Early look at Midweek Games- 2/16-17

[Jet915]

It kills me that this is an elimination game for Creighton. How could they screw up their out of conference schedule so much?

In all honesty, it was the Las Vegas Tournament that screwed us over. We ended up getting Rutgers (RPI 254), UMASS (RPI 164), UTSA (RPI 346 ) and Texas Southern (RPI 216). We missed out on the one good team Clemson (RPI 89) because UMASS got unbelievably hot from 3 and beat them. Even though we won all 4 of those games, if we would not have played those games at all, our RPI would probably be 20 points better.........

[jaxalum]

It kills me that this is an elimination game for Creighton. How could they screw up their out of conference schedule so much?

In all honesty, it was the Las Vegas Tournament that screwed us over. We ended up getting Rutgers (RPI 254), UMASS (RPI 164), UTSA (RPI 346 ) and Texas Southern (RPI 216). We missed out on the one good team Clemson (RPI 89) because UMASS got unbelievably hot from 3 and beat them. Even though we won all 4 of those games, if we would not have played those games at all, our RPI would probably be 20 points better.........

So this is an elimination game for both teams? If so, what a damn shame that is. Creighton had three to five games they needed/should've won, and after seeing them defeat my Muskies last week, there is zero doubt in my mind that they are a second week talent type team in the tournament. I remember watching that Loyola game a ways back, and if I was feeling nauseous as that game unfolded, I can imagine Creighton fans felt like they were passing a few kidney stones.

I've watched quite a few Butler games this year and that fan base (and the players) have to be confused, disappointed, frustrated, baffled, and just downright pissed. They should be playing for a top 5 seed right now............ And then I looked at the OOC strength of schedule (232) which explained everything. I would have never even looked in that direction as I remember watching the Bulldogs beat a top 10 Purdue team on the road as well as a top 15 Cincy team in Cincy. I was looking for "bad" losses and you don't have any(@ Marq,@Creighton). I apologize for rehashing this as I'm sure Butler fans are aware, but I had no idea those buy games were wretched, RPI sucking abominations. Changing the bolded games to teams with under 200 RPIs would probably improve your RPI by 20 plus. Was this schedule a concern at the beginning of the season, or did the bolded teams just end up having horrific years? Butler needs to get the f#ck in as they have Elite 8 plus talent.

Conf Location Score Outcome Prob(W) Spread
11-14 The Citadel (308.7) SC H 144-71 W 100% 0.0
11-19 Missouri St. (227.8) MVC N 59-93 W 100% 0.0
11-20 Temple (74.2) Amer N 74-69 W 100% 0.0
11-22 Miami FL (10.5) ACC N 85-75 L 0% 0.0
11-28 SIU Edwardsville (308.6) OVC H 89-73 W 100% 0.0
12-2 Cincinnati (45.4) Amer A 76-78 W 100% 0.0
12-5 Indiana St. (173.1) MVC H 85-71 W 100% 0.0
12-7 VMI (330.8) SC H 93-66 W 100% 0.0
12-12 Tennessee (128.0) SEC H 94-86 W 100% 0.0
12-19 Purdue (17.7) B10 N 68-74 W 100% 0.0
12-22 Southern Utah (336.7) BSky H 88-52 W 100% 0.0
12-28 IUPUI (186.1)

[scoscox]

Butler needs to get the f#ck in as they have Elite 8 plus talent.

not really

[TrueBlueJay]

So this is an elimination game for both teams?

No.

[stever20]

It's pretty damn close to an elimination game...

Creighton bare minimum needs to get to 11 conference wins... If they lose here, they need 3 wins out of last 4- Marquette, St John's, @ PC, and @ X. Quite frankly, they probably need 4 wins- as 3 wins gets the RPI to only 69.9.
Butler needs 3 more wins. lose here, they need 3 wins out of last 4- @ Nova, @ Georgetown, Seton Hall, Marquette

[gtmoBlue]

It's pretty damn close to an elimination game...

Creighton bare minimum needs to get to 11 conference wins... If they lose here, they need 3 wins out of last 4- Marquette, St John's, @ PC, and @ X. Quite frankly, they probably need 4 wins- as 3 wins gets the RPI to only 69.9.
Butler needs 3 more wins. lose here, they need 3 wins out of last 4- @ Nova, @ Georgetown, Seton Hall, Marquette

Since the Steverrrr didn't use his signature word in this post I will lend an Assist.

If this is truly an elimination game, "sorry" to see Butler's season end so soon...they really had a lot of potential and a great non-con season (in terms of wins).
Hopefully they can get the requisite wins out of their last 4 games.

[HoosierPal]

It's pretty damn close to an elimination game...

Creighton bare minimum needs to get to 11 conference wins... If they lose here, they need 3 wins out of last 4- Marquette, St John's, @ PC, and @ X. Quite frankly, they probably need 4 wins- as 3 wins gets the RPI to only 69.9.
Butler needs 3 more wins. lose here, they need 3 wins out of last 4- @ Nova, @ Georgetown, Seton Hall, Marquette

Pretty much agree but even with 3 W's, we are still in bubble city, if we lose to Villanova. Three W's over Creighton and/or Georgetown and/or Seton Hall and/or Marquette aren't going to push the RPI all that high.

Frankly, if we can't beat Creighton at home, we don't deserve to be in the NCAA.

[murphy]

What you all don't understand about CU and BU is that if they scheduled top RPI teams in the OOC, then logic tells you that they would have lost more of those games and so entering into the conference schedule their W-L and therefore rpi
The only way you can test your theory is to look at CU and BU winning margin for the +200 RPI rated teams that they did play, Did they beat them by a lot, like +30 points, in that case then one could look back and say that a strong OOC might have put them in a better position. They scheduled light in the OOC for a reason, to win games, if they had scheduled tough, they would have lost games and had a much worse WL record. make sense ?

[kmacker69]

It's pretty damn close to an elimination game...

Creighton bare minimum needs to get to 11 conference wins... If they lose here, they need 3 wins out of last 4- Marquette, St John's, @ PC, and @ X. Quite frankly, they probably need 4 wins- as 3 wins gets the RPI to only 69.9.
Butler needs 3 more wins. lose here, they need 3 wins out of last 4- @ Nova, @ Georgetown, Seton Hall, Marquette

Since the Steverrrr didn't use his signature word in this post I will lend an Assist.

If this is truly an elimination game, "sorry" to see Butler's season end so soon...they really had a lot of potential and a great non-con season (in terms of wins).
Hopefully they can get the requisite wins out of their last 4 games.

We shall see, but It isn't an end to the season, just makes the path to the tourney really tough, to almost out of reach. Just don't come on here crying Tuesday when it doesn't come out like you want.

[jaxalum]

Butler needs to get the f#ck in as they have Elite 8 plus talent.

not really

I'll concede that Elite 8 "PLUS" may be pushing it. But they have some very impressive wins, and that Purdue game is one of the better wins in the entire OOC. UC on the road, while at the time, seemed really impressive, is none the less still a quality road win against a rival. I think with the Bulldogs, if they do get in, the matchups are more important than most. As a Xavier fan, they matchup horribly with us, just as we matchup horribly with Nova.

They weren't a top ten team accidentally, were they? And their worst loss is @ Marquette.