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Post by Pantherholic on Jan 15, 2019 20:26:28 GMT -6
"Institutional support" seemingly is they won't get in the way of what Braun wants to do but that's about it. The fundraising campaign the university has had going for 5.5 years with athletics being left to fend for itself speaks volumes over what they view as priorities.
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Post by tom22 on Feb 2, 2019 0:11:46 GMT -6
The Lost Horizon League is, as of this writing, 2-12 against the top 100 teams as ranked by kenpom. One of these wins was against #97 Toledo. The "better" win (by IUPUI) was against #71 BC -- which is picked to finish 12th in the 14 team ACC. I count about 19 more opportunities for LHL teams to play top 100 teams. There may be a few more in tournaments that I'm not familiar with. (For example, if Milwaukee beats Buffalo in Belfast, it would likely play San Francisco, a top 100 team. If it loses it would likely play Stephen F. Austin, which is not.) So just to get to a dismal .333 record against top 100 teams, the LHL would need to go at least 9-10 in those 19 games. Don't bet your paycheck on that. Once league play starts, of course, there will be no more chances for any league team to get a top 100 win. In fact, there are still no LHL teams ranked in the top third of all college teams (117 or better) much less top 100. This isn't a "glass half empty/glass half full" comparison. The best you can say about the Lost Horizon glass is that it seems to have a sticky wet residue of something unpleasant at the bottom. The practical meaning of this is that the LHL is now many leagues away from being a multi-bid league under any circumstances. And just as a rising tide lifts all boats, a receding tide leaves them beached. Butler and Loyola and Valpo saw it coming and positioned themselves -- and had the administrative competence to make it happen. We didn't. Another win for an Horizon League team over a Top 100 ranked team happened yesterday. IUPUI beat Northern Kentucky. Not sure what NKY’s KenPom ranking was prior to the game - but after the game, they had a #90 ranking. That is IUPUI’s second win of the year over a team ranked in the top 100 when they played. Boston College was ranked somewhere in the 80’s I believe when IUPUI beat them back earlier in the season. Now they’ve beaten NKY which currently is ranked #90. Proved to be untrue that no Horizon League teams would get a chance to beat another Top 100 team once the League play started. Congrats to the Jags!
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Post by tom22 on Feb 2, 2019 0:21:55 GMT -6
^^ Actually, Boston College was #71 back in November when IUPUI beat them, according to the post copied above.
Current KenPom rankings for Horizon League teams After games of Friday Feb 1, 2019:
Northern Kentucky 90 Wright State 156 IUPUI 173 Detroit 200 Green Bay 203 UIC 209 Oakland 212 Youngstown State 281 Milwaukee 282 Cleveland State 287
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Post by tom22 on Feb 2, 2019 0:25:18 GMT -6
You have to believe that the top 3 are Northern Kentucky, Wright State and UIC! After that, it's wide open! Not seeming quite as cut and dry anymore.
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SRT4driver
Junior
We Are MILWAUKEE! And I'm all about accountability, unlike '5th Placer' Jeter apologists.
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Post by SRT4driver on Feb 3, 2019 13:30:54 GMT -6
The Lost Horizon League is, as of this writing, 2-12 against the top 100 teams as ranked by kenpom. One of these wins was against #97 Toledo. The "better" win (by IUPUI) was against #71 BC -- which is picked to finish 12th in the 14 team ACC. I count about 19 more opportunities for LHL teams to play top 100 teams. There may be a few more in tournaments that I'm not familiar with. (For example, if Milwaukee beats Buffalo in Belfast, it would likely play San Francisco, a top 100 team. If it loses it would likely play Stephen F. Austin, which is not.) So just to get to a dismal .333 record against top 100 teams, the LHL would need to go at least 9-10 in those 19 games. Don't bet your paycheck on that. Once league play starts, of course, there will be no more chances for any league team to get a top 100 win. In fact, there are still no LHL teams ranked in the top third of all college teams (117 or better) much less top 100. This isn't a "glass half empty/glass half full" comparison. The best you can say about the Lost Horizon glass is that it seems to have a sticky wet residue of something unpleasant at the bottom. The practical meaning of this is that the LHL is now many leagues away from being a multi-bid league under any circumstances. And just as a rising tide lifts all boats, a receding tide leaves them beached. Butler and Loyola and Valpo saw it coming and positioned themselves -- and had the administrative competence to make it happen. We didn't. Another win for an Horizon League team over a Top 100 ranked team happened yesterday. IUPUI beat Northern Kentucky. Not sure what NKY’s KenPom ranking was prior to the game - but after the game, they had a #90 ranking. That is IUPUI’s second win of the year over a team ranked in the top 100 when they played. Boston College was ranked somewhere in the 80’s I believe when IUPUI beat them back earlier in the season. Now they’ve beaten NKY which currently is ranked #90. Proved to be untrue that no Horizon League teams would get a chance to beat another Top 100 team once the League play started. Congrats to the Jags! *NKU. Not NKY. Excellent post though!
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Post by ghostofdylan on Feb 3, 2019 19:23:24 GMT -6
I wonder who they'll get to play the halftime show at Motor City Malaise?
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Post by steveisback on Feb 4, 2019 10:07:05 GMT -6
Too bad Tiny Tim passed away......
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Post by ghostofdylan on Feb 4, 2019 17:57:22 GMT -6
Like Adam Levine, the halftime singer will be performing shirtless! Unfortunately, the performer will be Meat Loaf!!!
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Post by skrapheap on Feb 4, 2019 21:25:13 GMT -6
Like Adam Levine, the halftime singer will be performing shirtless! Unfortunately, the performer will be Meat Loaf!!! Ha. I have it on good authority that while Meat Loaf will do anything for love, he won’t do that.
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Post by Pantherholic on Feb 5, 2019 8:11:49 GMT -6
Like Adam Levine, the halftime singer will be performing shirtless! Unfortunately, the performer will be Meat Loaf!!! UPDATE: Meat Loaf charges a fee so the league cannot afford him. Your new halftime singer is beetloaf!
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Post by BBFran on Mar 6, 2019 12:56:30 GMT -6
A (near) final update. Collectively, the Lost Horizon League achieved exactly three wins over top 100 teams for the entire season per Kenpom: WSU beat #53 Toledo; GB beat #51 Belmont; and IUPUI beat #99 Boston College. Obviously, that also means that the BC win by the Jaguars was the ONLY win by any LHL team over a high major.
No intraleague games helped this dismal record because the highest ranked team in the league, Northern Kentucky, is now #106. WSU is #122. It's theoretically possible but unlikely that one or the other could scrape into the top 100 by winning the HLT. Whoever wins the tournament will possibly get to play a top 100 team in the NCAA tournament. I say possibly because if the HLT winner is not N Ky or WSU, our representative will almost certainly play in the First Four against a team with a +100 ranking.
The bottom line is that unless the HLT winner makes a miraculous run in the tournament (which this year would be defined as winning a single game in the round of 64), the entire league will have achieved only 3 top 100 wins and one high major win this season. (By the way, it might end up as 2 top 100 wins; BC could easily slip depending on what happens in the next week.)
Thank you, Commissioner Lecrone!
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