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Post by ruxchighlander11 on Mar 11, 2018 18:48:22 GMT -5
Well, we got disrespected a little bit by drawing the play in game, but now we gotta prove we don't belong there and win this game! They've got 4 guys that average in double figures and average almost 80 points a game. So, this will be a good test for our defense. That said, they don't go very deep into their bench. Like 6 or 7 deep. That gives us a good chance to wear them down over time. Assuming we win, we'll have a good New River Valley contingent in Pittsburgh with the Hokies grabbing the 8 seed. That would hopefully give us some common friends in a hostile environment.
Looking ahead to Villanova..They're good, very good! A bit of a juggernaut! They go 9 deep and can hang with anyone!
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Post by dedmondeviant on Mar 11, 2018 19:57:22 GMT -5
We got the shaft as expected. We have a better RPI than two of the 15 seeds. We beat the regular season champion (UC Davis) of one of the conferences that got a higher seed than us (CS Fullerton). As a conference the Big South was ranked 25 out of 32 in the RPI. Big South went 5-1 vs Atlantic Sun, 1-0 vs Big West, 2-1 vs Metro Atlantic, who all had higher seeds. Dominated the MEAC (7-1) and went 2-0 vs SWAC, 0-1 vs NE conference the other 16 seeded fellow play in participants. Big South was also 0-2 vs Ivy league (both to Longwood) and did not play against American East Conf. Longwood hurt the conference this year, they beat no one in D1 OOC. Hell Presby beat UNC-G which is a 13 seed.
The Big South went 3-5 vs teams in the NCAA with 13,14, and 15 seeds. Again, Longwood had two of those losses.
That said, I don't know how Radford really stacks up, but the conference does not get the respect when it comes to seeding in the NCAA.
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Post by winthropeaglefan on Mar 11, 2018 20:48:05 GMT -5
How the Big South as a whole did against other conferences really plays no part in seeding...It all has to do with Radford's resume vs. the other teams involved, and in most years, the committee tends to put a premium on having good wins and avoiding bad losses. In prior years, 'good wins' were defined by wins over teams in the top 25, 50, or 100 in the RPI. Now they have a new system of looking at how you performed against teams in four different tiers (for instance, Tier-1 includes home games against top 30 RPI teams, neutral site games against top 50 teams, and road games against top 75 teams....and then each tier below jumps down further in each category of games).
So for this year, Radford didn't have any Tier-1 or Tier-2 wins (the neutral court win over UC Davis fell 2 RPI spots short of qualifying as a Tier-2 win)....and RU also had 4 Tier-4 losses. So in the case of the two 16-seeds that aren't in the play-in games, UMBC had got a Tier-1 win in the America East title game (a road win at Vermont) which likely gave them the boost over you guys. And Penn didn't have any Tier-1 or Tier-2 wins either, but only had one Tier-4 loss (they were the team I thought you guys may have a slight chance to get bumped ahead of). The two 15-seeds that I thought could possibly be in the mix for the play-in games were Cal State Fullerton and Georgia State. Fullerton had two Tier-2 wins (including a road win over UC Davis) and Georgia State had on Tier-2 win. The teams that have the better 'good wins' tend to get the better seeding when things like RPI ranking, overall record, and things like that are similar.
The committee gets a lot of heat for a lot of things, but I feel like they have been pretty consistent in how they seed the teams in the 13-16 seed range...yes, you'll find some exceptions or strange seedings from time to time, but I've felt like the Big South representative has been pretty fairly seeded in most seasons over the past 15-20 years, especially when you look at how many 'good wins' (if any) the Big South rep has had.
All that being said, congrats again on the exciting Big South championship game win, and good luck on Tuesday.
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Post by ruxchighlander11 on Mar 12, 2018 10:55:34 GMT -5
I honestly don't have an issue with our seed. Right before the selection show, I took all of the mid majors and put them into a spreadsheet and awarded points for quality wins in the top 150, RPI, SOS and Non Conference SOS. We were on the border. But in the end, I wasn't surprised we fell into the play in game. Honestly, RU needs to stop scheduling games against non D-1 opponents. We played 2 this year. Frankly, I'd rather fill those with guaruntee games against Duke or UNC and get cut a nice check. But realistically, I'd like to see us fill it with games against teams that fall in the College Insider Mid Major Top 25.
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Post by 01Highlander on Mar 12, 2018 13:03:28 GMT -5
It is what it is. I was hoping for a 15 seed but that didn't happen. RU has a legit opportunity to win their first ever NCAA tournament game which would be huge for the program. I do not believe very many teams in the big south have actually won a NCAA tournament game. I know Winthrop did in the past. I believe they beat ND. Any other big south teams actually win a game in the tournament?
Tuesday night is a great opportunity for the program. I know coach Jones will have those boys ready to go and I am expecting a victory. Our RPI is 128 LIU is at 232. We should win our first ever tournament game and seal 2018 as the best season in RU basketball history.
LETS GO RU!!!
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Post by winthropeaglefan on Mar 12, 2018 13:51:04 GMT -5
Winthrop beat Notre Dame to advance to the Round of 32 in 2007.
