3 wins, 6 losses in Bracketbuster

[Proud Griz Man]

Maybe commish Fullerton/the BSC shouldn't involve all nine teams in the Bracketbuster if they do not give a competitive effort.

Weber State, Montana and Northern Colorado earned men's basketball victories on BracketBusters Saturday.

Montana earned its 20th win of the season and won for the ninth straight time with a 94-79 win over Hawai'i. Sophomore Kareem Jamar recorded a triple-double with 21 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists. Junior Will Cherry netted 24 points with five assists in the win. Montana has won at least 20 games in three consecutive seasons.

In Ogden, Scott Bamforth scored 19 points, while Damian Lillard scored 17 points with seven rebounds and seven assists in a 72-70 win over Texas Arlington on ESPN3. The Wildcats trailed 28-24 at the half, but shot 56 percent from the floor in the final 20 minutes.

In Greeley, freshman Tevin Svihovec scored a career-high 34 points to lead Northern Colorado to an 81-73 win over Cal Poly. Svihovec made 11-of-16 shots from the floor, and was 10-of-11 from the free-throw line. The Bears made 61 percent of their shots from the floor.

In other games, Eastern Washington lost 88-83 to UC Irvine, Idaho State fell in overtime to Pacific 66-64 on a last-second 3-pointers, Montana State lost to Cal State Fullerton 80-66, Northern Arizona fell at home 70-65 to UC Davis, Idaho beat Portland State 77-68, and Sacramento State fell at home to San Jose State 79-67.

... So Does BracketBusters Help Or Hurt?

A number of the winners and losers of these games ended up making the NCAA Tournament by virtue of winning their conference tournaments, but you certainly can’t credit the BracketBusters for that. In the end, only two of the teams (VCU in 2011 and Utah State in 2010) could even think of crediting their at-large bid to their success in the event.

However, more damning than that is the fact that no team that lost in the event wound up receiving an at-large bid. Even Saint Mary’s, who beat a ranked Utah State team in 2009 and lost many of their games without one of their top players, ended up getting snubbed by the selection committee. BracketBusters did nothing to help these teams.

The other thing I found interesting is how many teams, both winners and losers, suffered a loss or series of losses following their BracketBusters matchup. Perhaps it’s the fact that it interrupts the rhythm of conference play or causes lengthier travel for some teams, but for whatever reason a number of participants finished the season poorly

 

[AZDoc]

What's sad is that I was keeping up on the scores and looks like 2 or 3 teams really blew it late. So frustrating because we need the conference to do well. Watched LBSU lose at the end also. Bad bad weekend for Griz RPI...(although I didn't really check it :lol: )

 

[AZGrizFan]

Let's be real: Griz RPI doesn't mean shit for the NCAA tourney. We need to win the conference tourney or we're not getting in.

Now, for the NIT or the other 2nd/3rd/4th tier tourneys, RPI is a different story.

 

[Potomac Griz]

While it doesn't mean shit in terms of who gets in the tourney, it does mean something when it comes to where the Big Sky team is seeded, so it is pretty important.

Having the rest of the Big Sky for the most part sucking ass doesn't help the Griz or Weber at all. A loss to any other Big Sky team is considered a "Very Bad loss" a win is considered a "meh..." and does little to improve RPI.

Unfortunately our win over Hawaii didn't do much for RPI either (They were 195...) Weber's win over UT-Arlington did for them though. Kind of messed up really that the Griz drew a lower ranked team in the bracket buster than the Cats did... Don't get me wrong, I thought the Hawaii game was great, and a nice win, but isn't the whole point of the bracket buster to pair similar teams in terms of RPI together?

By the end of the conference season, it's very possible that only the Griz and Weber will be in the top 200 for RPI... That's a sad sad conference...

Big Sky #26 out of 32 conferences (including independents)
Just ahead of the Southland and Big South.
Below the Northeast, Big West, Southern, and Patriot League..

RPI:
WSU - 79
UM. - 98
PSU - 196
EWU - 223
ISU - 262
UNC - 266
MSU - 276
SAC - 317
NAU - 336

"Power" ranking:
WSU - 52
UM. - 83
PSU - 204
EWU - 239
UNC - 260
MSU - 267
ISU - 268
SAC - 309
NAU - 332

 

[weberwildcat]

i was expecting the sky to go 2-7 or 3-6 but i thought a 3rd win would be nau since ucd is just as bad but the road team.

it is too bad both weber n griz are so much better than the rest of the sky. both are worthy teams to represent the sky this yr in the ncaa dance.