Hilltopper2k

In major cnferences and in the NCAA tournament, the refs LET THEM PLAY come bruise or broken bone. That is basketball in March. I think it is a major disservice to the Sunbelt that refs call it as nit picky as they do in the regular season because the Belt representative in the NCAA is not prepared for the physicality of it. Edit: and as far as UALR's moving screen at the end of the championship I have watched enough basketball to know that in March, at the end of the game.... they will almost never call that. Not in the ACC, not in the SEC, not in the final four. The coach has to understand this and prepare the team for it. March is not for the fain hearted.

No. This is a one bid league for now. Why add one more team fighting for that one bid? I think we would be better served to add incentives for Sunbelt teams and coaches to win non conference games.

Congratulations Mean Green. Next year we can start over with both of us having nice recruiting classes. Competing against each other for championships for four years and knocking each other out. I've got to disagree about those of you wishing for MTSU simply because I think the bye would really have paid off for them in the championship. I know you guys won four years ago without the bye but that is the exception and not the rule. By playing UALR that is completely neutralized. Good luck tomorrow and beyond.

Absolutely. UNT has won two out of the last four Sunbelt championships. UNT is the defending champ. Playing on the road is tough. That is a given. But you guys are seeing what WKU has seen for years. Crappy Sunbelt teams looking like all world to take the champs down a notch. Here's the upside: in Hot Springs everybody gets everybody's best shot. But UNT got everybody's best shot all season long. It prepares you for the tournament. Don't knock it.

I agree that sooner or later we will be back. We have problems right now though tough schedule or not. If we had a good team this year then we would have taken one or two of those games that we weren't supposed to win. I don't think we have it this year. Pity. Personally, I am inclined to think that ULM will more or less always be mediocre. They are on the bottom of the belt in budget, and thier focus will always be on football. Oh sure they will put together a nice team every twenty years or so. But I don't anticipate them ever becoming a basketball power. Marlin built a prety consistent winner at Sam Houston was it? He has quite a bit to work with at ULL. I have a ton of respect for that program. Win, and they will have the fan support. Personally I think UALR has maybe the most untapped potential out of any program in the belt. When you look at Gonzaga and the sustained success that they have had it is at least partially because they are in a town that is much like Little Rock. It is a large town that is not so large that it has pro teams to compete with, and does not have any major college teams to call its own (I know the razorbacks are popular there but that is a good hour and a half away). Little Rock really has a void that could be filled as far as sport entertainment goes. Agreed. Brady is a good coach that had them well on thier way to repectability. But there is a window for success and some bad luck has set him back quite a bit. How long does Brady struggle before he is labled a has been among recruits and fades? So have they waivered from thier departure now that the Wac's autobid is in jeapordy? Maybe after they build thier new arena Maestri will retire / get fired and they will get a coach that can build for the future instead of constantly rebuilding with Jucos and running a gimmicky 3 point system. FAU may be poised to dominate the East for a couple of years. I say that with a heavy heart. Historically, over the decades, USA has been one of the most consistently good programs. They are the only Belt team with an all time winning record against WKU. They will be back, it is a matter of time. MTSU is stuck in no-man's land. They don't ever seem to get over the hump. Kermit wins enough games to keep his job, but he never gets them where they want to be. I don't know if MTSU has the disposition to fire him for winning seasons or not. So I have to agree... unless he just gets lucky one year and moves on... they are who they will be. Never that bad... never really good.

The Louisville game has been sold out for weeks. Supposedly they are bringing extra bleachers to put behind one of the goalposts.

We will not win the East. That is FAU's to lose. We will have our hands full fighting for second in the East.

Hope I'm wrong, but I doubt we win in Murray. There's two things that can draw 8000 people in Murray, Kentucky. Free Kevin Skinner concerts, and a chance to beat WKU in basketball. I honestly hope they don't blow us out like they did two years ago over there.

You pretty much summed it up right there. Javis is possibly the best coach in the conference (Jones is up there too, not meant as a slight). I really don't know about WKU. We have some nice talent but we may be too one dimensional since we do not shoot the three well at all. On the other hand I could see us putting it together and going on a tear in conference. Either way, I tend to think that this is FAU's year in the East. They are just sharper and more cohesive at this point. The last couple of years the knock on them has been that they are young although they have recruited nice talent. That's not true so much anymore. They came within a hair of winning the East last year. This year, Jarvis will finish the conquest.

While I appreciate the sentiment, I'm not convinced that is true. Allow me to add to your excellent podcasts' discussion on RPI. Our opponents' opponents' have no bearing what-so-ever on Sunbelt RPI. This is because North Texas's opponents' opponents' are just our opponents. So if you take the two components of our rpi that affect North Texas in proportion it breaks down to this: 2/3 of what we do to affect you is our win/loss record (your opponents win %). 1/3 of what we do to affect you is our opponents' win/loss record (your opponents' opponents' win %). So while our non conference opponents will no doubt win a lot of games this year, we will have beaten at best half of them. And this is what I mean when I say the incentives are screwed up. When our non conference opponents win (which they will) it helps our RPI significantly (since half of our RPI is opponents' win%). But when we lose against them it hurts your RPI significantly (our win% is half of your RPI but only 1/4th of ours). This is why I am not convinced that our Sunbelt 150 rule is the best solution. #1 it has no teeth so what does it matter anyway. #2 it encourages teams to play schedules that they will lose against. I think we need to start including non conference games in conference standings. Allow John Brady to schedule whoever he wants. But if loses against them then he pays for it in seeding. Its unconventional but I think it is the only thing that will really work. The best thing for the conference is to schedule the toughest schedule that you can win against. If there is no schedule you can win against (within a reasonable amount of time to build a roster)... fire the coach.

I know that WKU has not done anything to help the OOC this year, but I really do think that the incentive structure needs to change in this conference. I know that UNT fans know what I am talking about when I say that the same teams that lose to freaking Bowling Green (I know, I know, we didn't beat them by much) and Texas College will look like world beaters when they play the top in conference teams. There is an attitude among some coaches, fan bases, and administrations that non conference losses don't matter. Hot Springs and seeding for Hot Springs is all that matters. We reward conference teams for beating conference opponents. We should reward them for beating non-conference opponents.

FAU will win the East... and you guys had better watch our for them too.

You said a mouthfull there. BG's offense is BAD. The whole point of a tough schedule is to build a tournament resume and short of that at least sharpen your skills. If we don't get this one then we haven't done either.

I am pi$$ed at you guys for this one. Congratulations though, you got a really good one. Quite the coaching staff you are putting together indeed.