NeutralObserver wrote:MoValley John wrote:
I don't know if I agree with this as the Valley stands today. In March, you may be correct, but right now, should Wichita State lose in the tournament, they are probably on the bubble, and depending on what else happens, they could find themselves on the wrong side of the bubble. Creighton, barring a collapse, is in. With that, an upset win in the tournament could bump Wichita State, giving the Valley the same number of invites, two. And the downfall is that Wichita State probably has a much better chance of advancing than anyone else in the league, except for maybe Creighton. So as it stands now, I believe "Best for the Valley" would be a Creighton Wichita State matchup, where both teams get good seeds and higher probabilities of advancing.
I see your point as the NCAA payment shares for dance participation increases round by round as a team advances. That would be the key though as either Creighton and/or Wichita would need to get by their first game to offset a 3rd team's participation share.
The odds of going deeper into the tournament increase with the better the seed. As of now, I don't see any way the Valley gets three teams in anyway, so it is Creighton and whomever else. With that, the best scenario is Creighton winning out and Wichita State beating Creighton in the MVC finals. With that, you have two teams in, both with decent seeds and a good opportunity to do some damage in the tournament.
Looking the other way, should Creighton lose in the semis and Wichita State lose in the finals, you still might get three teams in, but Creighton drops from a 3-4 seed to a 7-9, that is a horrible spot. Wichita State drops to around an 11 seed and the tournament champion gets the play in round. And that is hoping that the damage done doesn't exclude a deserving Shocker squad. This is not ideal!
At the beginning of conference play, I was sure that the Valley would get three in, unfortunately, no other team stepped up, and as of now, I don't see any other deserving teams. To sneak one of the other remaining eight teams in now would be great for that particular team, but it would do no favors to the Valley as a whole.
Last year, Indiana State played the role of spoiler in the tourney. I think MSU still should have gotten in, but the loss simply knocked a deserving Bears team out. Indiana State went on to get beaten by the worst margin of any Valley auto qualifier in the last several years. All they did was reaffirm that the Valley was "midmajor" and couldn't compete with he big boys. It was great for Sycamore fans, but really did the Valley, as a whole, no favors.
There are three rules that I live by, never get less than 12 hours sleep, never gamble with a guy who has the same first name as a city and never get involved with a chick with a tattoo of a dagger on her body. Stick to that and everything else is gravy!