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View Full Version : They added an extra game?!?! What?!?!?



JasonEvans
03-07-2009, 10:53 AM
Ok, maybe I have not been paying attention over the years but I have never heard of something like this (http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/news?slug=ap-saintmarys-onemoregame&prov=ap&type=lgns).


Saint Mary’s has added a game to its schedule to get recovering star Patrick Mills more playing time.

The Gaels (24-5) scheduled Eastern Washington for a home game March 13 after the West Coast Conference Tournament and before the NCAA tournament.

Eastern Washington (12-17) thought its season ended last Saturday when a loss to Portland State kept the Eagles from playing in the Big Sky Conference tournament.

--Jason "cool idea, but first I have heard of a team doing this" Evans

Grey Devil
03-07-2009, 12:01 PM
How much are they getting paid to (likely) add another defeat to their loss column? Why would their coach agree to it? Are the two coaches old buddies from their past? (Roomed together in college? Coached together on some other team?) Why? Inquiring minds want to know.

This just seems weird to me. What if EWU beats St. Mary's and, as a result, St. Mary's doesn't get a NCAA bid? (It seems like they're assuming they're going to the Big Dance, which they may well be, but nonetheless....)

Grey Devil

JasonEvans
03-07-2009, 12:35 PM
This just seems weird to me. What if EWU beats St. Mary's and, as a result, St. Mary's doesn't get a NCAA bid? (It seems like they're assuming they're going to the Big Dance, which they may well be, but nonetheless....)

Well, I am sure one reason they picked EWash was that they are not very good and have little chance of beating St. Mary's.

I think the idea is that they are worried they might not make the NCAAs. St. May's feels it was deserving of an at-large bid (if it loses to Gonzaga for the conference automatic bid) before Mills was hurt. They have not done nearly a well without him and want to show the NCAA that he is back at full strength. If they can show that, the selection committee may discount the games he missed and give St. Mary's exgtra at-large consideration. Showing them another game with Mills back at full strength is essential to that...

...at least that is what it appears St. Mary's is thinking.

--Jason "with Mills, I agree that St. Mary's deserves an at-large bid" Evans

JasonEvans
03-07-2009, 01:08 PM
--Jason "with Mills, I agree that St. Mary's deserves an at-large bid" Evans

You know, on further review, I am not sure they do deserve an at-large bid. They ain't played or beaten anyone worth a darn.

-Jason "tough case" Evans

Carlos
03-07-2009, 01:15 PM
You mean besides playing #14 Gonzaga twice?

Wander
03-07-2009, 01:19 PM
You know, on further review, I am not sure they do deserve an at-large bid. They ain't played or beaten anyone worth a darn.


They are 3-0 against fellow bubble teams - San Diego State, Providence, and Utah State. I imagine that'll help them quite a bit.

FireOgilvie
03-07-2009, 01:25 PM
They are 3-0 against fellow bubble teams - San Diego State, Providence, and Utah State. I imagine that'll help them quite a bit.

Exactly. They had 1 loss with Mills and 4 without him. They were up 6 at halftime of the Gonzaga game and he had 18 points in 17 minutes. Their RPI puts them ahead of Boston College, Florida, and Davidson among other bubble teams. I don't see them making the field, but they are definitely right there.

Jim3k
03-07-2009, 02:50 PM
I watched St. Mary's beat San Francisco at USF earlier this year with a healthy Mills. USF isn't very good and has since had some chemistry issues, resulting in the coach dismissing some players, but was at full strength for St. Mary's.

Without a doubt Mills was the best player on the floor. He's lightning quick and a scoring machine. Very good defense as well. His team won going away. If the Gaels do well in the conference tournament it should get a bid. With Mills, it should be able to beat Santa Clara and with him it's fully capable of beating Gonzaga on a neutral floor. Fortunately, as the No. 2 seed, they can allow Gonzaga and Santa Clara knock each other off, since those two are in a different bracket. St. Mary's won't have to play both.

The WCC brackets are very unusual. The nos. 1 and 2 seeds get a double bye

St. Mary's plays Portland tonight while Gonzaga takes on Santa Clara in the early game.

As a result, they may very well make the NCAAs without benefit of the EWU addition.

awhom111
03-07-2009, 03:03 PM
Duke's Lacrosse teams often schedule a non-conference game between the ACC tournament and the NCAA tournament because of the gap in time. UNC's women's also has a game next week against Delaware because of the two-week gap between tournaments.

