Majerus and the A-10 Tourney

[kyxu]

http://news.cincinnati.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?category=blog05&plckController=Blog&plckScript=blogScript&plckElementId=blogDest&plckBlogPage=BlogViewPost&plckPostId=Blog%3afdda4dab-ab39-43a7-8ba8-36da2f75a889Post%3a1478266b-843b-459e-ad80-d6eeb8d091c3&plckCommentSortOrder=TimeStampAscending&sid=sitelife.cincinnati.com

I agree with Majerus on this.

[D-West & PO-Z]

http://news.cincinnati.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?category=blog05&plckController=Blog&plckScript=blogScript&plckElementId=blogDest&plckBlogPage=BlogViewPost&plckPostId=Blog%3afdda4dab-ab39-43a7-8ba8-36da2f75a889Post%3a1478266b-843b-459e-ad80-d6eeb8d091c3&plckCommentSortOrder=TimeStampAscending&sid=sitelife.cincinnati.com

I agree with Majerus on this.

I agree too. However I wouldnt want to take away conference tournaments because Xavier would have had some good teams not make it if it werent for the conference tourney. So I agree sorta I guess.

[Fred Garvin]

Read the responses. Is Dustin serious with that photo?

[Xman95]

I agree with the fact that tourneys are for cash. Of course, that's not always a bad thing.

In addition, do you realize how many teams would have seasons that ended in January, when it was apparent they wouldn't win their regular season title? Last year Georgia would have had no reason to continue their season after about half of the conference schedule. But, with the tourney, they were given a chance and knew they weren't out of it until someone beat them. Nobody did in the SEC Tourney. (Then they ran into X!) And, shockingly (sarcasm), the teams in the SEC that didn't win the conference tourney - including teams that won their divisions - made it into the dance.

Ultimately it's up to the conference to decide who they want to represent it in the Big Dance. They can choose to send the regular season champ or have a tourney and send its winner. And, if you're the season champ and don't win the tourney, you'll still probably get in if your conference was tough enough and/or you scheduled well in the non-conference period.

So...long live the conference tournaments!

(Maybe Majerus is just tired of coaching his crap team and would prefer waddling his fat ass down to the nearest White Castle instead of worrying about another game.)

[dethwing]

If you want the best team, take the regular season champion. (Now, if this is a tie, I could see having a one game playoff, ala the ivy). If you want a random "hot" team, take the tournament champion. A nice compromise might be to make the tournament for an NIT bid.

[Espe]

Gotta agree with ole six incher here. Probably the first and last time.

[GoMuskies]

I love conference tournaments. And I hate Majerus. Good combo here.

[xubrew]

Besides calling them a good team with tremendous talent, and saying they would be a real challenge, he went on to say that he didn't like conference tournaments. Two reasons: one, they take away from academics and two, they aren't a real measure of a team's worth. A true champion of a conference, he said, is the regular-season winner

i agree with that statement, but i think the committee does too. xavier didn't win the conference tournament last year, but it didn't really effect their seed. if the regular season champion doesn't win the conference tournament and the fourth place team does, the committee usually doesn't give the fourth place team a better seed....unless they were seperated by just one game or something like that.

the only leagues where this really comes into effect is the traditional one-bid leagues, but most of those conferences structure their tournaments similiar to what the nfl playoffs does. case and point, the northeast conference title game is tonight. they played the games at campus sites throughout the entire tournament. robert morris finished first and clinched homecourt advantage. in the horizon league, the regular season champion byes into the quarterfinals AND gets to host the tournament. same with the big sky. the regular season champion at least comes with some value in the fact that they get an advantage in the conference tournament. the atlantic ten doesn't do that, but for the most part the atlantic ten doesn't need to because the regular season champion is almost always in a position to get a bid.


However I wouldnt want to take away conference tournaments because Xavier would have had some good teams not make it if it werent for the conference tourney. So I agree sorta I guess.

my memory may be a little shady, but the only time xavier won the conference tournament and wasn't in a position to make it without winning it that i can recall was the 2005-2006 team. that's the only team that i recall that wasn't in a position to get an at-large. then again, i didn't enroll at xavier until 1998 so i didn't follow the old mcc days all that closely, but even then i recall xavier having a few teams that were in a position to receive at-large bids, and did.

[GoMuskies]

The 2004 team wouldn't have been in without the chance to play St. Joe's in the A-10 Tournament. They didn't need to win the A-10 Tournament after beating St. Joe's, though.

[D-West & PO-Z]

i agree with that statement, but i think the committee does too. xavier didn't win the conference tournament last year, but it didn't really effect their seed. if the regular season champion doesn't win the conference tournament and the fourth place team does, the committee usually doesn't give the fourth place team a better seed....unless they were seperated by just one game or something like that.

the only leagues where this really comes into effect is the traditional one-bid leagues, but most of those conferences structure their tournaments similiar to what the nfl playoffs does. case and point, the northeast conference title game is tonight. they played the games at campus sites throughout the entire tournament. robert morris finished first and clinched homecourt advantage. in the horizon league, the regular season champion byes into the quarterfinals AND gets to host the tournament. same with the big sky. the regular season champion at least comes with some value in the fact that they get an advantage in the conference tournament. the atlantic ten doesn't do that, but for the most part the atlantic ten doesn't need to because the regular season champion is almost always in a position to get a bid.



my memory may be a little shady, but the only time xavier won the conference tournament and wasn't in a position to make it without winning it that i can recall was the 2005-2006 team. that's the only team that i recall that wasn't in a position to get an at-large. then again, i didn't enroll at xavier until 1998 so i didn't follow the old mcc days all that closely, but even then i recall xavier having a few teams that were in a position to receive at-large bids, and did.

the first run year would have been close. I felt a lot better about winning it then not. I think getting to the finals and beating #1 st joes in the process got it for us tho.

