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Round 1: UND vs. Sacramento State


UNDsportsFANATIC

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Out of the 13 teams that have punched their tickets, the two lowest RPI's are Coastal Carolina (195) and Mount St. Mary's (192). UND was ranked near there until losing to SUU and now currently sit at 224. Still a handful of the smaller conferences auto-bids out there, but would take some upsets to bump UND out of a potentail "First Four" game if they were to win the Big Sky tournament.

At this point, not much UND can do about it except make the best of the hand they dealt themselves this year. I doubt the players and coaching staff are concerned about what will happen if they win the Big Sky tournament other than being excited that they are going to the Big Dance. 3 wins to go and UND has just as good of chance as any of the 7 teams fighting for it.

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Out of the 13 teams that have punched their tickets, the two lowest RPI's are Coastal Carolina (195) and Mount St. Mary's (192). UND was ranked near there until losing to SUU and now currently sit at 224. Still a handful of the smaller conferences auto-bids out there, but would take some upsets to bump UND out of a potentail "First Four" game if they were to win the Big Sky tournament.

That Mount St Mary's game last night is the reason why watching the conference tournaments is so much fun. They were blown out by Robert Morris twice this season but made a run to the tournament championship to play the Colonials, where they absolutely throttled them in front of their own crowd. I think RM was expecting a conference tournament coronation - instead, they got a whoopin'.

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According to ESPN, Sac St (#7) and UND (#12) are two of most inconsistent teams in DI men's basketball (351 total teams).

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/bpi/_/sort/variationRank/order/false

Arguably a misleading stat. Big Sky probably has more parity than any league in D1. 25% of top 12 come from Big Sky. Everyone beats everyone. Shows as inconsistency. We aren't the only fan base in big sky screaming about inconsistent play I would bet.

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According to ESPN, Sac St (#7) and UND (#12) are two of most inconsistent teams in DI men's basketball (351 total teams).

http://espn.go.com/m...ank/order/false

You'll get no argument from most fans here on that one.....

EDIT:

Arguably a misleading stat. Big Sky probably has more parity than any league in D1. 25% of top 12 come from Big Sky. Everyone beats everyone. Shows as inconsistency. We aren't the only fan base in big sky screaming about inconsistent play I would bet.

I stand corrected. :ohmy:

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Arguably a misleading stat. Big Sky probably has more parity than any league in D1. 25% of top 12 come from Big Sky. Everyone beats everyone. Shows as inconsistency. We aren't the only fan base in big sky screaming about inconsistent play I would bet.

It wasn't just our Big Sky play (as embarrassing as the SUU finale was). It was our play against Cal Poly, Bowling Green, and South Dakota State too.

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According to ESPN, Sac St (#7) and UND (#12) are two of most inconsistent teams in DI men's basketball (351 total teams).

http://espn.go.com/m...ank/order/false

Definitely didn't need any sort of fancy formula to tell me that UND has been all over the map. 4 Big Sky teams in the top 17, all of which are in the conference tournament.

Arguably a misleading stat. Big Sky probably has more parity than any league in D1. 25% of top 12 come from Big Sky. Everyone beats everyone. Shows as inconsistency. We aren't the only fan base in big sky screaming about inconsistent play I would bet.

I agree on the parity part but a lot of the inconsistency comes from the OOC play, beating some decent teams and then laying an absolute egg to some pretty bad ones.

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From CBS Sports:

Big Sky tournament: Preview, prediction, TV info

Prediction: Northern Arizona surprises for the Big Sky automatic bid. Out of the top four teams in the conference, Northern Arizona is the only one without a senior superstar on the perimeter who is capable of carrying them to the title -- but the Lumberjacks are the hottest team in the league and could keep that going in the conference tournament. They destroyed Montana by 20 points in the season finale, and also won at Weber State earlier this month. Second-year head coach Jack Murphy has infused talent into the program, and the combination of Quinton Upshur and defense could get the job done.

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Having a choice, I'd take playing NAU in the title game over Weber hands down.

UND currently favored by 3.5 points on a neutral court. Previous meetings this season were an 11 point win by UND in Grand Forks the end of January and a 6 point win by Sac St in Sacromento the end of February.

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Respectfully disagree. Kinda like saying you made the MLB playoffs after losing the Wild-Card game. Unless you're in the bracket of 64, you're not really 'in.'

I could see your point if these games involved #61 through #68 but they have 2 play in games to determine a 16 seed, 1 to determine an 11 and the 4th determines a 12.

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I could see your point if these games involved #61 through #68 but they have 2 play in games to determine a 16 seed, 1 to determine an 11 and the 4th determines a 12.

I don't think the 11-12 rule for the is set in stone and can change year to year depending on the strength of the field but will usually be right around 11-12. The "First Four" games are made up of the 4 lowest auto qualifiers playing each other and the last 4 at large-teams picked playing each other.

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Even with winning the tourney and getting the Big Sky auto bid?

If UND wins the conference tournament they will very likely play in one of the "First Four" games (formerly the play-in games). Winning that game does count for the team/conference as a tournament victory/credit when used to determine payouts, so there is a small advantage in that sense. You do end up matching up with the overall number 1 or 2 seed after it but being a 15 or 16 seed that isn't in a "First Four" game isn't much better (assuming you win it).

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Even with winning the tourney and getting the Big Sky auto bid?

It probably would happen, unless there is any other craziness that happens in the other conferences.

As for tonight, I take UND by 8 over Sac

NAU tips UNC

MONT over PSU

despite all the craziness of this year, I think the top 4 seeds will hold

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Out league had been terribly inconsistent this season. The play in game is no embarrassment. Every team in the NIT would trade their spot for a place in the play in game.

Agreed, The play in game can only be deemed embarassing if you could or should be a higher seed. For a team like UND in their second BSC season, who has never made the tourney, it would be a big accomplishment. Ask any guy on the team if they would rather be in the play in game, or in the tournament they were in last year. Regardless of your seed, winning your conference tournament is a big deal. Everyone made a huge deal a few years ago, and UND was in the Great West ... C'mon Man .... That being said, let just beat SacSt and go from there.

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