WHO'S EXCITED FOR PILOT'S ON SUNDAY!!!

I wish I had a camera with me for the St. Mary's-Gonzaga game. Patty's hand was really swollen. I think it's probably pretty tender and will be for a while yet. The soft tissue damage hasn't healed yet.

Pilot's possible first game in Wyoming on Wednesday and against Wyoming(not sure). Don't ask how I know just wait until Sunday night and either laugh at me or knight me "Sir Mesa".

MesaPilot1

athleticjames wrote:I agree with Rochin, most of the ESPN guys have SMC being one of the last 4 teams in. Using the EWU game to showcase that Mills is back is risky at best. Even with a win that game would cause SMC's RPI to drop further down that it was after the loss to Gonzaga. SMC's RPI rose 10 spots to #45 after their victory over us in the WCC tourney, but, I'm assuming that it's dropped a bit since then... Adding EWU weakens what was already a weak strength of schedule for their RPI. IMO that was a bad move.

RPI isn't the only thing the committe considers. It's more of a screening device and rough guidline. It's not even one of the top three things the committee looks at. Again, they can take the Mills injury into account when making their decision. I don't think the EWU game hurts them at all. The committee doesn't blindly look at RPI's. They consider everything, they look at the whole picture. If they would have lost the game or if it had been close, that would be a different story. If Mills played poorly, which he didn't, that may have been a factor.

I keep coming back to the Utah State win. I really think this will be a big win that will help the Gaels tremendously, and could be the difference. Without that win, they don't really have a big time non-conference win, but that was a big win. They also beat them without Mills if I remember correctly. That makes it that much more impressive.

While I agree it will be close because of the recent tournament results, I stand by my precition that SMC will be in the NCAA tournament, and that if someone else gets bumped, it won't be them.

I wish you had seen it on Puter feed (which was good shockingly) it looked like he had surgery about a week before. Man, it looked like a body part in a horror movie. People wonder why the guy can't shoot as well,most people would still be wearing a hard cast for another 2-4 weeks.

DR.MesaPilot1(I'm not a real Dr., I just play one on TV)lol....

Bubble teams that should be worried

This is as of this morning. They do mention St Marys at the end.

Lunardi actually has SMC all the way up as an 11 seed... I feel sorry for whatever 6 seed gets that matchup...

Mississippi State just won, which takes away an at large for someone.

Oh man... SMC is going to be sweating.

As for the at large seedings... it's actually pretty rare for an at large to get a seed lower than 11 or 12. Pretty much all the 13-16 seeds are all small conference tournament winners.

With Davidson out, ESPN needs a small school with a flashy player to overhype.... All these mediocre teams from big conferences getting in is kinda painful..

Well the thing that sucks... MSU winning means one deserving mid-major will be out. Maybe SMC. Maybe Creighton. Maybe someone else. I don't know.

But Tennessee didn't even try at the end of the game... it was almost like a gentleman's agreement between Bruce Pearl and the MSU coach to let the SEC (which has been terrible this year) get another team in. Really, truly pathetic.

Stonehouse wrote:Mississippi State just won, which takes away an at large for someone.

Oh man... SMC is going to be sweating.

As for the at large seedings... it's actually pretty rare for an at large to get a seed lower than 11 or 12. Pretty much all the 13-16 seeds are all small conference tournament winners.

Great point Stone. When I saw SMC as a #12 seed, I initially thought there's no way they're not getting in...

As I later looked closer at the 13-16 seeds, I noticed they are almost all automatic bids. So yeah, you can be penciled in as an 11 or 12 seed one minute, and with the result of one or two tournament games, be on the outside looking in the next minute.

I still think they're going to make it, but it looks like it may be by the skin of their teeth. I just think it will be more of a qualitative thing thany anything. AS DTR mentioned they are the kind of story the NCAA likes. A very small school with a great player who has experienced some adversity, and a team that had to learn to play without him, and is now adjusting to play with him. They are also a team that is dangerous enough to win a couple games and possibly be a sweet 16 Cinderalla story.

Look at how many high ranked teams bowed out early in their tournaments. BECAUSE THEY DON'T MATTER. They will get in anyway; why expend energy in the conf. tourney? So several undeserving big conf teams (USC, MSU, . . .) are in, and the little guys are out. I guess I understand why a tournament makes sense for basketball, but this kind of behavior is why I will never support a tournament for football. Every game should count!


