New RPI- on the BUbble

[NickHansenHottie]

Womack said:

New Bracketology has us facing off against Alabama which is a very winnable game and if we win we to face off ON A NUETRAL COURT AGAINST BUCKY....They better be praying they dont get that matchup on a neutral court in a do or die game against UWM who badly wants revenge on them

Ummm.... I'm pretty sure they'll be praying to play US. Let's think, a 4 seed who played quality teams all year or a 13 who hasn't beaten anyone and who they killed. Come on, we're not that good.

I think a lot of us are getting ahead of ourselves. We have to win the conference tourney first.

Wow, i sound like I hate the team, but I'm just trying to be real.

[mikeb]

about the road wins debate. here is the top teams in the category of road and neutral wins from ESPN
ROAD/NEUTRAL WARRIORS
Illinois (14-0)
Pacific (11-1)
Holy Cross (11-3)
Oral Roberts (11-4)
Boston University (10-4)
Wisconsin-Milwaukee (10-4)
North Carolina (9-3)
Utah (9-3)
Wake Forest (9-4)
Old Dominion (9-4)

so yeah, we are tied for 3rd

[bball30]

This is my favorite thread of all time......


How about the focus of conversation goes to MAKING the tournament, not what seed UWM will get, and who they will play in the second round. They are not gonna get an at large. Period. Horizon league is too weak this year for two teams to be in the dance. Not to mention, who in their right mind wants to play the badgers come tournament time? They took a team of unknown's to the Final Four.... Let's not get ahead of ourselves here. With Detroit, UIC, and Butler on the UWM side of the bracket, anything can happen even before the Horizon League title game. Let's stop thinking with our hearts, and start thinking logically here. There is still 3 more games til tourney time. Not to mention, UWM is in NO position to be disappointed at an NIT birth.... 3 postseason appearances in a row for a program that hadn't done it once in 105 years? I would take that anyday.

Go Panthers!

[Kroener3535]

if you told me that UWM makes it to three post season tournaments in the four years I have been here I would have told u that u were nuts...but after the success in recent years there are certain expectations..Bruce has made those and the fans certainly will be dissapointed with anything less than the the NCAA tourney...But I do think the NIT is not too bad, but expectations have been raised and it is a dissapointment if they dont make it...but its a testament to the program and the fact that we are on the rise

[Womack]

Exactly my point Kroener. It is thikning like the previous few posts the hold schools down. If you believe you should be happy with an NIT birth you always will be happy with an NIT birth. We are moving up in the ranks and we need all the people to believe we can win at that level....

NickHansonHottie-

First off, I dont even know where to begin......We DO have quality wins, whether you tourney committee sees it that way or not. We won at a Big 10 school at a Conference USA school, AT Manhattan, AT Hawaii...Just to mention a few. We beat Air Force at home. Just about all of those teams were post season teams last year and have strong reputations, but may be having a down year. Yes, our conference is a little weak this year but it is YOUNG and it is a good sign that we ran through it with pretty much ease....AS for the Badger matchup you have to realize we lost to them at the Kohl Center which is the toughest place to play in the nation....Neutal court do or die, I like our chances.....I know we have to look at things realistically, and I am an optimist but this is not some goal that can not be met and we certainly have the talent to get it done and thats the bottom line

[Kroener3535]

I honestly felt at the beginning of the year that our guards were much better than UW's and even with Kam Taylors improvement I still feel our guards are better and their big men are not that more skilled than ours...however...we forced things down low against them we did not hit shots and Wisconsin made us play ugly which is their key to winning I believe...but none the less I think if a game came tourney time it would be close maybe 10 or less..but Wisconsin wins...just because they do not beat themselves

[pnthr97]

Sorry Womack, but I don't see any "quality" wins for us, at least not how the committee will look at things. They won't care about tradition and what a team did last year. All they'll see is that we haven't beaten ONE SINGLE TEAM in the RPI top 100. Our strength of schedule is in the 200-220 range.

Thus, no at large bids.

Let's not jinx the team - we need to focus on Cleveland State, and then the HL tourney, with what could be two VERY difficult games.

[Hack]

bball30 and pnthr97 have it right.

