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RPI & NET

Bradley remains at NET #63 today.
MVC NET rankings- https://www.warrennolan.com/basketball/2023/conference/Missouri-Valley

If Bradley can win their last 4 games, it's likely their NET would drop into the 50s.
Is that enough to get an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament?
I hope I am wrong, but I think the answer will probably be no. Bradley had a relatively strong non-conference schedule which helped their NET. But, their record in Quadrant 1 games is 0-5.
Last year, Xavier was snubbed with an NET of 37, Dayton got snubbed with an NET rank of 46, and SMU was snubbed with an NET of 52.
 
We probably want Indiana St to win out and have a shot at getting to a Net of 75. That would give us a Quad 1 win correct? At this point, I’d be happy with an NIT bid (maybe we could host one game) if we don’t win Arch Madness.
 
I can only see us getting an NCAA tourney At-Large invitation...unless we win all our game except the MVC final, but that will be a VERY tall order.
I think we need to win 4 more games (at least 1 in Arch Madness) to have a shot at the NIT.

5 more wins (probably NET around 50) should definitely get us in - maybe even a home game??
 
While NET does mean something, NET propped up by losses to strong teams means nothing, which is a large part of BU's NET this year. Without an actual Q1 win I think BU could have a NET of 25 and still not get an at large bid.
 
While NET does mean something, NET propped up by losses to strong teams means nothing, which is a large part of BU's NET this year. Without an actual Q1 win I think BU could have a NET of 25 and still not get an at large bid.

I agree, Stryker. The NCAA has no love for mid-majors and unless you're Gonzaga or St. Mary's, you better have about 26+ wins to get consideration if there's no Q1 wins in your bucket.
 
I can only see us getting an NCAA tourney At-Large invitation...unless we win all our game except the MVC final, but that will be a VERY tall order.
I think we need to win 4 more games (at least 1 in Arch Madness) to have a shot at the NIT.

5 more wins (probably NET around 50) should definitely get us in - maybe even a home game??

I think it's possible in that scenario, but we'd also need help from the top teams in other conferences. We cannot afford to have the top teams get upset by a team that would not deserve an at-large. Every year that leads to extra teams getting into the tournament and eating up the few available at-large bids.
 
I think it's possible in that scenario, but we'd also need help from the top teams in other conferences. We cannot afford to have the top teams get upset by a team that would not deserve an at-large. Every year that leads to extra teams getting into the tournament and eating up the few available at-large bids.

As long as we get 10 Big 10 teams. That's what everyone wants, after all!
 
I agree, Stryker. The NCAA has no love for mid-majors and unless you're Gonzaga or St. Mary's, you better have about 26+ wins to get consideration if there's no Q1 wins in your bucket.

i don't know how Gonzaga could still be considered a mid-major. Their schedule pre conference was as tough as anyone's schedule. They are a legit college team regardless of conference.
 
I can’t recall the MVC as a conference, having a lower NET ranking. Having six teams in the MVC that can’t crack into the top 200 is appalling. As a conference we are now behind the WCC, American, C-USA, WAC, A-10, Ivy (yes even the Ivy League) and Sun Belt. We are barely ahead of the Big West that is home to Jim Les’, Cal-Davis.
 
i don't know how Gonzaga could still be considered a mid-major. Their schedule pre conference was as tough as anyone's schedule. They are a legit college team regardless of conference.

The term mid-major has nothing to do with strength of schedule. It's teams that aren't part of the power conferences.
 
I can’t recall the MVC as a conference, having a lower NET ranking. Having six teams in the MVC that can’t crack into the top 200 is appalling. As a conference we are now behind the WCC, American, C-USA, WAC, A-10, Ivy (yes even the Ivy League) and Sun Belt. We are barely ahead of the Big West that is home to Jim Les’, Cal-Davis.

The conference is definitely in a sad state. Even BU, one of the top teams in the league, does not have a roster that passes the eye test against a power team imo. For instance, the 07-08' BU team would, in my opinion, stomp all over the current BU team, despite their 17 losses that year. The quality of players across the league has fallen over the past decade imo.

Valparaiso, UIC, Loyola (I know they are gone now) outside of 5-6 yrs, and Evansville are just terrible programs historically. Belmont and Murray St. are good programs but 15 years ago I would not have wanted them in the MVC as they were small conference schools, not really even mid-major. The MVC has lost Wichita, Creighton, Loyola (That I wasn't happy with joining the MVC in the first place, I think we got lucky they caught lightning in a bottle), and those solid teams got replaced with programs that are far, far worse. Combine this with historically mid-strong programs like BU, SIU, MoState etc being relatively down over the last decade, and here we are, the 15th best conference. The MVC should be a top 10 conference year to year imo. It is not that now.

