tssi.com>
Sent: Monday, March 12, 2012 7:25 AM
Subject: Re: [NU Sports] Bubble?

> Impossible. Cal did not win the Pac 12 tourney, colorado did
>
> Harry
> ------Original Message------
> From: Dennis W. Brandt
> Sender: nwu-sports-bounces at tssi.com
> To: Willie Weinbaum
> To: nwu-sports at tssi.com
> ReplyTo: Dennis W. Brandt
> Subject: Re: [NU Sports] Bubble?
> Sent: Mar 12, 2012 2:30 AM
>
> How is it possible that Washington could win their conference regular
> season
> championship and NOT make the NCAA tournament? How could the once
vaunted
> PAC-8/10/12/whatever only get one team (California) in the Dance, and
> they're only in the First Four?
>
> _______________________________________________
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> nwu-sports at tssi.com
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>
>
> Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry
>

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