The MW might be a 1 bid conference
- Thread starter With_a_Rebel_Yell
- Start date
Think it will come down to CSU and SDSU right now. Will see how it chalks up in the end.
UNLV needs strong play to at least make it to the NIT. Guys need post season experience for the future. And to ensure all these big time recruits doesn't dry up.
UNLV needs strong play to at least make it to the NIT. Guys need post season experience for the future. And to ensure all these big time recruits doesn't dry up.
Feel like I couldn't disagree more... Losses (albeit not close) to Stanford, ASU, Utah, Wyoming, and Kansas. Two top-25 teams, three true road games and two neutral site games vs teams totalling to 53-14 overall and probably top 25, possibly top 15 in RPI and SOS to this point.
No place near panic time, and still handling business in conference should get UNLV in (that is included in my statement than the conference leader will have 5 conference losses) the tournament.
The conference, though, is at most a three bid league, more likely a two bidder, sadly. Conference has no dominant team, and little consistency.
This post was edited on 1/4 5:15 PM by LocoRebel
Very little. Which if you imply they aren't that good then it'll probably come down to only the auto bid from winning the conference tournament. Regardless, UNLV not looking good for at large.
They lost to Fresno yesterday... In a game that wasnt as close as the final score indicates... Horrendous offensive team and thats not me being biased....
The toughest part of the schedule is over. We just played road games at Wyoming and Kansas. Everything should feel easier after that (and after the Arizona game).
I think this team has a shot at winning this conference. Of course, I thought that last year when the team played Arizona tough and went on a winning streak after that. But now that I've had a little time to get over the frustration of losing to Kansas, I think the team didn't look bad in that game.
I think this team has a shot at winning this conference. Of course, I thought that last year when the team played Arizona tough and went on a winning streak after that. But now that I've had a little time to get over the frustration of losing to Kansas, I think the team didn't look bad in that game.
Win at home.. Take a few on the road... be there in the end.. and dont lose bad games... like Fresno or SJSU...
How is the worst over as far as the schedule? UNLV lost at Wyoming, which has an RPI of 121... UNLV still plays the following teams on the road:
Boise State...RPI 61
SDSU..RPI 48
CSU.... RPI 14
UNLV also plays all 3 of these teams at home, not to mention playing New Mexico 2 times. New Mexico is down by their standards this year, but The Pit is still one of the hardest places to play in college basketball, and New Mexico always plays well at T&M, not too mention having good crowd support at T&M.
UNLV has only yet to win a road game this year. Winning on the road is not easy in ANY conference, even against the bottom tier teams. The South Dakota game was in Sioux Falls, and not on campus, which is why I do not count it as a road win. Alkso, South Dakota is bad.
It's not hard to see UNLV losing 6-7 more games, and finishing 10-8 or 11-7 in MWC, 19-12 or 18-13 overall against D1 teams. With a record like that, UNLV would likely have to win the MWC Tournament to make it to the NCAA tournament. Win at least 2 games in MWC Tournament, and NIT is possible. But, is NIT in the 4th year with Rice acceptable at UNLV? Especially with the way the players on this years team have been hyped, and given the fact UNLV advanced to the NCAA Tournament in Rice's 1st and 2nd season?
It's time to stop making excuses about this being a young team and about all the new players. Kentucky won the NC last year with a team dominated by Frosh. 1 and done or 2 and done has become the norm at the top programs in the country. This is the 4th season for Rice, and the program is getting less competitive, not more competitive. I'm not impressed by Top 100 recruits if they are not able to make the transition to playing in a Top 10 NCAA D1 Conference, and/or if the coaching staff does not know how to best use said players, help said players develop into quality players at this level, and mold the team into a team that can win 20-24 games, compete for the MWC regular season title, and then at least advance to the MWC Championship game. The MWC Tournament is at T&M for crying out loud. I know a different floor is used and UNLV does not get any special treatment, but they do get to play in their home arena, play in front of their home fans, and go through the same routine used for home games.
