Old Titan Posted March 6, 2012 Share Posted March 6, 2012 I know no one probably wants to talk about it right now, but that doesn't change reality: we DO have an AUTOMATIC bid to the NIT to consider, NCAA bubble talk or not. And remember, this is not your father's NIT, where match-ups were always made based on profit potential, through pitting regional rivals for larger crowds, making under-the-table deals to host games, and fighting the obvious bias for Eastern schools that the NIT brass hoped would survive to reach Madison Square Garden. Now, the tournament is owned by the NCAA, it includes 32 teams (many of which are mid-major regular season champs such as ORU who fall in conference tournament play), it's seeded on an S-curve like the NCAA tournament, and the higher seeds getting to host most of the early-round games, with match-ups not based simply on regional rivalries, but also on the seedings. With that in mind, consider this: South Dakota State has for a couple of weeks been projected as a #3 Seed (out of 8 rows of seeds) in the Bracket Matrix NIT Projections, and it would seem likely that ORU would be that high, if not higher. Here are some possible first-round match-ups for ORU in the NIT, based on current projections of the lower seeds: UCLA Wyoming Mississippi La Salle Marshall Stanford Arkansas Northern Iowa Colorado Cleveland State UMass LSU Wagner Pittsburgh Buffalo George Mason That list contains some great schools, with great programs and great fan bases - imagine hosting a game or two against a UCLA or an Arkansas, or maybe a wildcard team not shown here, like Butler or Valparaiso or Oklahoma State. May not feel like much consolation right now, but nothing takes the sting out of losing like another chance to win. We most likely will have that chance again, in just about a week, and possibly in the Mabee Center. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oruvoice Posted March 6, 2012 Share Posted March 6, 2012 First round game with the Piglets sounds like a lot of fun! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Titan Posted March 6, 2012 Author Share Posted March 6, 2012 My personal pick would be UCLA - how many times in a lifetime could we get the Bruins in the Mabee Center? I'm not sure they've ever played in the state before... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SOLO_Gold Posted March 6, 2012 Share Posted March 6, 2012 The gastronomical fortitude the both of you have obviously been afforded is admirable. I'll be out of commission for at least another day. I'll look forward then... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Titan Posted March 6, 2012 Author Share Posted March 6, 2012 Voice and I are both in sales. One door closes, another one opens... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bballmangc Posted March 6, 2012 Share Posted March 6, 2012 Do we really think we will get a home game as a #2 or #3 seed? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Titan Posted March 6, 2012 Author Share Posted March 6, 2012 Do we really think we will get a home game as a #2 or #3 seed? Why not? We've submitted all the paperwork already - now it's just a matter of hearing from the NIT folks. But, due to the quick turnaround involved in NIT first-round games, I would bet you money that we will already know who we are going to play - and where - before the NCAA Selection show airs on CBS Sunday evening, much less the NIT Selection Show on ESPN that night. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 6, 2012 Share Posted March 6, 2012 Voice and I are both in sales. One door closes, another one opens... With teams nationwide struggling with attendance in a down economy, it makes sense they would look at teams like ORU that actually set some attendance records this year. One would think that attendance would be a primary consideration on which bids the NIT committee accepts. They want it to look good on TV. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oruvoice Posted March 6, 2012 Share Posted March 6, 2012 Voice and I are both in sales. One door closes, another one opens... A. B. C. - Always Be Closing! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 6, 2012 Share Posted March 6, 2012 Voice and I are both in sales. One door closes, another one opens... and "COFFEE IS FOR CLOSERS." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theeagleman5 Posted March 7, 2012 Share Posted March 7, 2012 TheEagleman is still hurting from last nights' crushing loss.....but.....it's time to wake up and deal with reality......in the NCAA were were a likely 13 seed and one and done........in the NIT, hey....anything could happen...if our guys get over last night and are motivated.....ORU could win the whole thing....they key in the NIT is which teams want to be there and are motivated to win and which teams are ticked about missing the NCAA and not excited about the NIT.....let's hope Coach Sutton and the staff can get these guys "up" for the NIT....and somebody needs to wake up DBH......very disappointing..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORUJason Posted March 7, 2012 Share Posted March 7, 2012 In defense of DBH, he still plays solid defense and gets rebounds. If he isn't "feeling it" offensively against the toughest defensive team in the Summit this year, he is unselfishly deferring to other players who might be "feeling it". Also, he wasn't even in the game for the last 10 minutes or so, so there wasn't much he could do from the bench. It is possible that if DBH had been in the game, we might have snagged 1 or 2 more offensive rebounds over the last 6 minutes. It is a tough coaching call because Roundtree and Craion can also rebound and have been showing more offensively recently. I think the coaches made the right call based upon the flow of last night's game, we just needed another bucket or a couple more made FTs and it is a totally different outcome. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Titan Posted March 7, 2012 Author Share Posted March 7, 2012 In defense of DBH, he still plays solid defense and gets rebounds. ...I'm pretty sure that's why he was out of the game (and a lot of other games) the last 10 minutes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Otis 83 Posted March 7, 2012 Share Posted March 7, 2012 I think one of the big differences between our great performance against Akron and our disappointing performance in the Summit League Tournament was the play at the 5 spot. DBH was dialed in against Akron and had a great game on both ends of the court. I am not as enthusiastic about his play in Sioux Falls, especially against WIU. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORUalum11 Posted March 7, 2012 Share Posted March 7, 2012 In defense of DBH, he still plays solid defense and gets rebounds. LOL!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oruvoice Posted March 7, 2012 Share Posted March 7, 2012 I know that almost every other college message board criticizes players, but I'm not a big fan of it. Let's try to remember that these are 18-22 year old, kids. Try to remember yourself at that age, before being overly critical. DBH (and all our guys) seem to be REALLY good young men, that try very hard to represent OUR alma mater. Just my $0.02. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Titan Posted March 7, 2012 Author Share Posted March 7, 2012 I know that almost every other college message board criticizes players, but I'm not a big fan of it. Let's try to remember that these are 18-22 year old, kids. Try to remember yourself at that age, before being overly critical. DBH (and all our guys) seem to be REALLY good young men, that try very hard to represent OUR alma mater. Just my $0.02. Good points. But I think, WITHIN REASON, it's not too far out of bounds to comment on why a guy is used (or not used) in particular situations, such as why we don't have a particular guy shooting threes, or bringing the ball up, or defending the post. It's part of analyzing the game and the strategy therein. I don't know why DBH did not play the last 10 minutes of the game, but it was my guess that it was due to a couple of defensive breakdowns and turnovers about midway through the second half. Which, if truth be told, was just part of a bigger picture involving bad nights by ALL of our front court players: I can't think of game where DBH, Craion and Roundtree all three combined for such a rough outing. Parks appeared to totally disrupt everything we wanted to do inside, especially in crunch time. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tmh8286 Posted March 7, 2012 Share Posted March 7, 2012 I know that almost every other college message board criticizes players, but I'm not a big fan of it. Let's try to remember that these are 18-22 year old, kids. Try to remember yourself at that age, before being overly critical. DBH (and all our guys) seem to be REALLY good young men, that try very hard to represent OUR alma mater. Just my $0.02. Thanks for reminding me of my job as moderator, voice. We've always had a policy of avoiding criticism of players and coaches, and I think we should stick with that. orumom made that point in another thread. Let's keep it positive about our players and coaches. As voice says, they do an exemplary job of representing the team, the university, and us. When you look at the total package, you gotta love these guys. We all make mistakes - let's not focus on thiers. They've also done a lot RIGHT this season to get to 27-6! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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