[D-West & PO-Z]

The 2004 team wouldn't have been in without the chance to play St. Joe's in the A-10 Tournament. They didn't need to win the A-10 Tournament after beating St. Joe's, though.

They beat st joes in the quarters and I think they still needed to win the semis

[GoMuskies]

Nah, that team got a #7 seed. After the St. Joe's win, they were in.

[xubrew]

The 2004 team wouldn't have been in without the chance to play St. Joe's in the A-10 Tournament. They didn't need to win the A-10 Tournament after beating St. Joe's, though.

that's right. i'd forgotten about that. well, i'll NEVER forget it, but i didn't think of it.

[D-West & PO-Z]

Nah, that team got a #7 seed. After the St. Joe's win, they were in.

I really dont think so. Would have been close.

[The Artist]

I really dont think so. Would have been close.

Gotta disagree here. I remember pretty much everybody on MM (at the time) realizing that we were a lock after the game. Also, I doubt that beating GW and Dayton took us from a 13 seed (meaning, out of the tourney) to a 7 seed.

[The Artist]

The 2004 team wouldn't have been in without the chance to play St. Joe's in the A-10 Tournament. They didn't need to win the A-10 Tournament after beating St. Joe's, though.

This brings up a point beyond what was discussed before, which I like. The conference tournament provides a greater sample size for all of the bubble teams. A lot of teams just need a win or two in the conference tourney to get in, not necessarily to win the whole thing.

The big ten would be pretty tough to figure out this year without the conference tourney. After tomorrow, there should be some solid arguments for teams to end up where they do.

[Blue Dog]

I love conference tournaments myself, but I do feel for the regular season champs in one-bid leagues that get beat.

Brian Grant's senior year we won the league, lost in the MCC finals and found ourselves in the NIT. Conversely in 83, 87 and 89 we didn't win the MCC but won the tourney and got the bid. So all in all it's worked out well for us.

[LyonsIsFlyin]

Gotta disagree here. I remember pretty much everybody on MM (at the time) realizing that we were a lock after the game. Also, I doubt that beating GW and Dayton took us from a 13 seed (meaning, out of the tourney) to a 7 seed.

Gonna have to back D-West on this one. I remember we had extremely under-achieved in my mind, with it being , Myles, Chalmers and Sato's senior year. I remember the Miami game was like 22-20 at half, we just couldn't score, it hurt to watch. We weren't in till we won out the end of the season and then made the infamous run.

Either way that year turned out to be one of the very best all said and done.

[Espe]

Gonna have to back D-West on this one. I remember we had extremely under-achieved in my mind, with it being Thorton's, Myles, Chalmers and Sato's senior year. I remember the Miami game was like 22-20 at half, we just couldn't score, it hurt to watch. Then Thorton got hurt and I just hoped we'd make the NIT. We weren't in till we won out the end of the season and then made the infamous run.

Either way that year turned out to be one of the very best all said and done.

I don't think Thornton played in 2004. I think he got hurt against Lasalle also.

[GoMuskies]

Lyons, I think you are combining the 2004 and 2006 memories.

[LyonsIsFlyin]

Yeah definitely, as I typed it I knew I shouldn't be lazy and open a new window to research that. But I did now, we were 16-11 at the end of the season, so I don't think we were in.

[The Artist]

Yeah definitely, as I typed it I knew I shouldn't be lazy and open a new window to research that. But I did now, we were 16-11 at the end of the season, so I don't think we were in.

Of the 2005-2006 season. We were discussing the 2003-2004 season, however.

[LyonsIsFlyin]

Of the 2005-2006 season. We were discussing the 2003-2004 season, however.

2003–2004 Xavier 26–11 10–6 T-3rd (West) NCAA Elite Eight

Did my math wrong obviously, we were 19-10, won 4 in the A10 and three in NCAA, thats bubble I suppose.

Sorry bout the mistakes, but I got tomorrow off for the game, so I've been drinking for awhile.

[X-band '01]

I don't think Thornton played in 2004. I think he got hurt against Lasalle also.

Thornton sat out the 2003-04 season after transferring from Vandy.

[kyxu]

From this morning's Enquirer:

He said it would be a shame if Saint Louis upset XU and hindered the Muskies' standing in the NCAA Tournament. (XU is listed in Joe Lunardi's Bracketology breakdown as a No. 5 seed.)

"I really believe that the regular season is everything. Someone could win this ... we could win this and put on a hat and a shirt. We aren't going to win this," Majerus said. "Saying, well, we're the champs. What a phony thing that would be. We're the champs of that four-game tournament. The 'champs' is the regular-season champs. That's the way life is."

[muskieindent]

I would agree that conference tournaments in theory are stupid.What's the point of the regular season? Look at Chattanooga(sic) going and Davidson, the dominant team in that league won't.Chattanooga was horrible all year but got hot for 4 games.It makes more sense to reward the team that was best for the entire season ,not for 3 or 4 games.That being said Xavier has benefited several times by winning it-'04 and '06,plus a few times in th MCC.No "Run", no beat down of #1 St.Joes without it.We would have missed out on some great moments.It hasn't cost X a spot other than the year URI and Lamar Odom won over Temple.If Temple had won, we probably would have gotten an at large. So as a Xavier fan, I like it.

[GoMuskies]

I would agree that conference tournaments in theory are stupid.What's the point of the regular season?

Let's get rid of the NCAA Tournament, too, and just let the regular season determine who plays for the championship. It works so well in football.