whitesoxfan99

Minnesota has no answers for OSU.

Minnesota is in danger of getting run out of the gym right now.

FWLIW Most people have Illinois and Minnesota in right now. Frankly after looking at the other bubble teams I can't say Illinois would be screwed if they don't get in but they are certainly more deserving than teams like Utah St. who didn't beat anyone all year.

In 2004 Utah St. went 25-2 lost in their conference tourney had only one good win against BYU and was left out. Hopefully history repeats itself.

QUOTE (whitesoxfan101 @ Mar 14, 2010 -> 12:15 AM) Thank God. An NIT game at Assembly Hall would be beyond embarrassing. Just tank the first game and go home, winning the NIT would be more embarrassing than missing the tournament. I'd play in it just to get extra practice time but I would let DJ, Paul and Griffey each play 30 minutes plus.

QUOTE (whitesoxfan101 @ Mar 14, 2010 -> 12:11 AM) Illinois isn't going to make it, although you could argue they should over teams like Utah State, Virginia Tech, and UTEP. Anybody that shows up to an NIT game at Assembly Hall should be shot btw. Need Kentucky to win tomorrow so Illinois at least has an outside shot at getting in. The funniest thing is they won't get a home game because Assembly Hall is booked, so they will play a road game and lose to whoever they play because you know Davis and the upperclassmen would be no shows.

Literally everything that could go wrong has gone wrong for Illinois. But I'm sorry for a team like Utah St. if you can't win your garbage conference you don't deserve to go to the tourney. And further just watching Utah St. they don't look anything like a NCAA tournament team. They certainly don't have the talent and can't play as at high of a level of Minny, Illinois, etc. And yes I know if Illinois can't beat Utah and Bradley they don't deserve to go to the tourney.

Seth Davis and Greg Anthony (not that they would know) had the loser of the Pac 10 title game out. Cal has a high RPI but reminds me a lot of MVC and other mid major teams that have been left out. Decent record but not great record haven't beaten anyone and have some bad losses. Btw a great way to put the quality of the Pac 10 into perspective is that UCLA and Oregon St. both almost finished .500. Oregon St. lost by 51 to Seattle and UCLA was 3-3 against low majors.

BTW I'm going to say it again if Cal wins the Pac 10 should only get one bid. The Pac 10 is about equal with the MVC in terms of quality this year. A UCLA team that couldn't beat low majors consistently in non conference play and lost their best player finished nearly .500. Oregon and Oregon St. who are about equal with PSU and Iowa in terms of quality were very competitive. That conference is a freaking joke. Hell I'm not convinced Cal deserves to go if they lose this game. They would have one quality win on the entire season while having 3 bad losses.

Lewis Jackson injured now for Purdue. He sucks but it still hurts them.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Mar 13, 2010 -> 06:23 PM) you're crazy. He's played 3 freshman with significant minutes. They're the 2nd youngest team in the conference. I dunno how you could have expected more. They should have been a little better. Certainly no excuse for losing to Bradley and Utah.

This game is over time for CBS to switch to the Cal/Washington game. If Cal wins the Pac 10 really should only get 1 team. That league is no different than the MVC in quality this year.

I'll say this under ESPN"s ridiculous eye test, both Minny and Illinois look a lot better than teams they are being mentioned with.

QUOTE (whitesoxfan101 @ Mar 13, 2010 -> 06:03 PM) I don't trust Bruce Weber anymore after this season. They had enough talent to easily have 5 or 6 more wins right now, but for whatever reason they just didn't show effort for large portions of the season. In theory, they'll have enough talent to be really good for a long time, but Bruce has lost all of my trust because this might be the first time where one of his teams underachieved at Illinois. I guess you could make an argument for 2008, but I think they just sucked. Of course the counter to that is that he had a team without a ton of talent last year and was able to get a 5 seed.

QUOTE (whitesoxfan101 @ Mar 13, 2010 -> 05:58 PM) I sure hope you are right. For some reason, the true measure of how pathetic it was Illinois didn't make the tournament didn't hit me fully in 2008 due to the Big Ten Tournament run and the fact that the final was Illinois' last game of the season. Watching Illinois play in the NIT however would make it really hit home, I wouldn't even able to watch that. There are a lot of programs even bigger than Illinois who are not even close to the tournament this year (UConn, UNC, UCLA), but it just doesn't seem as bad for them since they have all won titles (UConn and UNC recently), or had a multi Final Four streak like UCLA did a few years back. Plus they are just better programs, and haven't missed 2 in 3 years like Illinois would. I think the difference for me is I knew that team was bad and the Big 10 tourney run was a lot of fun and a good note to go out on. This years Illinois team would have a chance to make the Sweet 16 and if the upperclassmen would play with the intensity they did today and yesterday all season long they wouldn't even be on the bubble. The only thing that makes me not really upset about this season is that with the incoming talent and the talent of the current freshmen the program is definitely on the upswing and won't be on the bubble again any time soon. Unless DMac is a dumbass and goes pro only to not get drafted.