Asheville beat Texas Southern in 2003 and Arkansas-Little Rock in 2011...both of those were in the play-in round.
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Post by dedmondeviant on Mar 12, 2018 14:02:42 GMT -5
I know we were missing a win big enough to get to the 15 mark unless a lot of upsets happened in the conference tourneys. I thought we were close compared to the ones that got them though. I guess the point I was trying to make in my earlier post was a lot of the best wins those other teams had were in their conference. UNC Asheville, Winthrop and a number of any other Big South team, given the year, compete very well. Id like to see the numbers, but Id bet the Big South beats high majors at a higher clip than some of these other conferences that have the higher RPIs and higher seeds. If you watch a lot of our RPI's they nosedive come conference play. The quality of competition goes down, but the Big South is also one of the most closely competitive conferences. It is hard to win and as we beat up on each other our collective RPI's go way down. The last few years have been good examples. We beat Georgetown and Penn State and in the same year went .500 in the conference. I know a whole lot of other things go into that and maybe theres a dime of dozen of these teams every year, but they also play in conferences that are supposed to be a lot better.
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Post by dedmondeviant on Mar 12, 2018 14:09:12 GMT -5
I also wanted to add that Im not too upset about getting the play in game. If you are going to get a 16 seed, and in all honesty it wasn't a bad seed, the play in is probably the best option. Especially as a fan, coach or player. We get to watch possibly another game we wouldn't have and also a good shot at getting a win. And on TV. Im sure the team is having a ball and I would rather get a win and lose to a #1 than go straight to the #1 and get blown out. Im expecting us to show up tomorrow and play pretty good. This is a beatable team and we are favored by 3.5 points.
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Post by rusharp on Mar 12, 2018 19:37:43 GMT -5
Read where LIU Brooklyn plays up-tempo, compared to us who ‘dig in defensively.’ (Newspaper which covers Villanova). Does defense really win Championships? I think so. My guess is we hold LIU-Brooklyn to the low 60s, we win easily.
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Post by RUFresh on Mar 13, 2018 13:50:05 GMT -5
Love the school hosting a bunch of watch parties across the DMV area.
Seems to be a lot more spirit/hype of this game than there was back in '09 and the trip before that.
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Post by bigd9172 on Mar 13, 2018 20:07:01 GMT -5
LETS GO!!
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Post by 01Highlander on Mar 13, 2018 20:44:34 GMT -5
RU Gets the WIN! What a great experience for the team. Now they get to travel to Pittsburgh for a big time game against Villanova. LETS GO RU!!!
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Post by dedmondeviant on Mar 14, 2018 2:52:50 GMT -5
I regret complaining about the play in game now haha. That was a lot of fun. I dont want to sound delusional about the Nova game, but we have made it and there is a path to victory no matter how small. Glad to see Hicks heat back up, maybe the time off helped. Fields and Holland have made this a complete team. Polite and Jones could not have done this alone. We gotta have all of them and to somehow guard without fouling to have a chance of keeping the Nova game close. I really like this team, and I really hope they can pull something off miraculous Thursday. This is what we are Radford basketball fans for, opportunities like this.
I was wondering about Bolstad getting in. I thought he was possibly headed for a redshirt? Does anybody know what has been going on with him? I thought he played well earlier in the season. I know there was an injury but I thought he would get back in the rotation when he was healthy. This was the first time I remember seeing him in a game in months. He got a bucket and I think is a pretty decent big man. You cant have too many of those.
The Big South is 2-1 in the post season so far. Asheville lost by 5 to USC in the NIT at USC. Liberty won in the CIT against NC A&T. Campbell plays in the CBI tomorrow. I think that is all of the Big South that is playing in the post season. I wish UNCA could have pulled it off but their showing along with us and Liberty further proves the Big South is an often forgotten Mid Major.
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Post by dedmondeviant on Mar 14, 2018 3:05:08 GMT -5
Love the school hosting a bunch of watch parties across the DMV area. Seems to be a lot more spirit/hype of this game than there was back in '09 and the trip before that. It does seem to be a lot more spirit, and it is good to see. We have gotten a lot of publicity recently because of the game winner over Liberty that has helped. ESPN has on their xbox app, which I am guessing was shown on TV, that shot as their #1 moment from this college basketball season. I think another reason for the support is what Mike Jones has done to this point. During his years we have beaten Oregon State, Virginia Tech, Georgetown and Penn St. There have been several 20 win seasons and I think the alumni and fan base has taken notice. Leading up to the 08-09 team, we were just coming out of the Byron Samuels disaster and there had been nothing to get excited about for years. That season was awesome but it kind of came out of no where and no one had given Radford basketball a second thought for probaby 10 years leading up to that. I think Jones has done an very good job. There are 300+ D1 basketball teams and Radford has been on TV a lot lately.
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Post by winthropeaglefan on Mar 14, 2018 8:26:19 GMT -5
I regret complaining about the play in game now haha. Being in the play-in game is fine...if you win it. Going through two different seasons of Winthrop losing in that round, it's no fun if you don't win it. Congrats on the W.
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