College BBall Imperialism Map

[quote="Paul Massell" post=305360]Personally I feel like one of the great things about college basketball are the mid majors and small schools that put together great teams sporadically or even just great games, and knockoff major powers. Just a few teams that have made college basketball infinitely more interesting are: Richmond, Davidson, Florida Gulf Coast, Buffalo, Furman, George Mason, Morehead St., Weber St., Mercer, Bucknell, Cleveland St, Lehigh, Hampton, Princeton, Ohio U, Coppin St, Loyola Mmt. . Even Gonzaga. Today we think of them as a great team but 15-20 back they were underdog from "joke conference" (not my words) Heck you could even say Villanova in a sense. Smaller, Catholic school, privately funded. way back... Texas Western[/quote]

What is also great about college basketball is that EVERY game matters, especially to a mid major that can compete with or sometimes beat a big time program. Their fans are engaged like it's the NBA championship or Olympic Gold. It's what makes college basketball far superior to me than the NBA.
 
Yep, Butler went from a nobody in a mediocre conference to a consistent Tournament participant in the Big East after just a few years. Nova went from average to blue blood after just a few years. Other teams in the Big East, including Seton Hall, Providence, Creighton and Xavier have significantly raised their profiles after just a few years.

I went to a much smaller college in NC before attending SJU for grad school. Even though it was just a 1 bid league, we always got excited for the conference tournament and a chance at an automatic bid.

The college hoops landscape is what makes it worth following a consistently mediocre team like SJU. We don't need to be top 4 like in college football. We simply need to be top ~50. Then anything can happen.
 
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[quote="Adam" post=305367]Yep, Butler went from a nobody in a mediocre conference to a consistent Tournament participant in the Big East after just a few years. Nova went from average to blue blood after just a few years. Other teams in the Big East, including Seton Hall, Providence, Creighton and Xavier have significantly raised their profiles after just a few years.

I went to a much smaller college in NC before attending SJU for grad school. Even though it was just a 1 bid league, we always got excited for the conference tournament and a chance at an automatic bid.

The college hoops landscape is what makes it worth following a consistently mediocre team like SJU. We don't need to be top 4 like in college football. We simply need to be top ~50. Then anything can happen.[/quote]

I don't have any doubt that Butler has improved their overall profile by entering the BE and being associated with more prominent basketball programs but I would hardly say what was happening BEFORE they joined the BE was operating in obscurity.

Considering Thad Matta, Frank Lickliter and Brad Stevens all had very high level of success and parlayed that job into better jobs. Lickliter ultimately did not succeed at Iowa. But Matta won at Xavier and Ohio St and Stevens is a legend at Butler taking them to back to back National Championship games and now is the HC of one of the most iconic franchises in all of professional sports. All of that happened before they joined the BE.
 
[quote="fordham96" post=305376][quote="Adam" post=305367]Yep, Butler went from a nobody in a mediocre conference to a consistent Tournament participant in the Big East after just a few years. Nova went from average to blue blood after just a few years. Other teams in the Big East, including Seton Hall, Providence, Creighton and Xavier have significantly raised their profiles after just a few years.

I went to a much smaller college in NC before attending SJU for grad school. Even though it was just a 1 bid league, we always got excited for the conference tournament and a chance at an automatic bid.

The college hoops landscape is what makes it worth following a consistently mediocre team like SJU. We don't need to be top 4 like in college football. We simply need to be top ~50. Then anything can happen.[/quote]

I don't have any doubt that Butler has improved their overall profile by entering the BE and being associated with more prominent basketball programs but I would hardly say what was happening BEFORE they joined the BE was operating in obscurity.

Considering Thad Matta, Frank Lickliter and Brad Stevens all had very high level of success and parlayed that job into better jobs. Lickliter ultimately did not succeed at Iowa. But Matta won at Xavier and Ohio St and Stevens is a legend at Butler taking them to back to back National Championship games and now is the HC of one of the most iconic franchises in all of professional sports. All of that happened before they joined the BE.[/quote]
Todd Lickliter
 
[quote="Mike Zaun" post=305364]Didn't mean to imply that mid majors are useless or uninteresting...but conference affiliation does matter. Furman beat a down Villanova team that lost almost everyone and would lose 70% of the time if they played Villanova all season. That's my point. Sure any mid major can knock off any power team any given day, but if they played 10 games against power teams they'd lost most in the long run. We beat Duke last year but probably lose 9/10 times to them otherwise if we played them that much last year. But our saving grace is we are in a legitimate conference so we have that going for us. Being an undefeated Siena team is not the same as being an undefeated Duke team (I know they aren't undefeated just making an example). That's my point.

