NBC Sports on BE Next Year

[GumbyDamnit!]

So Stever...thinks the BE will be a 2 bid league this year.

We'll get our 5 teams in.

Death.
Taxes.
Stever desperately looking for any reason to disparage the BE.

[stever20]

So Stever...thinks the BE will be a 2 bid league this year.

We'll get our 5 teams in.

i don't think it'll be 2 teams getting in, but 4 could easily happen. This year could be very much like 2014 season was where the league struggled to even get 4 teams in- Providence had to win the BET to get in and Xavier was the next to last team in the tourney. While in the last few years 9-9 and 10-8 teams have gotten in easily, that might not be the case this year at all- just like in 2014. OOC play will be absolutely crucial for teams...

[kayako]

With lower preseason ranking, the ooc probably does dictate whether we get 6 or 7 teams in, or merely 5 teams.

[herodotus]

With lower preseason ranking, the ooc probably does dictate whether we get 6 or 7 teams in, or merely 5 teams.

The ooc is always crucial. I didn't have a problem with the Hoyas sorry ooc schedule last year, because I knew the team would be bad, and saw no sense for them to schedule a 20+ loss season. This year, they need to upgrade though. How the mid level teams do ooc will largely determine the number of bids.

[adoraz]

Stever is correct, this could easily be a 4 bid year like the first we had. It'll be a struggle getting teams into the Top 25.

Fortunately we're coming off a couple strong years, and the media narrative is already setting expectations low.

I think two things are crucial:
1. Get at least 4 teams in and keep the season from getting too ugly.
2. Another team needs to join Nova in the rankings CONSISTENTLY. Over the past five years, half the league has seemed to move into and out of the rankings. Xavier is the closest to filling this void, but they're still not consistent like Nova.

[stever20]

Stever is correct, this could easily be a 4 bid year like the first we had. It'll be a struggle getting teams into the Top 25.

Fortunately we're coming off a couple strong years, and the media narrative is already setting expectations low.

I think two things are crucial:
1. Get at least 4 teams in and keep the season from getting too ugly.
2. Another team needs to join Nova in the rankings CONSISTENTLY. Over the past five years, half the league has seemed to move into and out of the rankings. Xavier is the closest to filling this void, but they're still not consistent like Nova.

Where I think you/me could be wrong in that is that I don't think there will be the situation where 2 teams have 16 and 14 wins. So I think there will be a smidge more balance than that which could help sneak a 5th team in if things bounce right.

[kayako]

With lower preseason ranking, the ooc probably does dictate whether we get 6 or 7 teams in, or merely 5 teams.

The ooc is always crucial. I didn't have a problem with the Hoyas sorry ooc schedule last year, because I knew the team would be bad, and saw no sense for them to schedule a 20+ loss season. This year, they need to upgrade though. How the mid level teams do ooc will largely determine the number of bids.

Lots of variables, but unless the forecasters are spectacularly wrong about the conference next season, it'll be tougher to make up for poor ooc play during the conference play next season. Hopefully Ed Cooley is paying attention. It wouldn't surprise me to see us at #3 or #4 in conference ranking, though.

[stever20]

saw that Lunardi will be posting updated bracketology today....

one thing saw on his twitter-
Just remember that that not all declared players were considered "gone" in our prior analysis (only those who were consensus first-rounders).

So will see some movement I would think.

[stever20]

so saw Lunardi's update
Villanova 3 E Hartford
Butler 5 MW Tulsa
Xavier 8 E Columbia(in Duke Pod)
Seton Hall 9 S Columbia(in UNC pod)
Marquette 12 S FF

Marquette 3rd team in tourney.

No one in the 1st 8 teams out of the tourney

I'd say pretty fair for all the losses.