Twigmas
03-07-2009, 05:35 PM
The WCC brackets are very unusual. The nos. 1 and 2 seeds get a double bye

St. Mary's plays Portland tonight while Gonzaga takes on Santa Clara in the early game.


Actually, Portland plays Pepperdine tonight, and Santa Clara plays San Diego. The semis are tomorrow.

Jim3k
03-07-2009, 11:16 PM
Actually, Portland plays Pepperdine tonight, and Santa Clara plays San Diego. The semis are tomorrow.


Yeah, you're right. But I am prescient. ;) Santa Clara beat San Diego and the Portland-Pep game starts in just a few minutes.

Jim3k
03-08-2009, 01:52 AM
Yeah, you're right. But I am prescient. ;) Santa Clara beat San Diego and the Portland-Pep game starts in just a few minutes.

Tol' ja. Portland stuffed Pep. So my prescience is proven. :D

Now I just have to get the game days straight. :o

JasonEvans
03-08-2009, 12:31 PM
You mean besides playing #14 Gonzaga twice?

Sorry, I should have stressed better--

They ain't played or beaten anyone worth a darn.

Many of the other smaller conference powers make sure they get a few games against BCS conference schools-- St. Mary's has not done as much of that as some other bubble teams and it hurts their chances, IMO.

--Jason "that said, Mills is a talent and I would not look forward to seeing St. Mary's against a team I liked in the first round as a #5 vs. #12 matchup" Evans

sweetchiba51
03-08-2009, 01:02 PM
Im a transplant Duke fan from NC and live in spokane and attend EWU...St. Mary's will slaughter EWU.

Olympic Fan
03-08-2009, 01:30 PM
The only impediment to this tactic is that the NCAA limits the number of games a team plays. If a team is below the limit -- and I assume St. Mary's is -- then I guess there's no reason not to add a game with a team that is also under the limit.

Duke -- and almost all the other top teams -- schedules the maximum each year. The actual number varies because of exempt tournaments and the like ... plus postseason conference tournaments count as one game against the limit, no matter how many are played.

This topic reminds me of something that's a bit off-topic -- about how the NFL and the Chicago Cardinals conspired to steal the 1925 NFL championship from the Pottstown Breakers.

At the time, there was no sanctioned title game. The title was usually determined by winning percentage. By chance, the last scheduled game in 1925 was Pottstown at Chicago -- a matchup between the two best teams in the league. The winner would have the best winning percentage.

Well, Pottstown won decisively and claimed the title.

But the owner of the Cardinals scheduled two more games AFTER the Pottstown loss -- by winning both, it would give the Cardinals the title. The NFL -- run by a guy who was trying to squeeze all the small town teams out of the league (he eventually got all except Green Bay) -- allowed the late schedule additions (even though neither opponent had previously played an NFL team). It was only after the media exposed the two games as frauds (they weren't against real teams, but hastily assembled squads ... for one of them, they pulled high school players off the street).

So the NFL vacated Chicago's two wins. But they gave the Cardinals the title anyway, claiming that Pottstown played an unsanctioned game and thus had to forfeit the title. Actually, Pottstown's extra win was a huge boost for the NFL -- they beat a traveling squad built around Notre Dame's Four Horsemen (who had won the 1924 NCAA title). At a time when the college game was routinely touted as superior to the pro game, Pottstown's win did a lot for the NFL's credibility.

Nevertheless, the NFL stole the title and gave it to the Cardinals. Over the years, there have been efforts to rectify the record, but all have been blocked by the Bidwell family, which secured the Cardinals in the 1930s. Not too long ago, a group of historials proposed a compromise, in which the NFL would grant co-championships for 1925, but the Bidwells blocked that too.

So it was only sweet justice to see the Cardinals gag the 2009 Super Bowl. Until they give Pottstown their title back, no more chanmpionships for the Cardinals.

Sorry for the rant.

BD80
03-08-2009, 07:05 PM
Nevertheless, the NFL stole the title and gave it to the Cardinals. Over the years, there have been efforts to rectify the record, but all have been blocked by the Bidwell family, which secured the Cardinals in the 1930s. Not too long ago, a group of historials proposed a compromise, in which the NFL would grant co-championships for 1925, but the Bidwells blocked that too.

...

He is fighting to retain his only title (ok, the only title his family has ever been willing to pay for).

Bidwell is the Shinn of the NFL. Together they invented copper wire - fighting over a penny.