One last thing. If you wish, go back through the threads of ealry season games. The games UNLV was winning by 1 or 2 points. Even the loss to Stanford, ASU and Utah. I was saying the team is young, they play hard, they have loads of potential, and could be a force in the MWC. I was not on the "Rice Hater" bandwagon. UNLV is supposedly a "basketball school" when it comes to sports. This is the premier sport at UNLV. I'm not expecting it to be like it was under Tark, but there is still a high bar(or ought to be) for UNLV basketball. That bar was not even close to being met last year, and as we near the halfway mark of this season, it's looking as if we could have a repeat of last season.
Boise State...RPI 61
SDSU..RPI 48
CSU.... RPI 14
UNLV also plays all 3 of these teams at home, not to mention playing New Mexico 2 times. New Mexico is down by their standards this year, but The Pit is still one of the hardest places to play in college basketball, and New Mexico always plays well at T&M, not too mention having good crowd support at T&M.
UNLV has only yet to win a road game this year. Winning on the road is not easy in ANY conference, even against the bottom tier teams. The South Dakota game was in Sioux Falls, and not on campus, which is why I do not count it as a road win. Alkso, South Dakota is bad.
It's not hard to see UNLV losing 6-7 more games, and finishing 10-8 or 11-7 in MWC, 19-12 or 18-13 overall against D1 teams. With a record like that, UNLV would likely have to win the MWC Tournament to make it to the NCAA tournament. Win at least 2 games in MWC Tournament, and NIT is possible. But, is NIT in the 4th year with Rice acceptable at UNLV? Especially with the way the players on this years team have been hyped, and given the fact UNLV advanced to the NCAA Tournament in Rice's 1st and 2nd season?
It's time to stop making excuses about this being a young team and about all the new players. Kentucky won the NC last year with a team dominated by Frosh. 1 and done or 2 and done has become the norm at the top programs in the country. This is the 4th season for Rice, and the program is getting less competitive, not more competitive. I'm not impressed by Top 100 recruits if they are not able to make the transition to playing in a Top 10 NCAA D1 Conference, and/or if the coaching staff does not know how to best use said players, help said players develop into quality players at this level, and mold the team into a team that can win 20-24 games, compete for the MWC regular season title, and then at least advance to the MWC Championship game. The MWC Tournament is at T&M for crying out loud. I know a different floor is used and UNLV does not get any special treatment, but they do get to play in their home arena, play in front of their home fans, and go through the same routine used for home games.
One last thing. If you wish, go back through the threads of ealry season games. The games UNLV was winning by 1 or 2 points. Even the loss to Stanford, ASU and Utah. I was saying the team is young, they play hard, they have loads of potential, and could be a force in the MWC. I was not on the "Rice Hater" bandwagon. UNLV is supposedly a "basketball school" when it comes to sports. This is the premier sport at UNLV. I'm not expecting it to be like it was under Tark, but there is still a high bar(or ought to be) for UNLV basketball. That bar was not even close to being met last year, and as we near the halfway mark of this season, it's looking as if we could have a repeat of last season.
That would be awesome. When was the last time UNLV won the regular season? .... seriously don't remember last time that happened. Only remember winning the conference tourney 4-5 years ago or whenever it was.
i think we tied for the win in 2001 or something like that or maybe never at all.
seems like it rotated between BYU, CSU, NM, & SDSU all the years.
seems like it rotated between BYU, CSU, NM, & SDSU all the years.
Im amazed at some of the pessimism. We haven't won on the road yet, but we still played extremely well. We were just playing really good teams. In all honesty I'm very optimistic about winning the conference outright. I think we continue to improve and play our best ball come march.
Of the 5 "big time teams" that UNLV has played, they have gone 1-4. All 4 losses were by more than 10 points. And, add a loss at Wyoming to those 4 losses. My prediction for rest of the season, and hope I end up being wrong:
At home: 7-2 or 6-3
On road: 5-3, 4-4 or 3-5
Best case: 12-5 the rest of the way..... 12-6 MWC and 20-11 overall(St. Katherine's does not count as non D1 team)
Worst case 9-8 the rest of the way.... 9-9 MWC and 17-14 overall
Morehead State is 3-11 .... Sam Houston is 7-4... Portland is 8-5... UNLV eeked out wins at home against all 3 of those teams. I know those games were earlier in the season. The thing is, I'm not convinced this team has improved enough as a TEAM. Some players have improved, but there has not been significant improvement as a TEAM, and that includes the coaching.