QUOTE (whitesoxfan101 @ Mar 13, 2010 -> 05:51 PM) I don't think anybody has the quality wins Illinois does who is currently on the bubble. But 14 losses and 6 out of 8 to end the season is going to be hard to overlook, and few bubble teams have those either. The one saving grace Illinois has is all of those losses were to tournament teams, but the neutral losses to Utah and Bradley and road loss to Northwestern are just killers. I think they'll either be like the first team in or last team out, which is why I used the phrase coin toss earlier. But the problem is that if you compare Illinois just to Miss St. they have the same bad losses as Illinois without having the wins. Should they be in over Illinois because they played in the SEC West and played more bad teams over the course of the year? It will be interesting tomorrow though. I think the quality wins help Illinois and the fact that they showed today they can play with anybody in the country (Because the tourney committee head let it slip a bit that they were watching the OSU/Illinois game).

QUOTE (whitesoxfan101 @ Mar 13, 2010 -> 05:44 PM) The way the committee looks at teams like Mississippi State and Virginia Tech against a team like Illinois will determine whether or not they get in. None of us really know how they will separate such teams though. Miss St. resume really isn't close to Illinois though. Good wins are only Old Dominion and Vandy (both neutral) and they have just as many bad losses. They lost to Arkansas, RIder, Auburn, and Western Kentucky. Illinois has wins at Clemson, at Wisconsin, neutral against Wisky. All three of those wins are better than any of Miss St.'s wins. And then obviously Illinois also beat Vandy and MSU at home.

Miss St. is going to win. I still think Illinois deserves to be in over them. This is only their 2nd top 50 win this season. The more I look it the two teams resumes there is no f***ing way that Miss St. should be in over Illinois. They have just as many bad losses and fewer good wins. They just happened to face more s***ty teams than Illinois. They also got to play in the SEC west which is basically the equivalent of the Big 10 being Michigan, IU, Iowa, PSU, and NW.

QUOTE (Felix @ Mar 13, 2010 -> 05:25 PM) Damnit.. they reached double digits for the first half. 37-11 going into the break. Obviously we aren't going to shoot 62% all game, and they aren't going to shoot 19%, but if we blow this, heads should roll. Moore would have to score 30 in the 2nd half for Purdue to have a chance.

Also, I've said it before and I'll say it again. Purdue is done once this JR class is gone. Their freshmen and sophomores have very little talent and they have no big men coming in.

QUOTE (whitesoxfan101 @ Mar 13, 2010 -> 05:15 PM) I said it last year and turned out to be wrong, but I think it's very possible that the Big 10 won't have a single team in the Sweet 16. OSU is a really really good basketball team and will be a 1 or 2 seed. I would be shocked if they didn't make the Sweet 16. MSU always plays well in the tourney and they have the talent to make a deep run. Purdue will be out in the 1st round unless they have a really high seed. Wisconsin could easily make the Sweet 16. They are a damn good team with Leuer. Hell with how weak the teams outside of the top 10 are this year, Minny and Illinois would each be capable of making the Sweet 16 if they get in.

QUOTE (Felix @ Mar 13, 2010 -> 05:06 PM) Wow. Purdue looks terrible right now. I mean, the Gophers are playing well, but a lot of this is Purdue's own fault. They aren't a good team without Hummel. They will be one and done in the tourney and are probably costing themselves a few slots in seeding. There is no way I would give them a 1-3 seed if I was on the selection committee.

QUOTE (Felix @ Mar 13, 2010 -> 04:44 PM) Comparing resumes from year to year is rather pointless, given how much is dependent on other bubble teams. Oh I know, and the bubble is actually worse this year than last. It is more to show how typical Illinois's resume is for bubble teams since people were bringing up the 14 losses.

Btw look at Wisconsin's resume from last year and tell me how it clearly trumps Illinois's this year. Less quality wins, identical 10-8 finish in the Big 10, they lost to OSU in the 4-5 game of the Big 10 tournament. They did have two less losses and no real bad losses but still. There isn't a big difference between the teams resumes. http://www.kenpom.com/team.php?y=2009&team=Wisconsin

QUOTE (Rowand44 @ Mar 13, 2010 -> 04:19 PM) The rpi is ugly and the losses to Utah and Bradley could hurt. That being said, 5 rpi top 50 wins is pretty much more than all the bubble teams and having 2 of those come on the road(especially having one at Kohl) is absolutely huge and should be enough to get you guys in, imo. Two on the road, one on a neutral court and considering the selection committee probably watched that OSU game I think even losing actually helped us.