One bid league?

[VUGrad1314]

What we need to look for is if there's a chance for ISUb to get up to a 100 NET rating which would give them Q2 status on a neutral floor or if Missouri State can bump itself up into the top 75 which would make the sweeps by Loyola and Drake Q1 wins. As important as having two legitimate at large candidates in your league is it is equally important if not more for the supporting programs to also be strong. Missouri State has done a nice job. ISUb has done well too. This is where some of those narrow non con losses by various teams really sting because it would help us a ton. It would really help if we could become a league that consistently has 4-5 top 100 teams to give everyone lots of Q1 and Q2 opportunities in conference. I think we can do it, I really do. Right now I'm just really hoping Drake and Loyola win out and meet on Championship Sunday. It would be very hard in my mind to keep either one out if that happens.

[municup14]

Is Drake that good without there leading scorer,time will tell.But as of now I believe In. St is the 2nd best team.
They have won what 8 in a row.I would love for our conference to get two teams in and that happens if
Drake and LOYOLA win out and meet in the finals.But I believe In. St.will be the party pooper.

[BEARZ77]

What we need to look for is if there's a chance for ISUb to get up to a 100 NET rating which would give them Q2 status on a neutral floor or if Missouri State can bump itself up into the top 75 which would make the sweeps by Loyola and Drake Q1 wins. As important as having two legitimate at large candidates in your league is it is equally important if not more for the supporting programs to also be strong. Missouri State has done a nice job. ISUb has done well too. This is where some of those narrow non con losses by various teams really sting because it would help us a ton. It would really help if we could become a league that consistently has 4-5 top 100 teams to give everyone lots of Q1 and Q2 opportunities in conference. I think we can do it, I really do. Right now I'm just really hoping Drake and Loyola win out and meet on Championship Sunday. It would be very hard in my mind to keep either one out if that happens.

Your thinking makes sense in a just world , but we all know it isn't. Just like what happened with RPI, you are now hearing why the NET and Q1/Q2 wins by MM are gaming the system and not reflective of true rankings . The "Eye Test" is thrown out there as a necessary qualifying criteria/factor, which basically means if a P-5 teams has a few conference wins against top 50 teams, a roster of 4/5 *** players, but is 17-13 and a NET of 40-50, they pass the eye test over a 25-5 MM with a NET of 20 because well , because they're a P-5 have 4/5 star players and that's who powers that be want in the tourney. We'll keep playing this game of bait and switch on rating systems because they all are basically meant to justify why an underachieving P-5 team is better than a quality MM, and when they can't objectively do so, they are minimized and something like the eye test is bandied about as more valid while they try to tweak the other systems. The other one I'm starting to hear is taking into account teams that had players miss games this year and factoring in how that effects their record before dismissing them form At Large consideration; now we all know while they will try to sneak an underachieving P-5 in under that scenario, they aren't gonna say gosh Drake lost Hemphill, they should be given a break on that.

[municup14]

If I remember the NCAA has taken into account of key players missing games do to an injury. But that only is for Power 5 schools because that's who the NCAA wants in there Tournament

[Adunk33]

Loyola and Drake splitting this past weekend gives us a chance at more than one bid. Something tells me one of them (probably D+) ends up losing a game that they shouldn't and they'll be out, but for now we have a realistic chance of being a 2 bid league.

Drake has more opportunities to drop one than Loyola (5 games remaining vs Loyola's 3) and faces tougher competition (@UNI, Evansville x2, @Bradley x2 while Loyola hosts Valpo and SIU x2).

Hope they both win out and play on Championship Sunday in St. Louis.

If the Fab 4 Bradley dudes stay suspended Drake shouldn't have trouble handling Bradley in Peoria.

Not a chance they remain out, right? I listened to the MVC Teleconference yesterday and Wardle was asked about the suspension process-what it means, and said, "As of today, those four are suspended." and then was asked if they are around the team/practicing and said, "As of today, those four are suspended."

Not to derail the thread, but there is no way Wardle is going to risk losing to ILST twice, especially this year when both teams have been down. It's almost like both teams "Super Bowls." It's been a while since both ISU and Bradley have been down at the same time.

[Drakey]

Is Drake that good without there leading scorer,time will tell.But as of now I believe In. St is the 2nd best team.
They have won what 8 in a row.I would love for our conference to get two teams in and that happens if
Drake and LOYOLA win out and meet in the finals.But I believe In. St.will be the party pooper.

I thought they had won one game in a row.

[Red]

Loyola is now a "lock" according to ESPN:

For Loyola Chicago, the season began with being picked to finish second behind Northern Iowa in the preseason Missouri Valley Conference poll. That same regular season has ended with the Ramblers earning a 21-4 record, a No. 21 ranking nationally and the program's first appearance in the AP poll since 1985.

As we say here at Bubble Watch, we've seen enough.

The Ramblers are hereby classified as a lock to make the NCAA tournament. That's not a customary status for a Valley program prior to the start of its conference tournament, but the Ramblers have been exceeding expectations all season long.

I assume we all need to cheer for anyone other than Loyola to cut down the nets in STL. Then we can put this thread to bed.

[Red]

Things looking better and better by the minute for Drake to end up on the right side of the bubble.

[Countrypanther]

Things looking better and better by the minute for Drake to end up on the right side of the bubble.

Drake could end up as a 10 seed with another China Virus ineligible team.

[municup14]

So can a team still make the Tournament if they have covid and can't finish their conference Tournament