Figured we could start a thread for next year since Joe put out his "Way Too Early" bracket. You guys will recognize Butler's opponent in Joe's first bracket. http://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/bracketology
http://m.espn.com/ncb/bracketology?iteration=199®ion=3&year=2018 Lots of time between now & March Madness.
Lunardi has Dawgs as a 9 seed although I assume this was posted before Providence loss. Jerry Palm had Butler as a 7 seed and he posted his bracket yesterday morning. Like you said, still a lot of time/basketball left, Sent from my iPhone using Butler Hoops
Maryland losing at the last second to Michigan might have hurt us ever so slightly. Would love Maryland to be a top 50 team even with the injuries.
I would hope we can remember the perspective that many of us shared prior to the season, that BU was a borderline NCAA team. This team's has performed inconsistently but was that unexpected? It seems with every, win expectations rise only to drop after every disappointing loss.
If, like me, you think that 9-9 in the BE would most likely punch a ticket, then we remain on track for that. Every game we can win on the road gives us a "pass" for a loss at home, which makes the @DePaul and @St. John's games very important. I'd prefer we take care of business in every home game we have left, but X, Creighton, Providence will all be very tough games, and the rest aren't gimmes either.
I think 8-10 will get us in if we sweep DePaul, St. John's, and Gtown. That would be zero bad L's with some good non-con wins, hopefully the only W against #1 Nova, and some solid conference wins. That should be enough of a resume from the 2nd best conference.
We will definitely get in based on the fact that we have the sixth toughest schedule in the nation we have beaten Ohio State, Nova, Marquette, Utah, Portland State, and Furman. Also our RPI is looking pretty good sitting in the twenties. My question is how we will do when we get in? Our defense has to be a lot better. I could be wrong guys but I tend to think that every time Wideman is able to produce on the offensive end, we win. Meaning if he scores more than ten a game we haven't lost. We should get him more touches early and see if that gets our outside game going.
8-10 is definitely not “definitely” in. There’d be some chance depending on who we beat and lost to, but it’d require winning at least a game in the BET, which we’ve proven is not something to count on, and even then we could still miss. Sent from my iPhone using Butler Hoops mobile app
If you look at most of our losses on Kenpom, they’re when widemans scoring under 10. Haven’t lost a game where he’s been in double digits. Sent from my iPhone using Butler Hoops mobile app
yeah, I won't feel good unless we go 9-9. And potentially still nervous if we go 9-9. Take last year--Xavier finished 9-9 and as the 7th seed in the BE tourney, meaning they had to play the 7/10 game. Obviously they took care of business in that game (and beat us at the #2 seed). Point being, if we go 9-9, end up with the 7th seed, and fall to the 10 seed in the BE tourney, I will be sweating bullets on selection Sunday. On the other hand, if 9-9 gets us the 6th seed and we lose to the 3 seed in our 1st game, I would be more confident. While 9-9 is a good benchmark, I think it will be important to get that 6th, as opposed to 7th, seed.
Good observations. My only question is about cause and effect. Does TW score because KM, KB, PJ, and SMcD are hitting their perimeter shots, thus drawing the defense out and giving TW open looks? Or is TW the catalyst for the offense? I suspect the former, which goes back to what we all have observed.......a high correlation between our perimeter shooting % and probability of winning......which is the case with any team. Re: NCAA, 9-9 BE conference finish + 1 BE tourney win seems the minimum price of entry.........unless we can get a couple more wins vs. Villanova, Xavier, Creighton, or Seton Hall. As of now, Ohio St. looks like only high quality non-con win, vs. 3 double-digit losses to power conference opponents. Thankfully, no bad losses to date, but Saturday's meeting at DePaul worries me.
Yeah, regarding Xavier: they went 9-9 and won a couple games in the BET and still almost missed (they were an 11 seed). Thinking about it that way, 8-10 doesn’t get it done without at least two big east tourney wins and even then it could be a miss. Sent from my iPhone using Butler Hoops mobile app
Utah was looking like a decent non-con win (albeit at home) until they started getting smoked recently in PAC12 play. Hopefully they turn it around enough to at least be a borderline top 50 RPI win.
I keep asserting the same boring thing about this team: if we get 6 made threes a game from McD and PJ combined everything else opens up for everyone else — KM can’t be doubled, Kamar has more open drives, Wideman has more space. This team will transform into a truly dangerous team if McD and PJ can start shooting effectively on the road. Otherwise, we need to 50+ from KM and Kamar and some luck to beat any team in the league. Sent from my iPhone using Butler Hoops
