• Welcome to BradleyFans.com! Visitors are welcome, but we encourage you to sign up and register as a member. It's free and takes only a few seconds. Just click on the link to Register at the top right of the page, and follow instructions. If you have any problems or questions, click on the link at the bottom right of the page to Contact Us.

ESPN: Bradley is 101st Most Prestigious BBall Program

I find this countdown very interesting, as at least they are using objective criteria instead of just eyeballing it (which is what I'm used to seeing from ESPN). You certainly can argue that the criteria should be assigned different point values, and I do agree that the lack of schedule strength as a consideration results in some smaller programs (with consistently weak schedules) rating too high, but overall it's really interesting to see how the numbers come out.

Tornado, note that NIT bids actually count for the same amount as NCAA tournament bids. The place where an NIT doesn't make the same impact is that NIT wins don't add anything, unless you win the whole thing, whereas NCAA wins become increasingly more valuable as you advance. Honestly, I think that makes sense if you're trying to measure 'prestige' - wins in the NCAA tournament do wonders for a team's national prestige, while NIT wins don't carry the same clout. I don't think anyone was particularly impressed with Ohio State's season after they won the NIT, but a Sweet 16 run would have made more people take notice.

A postseason ban is weighted enough to totally negate three NCAA tournament bids, so it's not insignificant.
 
LOL you guys are riled up. I love it! As far as the strength of schedule goes, its not our fault that teams in our league suck. We just can line up and win a game on a given day. It's not easy to win 20 games no matter what league you are in. Now here's something I have never understood. Why is the MVC ranked so freaking high every year? I've always thought it was a bit overkill to put them in the top 5 leagues in America. Just my opinion...
 
In 2007 the MVC ended up the 6th highest rated conference, but was 5th for most of the year. They ended just barely behind the Big 12 for 5th.
http://kenpom.com/confrank.php?y=2007

The reason is not simple. Some people accuse the MVC of some sinister plot to "beat the system" or "crack the code" of the RPI. But it mainly relates to playing strong out-of-conference schedules, even if the schools have to play an inordinate number of those games on the road, and winning a share of those games.
 
ETSUfan1 said:
LOL you guys are riled up. I love it! As far as the strength of schedule goes, its not our fault that teams in our league suck. We just can line up and win a game on a given day. It's not easy to win 20 games no matter what league you are in. Now here's something I have never understood. Why is the MVC ranked so freaking high every year? I've always thought it was a bit overkill to put them in the top 5 leagues in America. Just my opinion...
Click to expand...

I'm just glad we have something to be riled up about during the summer. Makes it pass a bit quicker. Anyway, I've enjoyed the back and forth ETSUfan1... And you're right not to back down. A lot of the fans on this board have a big chip on their shoulder about the "power/BCS conferences" and bristle whenever fans from one of those teams "talk down" at us (which, btw, is certainly some of what we've been doing on here to ETSU).

I expect BU to destroy ETSU when they come to town, but anything can happen in a given game, and I'm not one to tempt the basketball gods with a whole bunch of hubris. Direct comparisons between the history, league, roster, whatever between BU and ETSU would give an "edge" to BU, but who cares? We should all love and root for our teams... And if I was an ETSU guy and read some of what's been said here, I'd stick up for my own too. So for what it's worth, I hope you: enjoy the game, have a nice stay in Peoria if you come up, and end up sorely disappointed after a major defeat. :)
 
I was going to blow this whole ETSU thing off on account of them being another MD-ES or FA-GC and ignore them. But, I noticed that ya'll went into Georgia and threw them a beating last year. I was impressed, then I realized we were talking about basketball and not football.

You ask why the MVC is rated so highly? I've a hunch you find out when your boys come to play on a Valley team's home floor in non-conference. Here's a hint, we've lost 2 games in the non-conference schedule playing at home... in 5 years.
 
And the MVC almost always has at least one, sometimes two teams that ranked throughout or at one point in every season, at least one team sometimes two at least getting to the sweet 16, and an extremely tough non-conference schedule. The MVC isn't a pushover when it comes to basketball. Our conference tournament is also a major deal in St. Louis every year, outstripping many BCS conferences in attendance figures, including the Big 10 and the ACC two years ago.
 
Gwright said:
I was going to blow this whole ETSU thing off on account of them being another MD-ES or FA-GC and ignore them. But, I noticed that ya'll went into Georgia and threw them a beating last year. I was impressed, then I realized we were talking about basketball and not football.

You ask why the MVC is rated so highly? I've a hunch you find out when your boys come to play on a Valley team's home floor in non-conference. Here's a hint, we've lost 2 games in the non-conference schedule playing at home... in 5 years.
Click to expand...

