ramblermgr9599 wrote:Why does Loyola seem to be stuck on a 12 seed? If they win AM could they be an 11 seed or is the MVC bid penciled in for the 12? Finally almost everyone has the Ramblers going to Boise. That is a tough place to get to. San Diego would be easier.
Traditionally, the 12-16 (other than the 12 seed PIG) are for the mid-to-low-major auto-bids that would not otherwise receive an at-large. The 15/16 seeds are the likes of NEC, MEAC, SWAC, etc. and the 12 seeds are usually the top mid-majors (this year, us, Louisiana, Buffalo, etc.). 11's are usually the last of the at-large type teams (aka mediocre P5 teams that shouldn't really be in).
ramblermgr9599 wrote:Why does Loyola seem to be stuck on a 12 seed? If they win AM could they be an 11 seed or is the MVC bid penciled in for the 12? Finally almost everyone has the Ramblers going to Boise. That is a tough place to get to. San Diego would be easier.
Bad news - the last time we played in Boise it didn’t go well.
Good news - at least we’ve been there once before this year and maybe we’ll be prepared.
For what it’s worth, I do think LU will win the MVC tourney. It doesn’t really matter who the matchup is - winning the Valley by 4 games means if the Ramblers play well, they’ll win. To me the biggest key is jump out to a big lead early on Friday so the starters can play light minutes.
If Loyola loses - especially in the championship - I feel good about the prospects of an at large. History suggests otherwise, but this year is different. Look at Joe Lunardi’s bracket today - he’s got NcSt, Texas, L’Ville, USC and Alabama on the ‘in’ side of the bubble. All of these schools were named in Yahoo report last week. The last thing in the world the NCAA wants is for one of these schools to make a deep run and vacate wins later on. Loyola has a resume that is strong and I don’t think there is anybody who thinks they are anything less than squeaky clean. The committee knows that veteran ballhandlers and shooting are two huge factors in competing in the NCAAs. Ramblers at last check are 2nd in the nation in 2 point fg % and 12th in 3 point Fg %.
Win Arch Madness, 11 seed. Lose in the championship, 12 seed or 11 seed play-in game. I’m on the record now...hope I don’t eat my words!
I think we could get to 11 with an Arch Madness final win, especially a convincing one. Because the worst MVC team was around 180 in the RPI (very few conferences can say that), our season-long SOS is better than Gonzaga or St. Mary's-- even with our relatively weak non-con scheduling. And if anybody wants to pick on us for weak non-con scheduling, we had a tougher non-con schedule than Michigan, Virginia Tech, Florida State, NC State and others, plus we played more true road games than any P5 school.
Winning Arch Madness would give us a 14-4 record away from home.
