NET Rankings, Schedule and the AAC vs. the Big Mid-East

[the Blades]

There's been alot of talk about FB independence & moving hoops from the AAC to the 10 team ....
Big "Midwest" East conference, for BB. Well don't look now but the top 10 BB schools in the AAC are starting to look alot like a conference that used to be the Big East. With all the Midwest teams I don't see any great need to join a conference that doesn't exist any more. Especially when the only big time rivals left are Nova & Georgetown who we schedule OOC anyway. Could also add a St. Johns and Providence periodically into the mix, though I don't see them as big a draw as the other 2. Right now the B"M"E looks like a 2/3 bid league with St. Johns falling fast after a 12-0 start and a bunch of "just over .500 bubble teams" , kinda like the AAC.

So the way this season is playing out it's starting to look like joining that new BE would be more like a lateral move while trading a bunch of southern trips for the midwest ones, and losing a conference for FB....... NCAA NET rankings

Now regarding the remaining schedule .The W over a poor ECU team, without Jalen and Rique was nice but it looks like Uconn could be an underdog in the next 5-6 games at least. Tough stretch for sure that will make or break the season. At this point ECU (9-4 @ home) on the road looks like the only sure game that Uconn will be a favorite.

 

[KhalidShockedTheWorld]

UConn could win 2, maybe even 3 of the underdog games. I think UConn is trending in the right direction. Would be a great statement for the program if they can take Houston DOWN at home. There are some wins out there and this team needs to go out and seize them.

 

[KhalidShockedTheWorld]

BTW Joey Brackets said 3 teams are in (Houston, Cincy, USF) and Temple and their 54 NET are first 4 out. As I see it unless UConn gets severely hot and wins almost all of the rest of their games they will once again need to win the AAC tournament this year. Which they can be a threat to do if they can keep improving on both ends. A high seed is not likely even if that happens. Maybe looking at a double digit seeding.

 

[the Blades]

I guess no one told Joey the NET rankings are supposed to be used this year by the NCAA. Seton Hall 13-9 (# 68) over Temple ? ....But maybe Uconn can help an old BE brother out

 

[KhalidShockedTheWorld]

Joey B at halftime of UConn-ECU was interviewed on ESPN News on that very question Blades. The studio host asked Joey B, “how much will NCAA rely on NET ranking? More or less than RPI?”

Joey B’s response was to compare the NET ranking to a “new Christmas toy” and to say that it was hard to predict how much or little the Committee would rely on this new toy. He noted that RPI was used less and less by the Committee as years went on until it was ultimately replaced, this due to weaknesses that were exposed over time in the RPI formula.

At no point did Joey B say that NET rankings were the exclusive methodology of his “bracketology”, which is presumably a trade secret for us to guess at. Joey B did talk about a lot of criteria apart from NET in evaluating Temple and other teams. I think he looks at NET ranking but it may be like 25% of what he uses.

In saying that Temple was First 4 Out he did so with their NET ranking of 54 on the TV screen for all viewers to see. He said 3 teams are firmly in right now. I can’t recall all of his reasoning on Tenple but he did discuss their schedule and wins and losses. He also said it was a tossup between Duke and Virginia for overall number 1 seed and he had Tennessee at 3 and Gonzaga at 4 but also said Michigan/Michigan State, whichever wins Big 10, will pressure Gonzaga for the number 4 overall seed.

Don’t forget that automatic bid conference winners will push top 68 NET teams out of the tournament because many will not be top 68 NET. If UConn wins the AAC with a 77 NET ranking someone in the top 68 will get bumped. Probably at least 15-20 teams will get bumped so Temple not being an at large with a 54 NET ranking makes total sense. He did say they were First 4 Out.

 

[the Blades]

In other rankings:
NCAA college basketball polls, rankings from the AP and Coaches


and # 23 in USA Today /coaches

 

[the Blades]

ESPN now rates The American ahead of a so-called " Power 5 " conference:

How we rank the top seven conferences in college basketball

 

[the Blades]

More regarding the new Big Least basketball conference. Looks like the only thing that Uconn has to do right now is get this ship turned around. If the new AAC TV contract is close to $8 mil (double that of the new Big Least) plus another $25 mil or so the AAC splits up every year in FB money, the talk of moving back to the former conference which doesn't exist anymore can end once and for all. Uconn needs to take care of Uconn and fans need to stop blaming everything on the current conference. Then and only then can Uconn make theirselves more attractive to the only conference(s) they should want to move to.. Those (P-5's) that make the big bucks so Uconn can get it's AD closer to running in the black. Even though that will always be out of every schools control.

" We know the Pac-12 is a gigantic heap of garbage (Conference of Champions? Please).We know the Big East is down this season, as well. In fact, with Villanova on a three-game losing skid and St. John’s coming off a 19-point loss at Providence, we only have one team from the league ranked this week. "

NCAA NET rankings

 

[the Blades]

NCAAB College Basketball Top 25

 

[the Blades]

Final regular season NET rankings. It will be interesting to see how the NCAA committee picks who gets in to the tourney considering that these official "NET rankings" are what they said they would use this year. The AAC right now has 5 teams ranked higher than all but 2 of the " Big Mid-East " conference.
Who is the BB conference again ???

 

[KhalidShockedTheWorld]

Unfortunately UConn’s NET ranking is only better than 1 Big East team and just barely at that.

I think the AAC will certainly get 4 teams in and the Big East will likely get 2. Some of the power conferences will get a lot of teams, like the ACC, Big 10 and SEC and Big 12.

Over the weekend I watched a lot of basketball and there are a lot of good teams and players out there. I was extremely impressed by North Carolina. I have seen them a few times this year and they are really good and I would not want to play them if I was a top seed. They could win it all, so can Gonzaga and so can Virginia. Those are my 3 picks.