Which of these does not belong?
Four SoCon (that's shorthand for the Southern Conference for the uninitiated) teams have been invited to play in the Bracket Buster event on Feb. 19. The Bracket Buster is a recent development in which top mid-major programs get to meet in the late season, to provide them a little bit of pub and perhaps an RPI boost they won't get from playing in-conference games.
So the four SoCon schools were: Chattanooga (6-3, 13-6), check; Georgia Southern (6-3, 13-8), check; College of Charlesto (6-3, 13-6) check; and ... ETSU?
The ETSU that is currently 2-7 in the SoCon and 6-13 overall? Apparently so.
Maybe I'm missing something. Maybe ETSU gets an automatic invite because the Bucs were conference champs the last two seasons. But if that's not the case, then someone please clue me in.
UNCG wouldn't be able to play anyway, because the Spartans have a game against App State on that day. But what about, oh, say, Davidson? The Wildcats are 10-0 in conference and own a non-conference win at Missouri.
Maybe the Wildcats turned down an invite. That's certainly possible. Because the way I figure it, no SoCon team is in a position to get an at-large NCAA bid. So RPI boosts would only help position a team for an NIT bid. I'm guessing that Davidson would rather focus on winning the SoCon tournament instead.
Still, it seems a bit strange ...
Comments (1)
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What are the other options besides Davidson and ETSU? I am guessing Davidson has to like their chances of getting into the NCAAs and doesn't want to play its way out in a "Bracket Buster" game.
The Bracket Buster event sounds like a great idea though. More basketball with more tournaments is always a good idea.
Posted on February 2, 2005 10:02 AM