I noticed an article saying conf. tourney attendance is down, suggesting the bad economy is at fault. How about the games don't mean anything for most teams! Who would pay to attend the Big-10 tournament, when the only teams on the bubble are in 8th or 9th place?

up7587 wrote:Look at how many high ranked teams bowed out early in their tournaments. BECAUSE THEY DON'T MATTER. They will get in anyway; why expend energy in the conf. tourney? So several undeserving big conf teams (USC, MSU, . . .) are in, and the little guys are out. I guess I understand why a tournament makes sense for basketball, but this kind of behavior is why I will never support a tournament for football. Every game should count!


I noticed an article saying conf. tourney attendance is down, suggesting the bad economy is at fault. How about the games don't mean anything for most teams! Who would pay to attend the Big-10 tournament, when the only teams on the bubble are in 8th or 9th place?

Football is a very different situation. We're not talking about 64 teams. We're not talking about conference tournaments. Thie issue in football is that people want to see it decided on the field. I think most college football fans would be happy with a final four or even a plus 1 situation would be a big improvement over the current set up. You never have any disputes in basketball about who the ultimate champion is because it's decided on the court. The arguments about who gets into the dance really have no effect on who the ultimate champion is. The BCS system is ridiculous and we need some sort of +2 or +1 situation, but I agree that what makes college football special is that every Saturday means so much, and it should stay that way. I dont think a +1 or fianl four situation in college football would dilute the meaning of every Saturday being crucial. I would be in favor of taking the four major bowl winners and having a final four of college football. It would require only two more weeks, 3 at the most if you gave them an extra week off, and it would only affect four schools.

I agree with the sentiments about conference tourneys, they pretty much give an opportunity to award mediocrity... I mean teams like UW and Mich St. stand to gain nothing by winning the conference tourney, they both knew they would be in the 2-4 seed regardless of how they did in the tourney, and honestly the difference between those isn't THAT significant. By bowing out early they almost save themselves for the tourney that actually matters and don't risk injury. I guess the only fix for that would be to make the conference tourneys be for the top 4 teams or something like that. If anything the conference stuff helps sort out seeding to a certain extent, but other than that it's an opportunity to extract $$$ for tickets, advertising, etc...

I mean don't get me wrong, I like the excitement... BUT for USC to be able to declare themselves Pac 10 champs andmake the tourney?? I mean for gosh darn sakes they lost to OSU....

Well, in '96 WE were one of those teams that won the conference tourney and came in the back door.

It seemed pretty nice, then.

Regarding conference tournaments, I agree that there are sometimes injustices that occur, like with the current USC situation.

But I think it's a situation that has pluses and minuses, and you have to weigh the net results. To me, the overriding reason that I am in favor of conference tournaments, especially for the mid-major and smaller conferences, is that it gives people hope and something to aim for as the season progresses. Think how boring our conference would be if we didn't have the tournament. We all know Gonzaga is going to win the regular season title just about every year. It gives a second team from our conference hope, and I'm all for hope. Otherwise, you lose a couple games in the regular season, and your season is basically over.

http://blog.oregonlive.com/behindbeaversbeat/2009/03/portland_boise_state_utep_coac.html

It's a little mention and a statement of the obvious, but the Oregonian says yes, UP is a contender for the CBI to play in Corvallis...

The problem you guys are complaining about really only pertains to the "BCS" conferences. For many conferences, if you don't win, you are not in.

I agree with many of the sentiments, the only problem is I don't see how you can solve the problem.

I would rather see teams like Creighton, SMC, et. al rather than any of those crappy big 10 teams, seriously, are they going to get 7 in? But the NCAA would rather have the bigger schools because, well, they are bigger and have larger fan bases and boosters.

mattywizz wrote:
I would rather see teams like Creighton, SMC, et. al rather than any of those crappy big 10 teams, seriously, are they going to get 7 in? But the NCAA would rather have the bigger schools because, well, they are bigger and have larger fan bases and boosters.

Wait you mean it's all about money? NEVER.

Arizona made it?? WOW...

DaTruRochin wrote:Arizona made it?? WOW...

Oy. And Maryland!

USC got a 10? They would not have gotten in w/o winning the Pac-10 tourney, yet they get a higher seed than at-large Arizona...interesting...

sorry, the Pacific Life Pac-10 tourney presented by Pacific Life

If Penn State and Michigan make it over St Marys, I'm going to be very upset.

I hate both of those schools big time (from my football fan side). Yeah let's screw over a deserving little team from the WCC for some crappy Big Ten team.

Nice matchup for Portland State, though.

Zags in portland??? GO ZIPS!!!