IS the duke game a must win?

[CallMeBruce]

 

[amory]

It's important, sure. We could use a signature win and this is our last chance to get one.

Must win? Probably not.

 

[pnow15]

Of course, this is a must win. UConn is the probably one to the reasons the P-5 haven't broken clean from the NCAA rules factory.
P-5 want both FB and BB. But they sure don't want UConn. They shunned us, banned us, took away scholarships. They only thing they haven't done yet is kick the dog. But we won the title. So, my thinking is that is they can find a way to leave us out of the tourney they will.
And that will be very hard to if we have twenty wins and have beaten Duke.

 

[Stainmaster]

Of course, this is a must win. UConn is the probably one to the reasons the P-5 haven't broken clean from the NCAA rules factory.
P-5 want both FB and BB. But they sure don't want UConn. They shunned us, banned us, took away scholarships. They only thing they haven't done yet is kick the dog. But we won the title. So, my thinking is that is they can find a way to leave us out of the tourney they will.
And that will be very hard to if we have twenty wins and have beaten Duke.

So you think they'll remove the AAC's autobid too?

 

[Husky999]

This is our last chance to beat a ranked team, maybe all season. Does anyone feel confident heading into March without defeating a team ranked in the top 25? I certainly don't. Hell, currently this is our last chance to get a victory against a team ranked 1-50. Has any team ever gotten an at-large with 0 (1-50) wins? Our RPI is going to be horrific come selection time if we don't beat 2 of the 3 OOC games as the conference currently has ZERO 1-50 teams. It's currently at 100 and there aren't a ton of opportunities to improve it. That's likely where it will stay if we don't beat Duke and Stanford. Don't understand why most of you don't think this is a must win? We have no opportunities to make up for it as our schedule is so bad.

Duke (6)
Stanford (54)
Florida (116)

Temple (52)
SMU (70)
Houston (79)
Tulsa (91)
Cincinnati (97)
Uconn (100)
Tulane (150)
Memphis (179)
South Florida (181)
UCF (261)
East Carolina (269)

 

[8893]

Don't understand why most of you don't think this is a must win?

Perhaps because most of us understand what "must win" means?

 

[Leebo]

Has any team ever gotten an at-large with 0 (1-50) wins?

Don't understand why most of you don't think this is a must win?

Shucks, you're right, there's no other way to get in.

 

[Husky999]

Shucks, you're right, there's no other way to get in.

If we lose all 3 remaining OOC games, we won't get an at large and we'll have to win the AAC tournament… Numbers are numbers and facts are facts. Beating the dregs of the AAC is not enough this year.

 

[Stainmaster]

Beating the dregs of the AAC is not enough this year.

Beating them in the conference tourney is.

 

[Husky999]

Beating them in the conference tourney is.

As I mentioned.. it's not enough for an "at large bid"

 

[Stainmaster]

As I mentioned.. it's not enough for an "at large bid"

All I care about is making the tourney one way or another. It doesn't matter whether it's by winning the conference tournament, at-large bid, or sacrificing a bull on Ron Wellman's front lawn.

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

This thread reads much better after the Ignore. Thanks for the reminder.

 

[Jerry1714]

This is our last chance to beat a ranked team, maybe all season. Does anyone feel confident heading into March without defeating a team ranked in the top 25? I certainly don't. Hell, currently this is our last chance to get a victory against a team ranked 1-50. Has any team ever gotten an at-large with 0 (1-50) wins? Our RPI is going to be horrific come selection time if we don't beat 2 of the 3 OOC games as the conference currently has ZERO 1-50 teams. It's currently at 100 and there aren't a ton of opportunities to improve it. That's likely where it will stay if we don't beat Duke and Stanford. Don't understand why most of you don't think this is a must win? We have no opportunities to make up for it as our schedule is so bad.

Duke (6)
Stanford (54)
Florida (116)

Temple (52)
SMU (70)
Houston (79)
Tulsa (91)
Cincinnati (97)
Uconn (100)
Tulane (150)
Memphis (179)
South Florida (181)
UCF (261)
East Carolina (269)

UConn already has a top 50 RPI win........................

 

[Leebo]

If we lose all 3 remaining OOC games, we won't get an at large and we'll have to win the AAC tournament… Numbers are numbers and facts are facts. Beating the dregs of the AAC is not enough this year.

No one is saying it's not "must win for an at-large bid"

Because that's not the question.

Can they win the national championship if they lose the game on Thursday?

Yes. Nothing to discuss.

 

[Jerry1714]

No one is saying it's not "must win for an at-large bid"

Because that's not the question.

Can they win the national championship if they lose the game on Thursday?

Yes. Nothing to discuss.

It also not a must win for an at large bid, that notion is insane.

 

[HuskyHawk]

All I can say is that the collapse again Texas did a lot of harm. That one win, against #4, would have made the rest of the non-conference much more comfortable. My main concern is that if even UConn loses all its key non-conference tests against P5 schools, the AAC will be degraded to CUSA status. We saw that even last year, teams in our conference were under-seeded come tournament time, or left home. It will be worse this year. Could be a one or two bid conference if nobody steps up.

Currently the American is winless against ranked teams. UConn has Duke tomorrow. Tulane has games with Washington and St. Johns. Cinci plays SDSU tonight. We need teams in our conference to win these games and boost the overall conference RPI.

 

[HuskyBballFan]

If we lose all 3 remaining OOC games, we won't get an at large and we'll have to win the AAC tournament… Numbers are numbers and facts are facts. Beating the dregs of the AAC is not enough this year.

Facts are not facts when you look at RPI on December 17th.

A chunk of RPI is pure winning percentage. Florida's RPI stinks right now because their win/loss record stinks right now. They will be in the top-50 at the end of the season.

Win/loss record is also why we are at 100 as of today. If we go something like 15-3 in conference play, the huge hike in win percentage combined with the difficulty of our non-conference schedule would get us an at-large bid. Beating Florida and Stanford certainly would go a long way too - but the question wasn't about Stanford being a must-win, it was about Duke being a must-win. The answer is no.