Look on the bright side. At least we will not get beat by Marshall for a 3rd time...
BASKETBALL CUSA Tournament: Middle Tennessee(24-6, 16-2) vs USM(15-17, 7-11) (Stadium), 6PM, Thursday, March 8
- Thread starter SpaceRaider
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Hate to see us lose. Playing v 5 guards presents very unique challenges. They were hot, Nick King had another sub-par game. Walters wasn’t mature enough to make it to breakfast on time. Worst part is this has happened at the end of the season.
Some teams live by the 3 and die by the 3. We live by king and die by king.
Some teams live by the 3 and die by the 3. We live by king and die by king.
Yeah. This season just needs to end to be honest to spare us any more embarassment. We are quickly becoming a laughing stock with back to back losses to 2 crappy teams.
We are a 747 jet half way over the Atlantic Ocean with no gas and 1 engine trending down fast towards the ocean. Just aim the nose downwards and get it over with already. This team doesn't deserve to play any more ball.
C’mon man, just stop it. Is it a sucky ending? Yes.
Vandy, Memphis and literally 100s of schools wish they were in our spot, even after these losses.
I’m sitting in a plane in Atlanta, just landed and got on here to see the score. Reading your emotional reaction to this game reminds me of my wife watching this is us.
MTSU’s eeyore
You still have a chance but I thought you needed to either beat Marshall to end the year or at least make the quarter finals. Losing both is a killer.
If you do make it...it will be because of your non conf SOS. Root for Nevada to win their conf and root for no other bid stealers.
If you got all 68 teams last year then you obviously follow CBB closely.
I do as well but for likely different purposes.
But be honest with yourself, and us......you know damn well MT isn't even in the discussion for an NCAA bid.
I hate it for the players. It falls on them. But I hate it for them and th coaches. Kermit’s done a lot for the program.
Life goes on. The Sun will come up in the morning and we are likely playing in the NIT. Won't surprise me if we play Belmont on the road. That's something the NIT would do.
It is what it is. We were out-hustled, out-played, out-coached, out-everything'd. The only thing we did better was shoot the ball better, and by a significant margin. We shot 49% from the field, they shot 42%.
But when you turn the ball over 17 times and get almost tripled up on the FT line, it doesn't matter how well you shoot.
USM wanted it more. USM followed the Marshall blue-print and stuffed it down our throat. We had zero big-to-big passing. We had basically non-existent dribble drive penetration. The only thing we could do was shoot jump shots all night, and you can't win exclusively doing that, no matter how good your shooters are. It was obvious we were going to lose, at least in my eyes, when we were 75% from 3 (6 of 8) at half time but only up 3. A team getting hot from 3 and shooting over 70% from 3 in the first half and barely being up is one of the biggest red flags in CBB in my eyes. Can't tell you how many second halfs I've cashed just casually checking ESPN box scores and betting against the team that was hot in the first half. Those shooting numbers almost always even out in the long run.
Anyway, the better team won tonight. Marshall put the blue-print out there on how to expose us and Southern Miss followed it to a T. Smother King, Smother Walters, close out the shooters, and you win. Our dribble penetration is crap, our guards can do absolutely nothing to create shots for our bigs, and our big men play on opposite ends of the earth with zero communication and can't make teams pay for greedy defense. Easy win for USM. We're lucky we got it to OT.
We desperately need to get some quicker players on the roster. Our guards have always struggled to get in the paint and create and to stay in front of other teams quick players.
We went from being ranked in the top 25 and being a sure-fire NCAA tournament team to finishing the season with back to back Quadrant 3 and Quadrant 4 losses. All in the span of two weeks.
The most Middle Tennessee thing I've ever seen.
The most Middle Tennessee thing I've ever seen.
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Don’t get too down guys. Football seasons coming and we are sure fire going to win the conference.
Screw football season. I'm stoked for the NCAA tournament.
Lipscomb is going to make some real noise. Buffalo is looking like a juggernaut right now. Teams like Providence and Arkansas are as hot as anybody right now and can beat anyone in the country on any given night.
I'm not sure I've ever seen this much parity amongst the Top 75 teams in the country in a long time. There is no clear cut favorite to win the title. Anyone can beat anybody on any given night. It's going to be absolute Madness this year IMO. You are going to see upsets left and right. Expect Madness we havn't seen since the Georgia Mason days or WKU hitting buzzer beaters to make the Sweet 16.
Lipscomb is going to make some real noise. Buffalo is looking like a juggernaut right now. Teams like Providence and Arkansas are as hot as anybody right now and can beat anyone in the country on any given night.
I'm not sure I've ever seen this much parity amongst the Top 75 teams in the country in a long time. There is no clear cut favorite to win the title. Anyone can beat anybody on any given night. It's going to be absolute Madness this year IMO. You are going to see upsets left and right. Expect Madness we havn't seen since the Georgia Mason days or WKU hitting buzzer beaters to make the Sweet 16.
