Hall2012 » Thu Feb 06, 2020 1:35 pmThe standings alone may suggest the Hall is taking control, but that there’s a big factor that they don’t show – schedule. 6 of the Hall’s last 8 games are against teams in that T-3 logjam or better, including 4 against Nova and Creighton, both of whom they haven’t played yet. That’s a schedule that can quickly pull the leader back into the pack and leave no less than 6 teams that still have a realistic shot at claiming the #1 seed for the BET. We could also very well end up with half the league ranked on Monday. Incredible.Seton Hall Pirates

 stever20 » Thu Feb 06, 2020 1:43 pm
After last night, Creighton probably won’t be ranked….

If Seton Hall wins on Saturday, they’re 3 up with 7 games to go. With wins over Nova, Butler, Marquette, and Providence already, so set up pretty well for any tiebreakers.

JacobPadilla wrote:

John Bishop wrote:Since the first two games of the season (Kennesaw & Michigan), CU has been beaten on the offensive glass in 21 of the last 22 games – we tied Providence last Wednesday on the offensive glass 9-9.

That overall difference in offensive rebounds (-90) has led to a -94 differential in second chance points.

We are also 17-4 in those 21 games we have lost the rebound margin. We are 1-2 in games where we either won or split the ORB margin.

Sometimes you are who you are.

Its always worth remembering when people freak out about how undersized Creighton is that match-ups work both ways. The reason Mac believes they can compete at a high level this way is because he believes they can make up whatever they give up by being smaller with their advantages elsewhere – mostly transition play, perimeter shooting (and attacking closeouts to make plays as an offshoot of that) and making opposing bigs defend in space.

The gamble is that Creighton’s guards are better at what they do than opposing bigs are at the areas that might hurt Creighton. It’s worked out pretty well so far.

cu8493 » Mon Feb 10, 2020 3:28 pmNo doubt, having TyShon, Marcus and Mitch, along with Damien, Christian and Denzel, gives us the ability that very few teams have to compete when you have a Kelvin Jones type player as your lone guy bigger than 6’5″ (not a knock on Kelvin, as he not been a slouch, but he is who he is). Those three have been that good most nights. We will still struggle when any one of those three is off his game, although we have still pulled out wins where Damien, Christian or Denzel has jumped up to fill the void (seems like each one has taken his turn). But, we have almost no chance if two of TyShon, Marcus or Mitch are shut down or otherwise having an off night. That lineup has us currently in 2nd place in one of the best conferences in the country. We will see if its good enough to grind out the last third of the conference slate. I thought 10-8 is our ceiling at the beginning of the year, and I still think we end up 10-8; but might pull out 11-7 given the road win over Nova). And I still don’t think its a roster that can win 3 games in the BET given the energy they expend each game — or back to back NCAA games (but of course, that all depends on matchups). I hope I am wrong.

Then today’s takes…

eye of the jay » Thu Feb 13, 2020 12:20 am The league race got a heck of a lot more interesting. It’s of course still Seton Halls to lose but the Top 5 have varying difficulty in their schedules.

Seton Hall – 50/50 home away but at Marq, at Creighton and still have Butler and Nova at home
Creighton – 4 of 6 at home. At Marq and close with SH
Nova – 5 of 7 away from home (@Temple) but….only 1 vs the top half of the league.
Marq – easiest away schedule with 3 bottom NET teams on the road and get shots at Jays/Hall at home
Butler – really tough away games (@Hall,@Creigh,@X) but easier home games

The realist and prognosticator in me thinks
SH 14-4
Creighton 12-6
Nova 12-6
Marquette 12-6
Butler 11-7 or 10-8

Really really hoping Hall slips up (looking at you Providence) and they come to Omaha 1 up on us in the win column.

ArmyVet wrote:A quick review of the schedules seems to indicate that Hall had a softer first half, whereas Creighton has a softer second half of the league slate. And they play each other in Omaha to end the conference season? Well that could be fun.

GumbyDamnit! » Thu Feb 13, 2020 2:33 pm
Made we want to take a closer look…

Ok, let’s apply some sort of point value for each remaining game. Completely arbitrary (dont @ me  ) but let’s say the following:

Away game vs. top 5 BE team = 3 pts.
Home game vs. BE top 5 team = 2 pts.
Away game vs. BE bottom 5 = 2 pts.
Home game vs BE bottom 5 = 1 pt.

SHU = 13
(2) 3 pt. games
(3) 2 pt. games
(1) 1 pt. game

Jays = 11
(1) 3 pt.
(3) 2 pt.
(2) 1 pt.

Nova = 11
(1) 3 pt.
(3) 2 pt.
(2) 1 pt.

Dawgs = 11
(2) 3 pt.
(1) 2 pt.
(3) 1 pt.

Marq. = 11
(0) 3 pt.
(4) 2 pt.
(1) 3 pt.

PC = 11
(1) 3 pt.
(3) 2 pt.
(2) 1 pt.

Hoyas = 15 (but 7 games left, not 6)
(3) 3
(2) 2
(2) 1

SJU = 14 (ouch)
(3) 3
(2) 2
(1) 1

SHU has the toughest path and everyone else is basically even in difficulty. Hoyas and SJU–if they were going to make a run–have really tough roads to hoe. Still think it’s SHU’s to lose but 2-5 looks like a really interesting battle.