I think alot of people are selling the other teams in the MWC short, and also discounting the difficulty Rice coached teams have had on the road. UNLV was 5-4 on the road in MWC last year.... 3-5 in 2012-13 and 2-5 in 2011-12....Add this years loss at Wyoming, and that is 10-15 on the road in the MWC under Rice.
Some will say the MWC was a stronger conference in 11-12 and 112-13, but those were also UNLV teams that won 26 and 25 games respectively. So, figuring 4 or 5 losses for this young team on the road in the MWC is not unrealistic.
There are only 2 teams in the MWC that are flat out awful... San Jose State and UNR
Fresno State is 4-9, but they just won at SDSU. Fresno and UNLV only play 1 time, with the game at T&M, so that will help UNLV. I elevated them from awful to pretty bad with the win at SDSU.
At home: 7-2 or 6-3
On road: 5-3, 4-4 or 3-5
Best case: 12-5 the rest of the way..... 12-6 MWC and 20-11 overall(St. Katherine's does not count as non D1 team)
Worst case 9-8 the rest of the way.... 9-9 MWC and 17-14 overall
Morehead State is 3-11 .... Sam Houston is 7-4... Portland is 8-5... UNLV eeked out wins at home against all 3 of those teams. I know those games were earlier in the season. The thing is, I'm not convinced this team has improved enough as a TEAM. Some players have improved, but there has not been significant improvement as a TEAM, and that includes the coaching.
I think alot of people are selling the other teams in the MWC short, and also discounting the difficulty Rice coached teams have had on the road. UNLV was 5-4 on the road in MWC last year.... 3-5 in 2012-13 and 2-5 in 2011-12....Add this years loss at Wyoming, and that is 10-15 on the road in the MWC under Rice.
Some will say the MWC was a stronger conference in 11-12 and 112-13, but those were also UNLV teams that won 26 and 25 games respectively. So, figuring 4 or 5 losses for this young team on the road in the MWC is not unrealistic.
There are only 2 teams in the MWC that are flat out awful... San Jose State and UNR
Fresno State is 4-9, but they just won at SDSU. Fresno and UNLV only play 1 time, with the game at T&M, so that will help UNLV. I elevated them from awful to pretty bad with the win at SDSU.
St kat counts in the record, just not in the rpi calculation I think we end with. 22 wins and are below the bubble before mwct. 4 disappointing seasons of 20-25 wins....puts things into perspective.
Fresno State win vs SDSU was at Fresno, not in Viejas.
No one is mentioning the Temple win on a neutral court, which as the season has gone on has looked better and better. Temple is 11-4 right now with a win over Kansas and look to be one of the top 2-3 teams in their conference.
Obviously we would have liked to win some of our road games, but it's not like we went out there and lost to patsies. If anything, we have won the games we probably should have won (and one against Arizona we probably shouldn't have) and lost the games we probably should have lost. While not keeping it close against the top teams we've played, I don't know that I would say we weren't competitive in any of the games except the Stanford loss. Maybe throw the ASU game in there after we came out on fire. But based just on wins/losses and the teams we played, I don't see any "bad losses" so far. That may change.
Like some others, I think this team could win the conference. We're not the favorite right now, but there's definitely a a good 4-5 teams that have a legitimate shot.
This post was edited on 1/6 11:53 AM by GiantKiller0
So?
Kansas...RPI 2
Arizona...RPI 13
Utah...RPI 17
Stanford...RPI 32
Temple...RPI 33
As I was saying, the toughest part of the schedule is over with. San Diego State is supposed to be a big deal in our conference but they are obviously not on the level of an Arizona or a Kansas.
I think the RPI number for Wyoming is incredibly misleading btw because it doesn't do enough to factor in the difficulties of playing at altitude.
Wyomings rpi is low because they had such a laughable OoC schedule. They much better than their rpi
MWC likely a two to three bid conference
At least according to the hack Joe Lunardi. In any case, in this instance I agree with him.
The bad news: He has CSU, Wyoming and SDSU ahead of UNLV at this moment, and you cant argue that just yet either.