I think the conference can improve and be decent in the future. Drake seems to be on a positive trend overall over the years, and ISUblue has been solid as well. There is no reason to think BU, SIU, MoState, & UNI will diminish anytime soon. Belmont, Murray St, and ISU should be better in the future as well. So there is hope the conference will continue to get stronger. I think the MVC will improve from here.

It is also hard dealing with the transfer and NIL rules. Once things normalize a bit on those fronts I think the MVC schools will gain some ground again as well.
 
I hope Bradley can keep the program where it is now, if not improve it. Because of football, conference realignment is occurring more and more. It may not be long until schools like ISU-Red, MOST, SIU and UNI are courted by or seek to join conferences such as C-USA or the Sun Belt for football reasons. Right now none of their programs would be embarrassed in those leagues. When or if that time ever comes, we need to be sure our BU program is strong enough to have good options. Winning as we are this year can do that.
 
The conference is definitely in a sad state. Even BU, one of the top teams in the league, does not have a roster that passes the eye test against a power team imo. For instance, the 07-08' BU team would, in my opinion, stomp all over the current BU team, despite their 17 losses that year. The quality of players across the league has fallen over the past decade imo.

I feel that this year's team is just as good as the '07-08 team, and quite a bit better than the 2019-'20 team that was pretty good.
We are deeper, have better inside play on defense and offense, better coached (IMO). Heck - Ja'Shon Henry, who has had a great career, comes off the bench!

I didn't have the luxury of seeing even 1/4 of the games in '08 though...but I've watched the majority of the Braves games in the past 6-7 seasons to believe this is the best team we've had in that span.
And we're comparing 3 sophomore guards this year who haven't reached their peak to 2-3 seniors on that team.

I'm not sure anyone could argue that year's team is up there with the 1996 team, or the 2006 Sweet 16 team, but they are one of the better teams all around in the past 20 seasons for the program.

Agree with you Stryker that the quality of the teams for sure has declined in the league, and the middle pack teams this year (Mo St., UNI, Murray) are not really that much of a threat to win Arch Madness with the frontrunners Drake and Bradley not as strong as past Valley champs IMO. BUT both teams are DANGEROUS and would hate to be a power-house and have to play them in the NCAA tournament!
 
Bradley's NET stayed at #63 for a few days, but yesterday's games resulted in Bradley dropping down to #66.
https://www.ncaa.com/rankings/basketball-men/d1/ncaa-mens-basketball-net-rankings

Drake- #72
Indiana St.- #92
Belmont- #118
SIU- #122
Missouri St.- #157
UNI- #210
Murray St.- #214
Illinois State- #271
Valparaiso- #281
UIC- #290
Evansville- #346

Bradley's NET is down to #62 this morning-
https://www.ncaa.com/rankings/basketball-men/d1/ncaa-mens-basketball-net-rankings

NET for MVC teams as of 2/20/23
Bradley #62
Drake- #72
Indiana St.- #93
Belmont- #119
SIU- #124
Missouri St.- #157
UNI- #210
Murray St.- #213
Illinois State- #271
Valparaiso- #282
UIC- #289
Evansville- #346
 
Hadn't paid too much attention to NET this season, but man, half the MVC teams have a NET above #200. No wonder the conference is #15. Have to think UNI, Murray St. and ISU will improve on their numbers soon.
 
Just curious - do you think MVC leadership is putting any pressure on Evansville to turn it around in basketball? They have not been competitive in years and even the women's team has been at the bottom of the conference several years recently (I understand BU women's is there this year). This year in MBB especially, UE is ranked as one of the 20 worst D1 programs and is really dragging down the entire conference (especially without LUC offsetting it with a high NET ranking).

Do you think the MVC would ever ask Evansville to leave the conference if they remain this uncompetitive in the two major revenue sports? Or is that something that just does not happen unless there are disciplinary issues or a lack of institutional control?
 
What’s shocking to me is as of the last week or so Evansville was number two in the conference in home attendance, and number one among teams that were in the conference last year. Imagine if they were good? They are horrible and have been bad for years and it’s that good still? I want to know what they do to get people to games.
 
They shocked the world a few years ago beating #1 Kentucky and then their coach became embroiled in a sexual harassment scandal. If that didn’t happen who knows.
 
What’s shocking to me is as of the last week or so Evansville was number two in the conference in home attendance, and number one among teams that were in the conference last year. Imagine if they were good? They are horrible and have been bad for years and it’s that good still? I want to know what they do to get people to games.

I think they sold a lot of season tickets (probably at a discount) with the coaching change. They have 4400 or so listed as the attendance for nearly every game, but most games only have half that number actually show up.
 
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