St. Mary's strategy

[Hoyaholic]

Did anyone else notice that St. Mary's just scheduled a game for next Friday - after the conclusion of their conference tourney - against Eastern Washington? The logic is they are getting back a key player who has missed much of the season to injury, and they want to play a game to let him shake off the cobwebs. It looks like they are on the right side of the bubble, but in theory the game could backfire on them if they were to lose (EWU really sucks, fwiw).

What would be interesting is if teams started to take the cue and schedule resume building games of their own. For example, let's say the Hoyas and Maryland, who have each only played 29 games thus far, each win two games in their respective conference tourneys, but neither is assured of a tourney spot. They could, in theory, stage their own last-minute "play-in" game on Selection Sunday. The loser is done, but the winner gets an RPI boost and has a better chance of getting an at large.

Sounds crazy, but if two teams have nothing to lose and everything to gain, and it is within he rules, i could definitely see it happening in the future. Now that would be a real "Bracket Buster."

Disclaimer: I know this isn't going to happen this year. Just food for thought.

[lichoya68]

AS BOBBY KNIGHT SAID DO ONE MORE FREAKING GAME AND HAVE LIKE 128 TEAMS IN AND ENOUGH OF THIS STUFF GOOD IDEA TO ME one more game yup good idea ;D ;D ;D

[RockawayHoya]

Are you allowed to schedule a game during the season that wasn't previously scheduled (I mean, I guess apparently you are)? I don't think I've ever seen something like this happen.

[jgalt]

this is pretty crazy. i bet they change the rules so you cant do this, but it is very cleaver by the St. Mary's staff. hopefully it works out for them and no one gets hurt

[Nevada Hoya]

A story in the Las Vegas paper (where the WCC is) said that they want to convince the committee that the player in question (broken hand) is fine enough to play, that they were ranked 22nd before he went down, and the committee should take into account that he is indeed back at strength again vs EW. Of course, if Portland beat them today, it will probably be their doom. If they win today, they will probably play Gonzaga tomorrow.

[HoyaTejano]

there is a little bit of "unhinged" about the WCC -- from San Diego's win against UConn last year, to LMU's priceless student broadcasts of the games, to the gaggle of Jesuit schools in the conference, to stuff like this.

Classic. I know in 06 a lot of observers spanked the MVC for manipulating RPI, but this is adds a whole new level of snark to the system.

[HoyaSinceBirth]

Go portland! Beat st. Mary's tonight to eliminate another bubble team!

[adlai]

Their coach suggested it was less to do with the NCAAs and more to do with getting Mills more playing time prior to the postseason, whether it be NCAA or NIT, which seems to make sense. Honestly, it's hard for me to believe that the selection committee will take it all that heavily into consideration (assuming they don't lose). I think the game tonight against Gonzaga will be much more telling about whether or not Mills has recovered or not and how the committee will consider St. Mary's on selection Sunday.

[hifigator]

I don't blame St Mary's a bit. I think it makes perfect sense. In addition to illustrating to the selection committee that they are back to full strength, they get a little bit of continuity with a player who's been out for a long time, plus, of course, he gets to work off some of the rust.

THe question I would ask however, is why they didn't have a full schedule to begin with? I know the NCAA limits the number of games that you can play. There are some exceptions, like preseason tournaments and the sort, but aside from that, I just presumed that most schools would already have the maximum amount of games scheduled.