ESPN Bubble Watch

49ers Basketball Forum 🏀
1

Tid Bit on ESPN.com

[URL=http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/bubblewatch?id=64][COLOR=black]http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/bubblewatch?id=64[/COLOR][/URL]

Atlantic 10 Conference[B]Work left to do:[/B] [URL=http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/clubhouse?teamId=227][U][COLOR=#000000]Rhode Island[/COLOR][/U][/URL], [URL=http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/clubhouse?teamId=113][U][COLOR=#000000]Massachusetts[/COLOR][/U][/URL], [URL=http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/clubhouse?teamId=2184][U][COLOR=#000000]Duquesne[/COLOR][/U][/URL], [URL=http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/clubhouse?teamId=2603][U][COLOR=#000000]Saint Joseph’s[/COLOR][/U][/URL], [URL=http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/clubhouse?teamId=2429][U][COLOR=#000000]Charlotte[/COLOR][/U][/URL]

[URL=http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/conference?confId=3][U][COLOR=#000000][/COLOR][/U][/URL]Despite some surprising results, it still appears that Xavier and Dayton, with their sub-20 RPIs, are in the best shape. This league is getting at least two bids, so they stay locked despite losses. After that, things are a bit muddled. Rhode Island sinks down a bit, UMass steps up, and Charlotte is making a push. [COLOR=#48306e][B]Work left to do:[/B][/COLOR]
[B][URL=http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/clubhouse?teamId=227][U][COLOR=#000000]Rhode Island[/COLOR][/U][/URL] [15-3 (1-2), RPI: 17, SOS: 88][/B] The Rams held off Duquesne with a last-second bucket but then got shut down in a disappointing loss at Saint Louis to drop a level as other pieces move around them. The nonconference wins over Syracuse and Providence will help, but will the Rams rue letting one get away at BC? They still have a solid RPI, despite a questionable SOS. The next two – home to GW and at St. Bonaventure – loom as games the Rams should get.
[B][URL=http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/clubhouse?teamId=113][U][COLOR=#000000]Massachusetts[/COLOR][/U][/URL] [12-4 (1-1), RPI: 21, SOS: 23][/B] UMass had only one game this week, but it was a big win at Dayton to get the Minutemen right back in the at-large mix. Like Rhode Island, UMass beat Syracuse. Unlike the Rams, the Minutemen also beat BC and Houston. The next four are home to Charlotte, at Saint Joseph’s, home to Xavier and at Duquesne, so we’ll continue to find out more about UMass in the next couple of weeks.
[B][URL=http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/clubhouse?teamId=2184][U][COLOR=#000000]Duquesne[/COLOR][/U][/URL] [11-4 (1-1), RPI: 44, SOS: 81][/B] That was a heartbreaking loss at Rhode Island last weekend, because the Dukes are heading into a stretch of games that is very manageable. If they can get past Fordham at Rose Hill this weekend, they’re home for three (Bona, GW and UMass) and then at Bona. The Dukes don’t have any great wins and or bad losses. The nonconference defeats are at Drake by four, to Pitt (when fully healthy) by five and at West Virginia where they got rocked, but so do most teams.
[B][URL=http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/clubhouse?teamId=2603][U][COLOR=#000000]Saint Joseph’s[/COLOR][/U][/URL] [9-5 (2-1), RPI: 46, SOS: 66][/B] The Hawks’ momentum slowed Wednesday night in a close loss at Charlotte. Now they must deal with two Big 5 games wrapped around an important home game against UMass. They already won in Amherst, so this would be an important early-season sweep. Saint Joe’s has one of the toughest collection of nonleague Ls in the land. Two were in OT (vs. Gonzaga and at Creighton) and two others were last-possession defeats (at Syracuse and vs. Holy Cross). The back half of the league slate is very difficult, so the Hawks need to continue to make hay in January.
[URL=http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/clubhouse?teamId=2429][U][COLOR=darkgreen][B]Charlotte[/B][/COLOR][/U][/URL][B][COLOR=darkgreen] [11-5 (2-0), RPI: 95, SOS: 149][/COLOR][COLOR=darkgreen] No one has played more than three league games, and the 49ers are the league’s only unbeaten team at 2-0. The up-and-down nonconference performance is why the RPI is where it is. Wins over Clemson, Wake Forest, Davidson and Southern Illinois are offset by a series of losses that range from so-so (Maryland and Tulsa) to bad (Hofstra and Monmouth??). The game Saturday at UMass is huge, as the three after that are at La Salle and then home to Fordham and Richmond, so there are wins to be had. Expect the 49ers to make a strong push in the next couple of weeks.[/COLOR][/B]

2

6-0 to start conference play would be amazing. I hope we play well tomorrow and pull out a W on the road and then beat the weaker teams that we SHOULD beat.

3

Coming in this year, I didnt really know what to expect but 11-5 is probably more than what alot of us was expecting. But it just kills me that as good as we play against Clemson, Wake, SIU, St. Joes.,etc we cant pull out the “gimme games” i.e. Monmouth and Hoftra. 13-3 just sounds alot better and with that record another loss or two is not back-breaking. However, I think if we win this game with Mass., the next couple are easily winnable as well. I am excited about it and hope we can pull these out and at least get to 20 wins.

4

As good as the A-10 is this year, if we keep our position all year, we will not be on the bubble.

However, if we slip below 2nd, we may end up with a team that finished below us in conference getting in ahead of us.

5

If UMD is listed as so-so in the L Dept., then the writer obviously isn’t a BCS Bandwagoner, or else that would be a good L.

6

Wow, bubble talk. That feels good. Haven’t been there in a couple years. I hope it keeps up!

7

can we ban any further reference to monmouth and hofstra on the board. we lost to both of them. our guys were cutting their teeth. the losses pull our rpi down. we shudda killed 'em. but they beat us one day early on. now let’s focus on umass and beyond!

8
can we ban any further reference to monmouth and hofstra on the board. we lost to both of them. our guys were cutting their teeth. the losses pull our rpi down. we shudda killed 'em. but they beat us one day early on. now let's focus on umass and beyond!

Yeah… what he said.

9

I really think this is our make or break game. If we can steal a victory at UMASS, not only would that boost our RPI with another quality road W, but we’ll be at least 2 games up on Rhode Island and either Dayton or Xavier (the two play on 1/24). I’m hoping we win out at Halton and go .500 on the road, which would result in a 20 win season.

10

a W vs. umass would be huge. so let’s stop the negativity and start sending enormous, throbbing waves of niner energy into the bb cosmos. it will surely return to us sometime in the next several days… not sure exactly when since the dad-gumed scoreboard to the left still hasn’t been fixed!

11

Don’t forget… the Selection Committee will sometimes penalize a team a little less for early season losses vs losses that occur later in the season.

12

all the more reason to move on!!!

13

Agreed the Umass game is huge for what it can set us up for.
Dont forget we can still get into the tourney if we win the A-10 tourney. Granted we havn’t played good in the conf tourney in the past, but at least this time we wont meet the team hosting the tourney in the first round e.g Memphis, Xavier …

14

[QUOTE=Over40NINER;286156]Don’t forget… the Selection Committee will sometimes penalize a team a little less for early season losses vs losses that occur later in the season.[/QUOTE]

True. We still need an impressive conference record to climb up the RPI.

15

[QUOTE=ck49er06;286139]“gimme games” [/QUOTE]

Say it three times…

There is no such thing as a gimme game…
There is no such thing as a gimme game…
There is no such thing as a gimme game…

Ok - I feel much better now.