Ding dong, Bracket Buster is dead

[pafan]

That said, Elgin's idea was a good one that aimed and succeeded at getting good games for the MVC's top teams (and getting more ESPN exposure), which is all the event was intended to do. Once everyone wanted to be included so that they could have a chance to be on ESPN, it became a lesser event, but it was still one that benefited the top MVC clubs, with few exceptions.

I agree with your assessment, but I am pleased that the event is going away. Without enough of the good mid-major leagues participating, it was almost destined to become "Murray State and Wichita State busters"

[isumvc1]

for the home MVC teams (WSU, UNI, Drake, SIU, Indiana State) in bracket busters this year, here are the top 11 RPI road teams at this point using warrennolan.com The matchups are announced January 28th. All I can say is YUK!

1. N. Dakta St. RPI 45 SOS 184
2. Northwestern State RPI 51 SOS 54 (Southland conference) (possible match for WSU)
3. Stephen F. Austin RPI 64 SOS 298 (Southland conference) (possible match for WSU)
4. Detroit RPI 74 SOS 126 (possible match for INS)
5. Canisius RPI 87 SOS 167 (MAAC)
6. EKU RPI 92 SOS 309 (possible match for INS, SIU)
7. S. Dakta St. RPI 97 SOS 163 (possible match for UNI or Drake)
8. Central Michigan RPI 111 SOS 102 (possible match for UNI, INS, Drake, SIU)
9. Loyola (Maryland) RPI 113 SOS 199 (MAAC)
10. Pacific RPI 124 SOS 40 (Big West)
11. Montana RPI 125 SOS 218 (Big Sky)

[TheAsianSensation]

I will give you a personal guarantee none of those 11 teams will end up being a top 75 win. I almost said 100 but one of the XDSU's can probably win a lot and get there.

[Shocktop42]

I will give you a personal guarantee none of those 11 teams will end up being a top 75 win. I almost said 100 but one of the XDSU's can probably win a lot and get there.

I was cruising my DirectTv last night and happened to catch the second half of an NDSU game. My assessment of them:

1. They play in a subpar conference. That being said, they have the talent to compete with any team in the MVC.
2. Their RPI (currently at 45) is respectable but will certainly drop as league play continues to progress.
3. Not sure how good a team SDSU has (they were beat by NDSU) but knocked off New Mexico earlier this year.
4. My guess is that either/both of those teams could end up top 100.

[MVCfans]

I think we should send Bracket Busters out in style -let Creighton and Wichita State play a third regular season game this year.

[TheAsianSensation]

I will give you a personal guarantee none of those 11 teams will end up being a top 75 win. I almost said 100 but one of the XDSU's can probably win a lot and get there.

I was cruising my DirectTv last night and happened to catch the second half of an NDSU game. My assessment of them:

1. They play in a subpar conference. That being said, they have the talent to compete with any team in the MVC.
2. Their RPI (currently at 45) is respectable but will certainly drop as league play continues to progress.
3. Not sure how good a team SDSU has (they were beat by NDSU) but knocked off New Mexico earlier this year.
4. My guess is that either/both of those teams could end up top 100.

IIRC, I think SDSU was the preseason favorite and one of the teams identified in the Belmont/Murray State class as cinderella potentials. NDSU has been pleasantly good though.

Maybe the XDSU's just pile up the wins and make me eat my words, but past them and WIU, there's a lot of bad, bad records getting piled onto everyone's SoS.

I'm starting to like Wichita getting one of the XDSUs.

[TheAsianSensation]

Just for speculative purposes:

WSU vs. one of the XDSUs
Creighton/Belmont seems preordained to me at this point.

After that....the power seems like it's tipped towards the home teams this year. Utah St, St Mary's, Indiana St are probably better than anything the road counterparts can offer. Indiana St might want to root for getting the XDSU that Wichita doesn't get.

Evansville might be in an interesting position as a roadie. If they can hold onto a top 100 RPI and top 4 place in the Valley, there's a small chance of Belmont falling to them (playing Murray St already this year may actually cost them). Otherwise, could they get sent west to Utah St or St Mary's? Conceivable.

UNI's in a weird spot where their RPI still has a chance to help but the overall record certainly doesn't.

Illinois State has assassinated their hopes at anything meaningful.

If there will be a 5th TV team, it might be Bradley, but that RPI ain't helping anyone. Believe it or not, Western Illinois fits like a glove in terms of overall record and profile, but I'm not sure the Summit's getting a 3rd game on TV.

[pafan]

Any thoughts on Valparaiso? I'd have guessed they would be a good match for Evansville.

[TheAsianSensation]

Any thoughts on Valparaiso? I'd have guessed they would be a good match for Evansville.

A very reasonable matchup. The Horizon feels more like a cluster**** than usual this year, so I don't know if they hold onto their top 100 RPI, but that's a matchup with solid values. But if Valpo represents UE's worst case scenario (and it might), then you're doing alright.

[TheAsianSensation]

You know what, no one has a full listing of BB teams and current RPIs anywhere. This made me mad.

And I got busy.

HOME
Wichita St 14
Belmont 23
Indiana St 48
Akron 67
St Mary's 69
Valparaiso 84
Northern Iowa 87
Oral Roberts 91
Murray St 93
Long Beach St 97
Utah St 98
Tennessee St 100
UIC 108
Western Michigan 111
Wright St 117
Davidson 132
Niagara 140
Vermont 142
Western Illinois 143
Fairfield 144
Charleston 145
UC Santa Barbara 158
Drake 159
Rider 168
Loyola (Chi) 170
Oakland 172
Southern Illinois 181
Youngstown St 190
UNC Asheville 194
Toledo 195
Texas-Arlington 197
Cal Poly 214
Eastern Michigan 215
SE Missouri St 227
Hawaii 233
Campbell 235
UC Davis 252
Buffalo 256
Tennessee Tech 266
Marist 268
Winthrop 269
Western Carolina 278
IUPUI 282
IPFW 287
Texas-San Antonio 290
High Point 292
Central Arkansas 293
Siena 297
Northern Illinois 300
Southern Utah 303
TAMU-CC 307
Nebraska Omaha 309
Tennessee-Martin 314
Portland St 315
Lamar 316
Montana St 321
Idaho St 322
Eastern Washington 335
Hampton 339
Liberty 344
Presbyterian 346



AWAY

Creighton 22
North Dakota St 53
South Dakota St 61
Stephen F Austin 70
Eastern Kentucky 72
Detroit 90
Evansville 104
Iona 106
Denver 109
Loyola (MD) 110
Weber St 115
Albany 119
Savannah St 124
Ohio 128
Pacific 129
Montana 130
Northwestern St 134
Canisius 136
Idaho 139
UC Irvine 151
Central Michigan 155
Jacksonville St 162
Illinois St 163
Bradley 164
Kent St 169
Charleston Southern 173
Morehead St 174
Green Bay 175
Cleveland St 186
South Dakota 203
Cal St Northridge 213
McNeese St 216
Northern Arizona 217
Loyola Marymount 219
Sam Houston St 225
Ball St 226
Miami (OH) 228
UMKC 230
Missouri St 243
SE Louisiana 253
Cal St Fullerton 255
Nicholls St 259
SIU-E 263
Manhattan 265
Gardner-Webb 267
St Peter's 274
Sacramento St 279
Coastal Carolina 283
Radford 284
Morgan St 285
Texas St 291
Bowling Green 294
North Dakota 295
Eastern Illinois 299
VMI 301
Milwaukee 311
Northern Colorado 313
Longwood 333
UC Riverside 334
Citadel 342
Austin Peay 343