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Haven't posted over here under Baksetball, but I wanted to get your thoughts on the strength of the AAC. For example, Louisville has not beaten one decent team. I'm not sure what they were thinking with their scheduling this year.

I have seen some optimistic writers say the AAC will get 4-5 bids.

But is anyone else worried that we are currently the 9th ranked conference in RPI?

The only way I can see us getting 4 or 5 bids is for the top teams to sweep the conference. If any of the bottom teams start to win a few games, it will wipe out any strength of the top teams

Here are the top teams:

#23 Memphis
#26 Connecticut
#37 Louisville
#42 Cincy
#63 SMU

I think the league will end up getting 5 bc the bubble will be so weak. Conference rpi doesn't really matter yet, b/c good leagues play bad teams ooc, whereas bad leagues take the paycheck. I wish the AAC had a better ooc record vs notable teams, but the real test is runs like the one we're on. Cincy/uconn and Lille are no joke in a row. Meanwhile, like in years past, the cusa teams start to play the Cuba teams w/ no marquee games in sight.

Unfortunately, the non-conference portion pretty much stakes your conference's strength.

The only way Cincy/SMU will get into the tournament is if they win all the games against the lower half of the conference and steal a couple of wins against the top 3.

Also, Louisville is in trouble regarding their seeding in the tournament. They will have to finish either 1-2 to get a top 4 seed.

USF04 wrote:Unfortunately, the non-conference portion pretty much stakes your conference's strength.

The only way Cincy/SMU will get into the tournament is if they win all the games against the lower half of the conference and steal a couple of wins against the top 3.

Also, Louisville is in trouble regarding their seeding in the tournament. They will have to finish either 1-2 to get a top 4 seed.

Shows what I know about rpi, just don't pay attention. That said, the bubble will be extremely weak again, just not enough legit resumes out there heading into conference play. I guess that's where SOS matters, not rpi?

USF04 wrote:Unfortunately, the non-conference portion pretty much stakes your conference's strength.

The only way Cincy/SMU will get into the tournament is if they win all the games against the lower half of the conference and steal a couple of wins against the top 3.

Also, Louisville is in trouble regarding their seeding in the tournament. They will have to finish either 1-2 to get a top 4 seed.

That is your opinion. It think SMU just has to get to 20 plus wins however they do it. How is your USF team looking with Perry and Egbunu down low? How is your guard play so far?

Rebel10 wrote:

USF04 wrote:Unfortunately, the non-conference portion pretty much stakes your conference's strength.

The only way Cincy/SMU will get into the tournament is if they win all the games against the lower half of the conference and steal a couple of wins against the top 3.

Also, Louisville is in trouble regarding their seeding in the tournament. They will have to finish either 1-2 to get a top 4 seed.

That is your opinion. It think SMU just has to get to 20 plus wins however they do it. How is your USF team looking with Perry and Egbunu down low? How is your guard play so far?

He's kind of nailed it. Louisville is kind of screwed at this point and people don't realize it. They only hurt themselves in seeding from this point out, losses hurt them outside of UConn and they'd be looking at a 4 seed if the tourney draw was today. The tourney committee is going to look at the RPI and not going to want to give out bids, it's BS but they do it every year. It plays too big of a role imo.

I haven't been too impressed so far, but I'm excited to see how everything will go in conference play.

I really have been trying to follow and root hard for every team in the conference this year (except I'm rooting against Louisville) after the Old Big East teams screwed us all.

I would love nothing more than for Memphis to win the whole thing NCAA this year to show how strong our conference is without all the teams that left.

I agree with OhioBrown on Louisville's seeding. I wonder if they just assumed they would win both games against Kentucky and UNC?

The conference as a whole needs to schedule more difficult teams next year. Look at the Big XII for example. They are the #1 conference due to scheduling and winning against teams in the Top 100.

USF04 wrote:I haven't been too impressed so far, but I'm excited to see how everything will go in conference play.

I really have been trying to follow and root hard for every team in the conference this year (except I'm rooting against Louisville) after the Old Big East teams screwed us all.

I would love nothing more than for Memphis to win the whole thing NCAA this year to show how strong our conference is without all the teams that left.

Doesn't USF play Memphis today? I think your team could give them some problems. What do you think?

Don't forget the Big XII/SEC and Big Ten/ACC shootouts are set up to boost RPIs as well.

In theory we could set one up with the Big East but I don't see that happening...

USF04 wrote:I agree with OhioBrown on Louisville's seeding. I wonder if they just assumed they would win both games against Kentucky and UNC?

The conference as a whole needs to schedule more difficult teams next year. Look at the Big XII for example. They are the #1 conference due to scheduling and winning against teams in the Top 100.

Which is a farce that an intelligent selection committee should see straight through. It's a top heavy league w 3 legit teams in Baylor, ku, osu. Well see what ut and ou amount to moving forward

The selection committee uses RPI as the base for seeding teams because it allows for unbiased views.

For example, most college bball fans would blindly say Louisville is a top 2 seed. However, when you look at their true resume, it's easy to see that they haven't done anything amazing. In fact, the only difference between SMU and Louisville is that Louisville lost to teams with higher RPIs.

While I somewhat agree with your assessment of the Big 12, you are leaving out Iowa State. Pretty much 40% of their conference is playing at an elite level....and OU and Texas have good resumes as well. Now their bottom 4 teams definitely stink. They will get half of their teams in the NCAA.

Big XII
#2 - Kansas
#5 - IA State
#9 - Baylor
#13 - Oklahoma State
#33 - Texas
#45 - Oklahoma

USF04 wrote:The selection committee uses RPI as the base for seeding teams because it allows for unbiased views.

For example, most college bball fans would blindly say Louisville is a top 2 seed. However, when you look at their true resume, it's easy to see that they haven't done anything amazing. In fact, the only difference between SMU and Louisville is that Louisville lost to teams with higher RPIs.

While I somewhat agree with your assessment of the Big 12, you are leaving out Iowa State. Pretty much 40% of their conference is playing at an elite level....and OU and Texas have good resumes as well. Now their bottom 4 teams definitely stink. They will get half of their teams in the NCAA.

Big XII
#2 - Kansas
#5 - IA State
#9 - Baylor
#13 - Oklahoma State
#33 - Texas
#45 - Oklahoma

So how do you think your USF team will handle Memphis today?

I'm just hoping we can make it competitive. In my opinion, Memphis is the top team in the league. They really should have beat Florida.

If we can have it within 10 with 10 minutes to go then I would be happy. They always killed us back in the Conf USA days.

USF04 wrote:I'm just hoping we can make it competitive. In my opinion, Memphis is the top team in the league. They really should have beat Florida.

If we can have it within 10 with 10 minutes to go then I would be happy. They always killed us back in the Conf USA days.

I think Perry, Rudd, and Egbunu could give Goodwin and Nichols fits. USF went to the NCAA tournament 2 years ago but lost their bigs last year and now you have 2 good bigs in Perry and Egbunu. Who is in your starting back court now?