non-major conference schools are not winning

[xubrew]

coming into today, on the year, the non-big six conference teams are a combined 18-134 against the big six.

i know that a lot of those are guarantee games, but that is a very lopsided stat. people say there is an unfair bcs bias. well, when the non-bcs teams are 18-134, it's kind of hard to argue that it is unfair when those leagues get more teams.

there are some teams that i thought would be good, but haven't been. i really thought wofford would have a big year, and they still could, but they've lost to minnesota, clemson and georgetown. the georgetown game was on a neutral floor in front of a crowd that probably favored wofford.

college of charleston at least showed up against maryland, but blew it down the stretch. they'll get some other chances though.

murray state had their doors blown off by ole miss. the game was at ole miss, but ole miss appears to be a middle of the road sec team, and the arena was only half full. a solid ncaa tournament team would be expected to win that game most of the time. not only did murray state lose, they got clobbered.

temple's win over seton hall marks the atlantic ten's only victor against a major conference team.

western kentucky looked strong, but were clobbered by minnesota in their last game on a neutral floor.


i know i feel this way at the beginning of every season, but i seem to especially feel this way this year. the teams that i pull for the most are the non-major conference teams. each year, there are several that i get excited about as the season begins (like the ones i listed above), and each year, they get out of the gate slowly. it's not a bias. it's not unfair. i have no rooting interest in any major conference team, but i cannot deny that when they've won 134 games, and everyone else has won just 18 in head to head match-ups, they deserve more bids. that's why they get them, not because of any bias that the ncaa/espn/cbs has.

[madness31]

This season has been odd as it has been some of the unexpected teams getting the wins, such as Yale. I agree about Wofford, Murray St and others not getting it done. I don't believe anyone is arguing that the non major conferences should get equal invites to the tourney but some, including me, would argue that when choosing between a team that is proven to lose to top level talent and one that has not had the chance to play the best teams but boasts a near perfect record the latter team should get the invite.

There have been many very mediocre major conference teams that make the tourney every year while some non major conference teams boasting great records but lacking signature wins don't get the opportunity. As X fans know, teams can improve and even improve dramatically so if a team had only one or two chances against power conference teams and lost close games early in the season it is unfair to choose a team from the Big East, ACC, etc that has barely won half their games.

Obviously this is all personal preference as an argument can be made for either side but a possible solution could be to have a forced game between BCS and non BCS teams late in conference play to allow teams to show how much they have improved. Just start conference play a game early and throw a game in late. To make it more fair it could be done on a neutral floor. Match-ups could even be decided a week before based on the best non majors playing the bubble major conference teams.

[xubrew]

This season has been odd as it has been some of the unexpected teams getting the wins, such as Yale. I agree about Wofford, Murray St and others not getting it done. I don't believe anyone is arguing that the non major conferences should get equal invites to the tourney but some, including me, would argue that when choosing between a team that is proven to lose to top level talent and one that has not had the chance to play the best teams but boasts a near perfect record the latter team should get the invite.

There have been many very mediocre major conference teams that make the tourney every year while some non major conference teams boasting great records but lacking signature wins don't get the opportunity. As X fans know, teams can improve and even improve dramatically so if a team had only one or two chances against power conference teams and lost close games early in the season it is unfair to choose a team from the Big East, ACC, etc that has barely won half their games.

Obviously this is all personal preference as an argument can be made for either side but a possible solution could be to have a forced game between BCS and non BCS teams late in conference play to allow teams to show how much they have improved. Just start conference play a game early and throw a game in late. To make it more fair it could be done on a neutral floor. Match-ups could even be decided a week before based on the best non majors playing the bubble major conference teams.


i posted this a while ago, and it got no responses, but it is similiar to your last paragraph....

http://www.xavierhoops.com/forums/showthread.php?t=15960


Obviously this is all personal preference as an argument can be made for either side but a possible solution could be to have a forced game between BCS and non BCS teams late in conference play to allow teams to show how much they have improved

again, as the link i posted above hopefully demonstrates, i do not entirely disagree with the premise. i feel that good teams from non-major conferences should be given a chance to prove themselves late in the year. i feel this way largely because many of them don't get an acceptable amount of chances at ANY point...much less late, to prove how good they are.

having said that, teams do get chances. not all teams, but some. many of those chances come in november and early december. you say that one possible solution is to force games late in the season between bcs and non bcs teams.

here is another solution...

the non-bcs teams should win more games in november. wofford, murray state, western kentucky and cofc are all good teams...or appeared to be. all return a lot of cohesiveness from the previous season. all had chances to knock off major conference teams. ALL FAILED.

want a solution...WIN!! the season starts in november. in baseball, if you win 25 games in april and 5 in september, that's thirty wins. you beat out a team that wins one game in april and 27 in september. when the season starts, be ready to play.

non bcs teams have had their chances. they've had 152 chances, and failed 134 times. i just don't listen to the "WELL, IT'S EARLY" argument. my response is...

"WELL, THE SEASON HAS STARTED."

they all count. you want to win it all?? start in november. you want to make the ncaa tournament?? start in november. that's when the season starts. teams that can't get ready to go when the season starts are not being treated unfairly. they have the same amount of time as everyone else, and right now the non-bcs teams are losing.

if you don't win more than that then don't complain.

[JAX 3758]

[QUOTE=western kentucky looked strong, but were clobbered by minnesota in their last game on a neutral floor. [/QUOTE]

I am VERY impressed with Minnesota from being at that tourney game with X last year and after watching them beat UNC last night

That hoffarber kid is lights. out.

[madness31]

I agree with the win game statement but how many times have BCS teams started poorly and still made the tourney because their conference schedule was difficult? It happens and so does mediocrity all year for some of these teams and they still get in. I'd rather reward excellence than mediocrity. Winning games, even against lower level competition is closer to excellence than losing consistently to the best competition. Obviously you have to be careful not to encourage teams to play easy schedules but if everything is based on SOS then no one will play the small schools and give them a chance to make the tourney.

Another option is that you make the last 4 teams in, play at the 15 seed and give the best auto qualifiers 10 seeds. I guarantee you see far more non majors advancing in the tourney and fewer major conference teams advancing.