15 replies to this topic

[Old Titan]

Selected members of the media are participating today in a "Mock Selection Sunday" exercise with NCAA brass in Indianapolis, to help shine light on the selection process.

Several media participants are blogging and tweeting throughout the process.

An interesting development early on: for the sake of the exercise, several mid-major leagues with very strong RPI teams at the top have hypothetical upset winners as their automatic qualifiers for the tournament.

For example, South Dakota State has been designated by the NCAA brass as the Summit League champion, in order for the media "committee" to evaluate ORU's resume as an at-large team.

Others on this hypothetical "bubble" in the exercise include Creighton, Middle Tennessee, Murray State, Virginia Commonwealth, and Temple.

Here's a Twitter image of the "Consideration Sheet" for each "committee" memebr. The 20 teams at the top have already been voted in by the "committee" as at-large locks. The 49 teams at the bottom of the sheet, including ORU, are the remaining bubble teams:

NCAA Mock Selection Consideration Sheet

Should be interesting to see how ORU and the other fare in this process. You can check out Matt Norlander at CBSsports.com, Shawn Siegel at CollegeHoopsNet, and our buddy Greg Anthony for how thingd pan out.

C'mon, Greg - we're four Final Four dark horse! FIGHT FOR US, BUDDY!!

[ORUJason]

It will be interesting to see how ORU comes out of this process and what seed SDSU would receive. I wonder what records they would use for this process. Would they assume that we beat Akron and SUU? Do they calculate the RPI based on assumed opponents in the Summit League tournament?

[Hoopsdude18]

ORUJason, on 16 February 2012 - 06:57 PM, said:

It will be interesting to see how ORU comes out of this process and what seed SDSU would receive. I wonder what records they would use for this process. Would they assume that we beat Akron and SUU? Do they calculate the RPI based on assumed opponents in the Summit League tournament?

They assume that the season ended today and go with all of those numbers.

[Old Titan]

Day Two of the mock selection process in Indy - fascinating read on Twitter; just search for hashtag #mock.

[ORUJason]

In the mock scenario SDSU won the Summit League and received a 14 seed. ORU did not make the tournament. Not surprising based upon ORU's resume through Thursday night's game.

I understand why they set up the simulation the way they did. I would have liked to see the expected seeding based upon the best team in each conference making it into the dance.

http://content.usato.../1#.T0HXjc2hriU

[ORUalum]

i think the resume is too thin. ORU has to win three games in Sioux Falls to make the NCAA tournament.

[darrenj]

No doubt about it. They have to win the tourney to get in. That is just the way it is in the smaller conference. It would have been very interesting if everyone was healthy the whole year and Ken would not have gotten hurt. I think they lose a max of 2 to 3 games.

Watched SD st on Sat and that is a nice looking team also. Very impressed with the point guard.

[Jacks02]

I just keep thinking what might have been if SDSU hadn't choked on the road against USD and UND and if ORU didn't have the bad loss to UTSA. We'd both likely be mid to high 30's in RPI and the loser would at least have a punchers chance of an at-large if we both made it to the Summit Championship game.

I guess both teams have had their fair share of close wins as well during the season that could have gone the other way. I suppose it all evens out in the end.

[tmh8286]

Jacks02, on 20 February 2012 - 09:25 AM, said:

I just keep thinking what might have been if SDSU hadn't choked on the road against USD and UND and if ORU didn't have the bad loss to UTSA. We'd both likely be mid to high 30's in RPI and the loser would at least have a punchers chance of an at-large if we both made it to the Summit Championship game.

I guess both teams have had their fair share of close wins as well during the season that could have gone the other way. I suppose it all evens out in the end.

I've said for a long time the thing that separates the best teams from the next tier of teams is consistency. In ORU's case, and SDSU's case, it was a couple of breakdowns along the way that have kept them from being on that next rung up the ladder.