That being said, mid majors are definitely what makes March so fun. Literally anything can happen. College football is completely boring because it's the polar opposite. The same team wins almost every year and it's rarely even close. If Bama played Siena in basketball, Siena has a chance at least. If Bama played Siena in football if they had a team, they would win by 80. There is zero parity in college football. Ohio State, Michigan, Bama...yawn. Every year.[/quote]

Mike - focus on the second paragraph you wrote and enjoy the map.
 
[quote="Spocky Ramone" post=305394][quote="Andrew" post=305390][quote="Jack Williams" post=305178]https://twitter.com/jloose128/status/1067658340258467840?s=21[/quote]

What’s the school between Houston and Texas Tech. I can’t identify that school.[/quote]
Abilene Christian Wildcats, Southland Conference, 7-0[/quote]

They play Tech on Dec. 15 so if both manage to last that long, one will be going down.
 
[quote="Mike Zaun" post=305334]Buffalo is really annoying...they play in a joke conference. They should only have the F5 plus Big East and American (feeling kind today) teams listed. Who cares about Furman and Buffalo?[/quote]

God you are so unlikable.
 
[quote="austour" post=305414][quote="Mike Zaun" post=305334]Buffalo is really annoying...they play in a joke conference. They should only have the F5 plus Big East and American (feeling kind today) teams listed. Who cares about Furman and Buffalo?[/quote]

God you are so unlikable.[/quote]

Welp, there goes my life purpose...to make a guy on a sports forum with a monkey avatar like me.
 
[quote="Mike Zaun" post=305420][quote="austour" post=305414][quote="Mike Zaun" post=305334]Buffalo is really annoying...they play in a joke conference. They should only have the F5 plus Big East and American (feeling kind today) teams listed. Who cares about Furman and Buffalo?[/quote]

God you are so unlikable.[/quote]

Welp, there goes my life purpose...to make a guy on a sports forum with a monkey avatar like me.[/quote]

That is a monkey?? Thought it was actually Austour!:eek:hmy:
 
[quote="Jack Williams" post=305358]3 undefeated teams play tonight:

Belmont (5-0) plays on the road against a 7-1 Samford team, although Belmont still 8 point favorites

Sacramento State (3-0) is undefeated but also an underdog tonight, they travel to play a 5-1 UC Santa Barbara team who are 8.5 point favorites [/quote]

Belmont won in overtime. Sacramento State about to lose
 
15 of the remaining undefeated teams in action this weekend, some with tough games. I think it's likely that list will be down to 10-15 by Sunday. Undefeated team shown in bold below.

Friday 11/30:
Stephen Austin vs. San Francisco
Wisconsin vs. Iowa

Saturday 12/1
SJU vs. Georgia Tech
Gonzaga vs. Creighton
Belmont vs. Green Bay
Kansas State vs. Marquette
Texas Tech vs. Memphis
Purdue vs. Michigan
W. Carolina vs. Furman
Nevada vs. USC
Stanford vs. Kansas
Abilene Christian vs. Pepperdine
Oregon vs. Houston
Texas Southern vs. Arizona State

Sunday 12/2
Loyola Marymount vs. UCLA
 
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[quote="NCJohnnie" post=305455]15 of the remaining undefeated teams in action this weekend, some with tough games. I think it's likely that list will be down to 10-15 by Sunday. Undefeated team shown in bold below.

Friday 11/30:
Stephen Austin vs. San Francisco
Wisconsin vs. Iowa
[/quote]

Iowa lost.
 
Also. Buffalo and San Fran go at it tomorrow so it is guaranteed to go down to 15. Rooting for the Dons so that we can claim the buffalo territory on the map with a win over Gt
 
[quote="Jack Williams" post=305553]Also. Buffalo and San Fran go at it tomorrow so it is guaranteed to go down to 15. Rooting for the Dons so that we can claim the buffalo territory on the map with a win over Gt[/quote]

Buffalo gonna have their hands full with the Dons honestly.
 
[quote="MCNPA" post=305559][quote="Jack Williams" post=305553]Also. Buffalo and San Fran go at it tomorrow so it is guaranteed to go down to 15. Rooting for the Dons so that we can claim the buffalo territory on the map with a win over Gt[/quote]

Buffalo gonna have their hands full with the Dons honestly.[/quote]

The Mike Zaun bowl from Belfast is pretty entertaining.
 
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