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I took some time to rank this season's Exempt tourneys that the Big East teams are playing this season.

http://whiteandbluereview.com/ranking-t ... urnaments/

Some are pretty strong with a lot of opportunities, while others are a little to be desired.

I would put Marquette's tournament ahead of Villanova's easily.

Michigan projected in latest ESPN bracketology as a 5 seed.
SMU as a 6 seed
Pittsburgh not projected in tournament- but will be a top 100 type of team almost surely

guaranteed to play Michigan and SMU or Pittsburgh.

that's better than a possible Western Michigan/Wake Forest/Miss St line. light years better.

I just don't think that you should automatically put the 2/2 format games behind all 3/1 formats. There isn't that much of a difference playing a Western Michigan or a IUPUI. Looking last year- W Michigan was #183 in Ken Pom and IUPUI was #203. But there is a gigantic difference between Michigan/SMU-Pittsburgh vs Wake Forest/Miss St.

stever20 wrote:I would put Marquette's tournament ahead of Villanova's easily.

Michigan projected in latest ESPN bracketology as a 5 seed.
SMU as a 6 seed
Pittsburgh not projected in tournament- but will be a top 100 type of team almost surely

guaranteed to play Michigan and SMU or Pittsburgh.

that's better than a possible Western Michigan/Wake Forest/Miss St line. light years better.

I just don't think that you should automatically put the 2/2 format games behind all 3/1 formats. There isn't that much of a difference playing a Western Michigan or a IUPUI. Looking last year- W Michigan was #183 in Ken Pom and IUPUI was #203. But there is a gigantic difference between Michigan/SMU-Pittsburgh vs Wake Forest/Miss St.

That is a fair assessment. I didn't necessarily plan on the 2/2 format games to fall to the bottom, it sort of happened that way. However, I had a really hard time putting any of those ahead of even Villanova's Charleston Classic because ALL of those teams in that field are below the 200 range. While Villanova might not have "great" games in that tourney, they are all solid opponents. Although not their choice, Marquette playing Howard as one of their home games sort of cancels one of the 2 they get in NYC. Villanova should get 4 quality games out of Charleston. Marquette will only get 2-3. Now, if Villanova loses a game in Charleston, then I can see it being a different story.

wildjays wrote:

stever20 wrote:I would put Marquette's tournament ahead of Villanova's easily.

Michigan projected in latest ESPN bracketology as a 5 seed.
SMU as a 6 seed
Pittsburgh not projected in tournament- but will be a top 100 type of team almost surely

guaranteed to play Michigan and SMU or Pittsburgh.

that's better than a possible Western Michigan/Wake Forest/Miss St line. light years better.

I just don't think that you should automatically put the 2/2 format games behind all 3/1 formats. There isn't that much of a difference playing a Western Michigan or a IUPUI. Looking last year- W Michigan was #183 in Ken Pom and IUPUI was #203. But there is a gigantic difference between Michigan/SMU-Pittsburgh vs Wake Forest/Miss St.

That is a fair assessment. I didn't necessarily plan on the 2/2 format games to fall to the bottom, it sort of happened that way. However, I had a really hard time putting any of those ahead of even Villanova's Charleston Classic because ALL of those teams in that field are below the 200 range. While Villanova might not have "great" games in that tourney, they are all solid opponents. Although not their choice, Marquette playing Howard as one of their home games sort of cancels one of the 2 they get in NYC. Villanova should get 4 quality games out of Charleston. Marquette will only get 2-3. Now, if Villanova loses a game in Charleston, then I can see it being a different story.

The thing is, the way the committee did it last year- and have to think about it going forward- games vs the good teams counted a lot more last year than in prior years. The committee last year looked more favorably on a team who beat Howard and SMU a lot more than a team who beat 2 150 level teams.