Who you rooting for, Top 2 or the field?

[Wufan]

Perhaps a more appropriate question:

If your team loses in the first round, WHICH two teams would you like to see in the finals?

I'm just going to repost this as it went totally unanswered. This is not "Who do you want to win," It's which TWO TEAMS, other than your own, do you want to see in the finals?

[FeartheQ]

You actually want a 9-9 (or worse) MVC team in the NCAA's? That would create publicity for the Valley all right. Negative publicity.

Winning an auto bid and going one-and-done IS NOT anything that creates good press or publicity for a school. Maybe the fans of that school think it's some sort of a feather in their cap, but that's about the extent of it.

For recruiting, coaches can say, "we made the NAA's last year", but so can schools like Stony Brook, UNC-Asheville, Utah Valley, Savannah State, etc. Unless you're in a BCS conference, getting an auto bid and going one-nd-done IS NOT good publicity. You're either a weekend wonder who got hot one weekend, or you're the best of a bunch of bad teams.

It might mean something to your fans. It would mean something to your players, but past that - NO ONE CARES. Not at all. Not a little bit. Yeah, you'll be mentioned as"an NCAA team last year", but unless you have a national "brand" (like - say - Illinois), people hear "blah blah, blah - was in the NCAA's last year.

If you think it will help your team - look at what happened to Indiana State this year. That trip to the NCAA's last year did so much for them, that they are the 8-seed in St. Louis this year. Gee, if it wasn't for that huge boost they got from being in the tournament last year, I guess they would have finished below Bradley this year.

This may be the dumbest post I have ever read.

[pafan]

You actually want a 9-9 (or worse) MVC team in the NCAA's? That would create publicity for the Valley all right. Negative publicity.

Winning an auto bid and going one-and-done IS NOT anything that creates good press or publicity for a school. Maybe the fans of that school think it's some sort of a feather in their cap, but that's about the extent of it.

I lived through this one with the UE women in 2009. They swept the tournament in St. Charles and were sent to play Texas A&M at Notre Dame's court as a #15 seed.

There was all kinds of positive publicity locally in the week between the MVC tournament and the NCAA tournament. It was probably one of the top five sports stories in Evansville that year, despite the fact that the UE women average about 900 in home attendance.

It didn't appear to help the program, though -- they made the MVC run with Tricia Cullop's recruits the year after she left for Toledo, and the new coach really didn't recruit well. With the right recruiting, who knows?

[jayball]

I haven't read this whole thread, but anyone that says making the NCAAs isn't a big deal is an idiot.

Obviously I am rooting for CU to win the tourney in St Louis. If somehow both WSU and CU lose and someone else gets the autobid that could be a good thing for the conference overall. We could get more money for having three teams in (this assumes the WSU and CU are locks).

However that would also depend on the seeds for WSU and CU and the other team and how far anyone advanced.

Basically as a conference we need to get as many teams in as possible, as many teams deep as possible, every year.

As a CU fan I want the Bluejays to do that every year.

This ain't rocket science.

[bcg]

I want to see Creighton and Wichita State on Sunday. I don't like either team, but my team has no chance.

This Championship game used to be on ESPN2 before the 2 heavyweights at the time squared off for the championship and brought this league some respect back. I would love to see a big, enthusiastic crowd for the national tv game with two deserving teams.

There will plenty of chances to see underdogs with .500 conference records play the next ten days.

[BirdmanBB]

A CU/WSU final is a nationally televised game on CBS between two ranked teams from the Missouri Valley - and each of them will have a nice winning streak going if they make the finals. That's going to get a national audience. A finals game between - say Illinois State and Creighton or Evansville and WSU would probably get less than half the viewers as a CU/WSU final.

I know fans of any school not named WSU or CU think an upset is best for the league. I can't buy that at all. If either CU or WSU loses before the finals, it could drop them by as much as 2 seeding spots. A win in the finals over a ranked team could easily bump either CU or wWSU up a spot from where they might be seeded today. Better seeds equls a better chance of winning.

The Valley's reputation would be best improved with 2 top-25 tems in the finals and two teams each winning at least a game in the NCAA's. The chances of that happening in the NCAA's is improved with a WSU/CU final.

wrong. 3 teams is always better than two for the entire valley. You can't count on anyone winning 1 game in the NCAA tourney even if that scenario would improve seeding. You take the guaranteed cash from having 3 teams all day. CU and WSU will have a favorable seed regardless, so take care of business in your first games.

So 3 teams then huh aargh.....