UNLV not playin their best ball now

[stymeman]

This team is truly vunerable, think they can get by on walking into the arena, intimidation etc...We've beat them once, we can do it again, maybe 2 times, alert the press, Pokes may take of of the next 2, love to see it both times, but this MWC Tourney is truly going to be fun, hopefully we can see the Sheeeep get knocked off in 1st round!!! Regardless, I'm still proud and will see our Pokes play again regardless what Post season tourney we make!!!

It sucks to be a CSU Ram, I said it sux to be a CSU Ram/fan!!!

 

[calpoke25]

I don't understand why everyone seems to be so keen on avoiding UNLV in the MWC tournament. If you want to win it, you'll have to go through them eventually anyway and I'd rather play them on a Thursday/Friday when Rebel fans haven't had a chance yet to snatch up all the tickets of the losers for the final on a Saturday.

This year in particular I think WYO matches up much better against UNLV than against New Mexico. In order of preference of the Big 3 I rather play UNLV, then SDSU then UNM. I wouldn't put anything past this gritty WYO squad, but the Lobos may be the toughest matchup for this WYO team to handle.

 

[WyoExpat]

I don't understand why everyone seems to be so keen on avoiding UNLV in the MWC tournament. If you want to win it, you'll have to go through them eventually anyway and I'd rather play them on a Thursday/Friday when Rebel fans haven't had a chance yet to snatch up all the tickets of the losers for the final on a Saturday.

This year in particular I think WYO matches up much better against UNLV than against New Mexico. In order of preference of the Big 3 I rather play UNLV, then SDSU then UNM. I wouldn't put anything past this gritty WYO squad, but the Lobos may be the toughest matchup for this WYO team to handle.

Everyone is so keen on avoiding UNLV because they have a history of outperforming their projections in the tournament, largely because they get a true home court advantage throughout. How often has UNLV either played in the championship or even won the whole thing, although they were seeded 3rd or below?

Therefore, I disagree on timing and preference. For our purposes, it is better if we can have more true neutral-court games before we face the probable tournament-winner. (This is probably true for every bubble team in the conference.)

I also think that we match up better against SDSU on a neutral court than we do against New Mexico or UNLV on the Rebels' home court. Frankly, I do not have much confidence that we beat New Mexico simply because they beat us at our own game. In addition, their depth gives us more trouble than either SDSU or UNLV.

Finally, I think TCU beats San Diego State down in Fort Worth on Saturday. Assuming CSU beats Air Force and assuming that UNLV wins at home on their Senior Night Saturday, what does that do to the seedings?

 

[seattlecowboy]

I don't understand why everyone seems to be so keen on avoiding UNLV in the MWC tournament. If you want to win it, you'll have to go through them eventually anyway and I'd rather play them on a Thursday/Friday when Rebel fans haven't had a chance yet to snatch up all the tickets of the losers for the final on a Saturday.

This year in particular I think WYO matches up much better against UNLV than against New Mexico. In order of preference of the Big 3 I rather play UNLV, then SDSU then UNM. I wouldn't put anything past this gritty WYO squad, but the Lobos may be the toughest matchup for this WYO team to handle.

Everyone is so keen on avoiding UNLV because they have a history of outperforming their projections in the tournament, largely because they get a true home court advantage throughout. How often has UNLV either played in the championship or even won the whole thing, although they were seeded 3rd or below?

Therefore, I disagree on timing and preference. For our purposes, it is better if we can have more true neutral-court games before we face the probable tournament-winner. (This is probably true for every bubble team in the conference.)

I also think that we match up better against SDSU on a neutral court than we do against New Mexico or UNLV on the Rebels' home court. Frankly, I do not have much confidence that we beat New Mexico simply because they beat us at our own game. In addition, their depth gives us more trouble than either SDSU or UNLV.

Finally, I think TCU beats San Diego State down in Fort Worth on Saturday. Assuming CSU beats Air Force and assuming that UNLV wins at home on their Senior Night Saturday, what does that do to the seedings?

All that would do is make UNLV still the #3 seed and us the #6 seed meaning we play them again anyways. CSU and TCU would still be the #4 and #5 seeds playing each other.

If TCU wins and CSU wins and Wyoming can beat UNLV then CSU would be the # 3 seed and Wyoming would get to play CSU on Thursday. If we want to avoid UNLV in the first round of the tournament and be on the opposite side of the bracket then we need CSU to beat Air Force and Wyoming needs to beat UNLV this Saturday.

So basically Saturday night we are the last game so I am thinking a win puts us against CSU next Thursday and a loss will put us in a rematch against UNLV. We will know before our game on Saturday since we will be the last regular season game to be played. Saturday nights game could end up being a big deal as far as avoiding UNLV in the tournament.

Only scenario we don't want is where we play UNLV this Satruday and beat them and then have to have a rematch against them on Thursday trying to beat them for the 3rd time and twice in a row on their home floor. Which I believe happens if Wyoming beats UNLV but Air Force beats CSU.

So even though we hate the Rams we need them to win over Air Force to atleast give us a shot of avoiding UNLV in the tournament until the championship game.

 

[laxwyo]

Wouldn't we want to play a team we've already beaten as opposed to a team that swept us this year? I don't want to play UNLV either but just a thought.

 

[calpoke25]

Everyone is so keen on avoiding UNLV because they have a history of outperforming their projections in the tournament, largely because they get a true home court advantage throughout. How often has UNLV either played in the championship or even won the whole thing, although they were seeded 3rd or below?

UNLV has won the MWC tournament 3 times. In 2000 they were seeded #1, in 2007 they were seeded #2 and in 2008 they were seeded #2. They have never won it seeded #3 or lower. I wouldn't call a #2 or higher seed winning the tournament necessarily home court advantage.

They have lost in the title game as #3 in 2002, #4 in 2003, #4 in 2004 (Pepsi Center), #4 in 2006 (Pepsi Center) #3 in 2010. They have only advanced to 3 title games seeded #3 or lower on their on floor.

 

[WyoExpat]

UNLV has won the MWC tournament 3 times. In 2000 they were seeded #1, in 2007 they were seeded #2 and in 2008 they were seeded #2. They have never won it seeded #3 or lower. I wouldn't call a #2 or higher seed winning the tournament necessarily home court advantage.

They have lost in the title game as #3 in 2002, #4 in 2003, #4 in 2004 (Pepsi Center), #4 in 2006 (Pepsi Center) #3 in 2010. They have only advanced to 3 title games seeded #3 or lower on their on floor.

Thank you for the research. That adds a great deal of perspective. I did not realize that they had done so well in Denver.

Still, since 2000, UNLV only missed the title game in: 2001, 2005, 2009 and last year? They have been in 8 of 12 title games, regardless of their seed going into the tournament. Is that about right? To me, that is enough to say that the title game match-up will probably be UNLV vs. someone. Therefore, I would feel much more comfortable if we were on one side of the bracket and both UNLV and New Mexico were on the other side.

What is fun right now is the notion that CSU really, really needs us to win on Saturday. For those on the Front Range, that might be something to point out today to your co-workers who are also Ram alumni.

Go Pokes!

 

[bladerunnr]

csewe hasn't won a road game in the conference this year. But, if they sneak by air farce, I sure hope we can beat Unlv. I would much rather play csewe than UNLV on their home court. Plus, I think we match up better against the sheep.

I don't really care which bracket unlv is in. This is not a Lon Kruger team. They don't look very disclipined on offense and they're lazy on defense. They do have some talent but it is very inconsistent.