Bluejay Banter MVC Preview: Evansville

[WSUbballer]

This debate probably should be left for another thread...

but, seriously? You want to eliminate conference tournaments? And just for certain leagues not for all? Ya, that's realistic. And even so, how can leagues like the Horizon and West Coast and even C-USA spit out at-larges and not the Valley? Please don't blame the conference tournament setup on your team's inability to perform in either a) the regular season, meaning your scheduling sucked or you didn't get the big wins in the opportunities you had in the regular season, or b.) the conference tournament, where you do, in fact, control your own fate in it. Missouri State choked its chance away against Indiana State. How exactly is that anybody but MSU's fault? Why are you casting blame elsewhere?

Judging by resume alone, the Valley didn't have a single at-large worthy resume last year. And that is somehow the blame of the conference tournament format? Ya, those other 8 teams would have been real motivated to finish the year last season last year, knowing they didn't have a reason for playing past week x, because they were practically already eliminated from the regular season title.

Please.

[pafan]

Also think the Ace fans are smoking crack if thinking they are in line for anything higher than the last position in the top half of the league?

No, we're just kinda high from Meth fumes blowing southward from Terre Haute, from all the Tree fans that think they're gonna get an at-large bid

Oh, is that the real cause of the Terre Haute stench?

[Bluejay09Bear06]

That was a dense but meritless rant, and it doesn't address my concern. I'm not saying the Valley deserved an at-large bid last year. But that's more reason why a conference tournament hurt us, and will hurt us, in years like last year. The concept of a conference tournament is obsolete - it had a function when a regular season conference championship meant as much or more in the prestige department as an NCAA bid. That is no longer the case. I don't see why three games on a neutral floor should determine the league's automatic bid, rather than an 18-game round-robin. Of course, BCS conferences can get away with it because they already have 4, 5, 6, 7 teams locked up. All a conference tournament does it allow one random team to get hot, and also gives a team that may be on the bubble another bad loss and excuse to be left out of the tournament.

I also understand that the Horizon, CUSA, etc., have been more successful at fighting for table scraps than the Valley has, but that doesn't change the writing on the wall. I'm also not necessarily saying the conference tournament should be eliminated, for many reasons.

[ShockValue]

Clearly a 3 day tournament is not the best way to determine a conference champion and an automatic berth. But it's not going to change because the league makes significant $$$ from Arch Madness.