The NCAA Tournament dream for the Murry State men's basketball team can come true with a pair of victories this weekend in Nashville beginning with Friday nights Semifinal game against Eastern Illinois. The Racers swept the regular season series against the Panthers winning by 16 in the first meeting and 9 just ten days later.A loss in Nashville could turn the dream into a nightmare which could last more than a week untill the NCAA Selection Show. Most bracket projections have only one team from the OVC playing in the tournament. Of course that would be the winner of the conference tournament with no other OVC team receiving an at-large bid.
In years past that formula has been correct, but this year the predictable tried and true recipe used by the Selection Committee needs a little tweaking. To borrow from Chef Emeril Lagasse, the process could use some "Bam".
This quote from Emeril fits the situation.
I would love to see that written on the dry erase board in the Selection Commitee's "War Room". Variety is the spice of life - the NCAA Tournament could use some out-of-the-box forward thinking.
By no means is the OVC a power conference or one which can even be mentioned with the likes of the ACC, Big East, SEC, Big XII or even the mid-majors (MVC, Horizon, etc.).
As of Thursday March 4th the OVC ranks 20th in RPI (Ratings Percentage Index) out of 33 Division 1 leagues.
RPI Rankings: Conference
1. Big XII
2. Big East
3. ACC
4. SEC
“I had these recipes that say do this, do that. Who MAKES these rules?”
I would love to see that written on the dry erase board in the Selection Commitee's "War Room". Variety is the spice of life - the NCAA Tournament could use some out-of-the-box forward thinking.
By no means is the OVC a power conference or one which can even be mentioned with the likes of the ACC, Big East, SEC, Big XII or even the mid-majors (MVC, Horizon, etc.).
As of Thursday March 4th the OVC ranks 20th in RPI (Ratings Percentage Index) out of 33 Division 1 leagues.
RPI Rankings: Conference
1. Big XII
2. Big East
3. ACC
4. SEC
5. Big Ten
9. MVC
33. Great West
Simply looking at the overall RPI and it's easy to see why it appears Murray State needs to secure the OVC's automatic bid. Dig deeper and you'll see the Racers have done everything possible (short of going undefeated) to get an at-large bid. They dominated the regular season (17-1) in the OVC, nearly won road games over Cal (RPI 23) and Lousiana Tech (RPI 80), won all 15 home games and have a 28-4 record heading to Nashville. Honestly! What more could you ask for.
Bypassing Murray State for a .500 team from a power conference would be a huge injustice and continue to devalue the importance the regular season. You can't blame coach Kennedy, Ivan Aska, Tony Easley, Isaiah Canaan or the rest of the team for playing in a bad conference, but you can reward a team for doing what great teams do...Dominate their opponent.
Coach Kennedy talks about the struggles for national recognition.
9. MVC
33. Great West
Simply looking at the overall RPI and it's easy to see why it appears Murray State needs to secure the OVC's automatic bid. Dig deeper and you'll see the Racers have done everything possible (short of going undefeated) to get an at-large bid. They dominated the regular season (17-1) in the OVC, nearly won road games over Cal (RPI 23) and Lousiana Tech (RPI 80), won all 15 home games and have a 28-4 record heading to Nashville. Honestly! What more could you ask for.
Bypassing Murray State for a .500 team from a power conference would be a huge injustice and continue to devalue the importance the regular season. You can't blame coach Kennedy, Ivan Aska, Tony Easley, Isaiah Canaan or the rest of the team for playing in a bad conference, but you can reward a team for doing what great teams do...Dominate their opponent.
Coach Kennedy talks about the struggles for national recognition.
I certainly wish you were right but a 300+ Strength Of Schedule, 1-3 vs top 100 RPI, and a bad loss at WKU kills any chance of an at large for my beloved Racers. MAYBE we would have had a better shot had we gone 18-0 in the OVC but it is what it is: sweep the OVC tourney or get ready for he NIT.
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