Both of those loses were last year against VCU and Mich. St.

if you go back 1 more season to the 02-03 season then it goes up to 5 loses..

going back to 2000 the number increases to 8

8 home losses against nonconf. opponents in the last 8 seasons...
 
ETSU is a low major.

Now - they are probably one of the better low-major programs out there, to be fair. I don't think it's fair to bash them too hard on their status. They hold their own. I don't think you can put them in the same category as most of the rest of the low majors.

FYI - The Valley is a perennial Top 8 league now. In any given year, we should never be worse than 9th (if the A-10 or MWC has a better year, so be it). But we're at the point that anything worse than that is a really bad year.
 
And our 1 bid last year was kind of breaking the norm for us. Usually we get at least 2 in. Usually the runner up in the tournament is strong-enough for an at large bid, but well, with ISU...I think we all saw what happened with them.
 
Stryker said:
And our 1 bid last year was kind of breaking the norm for us. Usually we get at least 2 in. Usually the runner up in the tournament is strong-enough for an at large bid, but well, with ISU...I think we all saw what happened with them.
Click to expand...

Yes...so SOME times its OK we only get one team in.:)
 
thefish7 said:
I'm just glad we have something to be riled up about during the summer. Makes it pass a bit quicker. Anyway, I've enjoyed the back and forth ETSUfan1... And you're right not to back down. A lot of the fans on this board have a big chip on their shoulder about the "power/BCS conferences" and bristle whenever fans from one of those teams "talk down" at us (which, btw, is certainly some of what we've been doing on here to ETSU).

I expect BU to destroy ETSU when they come to town, but anything can happen in a given game, and I'm not one to tempt the basketball gods with a whole bunch of hubris. Direct comparisons between the history, league, roster, whatever between BU and ETSU would give an "edge" to BU, but who cares? We should all love and root for our teams... And if I was an ETSU guy and read some of what's been said here, I'd stick up for my own too. So for what it's worth, I hope you: enjoy the game, have a nice stay in Peoria if you come up, and end up sorely disappointed after a major defeat. :)
Click to expand...


Well said.....and remember ETSU fan......dogsrus did NO trash talking so when Hector walks by you at the Civic Center and bellows "'COLD BEER HERE"....and I mean BELLOWS....kindly say. "I'll have TWO sir, one for me and another for that tall handsome man leaning against the concourse wall. :)
 
This ranking is absolutely absurd...how many of the schools on the list have had a guy who was NATIONAL player of the year in the past 25 years...I'd put at at/near the Top 50, no question.
 
Da Coach said:
It's simply because playing in the weaker conferences with weak SOS's have allowed for them to avoid losing seasons, rack up 20+ win seasons, and conference championships.

I do not mean to offend any ETSU fans, or diss their team. They will be pretty good this year, and the game at Bradley will not be an easy one. But there is no way by comparing the tradition and history of the 2 schools that anyone would rank ETSU ahead of Bradley, except by the silly contrived manner that ESPN did it which completely ignores who the teams play, and the strengths of schedules and conferences.
Click to expand...

Well, once again, this is ESPN's way of further devaluing the RPI and SOS. Of course if the ACC finishes at the top of the conference RPI standings, these same pinheads will be demanding that 11 or 12 teams out of the ACC make the NCAA tourney.

And this even after Bradley gave Virginia a tongue lashing at the CBI this year!
 
tornado said:
this blogger has found the fatal flaw...
we might call it the ETSU-flaw where teams from horribly weak conferences
get disproportionately higher ranking due to the wins they get against laughably soft competition!

This blogger is going to re-do the rankings with this particular flaw weeded out, so let's see where BU comes in now...
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/48712-the-real-prestige-rankings-introduction-and-outline
Click to expand...

This blogger's scoring system looks worse. Of course you have to have multiple factors - you just can't use the tournament as your baseline.
 
Part II now posted. This blogger put in a lot of time and effort on this, and I agree that it is a little more realistic than the ESPN ranking. He considers only teams' performances in the post-season NCAA tournament which eliminates the bias ESPN's method had toward teams in weak conferences or who played weak schedules. It still does not go back enough years to benefit teams like Bradley who had much of their success before 1985.
I am sure there will still be disagreements. My biggest gripe with the ESPN method was that it gave the same weight to a win over a weak NAIA team as it did for a win over Kansas or North Carolina.

Part II--
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/48994-the-real-prestige-rankings-part-ii

Methods--
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/48712-the-real-prestige-rankings-introduction-and-outline
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top