Kermit has struggled to game plan against these small guard teams like Southern Miss and Marshall. The game plan was to force it inside to King and Walters but their guards collapsed on them and took the ball away if they tried to dribble. King turned it over several times. I wonder if a better strategy would have been to just shoot the open threes we were getting and have Walters and King crash the boards for put backs.
Wow...
The dumpster fire after the loss is terrible. Now we are critiquing our “bad” players. Our guys have just thrown up another 20+ win season with wins over ole miss, Murray, old dominion, and western (x’s 2). Still don’t understand how this team is as awful as you say after losing upshaw and Williams. We haven’t played well for the last 40 minutes of basketball. Let’s not forget the previous 500 minutes of basketball where we have been beating teams.
Let’s not forget southern miss hitting unreal fade away 19-22ft jumpers completely contested. Sometimes you shake your head and move on. My biggest issue was Walters not starting due to immaturity. We never were able to establish our post presence from the start. If we want to do that then you need to have your best finisher inside.
Every game has its own identity. The next one... even if it is the NIT will be a different story. Just hang on a minute!
The dumpster fire after the loss is terrible. Now we are critiquing our “bad” players. Our guys have just thrown up another 20+ win season with wins over ole miss, Murray, old dominion, and western (x’s 2). Still don’t understand how this team is as awful as you say after losing upshaw and Williams. We haven’t played well for the last 40 minutes of basketball. Let’s not forget the previous 500 minutes of basketball where we have been beating teams.
Let’s not forget southern miss hitting unreal fade away 19-22ft jumpers completely contested. Sometimes you shake your head and move on. My biggest issue was Walters not starting due to immaturity. We never were able to establish our post presence from the start. If we want to do that then you need to have your best finisher inside.
Every game has its own identity. The next one... even if it is the NIT will be a different story. Just hang on a minute!
Well, that sucked, like really bad. It was painful to witness. As bad as I might have felt about that game, I'm sure the players and coaches feel a hundred times worse. They are all way too good at this game to go out like that. With the bottom dropping out the last couple of games, the NIT is now real concerning. Way too often teams who had really good seasons stumbled late only to find themselves in the NIT. The disappointment and letdown of being in the NIT instead of the NCAA results in said team losing in the first round of the NIT in an uninspired performance. While I suspect MT is headed to the NIT, I really do hope the team can get back on track and make a deep run in the NIT. Players like Potts and Simpson have played way to good at MT for years to go out like they have been the last couple of games.
You are in the discussion. That non conf SOS of 8 is keeping you in the discussion. I have been doing this for a long time over 20+ years and I have only got all the teams correct twice. That is how hard it is to do but I would be shocked if anyone gets them all right this year I mean there is a good 12 teams for the final 4 spots in Dayton. Here is the question for your profile will the NCAA give you credit for your quad 1 and quad 2 wins despite not being big name program wins. You lead the universe in road wins. It's just a damn shame you lost that last game at home to Marshall. I really want to find a way to put you in the bracket but it's going to be either a last 4 in or last 4 out situation.
The losses will be too much to overcome IMO. Our only "good" losses are Miami and USC. Every other loss can be considered "bad" IMO. Losing to Belmont on our home floor is bad. They are not their typical world-beater self this year.
Our "good" wins are against names nobody cares much about. Murray State & Western Kentucky. Yes, great mid-majors, but still mid-majors and will be viewed as such. The committee will view our resume as not having a single marquee win. Again, my opinion.
The SOS is good. The road wins are good. But again, the road wins are not against the most impressive of competition.
Plus, Nevada and Rhode Island are still playing and at least one, if not both, are bound to lose. The MWC and A10 were super competitive this year. Rhode Island pulled a MT and finished their season with 2 surprising losses (Not the Davidson game I suppose, but it's still an L). I just don't see Rhode Island cleaning house in their tournament as they're not playing good basketball right now. St Bonnies and Davidson are both still out there and both already beat Rhode Island once this year. There's a good chance that happens again.
Nevada probably loses tonight to SDSU. SDSU playing great ball right now and only a 3 point dog. Looks like Vegas baiting hard here to get people to take that easy win with a ranked team only -3!.....I will say if Nevada can get by SDSU they will likely beat New Mexico is the finals. But we'll see.
Alabama has played their way in. And even a team like Lousiana has a valid resume for an at-large if they lose in the SBC finals. There's just so many teams on the bubble and so many reasons for the committee to leave MT out. I just don't see it.
And even if we do get in....with the way we are playing right now, do you really want a play-in game against a Louisville up in Dayton? We can't even beat Quadrant 3 and Quadrant 4 teams right now. The committee factors in present day play when selecting teams. MT is cold as ice. Another reason to leave them out.
