ORU82 Posted February 14, 2012 Share Posted February 14, 2012 Agree with BB on this. ESPN 2 nationally televised game, mid-afternoon for the east coast people, Hopefully the fans pack Mabee and the place is rockin! I had the pleasure of attending Homecoming and Saturday night's game was fantastic! Let's repeat it with another great game and large turn-out this Saturday. What an opportunity to showcase not only the team but the entire University on national tv. GO EAGLES! P.S.: Visited the Zips forum and I guarantee you Akron is coming to Tulsa loaded for bear. We will have to play our "A" game, but we can win this game against what should be a Top 50 team. That will help us down the road. It also makes a statement for the Summit League, even if we are leaving after this year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Titan Posted February 14, 2012 Share Posted February 14, 2012 Not sure why anyone sees this as a negative. An ESPN2-broadcast home game, in February, against a team with a sub-60 RPI? I'm sorry, there's nothing wrong with that at all. If ORU wasn't playing this game now, they would have played a similar game to this one back in November or December. Probably against a team with a triple-digit RPI. Definitely not on ESPN2. I'm sorry, there just aren't any negatives to the situation. *sigh* Imagine me saying this very slowly, very clearly, and very firmly: "A loss in this event kills any chance a team (like ORU) might have of an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament." Maybe that's not a "negative" to some - it is to me, at least this year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORUTex Posted February 14, 2012 Share Posted February 14, 2012 Sure, it's a negative, but that's also a pretty negative way to look at the game. How about looking at it this way: without playing that game, ORU has a pretty slim chance of getting an at-large bid. Winning the game would likely increase that chance significantly, as it will bump our RPI and give us another all-important win over a top-100 RPI team (we currently have 3). It's a longshot anyway, but we have a much better argument with that win than not playing the game at all. The same thing goes for our seeding if we get the auto bid. The game will likely help our RPI win or lose, and a win is much more likely to bump us up a seed than a loss is to push us down. So a win helps a lot, a loss doesn't take away anything that was reasonably likely anyway, and we get an ESPN2 game out of the deal. The glass is half full. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Titan Posted February 14, 2012 Share Posted February 14, 2012 I have been accused before of thinking that not only is the glass half-empty, but that it also contains cyanide. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bballmangc Posted February 14, 2012 Share Posted February 14, 2012 Even winning this game, we won't be getting an At-Large bid. No sense in getting your hopes up, win the tournament. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bad Blood Posted February 14, 2012 Share Posted February 14, 2012 *sigh* Imagine me saying this very slowly, very clearly, and very firmly: "A loss in this event kills any chance a team (like ORU) might have of an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament." Maybe that's not a "negative" to some - it is to me, at least this year. A loss to any team at this stage kills at-large chances. IPFW, Southern Utah, a Summit League tournament loss before the Final - all of those kill the at-large possibilities. And I again say: this is not an "extra game". If it wasn't for Bracketbusters, there would have been an extra (likely Mid-Major) opponent on the schedule in November or December. It's doubtful that the opponent in that game would have been a sub-60 RPI club like Akron. And a loss in that game would have been crushing to at-large chances. And the potential reward would have been much smaller. The reward for beating Akron, though, is the second-best RPI win to date. Oh, and two hours on ESPN2. From the Mabee Center. I'm sorry, but such a pessimistic view of Saturday's game greatly diminishes what is a huge accomplishment for this team. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Titan Posted February 14, 2012 Share Posted February 14, 2012 A loss to any team at this stage kills at-large chances. IPFW, Southern Utah, a Summit League tournament loss before the Final - all of those kill the at-large possibilities. And I again say: this is not an "extra game". If it wasn't for Bracketbusters, there would have been an extra (likely Mid-Major) opponent on the schedule in November or December. It's doubtful that the opponent in that game would have been a sub-60 RPI club like Akron. And a loss in that game would have been crushing to at-large chances. And the potential reward would have been much smaller. The reward for beating Akron, though, is the second-best RPI win to date. Oh, and two hours on ESPN2. From the Mabee Center. I'm sorry, but such a pessimistic view of Saturday's game greatly diminishes what is a huge accomplishment for this team. OK, this may be the first thing you've said that I really can't argue with - well put. But, consider Wichita State's plight and I think you will see the point I am trying to make. BTW, Andy Glockner still has us on his Bubble Watch - and will until we lose again. Bubble Watch 2/14/12 - Andy Glockner. SI.com (I still hold that if SDSU had won out [instead of losing to USD], and beaten us in the final, we would have been a SERIOUS at-large candidate. But I'll agree with most of you that we aren't anymore: having two loses to the Jackrabbits in the final 10 games would kill us). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theeagleman5 Posted February 15, 2012 Share Posted February 15, 2012 If ORU wins every game to the Tournament final and loses a close game to host SDSU....we finish 28-6.....are we getting an at large big......eh.....probably not......maybe we would have if we had drawn St. Mary or Wichita State and won on Saturday....a win over Akron will be very nice but it's not gonna put us in the dance.....we have to win at Sioux Falls....... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bogus Smith Posted February 15, 2012 Share Posted February 15, 2012 Yes, I think Old Titan summed it up well above.....Wichita State should probably have been sent to play Murray State....that's the game everybody probably wants to see right now.....and St. Mary's should be at Mabee Center to play ORU or possibly Creighton....ORU in that scenerio should have drawn Long Beach State.....ah, but what can ya do....the matchups were made two weeks ago.....at this point, Akron doesn't turn out to be such a bad draw for us....if the Zips win their game on Wednesday night they should be right around the 50-52 RPI mark and if we hold serve at IPFW.....we should stay in the 45-48 range.....so this is a fair contest and one where ORU can prove that we can beat a top 50 team.....ORU has an excellent shot to be 26-5 as we head to Sioux Falls....not sure if anyone predicted that back on 11/1.....certainly not TheEagleman..... Yesterday's update of the NCAA's RPI listing (http://www.ncaa.com/rankings/basketball-men/d1/ncaa_mens_basketball_rpi) show ORU at 45 (up from 47) and Akron sitting at 60 (down from 54). The NCAA won't update their listing again until next Monday, but wins are the only way of increasing one's RPI. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tmh8286 Posted February 15, 2012 Share Posted February 15, 2012 While the NCAA's RPI may be the most official, both Statsheet.com and LiveRPI.com have RPI tables that are updated several times a day, or at least when games are being played. Kind of amazing how long we've been hanging tough in the 44-47 range. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORUTerry Posted February 16, 2012 Share Posted February 16, 2012 Here is the list of Summit League games in ESPN Bracketbsuter games: ORU vs. Akron SDSU vs. Buffalo NDSU vs. Western Michigan Oakland @ Illinois State Western Illinois @ Evansville SUU @ California-Riverside IUPUI @ Nicholls State IPFW @ E. Kentucky Wright State @ UMKC Texas State @ South Dakota Some of these will be interesting matchups and a nice comparison of different leagues. Let’s hope ORU and its conference brethren can have success on Saturday. It would be a nice boost to the league’s standing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORUTerry Posted February 16, 2012 Share Posted February 16, 2012 I think every team has a chance at a victory - except IPFW and maybe UMKC. But they are playing at home. (How did they get a home game?) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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