Play Angry wrote:On the one hand, I am happy for Barry. He is such a good dude.
On the other hand, I hate seeing a team play like total ass in the non-conference, rack up a 300+ OOC RPI, and then come into league play and collect W after W. I suppose the blame for that goes on the MVC teams losing to the Salukis and Ramblers, though.
Congrats SIU, very impressive road performance tonight.
No doubt it's frustrating to see how teams can stink so much out of conference and then succeed in conference. Think it's just part of dealing with college kids, right or wrong, think the non-conference season can sometimes wear on a team, especially when things are going bad. The conference season, though, is what most teams really point to, and especially in their cases it's like a second lease on life, chance for a new start to the season. Suspect that both Loyola and SIU weren't as bad as they played out of conference, unfortunately that does no good for anyone else. Also think this was a spot where it hurts that the Bracket Buster is gone, because it would've provided some chances for teams like Loyola, SIU, Bradley, etc. to get a non-conference win in February that at least raises the OOC win percentages. Instead, those games were played in December this year, when those teams were really struggling.