JuniorNoboa

Why is Butler an automatic for everyone but not Drexel?

Would a 13-3 record in that conference get them in the tournament with a poor OOC resume? Nope... Wright St would not have been an at-large.

Similarly Drexel's 13-5 record is not enough to get it in the tournament. It is the OOC that makes it considered.

So it comes down to OOC. Why is Butler's OOC deemed any better?

Butler
11-2
Top 100 Wins - Indiana at HOME, Notre Dame at HOME, Tennessee Neutral, Gonzaga Neutral, Purdue at HOME
Losses - Southern Illinois at HOME, Indiana St on the Road

Drexel
8-2
Wins - AT Syracuse, AT Villanova, AT Creighton, AT St. Joes, AT Vermont, Toledo at Home
Losses = at Penn, at Rider

Personally due to the road wins I find Drexel's just as impressive.

So why is Butler in but Drexel not?

And I am not saying that Butler does not deserve to get in.. they do.

coolpohle

Well, winning @ St. Joe's and @ Vermont are some nice wins, but they're nothing that really stand out, IMO. The Rider loss is pretty bad, too.

Drexel threw in a handful of shaky losses during the conference season: @ William @ Mary, vs. Hofstra, and then a couple other games they were favored in; vs. VCU, vs. Old Dominion.

I think what it ultimately comes down to is that while Drexel may have had some very nice OOC road wins, they didn't do enough in conference play to warrant an at-large bid.

Butler's 4-1 record against RPI top 50 puts them in.

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xubrew

i believe drexel might be in. at the very least they have a very strong case. the only thing that makes me hesitant about them (and this has nothing to do with their resume) is that they're inconsistent. some nights they win at villanova. other nights they lose to rider.

they have done everything the committee says a team should do. they've scheduled tough, played on the road, and won. it will be interesting to see what the committee does with them. it will also be an indication for how they'll treat future teams.

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JuniorNoboa

There top 100 road wins. How many of those do a lot of bubble teams have... not many... I do consider those more impressive then say a win vs Purdue at Home, and equal to a neutralw win against Gonzaga.

So let's exclude those and look at the 3 key wins.
Drexel - at Syracuse, at Villanova, at Creighton
Butler - Notre Dame, Indiana, Tennessee (neutral)

Given they were road games, Drexel's wins are somewhat better as a group then those of Butler.

Butler loss to a 140 team OOC, Drexel lost to a 199 team. Not a huge difference there IMO.

William and Mary on the road is no worse then Loyola Chicago at home. Butler also loss to a bad Illinois Chicago team.

Losses against Hofstra, VCU and Old Dominion are not killers .. those are good teams all better then Wright St and Illinois Chicago.


I think what it ultimately comes down to is that while Drexel may have had some very nice OOC road wins, they didn't do enough in conference play to warrant an at-large bid.

Butler did no better in conference play... they had bad losses as well. 13-3 in that conference was not getting them in the tournament by itself.... was Wright St going to get an at-large.

I don't buy that argument. Butler got in because of OOC... why not Drexel


Butler's 4-1 record against RPI top 50 puts them in.

That is all OOC, and three of those are home wins.
Drexel OOC is 3-0 against top 50, and those three wins are all road wins.


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I am playing a little Devil's advocate here.

I do beleive Butler is in the tournament, and might be a bit better.

But I think Drexel deserves to get in, and I think some committee member that supports Drexel this weekend can have some success with this stand

Basically the argument is:
a) Neither team did enough in conference to get in the tournament without a strong OOC, but both teams were fairly decent in conference.
b) Both teams had strong OOC's, but Drexel's can be seen as slightly better based on road wins.
c) So if Butler is easily in, why not Drexel?

JuniorNoboa

Nice seeing you post again XUBrew, do you still have a blog or site that you make your projections and have your daily discussion?

I think the committee has to let Drexel in this year to make a point. I was hoping Appalachian St as well, but they just had too many bad losses in the end

coolpohle

You definitely make some good points JuniorNoboa, and Drexel may deserve to be in, but I don't think they will be in.

When all is said and done, will they give Drexel an at-large bid over Butler when Butler has a better RPI by 13 spots, especially when Butler has a neutral win over Tennessee? It might not be fair for Drexel to be out, but was it fair for Missouri St. or Hofstra not to get in last year? I guess there's only so many spots to hand out.

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fjkdsi

even though the Butler games were at home they are much more impressive that the drexel wins IMO
no offense but none of those wins are that good
Creighton had a pretty slow start to the season, and Syracuse ain't that good(i compare them to Gonzaga)
Villanova was the only real good win they had

meanwhile, Tennessee, Indiana, and Notre Dame are all top 25 teams....
Butler lost some tough in conference match ups and loosing to Southern Illinois is no shame
Meanwhile Drexel had some pretty pathetic losses
Rider and Penn suck(even though Penn was supposed to be pretty good before the season started, they've sucked)

a lot of the in conference losses Butler had were by like 2-3 points too

JuniorNoboa

Just to be clear the argument is that Drexel is NOT better then Butler... Just that they are near equals.. I agree that Butler is better

If Butler is clearly in, then Drexel should be OK.

I am not convinced they will get in, but I do think they deserve it.... they did it the right way, and I certainly would rather see them at an expense of a Clemson, Illinois, Syracuse (if I was not an SU fan), Purdue, Kansas St...