LOL not that its been reported. Though there are lots of grumblings in and around the program. There just isn't enough talent in the program (that is healthy) to compete. I felt so sorry for Joe Crawford during that Indiana game. I mean, we are allowed to critique him for his play, but IU fans aren't! His mom had to just be feeling horrible. It would have been more palatable if it had at least been a game. I mean they didn't have two of their best players and we still couldn't even compete. Very sad days in the Bluegrass.
I am loving this season so far. Sam Houston is 9-0 with a win over Tech and even got a vote for the top 25 for the 2nd consecutive week. UT is #4 and just went to 11-0 with a tough win over a good Oral Roberts team. If UH wins tonight, I'll be really happy.
How can you say we are overrated... we aren't. LOL Yall were favored to win by ten.. what did you win by... ummm more than ten. UK is the worst team in the SEC right now.. sad to say. I am hoping we can get healthy and at least be respectable, but at this point... its hard to be a UK and Rockets fan.. it really is.
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=3168981 Eddie Sutton un-retires to chase 800th victory with San Francisco.
Good for Sutton and good for USF. That's one of those historic programs. Many don't realize that they were one of the best way back in the day. Wes...how about the SLC so far? SHSU is 10-0, #6 in the Mid-Major top 25, and getting AP & ESPN votes. UTA & SFA are good. Central Ark and TAMUCC are pretty good, too. Your Cards aren't doing so much, but that didn't stop them from beating SHSU in the SLC tournament last year. I know it's unlikely, but this might be the best chance ever for the SLC to get an at-large bid.
The Southland is at it's strongest since the eighties. Sam Houston and UTA have done really well, and SFA pretty well. Nicholls State is surprisingly good. Lamar is better than their record shows. They've had and given up significant leads in every game except the Ole Miss game. They've got some holes, but I still expect them to win the East. Really, Sam Houston has a chance at an at-large, and no one else. If Sam Houston goes through the regular season with two or less losses, and they lose in the Conference championship game, they could get an at-large bid. Even then, last year's 26-win Akron team proves that you can't even count on that.
A lot will depend on what happens with their RPI. Currently, they're 29 (one ahead of Washington St.!), which is f***ing amazing. I think it drops, though, when they get into conference play. They've got a few tough games coming up. Tonight, they're at 9-3 San Diego State, Sunday @ a bad Loyola Marymount, and then home on 1/5 for a game against mediocre UCF. If they get through that stretch, there is a good possibility of getting to 16-0 before going into a 3 game stretch @ Lamar, home for SFA & UTA. With the lack of respect for the SLC nationally, They'd likely have to be a 1-loss team (with that loss in the conf champ. game) if they were to get an at large.
They actually should have a little more margin for error than that. As someone mentioned above, the Southland is a much better conference this year. It will probably finish 19th overall in conference rpi. While that's not great, it is much better than the 26th ranking it got last year. That should mean that the conference won't be as much of an rpi drag as it was in the past. Looking at projections ( http://rpiforecast.com/ ) they can go 22-3 in the regular season (in d1 games excluding the conf tourney) and still have a sub-40 rpi. According to Sagarin, they will only be underdogs in 3 games the rest of the year, including tonight. If they can pull this one off tonight it could go a long way come march.
I wonder if that's a little different now. The site shows them as being 6-0 as of yesterday, when they're actually 10-0. Still a good sign. 22-3 is not out of the picture. Winning tonight on the road against a good team in a stronger conference will help at least as much as the home win against Texas Tech.
The rpi only counts games against d1 opponents in it's formula. That's why the site only shows 6 games.
When Lamar was snubbed in '84 after going 26-5 and barely losing to Karla Malone's LA Tech team in the SLC Championship game, their RPI ranking was 17th. The tournament only had 48 teams then, and RPI wasn't a published stat, but the selection committee will look for any reason possible to not give an at-large to a really good team from a lower-tier conference. That's when Pat Foster caught some flack for calling the selection committee a gang of crooks. RPI only considers games against other Division I schools. A three-loss (total) SHSU team would certainly have a shot at an at-large.
Yea the committee something makes some strange decisions. And they definitely have biases. Last year UNLV won 27 games, the MWC & Tournament, and had the #10 RPI, but somehow were seeded at a 7. Or how about Air Force going 22-8 (1-4 in last 5), #30 rpi, with a 34 point win AT Stanford getting snubbed. But Stanford getting in at 18-12 (1-4 in last 5), and #65 rpi.
Ah...makes sense. Still, pretty damn good for a SLC team. I still wonder how much longer we'll get to keep Coach Marlin around. If they get in as an at-large, he's going to get some serious job offers. How he's still there today is a mystery to me. The dude can coach.
Hard fought game for SHSU, but they lose 79-78 @ SDSU in overtime. First loss of the season. Probably drops them a bit in the rankings, but they have plenty of time to make up for it.