UWM's RPI is in the 60s right now ... and that will go down after the Cleveland State game. No team with an RPI that high has ever received at at-large. If Utah State couldn't get in last year, what leads you to believe UWM would this year?

Plus, what do you think another loss (especially to a sub-100 RPI team) will do to that?

I seem to remember a lot of this talk last year about an at-large bid ... look where that got us.

To quote Jake Taylor from the movie "Major League" ...

WIN THE WHOLE F#CKING THING!

[WarriorFlame]

Another problem is that many mid-majors are benefitting from the new RPI formula. It's more likely that someone with a good RPI like SIU, Vermont, etc. is going to get screwed by the committee than a team like UWM getting rewarded. It will be very interesting to see how the committee looks at the new RPI formula and if they strictly follow it.

I hope you guys get in, not at the expense of UIC or Marquette, but I think your schedule has been your own worst enemy and this team is much better than it looked against UW several months ago. I do pity the #4 or #5 seed that meets up with UWM. They could have a long and disappointing afternoon/evening.

[bball30]

Hackpanther, we agreed on something

[Hack]

www.jsonline.com/sports/gen/weblogs/index.asp?id=55

From Emmett Prosser's Weblog on JSOnline:

RPI King says UWM must win tournament

Many UW-Milwaukee graduates raised more than a few glasses after the Panthers left the South Pacific with a victory over Hawaii on Saturday. While the win certainly had to impress the NCAA selection committee (the Rainbows were 12-1 at home before the loss), they shouldn’t count on an at-large bid even though they may deserve one. UW-Milwaukee’s RPI is now 62. It will almost certainly fall this week after they play Cleveland State on Saturday. The Vikings have a rating of 259.

In fact, even with 10 road victories, CollegeRPI.com guru Jerry Palm says UW-Milwaukee won't go dancing in March if they do not win the Horizon postseason tournament.

"They won't even be on the board in the selection room," Palm said. "No chance would be a better chance than what Milwaukee has if they don't win the tournament."

Considering the recent weight of the RPI in the NCAA selection process, the Panthers really don’t want to put their fate in the hands of others. Too many things can and have gone wrong in conference tournaments for schools in smaller leagues. Remember that a Steve Antrim coached UWM squad went 23-4 in 1992-'93, defeated Wisconsin in Madison and didn’t even get an NIT bid. Even when the Horizon League was the Midwestern Collegiate Conference it never got much respect. Schools like Marquette, Xavier, Evansville and St. Louis were always on the bubble. In a year when the Horizon League is down, why would it be any different this season?

Palm was quick to point out that UWM has a much easier road than most teams because they only have to win two games.

"I can't see them not winning it at home, but we see it happen every year," said Palm. "A loss at home would really hurt their RPI anyway."

For those who have faith that the Panthers will win the Horizon postseason title, Palm has projected UWM as a No. 14 seed, facing Kentucky in the first round.

[uicMayur]

Womack said:

Also, CSU is NOT a bottom feeder, and in fact they most likely will end up ahead of UIC in the standings..Its a possibility...They are right there with nearly the same record in conference as UIC...So unless you call UIC a bottom feeder I would not use that term for CSU either....

uhh, who are you kidding? Cleveland State will never be as good as UIC no matter how bad of a season UIC is having, lol. We may be an underachieving team this season, but never as low as the lowly Cleveland State. CSU has an RPI of 255 and UIC is at 134.

Just by playing CSU, let alone losing, your RPI will take a small dip (3-4 spots down). Lucky for you this is a road game so a win at CSU will be less detrimental to your RPI than a win at home vs CSU.

Please never make the horrid mistake of saying CSU is as good as UIC ever again!!!!!!!!

[Womack]

Hey Mayur its simple look at conference record....They are 6-8 and UIC is 7-7...UIC people need to get over there ego trip of thinking they are a god of a program..They are nothing more than average which is exactly what CSU is this year and will be better than average next year...UIC is NOT that good and CSU came to play this year and is steadily improving

[nohopspanther]

CSU actually has a better basketball history than UIC. Like reaching the Sweet 16.

[dutchpthr]

hhmmmmm, interesting isn't it? ;D