There it is: WVU over Pitt

[GIGAFAN99]

It just got even more interesting folks.

[jerseyhoya34]

I assume that this is good news to the extent that it is a black eye for Pitt, whil WVU still has a ton of work to do to make the tourney. Would the board intelligentsia agree?

[FOTP]

Not sure. WVU's RPI is going to skyrocket with this win. plus the last two are easy wins. That puts them at 9-7 in the BE and hot with some great wins vs. LSU, Pitt on the road. Wow.

GOod thing we beat them. It could be a battle between the two of us for the 7th team.

[DFW HOYA]

GIGAFAN99 said:

It just got even more interesting folks.

And here's why--Pitt (8-5 BE) has lost two in a row with a remaining schedule that includes:

Home vs. UConn
@bc
@nd

A five game losing streak entering the tournament would be damaging for Pitt.

Bottom line, the more teams Georgetown can get ahead of, all things being equal, the harder it will be for the committee for a 6th or 7th place team to leapfrog a team which finished higher in the standings.

And don't count out the Mountaineers just yet. 17-8, 7-7 in the league, finish with Rutgers and the Hall.
Hmmm...

[hoyarooter]

What a collapse by Pitt. They led 58-45 with 8 minutes left, playing at home.

I'm honestly not sure if this is good for us. If it results in sufficient damage to Pitt's RPI, it may cause us to lose one of our wins over top 50 RPI teams. On the other hand, it may increase the chance of our finishing higher in the Big East standings, provided we take care of some business.

This may sound simplistic, but I think the bottom line is that we need to (a) beat Villanova or UConn and also Providence (and I would rate our chance of beating UConn as about .005%), or (b) win one of those games and make it to the Big East tournament semifinals.

There are lots of opinions here, but my view is that if we accomplish either of those alternatives, we will be in unless they are upsets galore in the conference tournaments. I think the only way we assure ourselves a spot in the Dance regardless of what happens in the conference tournaments is to win 2 of 3 and make the conference semis (meaning one or two wins, depending where we finish).

[MEGAFAN]

Again, ludicrously coversative comments!

IF we win 2 out of 3, any way you slice it, we are a virtual lock for the Tourney, unless we lose by 50 in the first round and a non-contending team wins the BET, and everything else goes against us.

Put it this way: IF we win 2 out of 3, regardless of the BET, we have a 98.5% of dancing.

Enough of this talk - let's take it one game at a time and just win baby, win!

LET'S GO HOYAS!!! BEAT 'NOVA!

[hoyarooter]

MEGA, I think our only difference is one of symantics. To me, lock means 100% sure, no matter what else happens. I would say we are most likely in if we win 2 of our last 3, as that was my (a) category. But I wouldn't regard us as a lock, because crazy conference tournament results could screw everything up. If we couple 2 of 3 with a trip to the conference semis, then I think we are a true lock, no matter what else happens. Not 98.5%, not 99.9%, 100%.

Anyway, I'm just praying we beat 'Nova.

[MEGAFAN]

By saying "BET semis" I understand that as win 2 games, but I realize that you may be presuming that only means win 1 game, if we get the bye. But if we don't get the bye, I still think 1 win in the BET, after going 10-6, makes us a 100% LOCK!

Of course, I haven't yet considered the mathematical reality of whether it is possible that we finish 10-6 and not get the bye.... Anyone, anyone?

LET'S GO HOYAS!!! BEAT 'NOVA!

[NCHoya]

I am not sure what to make of this. WVU is almost certainly a 9-7 team now with a 19-8 record and finishing up the season winning 7 of 8. Luckily, we are that one loss during the streak but I cannot think in anyway how adding another team into the BE fold is a good thing.

On the other hand, DFW's point is a good one. Pitt plays three very tough games that they could easily lose putting them at 8-8. This would severly damage Pitt's hopes of a NCAA bid given their crappy out of conference schedule. If they win one of those games, what a mess this becomes.

All this makes the Nova game HUGE. I still think if the Hoyas win two more we are in, but that quality win at Pitt just got a lot more questionable.

[Deleted]

All this plus 'Nova up on BC at the half... this is going to get REAL interesting real fast.

[MEGAFAN]

I know things change quickly, but currently, here are some interesting RPI's:

Georgetown 50

WVU 51
Pitt 52
Davidson 56

Now, we lose our Top 50 RPI @ Pitt win, but if WVU continues to win, will they reach a Top 50 RPI status. At least we have a win against them, but at home, not on the road. What about Davidson? Any chance they finish the season with a Top 50 RPI?

Let's see where all of the RPI's stand after the BC @ 'NOVA game....

LET'S GO HOYAS!!! BEAT 'NOVA!

[Dhall]

I'm not sure Pitt gets in over us right now. They've lost to Bucknell, us, WV twice, Nova, St. John's. Their quality wins are Cuse twice and UCONN. If we have a better record than them between now and selection Sunday, I think we'd get the nod. Committee has to look at head to head in that situation and we beat them in their arena.

[lichoya68]

this is getting too interesting ... i was rooting for west va to put the fifth loss on pitt.... however ther now are seven and seven and with two easy games left they could become our competItion... now nova is looking real good vs. bc and they dont have nardi.. hoped bc would put a loss on them nova is getting better and better... anyway agree with everyone we just need to beat nova on sunday... whatever else happens.. glad duke beat georgia tech... and maybe paul hewitt will now be silenced ...go hoyas... beat nova..PLEASE

[JohnJacquesLayup]

What kills me is the SJU loss wouldn't have been so bad if we could have pulled out that game at 'Cuse. Or if we had avoided a horrible first half against ND on the raod. Everyone has a bad game, but you need an equally impressive one to make up for it. Will we get an impressive win down the stretch? We need to handle NOVA on Sunday. See you all there . . .

[hoyarooter]

MEGAFAN said:

By saying "BET semis" I understand that as win 2 games, but I realize that you may be presuming that only means win 1 game, if we get the bye. But if we don't get the bye, I still think 1 win in the BET, after going 10-6, makes us a 100% LOCK!


I meant semis, whether one win or two. If it's one win, that would mean a win in the 4-5 game, which would almost certainly give us another quality win. If we end up 10-6, I think we will get a bye. If we end up 9-7, I don't think we will get a bye, and then we will need 2 wins. Given the crazy way things are playing out, I guess we could get a bye at 9-7, but that strikes me as extremely unlikely.