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A NCAA bubble thread is always pretty fun this time of year.
A10 has several teams but also interesting bubble storylines around the country
Davidson has moved ahead of VCU in KenPom and several computer rankings, does Davidson have a pathway? Can VCU get a bid still?
Does the A10 land 3 teams?
Providence UCONN and G'town, what do you make of each of their chances?
Rutgers?
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E.g. is Davidson could put a W AT Dayton, on the resume tonight, with their impressive computer #s could that put them into the mix?
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Rutgers should make it the Tourney. They rank 31st in KenPom and have some strong wins. Providence could make it if they go far in the Big East Tournament. I don’t really see a path for any of the other teams unless they win their conference tournament.
Syracuse is an interesting case. 16-12, but 51 KenPom. My gut says no, but they’ve made the tournament with worse resumes.
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Didn't realize Cuse was on the bubble! Maybe we can get a few non BCS schools in for a change !
Heard Lundari say he had Rutgers in and 10 Big 10 teams, down from 12 (out of 14!) the other day lol.
Some leagues are way down, like the SEC
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Syracuse seems to be on the bubble ever year for the past 10 years!! The problem is, in most of the BCS conferences a 9-9 or 8-10 type of team has played so many teams with great metric numbers, that their metric numbers will look great regardless of how good they are or how good the conference opponent is. An example of this was last weekend, Georgetown played at DePaul, who was 1-12 or 1-13 in Big East play, if Georgetown had won that game, it would have been considered a Quad 1 win and been a boost to their NCAA tournament resume. So beating the last place team actually gives you a boost??
Georgetown is not going to get in unless they win the Big East tournament, but the fact that they were THAT(1 or 2 more wins) close to being in with all the injuries and transfers is impressive.
I saw some of Rutgers last game at Penn State and the announcers said they were like 1-8 in Big 10 road games(the 1 road win was at lowly Nebraska) and one of the bracket experts had them as an 11 seed, which means they are barely in at this point. Rutgers may need a few more wins to feel secure
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very true Thomas!
Boeheim has had a Bobby Knight style arc, huge success for a few decades, and then a 10 year period at the end where the team is always solid but almost always on the bubble lol
Last edited by The Dude (2/29/2020 3:26 pm)
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Providence won at Villanova today. I think that's going to put them into the dance.
17 wins already and enough of a resume that looks like Ed Cooley's boys will need their dancing shoes again
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Jerry Palm has Dayton as 1 seed and Richmond and Rhode Island IN.
3 bids for the A10.
He's got VCU and The Bonnies OUT as of now.
Richmond with 3 wins in Quad 1 looking pretty good
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UVA beat Duke, UVA had been in legit trouble of missing a berth but that should seal their ticket.
Duke I believe has lost 4 straight games, you don't see that often
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The Dude wrote:
Jerry Palm has Dayton as 1 seed and Richmond and Rhode Island IN.
3 bids for the A10.
He's got VCU and The Bonnies OUT as of now.
Richmond with 3 wins in Quad 1 looking pretty good
With SLU beating URI, I think the Rams are out unless they make it to the A-10 Finals. I'm guessing we're a 2-team conference at best.
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Davidson or any team wins The A10 tourney, who is not expected to get a bid, we'd have 4 teams, maybe 3 If URI is shut out. If Dayton wins the tourney and URI is passed over, yeah only 2 could happen, worst case scenario.
2 though, seems very unlikely, unless Dayton wins the A10 Tourney and then only Richmond is granted a bid. But in any other circumstance, looks more like 3 teams, maybe 4. VCU, Davidson, SLU, any of those teams could steal a bid by winning our tourney.
A GW win would be shocking! but stranger things have happened!
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Syracuse lost at home by double digits to North Carolina so that probably ruined their NCAA tournament chances. How funny is it that a loss to North Carolina destroys your NCAA tournament chances!! The ACC is also down this year(I think they are projected to get just 4 teams in the tournament), so it will be hard for Boeheim to whine about missing the tournament or just barely getting in this year like he has done previously.
