Jay Bilas thinks CAA has 3 NCAA-worthy teams: VCU among them

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http://sportsgenius4life.blogspot.com/2010/01/college-basketball-full-steam-ahead.html

So with W&M having a chance, and most likely VCU and Old Dominion as well, I posed a question today to Jay Bilas in one of his espn.com chat's:

Pat (DC)
Jay, I don't know if you have seen the top teams of the CAA play this year or not, but the league is very good. William and Mary, VCU, ODU have all beaten some big boys out of conference and Mason and Northeastern are coming on strong right now. This conference deserves multiple bids this year. Your thoughts?

Jay Bilas

I would tend to agree that the Colonial has three teams that will be in the mix for an at-large bid. William and Mary (my sister's alma mater), ODU and VCU are all good teams that can beat people. With the Pac-10 down, there are a few extra spots available, and my guess is that mid-majors will benefit this year. There are a bunch of very average majors this year relative to years past, and I think that mid-majors like the three mentioned above and some teams in the Missouri Valley will get better looks because of the relative weakness of some of the major leagues.
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It's nice to see the CAA getting some love and the fact that some guys still think we have a pretty good resume as it stands. We can't really afford to lose more than 2-3 games from here on out if we want an at-large, but this team has the talent to do so. It will be interesting to see where the conference stands once Selection Sunday comes around.
 
I know most people really dislike BracketBuster weekend. But RPI plays a big part in making a case for at large bids. The CAA is hovering around 9-12 best conference for the last few weeks. Since OOC games are over this will be the last chance that the league as a whole can move up in the rankings.

Unfortunately for us it will probably mean a home game against a lower ranked team. But a top 100 possibly top 50 team may come to play us. So I think Feb 19th and 20th will be big for at large bids similar to 2006.

Here's hoping Siena comes to town and that Mel Bahsabe is able to watch us beat his future team :lol:
 
It looks like a lot of the talk around the top teams in our RPI range has us either facing off against Wichita State or Siena. Both would be great games and ESPN would obviously love to have a good matchup at the Siegel Center since it's a pretty nice venue for TV to showcase a premier matchup. Siena will likely win all their games heading into that matchup since they play in the MAAC, however the RPI's of the teams they play are in the low 100's and upper 200's so we'll see how much that impacts their RPI. Wichita State plays in a much stronger conference in the Missouri Valley, so we could see them moving up or staying around the same provided they don't lose games. Both teams want Butler as the primary matchup, but wouldn't mind VCU. I don't blame 'em. Butler is the premier home team, considering Wichita State plays No. Iowa and Siena has already played them in the return Bracketbuster game this season.

Either Wichita State or Siena would be a good catch for us against a recognizable mid-major with recent NCAA success. Wichita State went to the Sweet Sixteen beating Seton Hall and Tennessee before losing to George Mason. Siena has had two consecutive NCAA first-round wins over Vanderbilt and Ohio State respectively. It would be a good opportunity for us to get another good win for our resume.
 
Having 3 NCAA worthy teams doesn't mean we will get even 2 in
 
Mercury said:
Having 3 NCAA worthy teams doesn't mean we will get even 2 in
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You are likely right. W&M is the only team I truly think is an at-large candidate from the CAA, but if they lose more CAA games, they will slip further and further away from a bid. VCU and ODU are nice mentions but we basically have to win the tournament to get in. We'd be on the bubble, but probably the outisde looking in at this point. Right now as it stands I think the Tribe would have an at-large if they didn't win the tournament. If they won, the CAA would be a one-bid league.
 
BaNgMyPrOgRaM said:
Im thinking 1 automatic bid.
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*Sigh* You're probably right. In the end, this is usually what ends up happenning. Let's hope we're it then. :twisted:
 
You are likely right. W&M is the only team I truly think is an at-large candidate from the CAA, but if they lose more CAA games, they will slip further and further away from a bid.
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with the tribe having to play odu twice, mason, and nu, their nice at-large status will slowly disappear.

quinn mcdowell was a neato little player for a while there. as i predicted, he cooled off significantly. as did the team.

i expect odu to dominate them tomorrow.
 
normally i would agree with the 1 auto bid, but the pac-10 has been so bad that instead of the traditional 4+ they get they might only get 1-2 this year. whether that means the extra bids would trickle all the way down to the caa is another story. another thing to keep an eye on is how messed up the acc is right now where the "big boys" keep getting beat and see who survives that mess to see how many teams make it from there.
 
How great would it be to see UNC not make it in?

Also, we can get an at large IMO. Let's say we go 9-1 for the rest of the CAA schedule (humor me) and we win our bracketbuster over a Sienna or Wichita State type team. We'd be 14-1 over our last 15 and we'd sport a 23-5 record with a 14-4 conference record and a 9-1 out of conference record. Win two and lose the CAA championship game in March and we are 25-6 overall and essentially 16-5 in conference. We'd probably have a top 35 RPI with that kind of run. I think we'd have an at-large chance with a scenario like this.

Now, it's not a probable scenario, but the the best teams left on our schedule are NU (once), ODU (twice) and GMU (once). Can we win 3 out of these 4? I think we have the talent and we are gelling now...so it's far from impossible. We will see if we are for real after this Saturday.
 
i'd say we have a better chance of meeting jesus than winning 14 of 15 to close out.

then again, there are quite a few bearded fellas walking around these days....
 
Wow. I just spoke with Him this morning. I guess that means VCU is getting an at-large.
 
Hey, I didn't say we'd win 20 straight like Sometimes! If we take care of business the only teams we ought to have a chance of losing to are NU, ODU and GMU. Of these 4 games I think we should at least be 2-2. Who's to say we can't go 3-1 in those games. And yes, I am well aware we normally drop a game or two that we shouldn't, but haven't we already done that?
 
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