On the other hand, given where both teams are coming from, i.e. a low- to mid-major conference that hasn't earned much respect in the past, I think both teams have had exceptional seasons - for ORU it's arguably one of their best seasons ever, with the possible exception of a couple during the 1970s.

[Bogus Smith]

darrenj, on 20 February 2012 - 08:31 AM, said:

No doubt about it. They have to win the tourney to get in. That is just the way it is in the smaller conference. It would have been very interesting if everyone was healthy the whole year and Ken would not have gotten hurt. I think they lose a max of 2 to 3 games.

It would have been interesting if DBH was healthy at the first of the season. I think that we win at WVU and beat UTSA. We probably beat OSU in the NIT (probably is the operative word), but may lose two at MSG (making us 2-2 instead of 3-1 in the Preseason NIT). Regardless, wins over WVU and OSU without the bad loss by UTSA probably gets ORU the at-large bid if they lose in the Summit League finals. It's hard to believe that the first week of the season destined the team to the position that they are in now, but that is the life of a low-/mid-major in the NCAA.

If ORU goes 28-6 (losing in the SL finals and winning at SUU), it will keep ORU in the conversation - before and after Selection Sunday. The end result is "just win baby!".

[OKC Eagle]

Is this team more talented than the Caleb and Ken tourney teams or just more consistent? It is very interesting to me that our best Summit record comes in a year when the Summit League is up, not down. There is much more to accomplish and this could be a very special team.

[meatloaf]

Not sure if you guys saw this, here is what they came up with.... Looking more like a 13 seed then a 12...
http://blogs.courier...k_2.17.2012.pdf

[tmh8286]

Bogus Smith, on 20 February 2012 - 10:36 AM, said:

It would have been interesting if DBH was healthy at the first of the season. I think that we win at WVU and beat UTSA. We probably beat OSU in the NIT (probably is the operative word), but may lose two at MSG (making us 2-2 instead of 3-1 in the Preseason NIT). Regardless, wins over WVU and OSU without the bad loss by UTSA probably gets ORU the at-large bid if they lose in the Summit League finals. It's hard to believe that the first week of the season destined the team to the position that they are in now, but that is the life of a low-/mid-major in the NCAA.

If ORU goes 28-6 (losing in the SL finals and winning at SUU), it will keep ORU in the conversation - before and after Selection Sunday. The end result is "just win baby!".

I was thinking the same thing after an earlier comment - it's hard to believe that one of the FIRST GAMES this team played in would count so heavily against it, when they've demonstrated all season that they're more than capable. But, with an SOS of 171 it puts us as squarely in the middle of the pack as you can get. I would have thought that some of our early-season games would have bumped us up higher than that.

[Old Titan]

The most interesting thing to me that came out of the whole exercise is this: in the interest of time, the NCAA seeded all the No. 16, 15, and 14 automatic qualifier seeds, so the mock Selection Committee could focus on the at-large teams.

South Dakota State, as an upset winner of the Summit League tournament, received a very respectable No. 14 seed.

In my book, that means the NCAA feels like ORU would be at least a No. 13 and maybe a No. 12 as the Summit League automatic qualifier.

Of course, in reality the NCAA is not who seeds the teams - the Selection Committee does that.

But, that's encouraging: if they had seeded SDSU as a No. 16 or 15, I would be concerned that we might be viewed as a No. 14.

Big difference between playing a No. 5 or 4 in the dance, as opposed to a No. 3.

[theeagleman5]

The selection committee usually puts a lot more importance on the final 10 games of a teams' season and not the first 10 games.....but TheEagleman isn't thinking ORU is going to get an at large bid anyway....we just don't have enough wins against top 100 schools.....gotta win all 3 in Sioux Falls....if we finish 29-5....ORU gets a 12 seed and a chance to advance....one or two 12 seeds win almost every year.....13 seeds and below rarely advance....

[ORU GRAD]

We are going to win the last game at Southern Utah and then win 3 in South Dakota~~~~~~ period! Then pick up an 11 seed in the tournament.