A few thoughts:
1. The selection committee, as we all know, is looking at (besides the obvious record and the like) good wins, bad losses and, despite their claims to the contrary, they value recency in results as well (a "what have you done for me lately" attitude. That's why conference tournaments are huge - not only do you rack up good wins on neutral courts, winning a conference adds extra luster to a resume. In 2011, for example, we're probably a 4 or 5 seed instead of a 3 seed if we lose to Louisville, and it'd have nothing to do with the extra loss but more to do with the fact that we didn't win the entire tournament. Basic stuff so far, stick with me please.
2. SMU losing doesn't matter. Outside of a total implosion for their program where they lose the rest of their games or a miraculous run where they go unbeaten and untouchabel from here on out, they won't be ranked high or low enough for it to count as a good or bad loss. We lost to them at home, where they beat everyone, and if we beat them it's on the road, where they're terrible. Obviously better for us to win, but if we do it matters less whether they're ranked or not. Additionally, having one extra ranked team, especially towards the bottom of the conference, won't matter much in terms of perception of the AAC as a whole. Cinci and Lville probably aren't going unranked baring the above mentioned type of meltdown, and UConn and Memphis should hang around the top 25-30 at least and move up or down depending on their own results and that of other teams as well.
3. As far as recency - we really want to win the AAC tournament. It would be great to go undefeated the rest of the way (especially if that resulted in a regular season title, though i think that's unlikely) but again, a loss to cinci or lville won't damn us. Losing in the first round of the conference tourney would be worse, in my opinion. To that end, assuming the standings stay relatively unchanged, SMU losing today was a good thing. Do we really want to see Memphis in the early rounds of the tournament after seeing how they played this weekend and knowing that they essentially have home court advantage? I don't think so. We'll obviously have to play a few of the Cinci/Lville/Memphis triumvirate but, depending on what happens in the next few weeks, I think I'd rather play Cinci and Lville with more on the line later in the tournament rather than Memphis early on, despite the fact that we've thus far lost to the former and beaten the latter.
Just my opinion, sorry for the length and the obvious caveat to all of these points is that I firmly believe that UConn will win the remainder of its games and take the conference title rendering everything I've said moot and the ten minutes I spent typing this wasted
1. The selection committee, as we all know, is looking at (besides the obvious record and the like) good wins, bad losses and, despite their claims to the contrary, they value recency in results as well (a "what have you done for me lately" attitude. That's why conference tournaments are huge - not only do you rack up good wins on neutral courts, winning a conference adds extra luster to a resume. In 2011, for example, we're probably a 4 or 5 seed instead of a 3 seed if we lose to Louisville, and it'd have nothing to do with the extra loss but more to do with the fact that we didn't win the entire tournament. Basic stuff so far, stick with me please.
2. SMU losing doesn't matter. Outside of a total implosion for their program where they lose the rest of their games or a miraculous run where they go unbeaten and untouchabel from here on out, they won't be ranked high or low enough for it to count as a good or bad loss. We lost to them at home, where they beat everyone, and if we beat them it's on the road, where they're terrible. Obviously better for us to win, but if we do it matters less whether they're ranked or not. Additionally, having one extra ranked team, especially towards the bottom of the conference, won't matter much in terms of perception of the AAC as a whole. Cinci and Lville probably aren't going unranked baring the above mentioned type of meltdown, and UConn and Memphis should hang around the top 25-30 at least and move up or down depending on their own results and that of other teams as well.
3. As far as recency - we really want to win the AAC tournament. It would be great to go undefeated the rest of the way (especially if that resulted in a regular season title, though i think that's unlikely) but again, a loss to cinci or lville won't damn us. Losing in the first round of the conference tourney would be worse, in my opinion. To that end, assuming the standings stay relatively unchanged, SMU losing today was a good thing. Do we really want to see Memphis in the early rounds of the tournament after seeing how they played this weekend and knowing that they essentially have home court advantage? I don't think so. We'll obviously have to play a few of the Cinci/Lville/Memphis triumvirate but, depending on what happens in the next few weeks, I think I'd rather play Cinci and Lville with more on the line later in the tournament rather than Memphis early on, despite the fact that we've thus far lost to the former and beaten the latter.
Just my opinion, sorry for the length and the obvious caveat to all of these points is that I firmly believe that UConn will win the remainder of its games and take the conference title rendering everything I've said moot and the ten minutes I spent typing this wasted