I think the A10 will get 3 teams in because Dayton's 1 or 2 seed in the NCAA tournament may be clinched regardless of how they perform in the A10 tournament and a "surprise" 3rd team(Davidson, St.Louis, St.Bonaventure??) will win the A10 tournament and steal a bid for the A10. Richmond looks like a lock to get in. St.Louis is pretty good, is Rhode Island losing to them at home really a damaging loss??
I just saw that Lunardi has Rhode Island on the 'First Four Out' line, so they still have a good shot to make the NCAA tournament if they finish the regular season strong and win a few games in the A10 tournament.
Last edited by Thomas (3/01/2020 6:11 pm)
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Thomas, agreed.
Another path is just one Dayton win, if you add one Dayton win, it would put a bubble team in. Rare year to have an A10 team that's such a resume boost but this is that year.
What about VCU and SLU? can either team with a strong finish and a Dayton win in the tourney land a bid?
Or are the at large candidate bids down to Dayton, Richmond, and Rhode Island no matter what happens henceforth?
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The two of you are optimists, Thomas and Dude. URI, with their loss today, is likely on the outside looking in. Richmond still has to play Davidson and at Duquesne, and has no margin for error. Dayton will at least make the A-10 final, if not win it. If anyone other than URI or Richmond makes it to the final (and loses to) Dayton, than we could end up as a 1-bid conference. Would hate to see it, but I would say that 1 is as likely as 3 at this point.
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BGF, I just think that a second A10 team will have to emerge as a lock for the tournament, right now it looks like it will be Richmond or Rhode Island who are both 12-4 in conference. Rhode Island's next game is at home against Dayton, so they could probably secure an NCAA bid if they knock off Dayton. Duquesne, St.Lous and St.Bonaventure are all 10-6, maybe one of them can emerge as a lock if they finish 12-6 and make it to the championship game. My scenario is that, Dayton and Richmond or Rhode Island will be the 2 locks, and a 3rd team out of Richmond/Rhode Island, Duquesne, St.Louis, St.Bonaventure or Davidson will win the A10 tournament.
The Dude, I think St.Louis has the best shot to emerge as an at-large team, outside of the top 3 teams in Dayton, Rhode Island and Richmond. There is a slight chance that St.Louis can finish 2nd with a 12-6 record, they did okay in non-conference play, and they've won 3 straight games. St.Louis could be peaking at the right time. VCU has no shot an at-large bid. VCU's late season slump really ruined the A10's chances of getting 3 or 4 teams into the tournament. A couple weeks ago, the A10 appeared to have at least 3 locks for the tournament until VCU lost at home to George Mason and went into a tailspin, and then Rhode Island losing at home to St.Louis earlier today.
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I am an optimist! that's true, but I legit agree with Thomas, it does feel like the hungriest team takes down Dayton and we get 3 teams that way, with a possible 4th.
SLU huh? I didn't realize they had moved past VCU. So SLU wins this week and then beats Dayton in the tourney, something like that might do it. On the other hand Rhode Island, wins their last game, then loses in the A10 Final after a few more wins, I think that might do it too.
Well, should be fun to see!
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Currently, there are 5 A-10 teams in the top 60 of the NET rankings. That, plus dayton being a 1 or 2 seed, should mean that at least one more A-10 team gets the benefit of the doubt (right now Richmond, with I think a 3-4 record against quad 1 teams would seem to have a surprisingly strong case, URI is close too). It really depends how these teams finish and play in Brooklyn, but 2-3 teams seems certain with an outside chance for a 4th if, say VCU beats Richmond or URI in the finals of the tourney.
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Do we know yet who is getting paired with Dayton in the bracket? or is that up in the air based on the last games to be played?
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It's amusing to me...I'm always the optimist about GW, but I stand by my statement. 2 teams maximum from the A-10, with a chance of just 1.
BTW, that's not what I think the league deserves, but the Big 10, Big 12, and WCC are all going to get more bids than usual. Even with the ACC down, there are mid-majors who have great at-large cases...if any one of them loses in their league's final, it makes it that much harder.
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BGF, we are not getting one team! I assure you that. Dayton is landing a #1 seed and with 5 top 60 NET teams as FQ says,, the league is getting 2-3 teams.
a possible 4th if things break right!