TSpoke said:
NowherePoke said:
TSpoke said:
LanderPoke said:
BeaverPoke said:
Win a bunch of easy ooc games.
Barely sneak into one poll.
Lose next game at home.
Seem familiar?
Well at least we still have a number next to our name for a few more days... Wouldnt be surprised if no one votes for us next week.
Except we still have all our players and no one got in a bar fight.. if that is the team you are referring to.
This.
There was a reason that team fell apart after the ranking. This year we are still in first place in the league sitting great. We are not going to collapse. We lost one game that we knew was goingto be hard. Still plenty of ball left.
Agree about not collapsing, but we have dug ourselves such a big hole with the weak OOC and now a home loss that we aren't realistically in the running for a NCAA berth anymore.
In 12-13, we really just needed to finish about 9-7 or so in the MWC to make the NCAA. This year's team needed to go 14-4 or 15-3 with at least one win over SDSU (the only MWC opponent that will be considered a "quality" win at the end of the year I believe) in order to put themselves in position. That looks unlikely now.
14-4 with loses at SDSU, at NM, at UNLV give us an RPI in the 50's still(according to RPIforecast). That is enough to get us on the bubble and in the discussion.
http://www.rpiforecast.com/wizard/Wyoming.html
Now if that record is enough to win the conference then with that "good enough" RPI we would definately get in. When was the last time the regular season champ of the MW not get in? Us in 01 when we had a 3 way tie with Utah and BYU? The next year we got in with a pretty terrible RPI because we won the conference.(and the conference has more respect now than it did then)
So we definately have a lot of work to do but the lose last night did not change my opinion on how good of a team we are. I still beleive we can win the conference. And I beleive if we can do that the NCAA will sort itself out. Conference title is more important to me than a NCAA berth anyways.(one will follow the other however)
I do agree that 14-4 gets us in the discussion (I think that is the minimum required to get us in the discussion). However, even if that wins the MWC, it will be very borderline. A few items to note:
1. In terms of winning the MWC, that looks pretty unlikely right now as SDSU as established themselves as the frontrunners.
2. Even if we do, you point out the only time that the MWC champ was left out was...Wyoming. It could easily happen again.
3. In terms of winning the conference, that can be a positive factor in the resume (even if technically they say it doesn't matter), but remember just a couple of years ago when the regular season PAC champ (Washington) was left out. If they can leave out the PAC regular season champ, they can sure leave out the MWC champ (and have before..us).
4. In terms of being a bubble team in the 50's, we are on very thin ice in the scenario. If you look at last year, there were only 3 teams with an RPI below 50 that recieved an at-large and 5 teams between 50-60 were left out entirely. Two of those teams are very instructive IMO. SMU and La. Tech. SMU finished 23-9 (before the NIT) with a SOS of 113 and an OOC SOS of 303. The latter was highlighted as one of the primary reasons for their exclusion. La. Tech finished 27-7 (before the NIT) and lost in the CUSA title game. They finished with a SOS in the 180's and an OOC SOS in the 280's. Now imagine a Wyoming team that goes 14-4, 25-6 and then 1-1 in the MWCT. Pokes would be 26-7 with an OOC SOS currently projected to be 314 and an overall SOS of 182 (not counting the 2 MWCT games, so maybe a little higher). How is our resume any better than SMU or La. Tech last year? Our only Top 50 wins in that scenario would be Colorado St. (if they stay Top 50).
Obviously I don't want this to happen, but the writing is on the wall. I don't the Pokes get an at-large unless they win the MWC outright and they may need to go 15-3 in doing so. After last night it seems like 12-6 or 13-5 are more realistic targets but that won't even get us in the discussion.
Long story short, I believe we have a Top 50 team, but we will not have a Top 50 resume.