I think Coastal gets in but they made a sleepless night for themselves. If they don't get in, I'll understand because of the lack of quality wins. I have a hard time seeing Loyola getting in over Syracuse, Davis or Northwestern and only one of those three teams is likely getting in.
Going by last weeks Massey index, it looks like the team most likely to screwed this year will be Stanford. They finished 3rd in the best conference in the country. As of last week they were ranked 36 and beat Cal which was ranked 33th away 6-1. Previous to that they beat 66 San Diego St away 4-0. Lost to 4 UCLA away in OT and beat 41 Santa Barbara away in OT. They are coached by the same coach that took Charlotte to the finals last year with what is likely a less talented team. That said, when Stanford is snubbed it will be nowhere near as bad as when committed cheated the kids from Riverside last year. Not only was Riverside ranked as a top 20 team in Massey, but they were even ranked 34 in the NCAA garbage RPI system and should have received an at-large bid on that basis. Other teams that were screwed worse were Northridge at 22 and Washington at 26.
I have to think that 8 win BC is in trouble. One quality win over Wake and crashed out in ACC quarters.
Yes, the NCAA snubbed a 19-2-1 Navy team in the women's tournament (and that 2nd loss was in the Patriot League final by a 1-0 score line).
Did I just see someone call the Pac-6 the best conference in the country? I'm glad. Needed a good laugh to start the week.
I don't think Coastal Carolina gets left out at No. 36.... though I'm sure there is precedent for it. As far as Rutgers goes, they have a high RPI -- but Syracuse much more deserving over them + USF.
How much are the Quality Results going to be considered... for example, take these 4 Bubble Teams Top 50 Results: #37 Coastal Carolina: Win at #48 Campbell #38 Boston College: Win at #18 Wake Forest, Win at #45 Duke #40 Syracuse: Win v #33 Rutgers, Win at #26 South Florida, Win at #43 Villanova #41 Northwestern: Tie v #36 Xavier, Win v #25 Kentucky, Win v #27 Michigan, Win at #30 Michigan State, Win v #1 Notre Dame, Tie at #16 Indiana
I'm a UCSB fan. But I feel like Loyola deserves an at-large. Here's some highlights of their overall body of work: Loyola is 13-6-1. RPI 44, SOS 69 The Good: MAAC regular season champions. Two wins over other regular season conference champions (#91 Quinnipiac, #82 American). The Real Good: Two top-50 wins (#29 Cal State Northridge, #49 James Madison). The "Bad": Swept by #39 Niagara in a league which might not get two bids. The Ugly: Loss to #164 St. Joseph's (last in the A-10) and tie with #155 Saint Francis (PA). Loyola's regular season crown combined with their four solid wins should cover for their ugly results. I just hope it also offsets the Niagara sweep.
What? You're arguing a 13-6-1 team should get into the tourney based off of being the MAAC regular season champs and beating CSUN and JMU? Just because Quinnipiac and American won their conferences means absolutely nothing. Inferior teams are inferior teams, no matter if they happen to be less inferior than the other inferior teams they are in a conference with.
Just clicked on the NCAA bracket on the official website and saw Elon/Coastal Carolina as a first game. The bracket is empty except for that game.
CSUN and JMU are two quality wins that I bet most of the bubblers lack. Winning your regular season crown doesn't hurt either. At least you should put Loyola ahead of Rutgers. Rutgers four best wins are comparable in terms of quality - #13 Louisville, #43 Villanova (who probably won't get in), #62 Charleston (who finished under .500) and #64 Princeton (over .500 and fourth in the Ivy). Do you also call Charleston and Princeton inferior teams? Rutgers has by far the superior computer numbers of the two, though that is major byproduct of the Big East. They also finished sixth in their division and failed to make their own conference tournament (10 of the 15 teams go), and are 7-7-1.
That is leftover from last year's bracket. Looks like they forgot that square when they wiped the bracket clean for 2012.
Syracuse defeated Rutgers h2h and finished 2nd in the same division. I'll take Syracuse or Northwestern over Loyola as long as Rutgers does not get in.
I was just teasing you about being a MAAC fan. I was at the Loyola matches against CSUN and JMU matches. Neithervisiting team was very good. CSUN is a different team than what I saw in the BW final and what I saw out east. I saw the Rutgers-Louisville match. Louisville was better, but they weren't able to score. It happens. Congrats Rutgers. I'll go a step further, not only are Princeton and Charleston "inferior" teams, but Villanova isn't very good either.
These RPI numbers do a disservice to our "means absolutely nothing prognosticating". I'm going to miss these in the future :-(