Bracketology, ESPN

[CajunVic]

They are shown as an aq in this bracket . . .

[fanof71]

I have a question, or three for the basketball gurus out there. How many teams will get in from the belt? Is it possible UL could even be a higher seed? If something bad happens & UL falters in the conference tourney, can they still get a bid? TIA

1 bid...AQ for NIT if UL wins Belt but loses in conf tourney

[BeauCajun]

This matchup would be a bit more difficult...

Xavier(NO) no problem. They’re always in our schedule.

Sarcasm for those with a broken or defective detector.

[Crawfish]

I have a question, or three for the basketball gurus out there. How many teams will get in from the belt? Is it possible UL could even be a higher seed? If something bad happens & UL falters in the conference tourney, can they still get a bid? TIA

Not a basketball GURU, but there will only be one bid for the Belt and #13 seed would be about as high as it will get based on "NET" ratings. Maybe the NIT might take more than 1 SBC team. I would guess the Belt gets one NCAA, one NIT, and 2 teams in the (CBI, etc.)

[zephyr]

Not a basketball GURU, but there will only be one bid for the Belt and #13 seed would be about as high as it will get based on "NET" ratings. Maybe the NIT might take more than 1 SBC team. I would guess the Belt gets one NCAA, one NIT, and 2 teams in the (CBI, etc.)

Agreed

[R1Letterman]

Seems if sunbelt “moved up” from a 16 seed playin team league to a 13 seed AND two other teams have nearly the same record how is it still just one team in?

so if we used to be a playin team lets say #68, now a 13 seed, lets say #50, thats a huge jump. Seems a jump of that height has a spot for another sunbelt team in the middle of some of those slots

I really wish the play in games were set on a rotational basis and the total # of bids by conference were done by a formula the way they do UEFA champions league or World Cup.

I.e. lets say for example its sunbelts turn for play in game in 2026 and 2030, knowing in advance and that way it isnt subjective to which particular team makes it that year.

one could argue having a play in as a 16 and only one team is actually better conference payout wise than a 13 and still only one team

[R1Letterman]

Get Brock Purdy in the house!

Check out Iowa St’s performance in last years tourney, oh the irony! lmao

[ZoomZoom]

If the SBC regular season champion wins the SBC tournament, I’d put the NIT for a SBC team as a long shot. That applies to pretty much any non power conference. It’s turned into consolation prize for one bid league regular season champions that falter in their conference tournament and filled in with power conference teams.

Just pay attention to the NCAA and NIT field. That’s a good indicator how a 96 team field would work.

[RaginDave]

I think if we win out and that is going to be hard, that would mean winning all 8 of the remaining regular season games and then 3 in the tournament and defeating Marshall and USM (2 times in the regular season) at least once each and possibly multiple times, there is a slim, slim chance we could move up to a 12 seed. That would put us at 29-4 with some decent wins.

I think depending on what happens from here on out the likely scenario is a 13 seed, but I could see where the Cajuns or USM or Marshall have a path to a 12 seed, but it would be highly unlikely. To me, the likelihood of one of the 3 top teams in the SBC will be a 13 seed.

If anyone outside of the top 3 (Marshall, USM and/or UL) wins the conference tournament and wins the games they are at least supposed to win, then the SBC representative will be a 15 or 16 seed.

UL has a chance to make a case for a 12 seed, but it would mean winning all of the games we are supposed to win (Texas State (twice), ULM, Arkansas State and USA) as well as winning vs toss up games vs Marshall, USM and JMU. Then taking the #1 seed in the SBC and winning all three games, preferably having to face at least one of Marshall/USM in the process.

That is a tall task, but it is possible. I think if all of that happens and we get some help from teams ahead of us losing and we can move our NET number up, we have a chance.

Our biggest detriment are a couple of things, the loss to Coastal hurts, more than the loss to Drake or ODU for a couple of reasons, Coastal has been really bad since that game and we were up for most of it, it should have been a win. That Quad 4 loss is big. And secondly, we are not getting help from teams that are traditionally pretty good, like Harvard, ETSU, SMU, La Tech, etc. These teams are marred in the Mid 100's or lower in NET ranking and of course UNO and McNeese have not helped at all as they are in the 200's. Our best non conference win is Harvard who is 140, our best conference win is USM who is 67. We need Marshall and USM to win every game they play except for when they play us and we need to beat both of them every time we might face them.

[billbeck451]

USM in Hattiesburg is going to be a chore, they have been having good turnouts to their games and have been loud. We need a good contingent of cajuns at that game to offset some of their home court advantage

[fanof71]

I think if we win out and that is going to be hard, that would mean winning all 8 of the remaining regular season games and then 3 in the tournament and defeating Marshall and USM (2 times in the regular season) at least once each and possibly multiple times, there is a slim, slim chance we could move up to a 12 seed. That would put us at 29-4 with some decent wins.

I think depending on what happens from here on out the likely scenario is a 13 seed, but I could see where the Cajuns or USM or Marshall have a path to a 12 seed, but it would be highly unlikely. To me, the likelihood of one of the 3 top teams in the SBC will be a 13 seed.

If anyone outside of the top 3 (Marshall, USM and/or UL) wins the conference tournament and wins the games they are at least supposed to win, then the SBC representative will be a 15 or 16 seed.

UL has a chance to make a case for a 12 seed, but it would mean winning all of the games we are supposed to win (Texas State (twice), ULM, Arkansas State and USA) as well as winning vs toss up games vs Marshall, USM and JMU. Then taking the #1 seed in the SBC and winning all three games, preferably having to face at least one of Marshall/USM in the process.

That is a tall task, but it is possible. I think if all of that happens and we get some help from teams ahead of us losing and we can move our NET number up, we have a chance.

Our biggest detriment are a couple of things, the loss to Coastal hurts, more than the loss to Drake or ODU for a couple of reasons, Coastal has been really bad since that game and we were up for most of it, it should have been a win. That Quad 4 loss is big. And secondly, we are not getting help from teams that are traditionally pretty good, like Harvard, ETSU, SMU, La Tech, etc. These teams are marred in the Mid 100's or lower in NET ranking and of course UNO and McNeese have not helped at all as they are in the 200's. Our best non conference win is Harvard who is 140, our best conference win is USM who is 67. We need Marshall and USM to win every game they play except for when they play us and we need to beat both of them every time we might face them.

Dave gets it...and, might add, to get to a 12th seed, some other "locks" will have to loose along the way, mainly in their conference tournaments...

Rouga, White & Blue...learn something and read Daves post..

[RaginDave]

Dave gets it...and, might add, to get to a 12th seed, some other "locks" will have to loose along the way, mainly in their conference tournaments...

Rouga, White & Blue...learn something and read Daves post..

Agree, it is going to be a tall task to get there and we have to hope for some help, but it is possible. We can only do what we can do, if we do that I think we are guaranteed a 13 seed, but with a little help with teams right above us in their tournaments, we could sneak into a 12 seed.

Our work starts tomorrow night as the Texas State game is the biggest of the season, because it is the next one. We can not worry about Marshall and USM until we play them Saturday and Thursday, we need to focus on Texas State and win that one. One game at a time, one win at a time.