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.

I don't know the man and I heard that "through the grapevine". So who knows. Obviously he is not a well adjusted individual.

From what I heard he is a vet with tramatic stress syndrome and is on medication.

Look at the tailgaiting map (link below). At one time Creason (it is labled at the top left) was the designated place for opposing fans to tailgate. I'm sure you would be welcomed most anywhere, but FWIW that is a place to start. Parking there will be free and it is a large lot that usually doesn't fill up. It is also relatively easy to get to. Assuming that you are staying on the Scottsville Rd area (most of the motels are there) you can skip the Scottsville Rd. traffic by taking the interstate to exit 20 and taking the Natcher parkway to exit 5 (turn right at the bottom of the ramp). That will take you straight to Creason (will be on the right). Tailgating Map Creason is at the top left.

Look, I respect you guys and I am willing to stipulate that Hot Springs is a nice town and has nice whatever there. Like you I would be more interested in the basketball than I would be the tourist attractions. But with all due respect, of course you like Hot Springs. It is 150 miles closer for you. Is it too much to ask to swap it up every once in a while? Cleveland, OH and Chicago, IL are about the same distance from BG as hot springs (I don't want to go to those places either). They made a cheap bid. Great. I guess you drive a Hyundai Accent since it is the cheapest car on the market? A South Alabama fan justly pointed out that Hot Springs is not a central location. Credit to SkullyMaroo: What would be wrong with a three year rotation of Hot Springs, Huntsville, and Biloxi?

That is awesome. I know it will never happen with the new 16 game schedule, but I would LOVE to have WKU play @ UNT in football and basketball in the same weekend. I would book that trip in a heartbeat.

Tasty shows here that he knows his Sunbelt basketball. Agree with all of your statements. I don't know. I wonder if he will be one of those coaches that always seems like big success is just around the corner but always brakes thier hearts. Maybe not. I give a strong edge to FAU in that one. I think USA will be depending too much on newcomers this year (talented though they may be) where FAU (who came much closer to winning the east last year than USA did) will return basically everyone. I think Mike Jarvis is a better coach than Arrow personally.

Yeah, there are a few significant developments since then. #1 WKU was ready to go... the MAC rejected us. A sweet 16 later they are interested? Screw them. #2 I think WKU fans are waking up to the fact that the MAC is largely in the Rustbelt. "The South" probably begins somewhere between Louisville and Bowling Green. We are culturally aligned with the south and who wants to go to Ohio in November anyway? #3 WKU has won three NCAA tournament games since then out of the Sunbelt. UNT, FIU even Denver have all stepped up thier recruiting nicely. WKU fans will mostly always favor basketball and will probably favor the conference that gives us the best chance at NCAA appearances and wins. Does the MAC do that? Not sure, but why mess with what appears to be working at the moment. #4 We went FBS. When we were drooling over the MAC we were excited about the possibility of 1A anyway. Since then we have had out butts handed to us by what is supposed to be the "weakest" conference. And at any rate, with the new bowl game for the Belt, I believe we have a better ratio of teams to bowls in the Belt don't we? 10 to 2 vs. 14 to 3 for the MAC? Is that right?

My thoughts on the "brutal stretch": Sat. Nov. 27 vs. South Carolina, 6 p.m. South Carolina lost a couple of really good guards last year. They had a fantastic recruiting class, but you can't count on freshmen. I think we have a great shot at that one at home. W Wed. Dec. 1 at Vanderbilt 7 p.m. Yeah, we beat them last year. We played them in downtown Nashville, there was about 6000 WKU fans and about 200 Vandy fans. I have no idea how that happened, I really expected a better showing from them in Nashville, but I think Vandy will take this one. L Sat. Dec. 4 at Memphis TBA No two ways about it... this is going to be a tough game. I am going to call it a loss, BUT we have a couple of players from Memphis that will be playing in front of thier families and might just play out of thier minds. I also think we will take a good crowd to Memphis. This is a possible upset. L Wed. Dec. 8 at Bowling Green State 6 p.m. On the road, this is going to be a tough game. Scott Thomas will be a load. They return thier top two scorers. I think that we will be more battle tested at this point and are more talented top to bottom. I think we will take them. W Sat. Dec. 11 vs. Southern Illinois 1 p.m. Gosh, I HATE playing Southern Illinios. Every game is a brutal nail biter. SIU is very talented, and well coached and we will struggle with them even at home. I will say we win this one at home. Maybe. W Sat. Dec 18 at Murray State TBA I hate Murray State. Yeah we beat them last year at Diddle by a relatively small margin, but they went on to destroy the OVC and won thier first NCAA tournament game. Murray may be a po-dunk town but there are two things they come out of the wood work for... Kevin Skinner concerts and a WKU showdown. They will be rockin' and they will beat us in Murray. L Wed. Dec. 22 vs. Louisville 7 p.m. This is the best home game WKU has had since the early 90's. Diddle will be electric. No way we lose in that environment (hopefully). W So I am calling 4-3. But anything from 2-5 to 5-2 wouldn't shock me.

Ah man. Why couldn't he wear his UK shirt in that video??? I think I saw him dancing at Diddle once.

WKU did the bracketbuster a few years running a while back. The TV games are pretty much based on RPI at the time of the selections. If you get a TV game its a great deal. But like you said only a handful of teams get the TV games and more than a hundred participants do not. More often than not they pair you up with a team that you do not want a home and home with. For example we had to do a return game with Northern Arizona (which is not only hard to get to but is at a higher altitude than Denver). The chumps from No. Arizona beat our '07-'08 team on a last second shot. The point is... odds are you can get better home and homes without the bracket buster. There is a reason that you don't see Gonzaga in the BB.