The good news: you know who you need to beat to get in.
Bracketology
At least according to the hack Joe Lunardi. In any case, in this instance I agree with him.
The bad news: He has CSU, Wyoming and SDSU ahead of UNLV at this moment, and you cant argue that just yet either.
The good news: you know who you need to beat to get in.
Bracketology
I stand corrected. The worst is over. Having said that, there are still 4 quality opponents in SDSU, New Mexico, CSU and Boise State. UNLV also plays Wyoming again.
I want to be wrong. I hope UNLV wins 22-23 games in the regular season, and finishes 13-5 or 14-4 in MWC. Just do not see that happening. Team has alot of talent, but they make alot of mistakes. The kind of mistakes that cost teams wins on the road, and also at home against quality opponents.
I apologize for making a mistake in saying that Fresno won at SDSU, when the game was in Fresno.
Also, I know the win over St. Kat's counts, I just do not acknowledge non D1 wins, and neither does the NCAA Tournament or NIT Tournament. Non D1 wins are also not used in calculating RPI.
At this point, I see UNLV as an NIT team, not an NCAA team. The only way I see an NCAA bid for UNLV is by winning the MWC Tournament. To be honest, with a young team, playing in the NIT and advancing to the Final Four in NYC could be a great way to end the season, and be a springboard to next year. Would be better than 1 and done in the NCAA Tournament.
I want to be wrong. I hope UNLV wins 22-23 games in the regular season, and finishes 13-5 or 14-4 in MWC. Just do not see that happening. Team has alot of talent, but they make alot of mistakes. The kind of mistakes that cost teams wins on the road, and also at home against quality opponents.
I apologize for making a mistake in saying that Fresno won at SDSU, when the game was in Fresno.
Also, I know the win over St. Kat's counts, I just do not acknowledge non D1 wins, and neither does the NCAA Tournament or NIT Tournament. Non D1 wins are also not used in calculating RPI.
At this point, I see UNLV as an NIT team, not an NCAA team. The only way I see an NCAA bid for UNLV is by winning the MWC Tournament. To be honest, with a young team, playing in the NIT and advancing to the Final Four in NYC could be a great way to end the season, and be a springboard to next year. Would be better than 1 and done in the NCAA Tournament.
Boise St. is very over rated... Sans Drimic they arent very good. Add in what Ive seen from UNM and SDSU and color me unimpressed... CSU, Wyoming... win at home, try and steal one at CSU...
Unfortunately we only play CSU 1 time this year @CSU. That means we have 2 vs SDSU, 2 vs UNM, 2 vs BSU, 1 vs WYO, and 1 @CSU against the top teams. If we can hold serve at home and beat the teams we should beat on the road (AF, USU, UNR), those 8 games will define if we win the conference or not. We already have 1 loss so Im hoping to go 5-3 in those 8 games to put as at 14-4. I dont think its unrealistic to sweep UNM and BSU.
Conference play is a grind fest. I would be extremely happy to be wrong and we win the conference.
However, I would much prefer to win the MWC Tournament instead of relying on the selection committee this year. I don't think winning the MWC outright will mean jack for us on selection Sunday. Again, I'll take being wrong with a smile.
However, I would much prefer to win the MWC Tournament instead of relying on the selection committee this year. I don't think winning the MWC outright will mean jack for us on selection Sunday. Again, I'll take being wrong with a smile.
I have no idea how things will turn out in conference play. Winning the conference would be a really big deal to me. If we accomplish that then I really like our chances in the conference tournament. In fact, if we win the conference and lose the tournament, I'd be really disappointed.
But I'm getting way ahead of myself here. The team always seems to disappoint me in conference play. Hopefully the tough OOC schedule has prepared this team well.
I also read that Vaughn was sick against Kansas (and Doolin was sick against Utah). So hopefully this team is better than it has looked so far.
But I'm getting way ahead of myself here. The team always seems to disappoint me in conference play. Hopefully the tough OOC schedule has prepared this team well.
I also read that Vaughn was sick against Kansas (and Doolin was sick against Utah). So hopefully this team is better than it has looked so far.
Similar threads