Our "good" wins are against names nobody cares much about. Murray State & Western Kentucky. Yes, great mid-majors, but still mid-majors and will be viewed as such. The committee will view our resume as not having a single marquee win. Again, my opinion.
The SOS is good. The road wins are good. But again, the road wins are not against the most impressive of competition.
Plus, Nevada and Rhode Island are still playing and at least one, if not both, are bound to lose. The MWC and A10 were super competitive this year. Rhode Island pulled a MT and finished their season with 2 surprising losses (Not the Davidson game I suppose, but it's still an L). I just don't see Rhode Island cleaning house in their tournament as they're not playing good basketball right now. St Bonnies and Davidson are both still out there and both already beat Rhode Island once this year. There's a good chance that happens again.
Nevada probably loses tonight to SDSU. SDSU playing great ball right now and only a 3 point dog. Looks like Vegas baiting hard here to get people to take that easy win with a ranked team only -3!.....I will say if Nevada can get by SDSU they will likely beat New Mexico is the finals. But we'll see.
Alabama has played their way in. And even a team like Lousiana has a valid resume for an at-large if they lose in the SBC finals. There's just so many teams on the bubble and so many reasons for the committee to leave MT out. I just don't see it.
And even if we do get in....with the way we are playing right now, do you really want a play-in game against a Louisville up in Dayton? We can't even beat Quadrant 3 and Quadrant 4 teams right now. The committee factors in present day play when selecting teams. MT is cold as ice. Another reason to leave them out.
So sick of the marquee win excuse. Just like UCF getting shafted in the playoffs but went on to destroy auburn. You can only play the people that schedule you. The tournament should be designed to let the team prove they can get the marquee wins(ala Michigan State)
Sad to be in this position after the guys having a great season
Sad to be in this position after the guys having a great season
Look at the bright side.
We will get some home games with the NIT and possibly build up some momentum to win the thing.
NCAA at-large is going to be a play-in game against a Power 5 school that will likely shell us, thus we wouldn't even make it to the true tournament.
We will get some home games with the NIT and possibly build up some momentum to win the thing.
NCAA at-large is going to be a play-in game against a Power 5 school that will likely shell us, thus we wouldn't even make it to the true tournament.
The issue for us is 7 losses...its too many for us. I really believe it will be the Marshall lost that costs us more than the USM loss. If we beat Marshall we end the season top 20 and the committee shakes off the loss. But with back to back losses we are out.
I agree, Mike. The Marshall sweep is the overriding factor in the equation. The USM loss hurts some in RPI/Quadrant equations—however the selection committee views with the eye test. Don’t forget the Belmont loss at home. Belmont doesn’t quite carry the cachet that it did, though the Murray win helps this some. To be at large, one needs to have five losses—tops including the tournament. That means realistically no more than one conference loss and 2-3 non conference is about the max in C-USA. ODU and Louisiana Tech was in a similar situation a few years ago, and was dismissed to the NIT with 6/7 losses and a similar win total. At large bids don’t really exist for non power conferences, unless that team is ranked while in tournament and loses there. We’re 99.5% out today.
I’m not exactly bullish on our chances, but giving us a 0.5% chance of a bid is a bit of an exaggeration. Several of the metrics are there- the big negatives are the lack of a “name” win and the losses that would be considered bad from an RPI standpoint.
I keep hearing that 7 losses is some sort of arbitrary cut line for a CUSA team. This may be true, but don’t forget about conference RPI. IIRC, CUSA is a much improved league by the numbers this season. We have three (borderline four) Top 100 teams, whereas we were the only team in that category last season.
Just my two cents! I’ll continue to put my odds for a bid at about 30%.
We also have the most road wins in the country and a nonconference strength of schedule of 8. That shows we tried to schedule tough. Im sure the committee will dismiss those facts completely.
The problem with the scheduling was our inability to defeat Auburn, Miami, and Southern California. Win just one of these, even with our two losses at end of season/tournament we would be in the 10 range and a fairly safe bubble at six losses (still not lock). Five losses would definitely be in the field with one marquee win. Three years ago, Murray State won 25 in a row, and lost to Belmont 88-87 and was #25. That same team won in Murphy Center in November, 2014. Steve Prohm moved on after that season to Iowa State—just 3 years after their 32-2 season. I have no trust in the NCAA Selection Committee looking at body of work alongside a power conference. Our conference has nine teams at 150 or lower, four are below 280 RPI. Wish it wasn’t so, but it’s reality being where we are. We deserve better, but it almost always comes down to three days in March and our season is all about tournament seeding.
And would you look at that.....
Providence upsets #3 Villanova tonight.
Arkansas upsets #23 Florida.
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