I hope we get to go to the NIT so we can beat the tar babies.

Stupid analogy Appfan. Saying the CBI is somehow similar to the Music City Bowl, the Gator Bowl, etc. is just simply inaccurate.
If the FCS is so great, then why are no teams moving back to FCS from FBS? Because the FCS gets no respect and no one really cares about the FCS, just like the NIT and the CBI.

FBS=NIT and CBI=Divison II playoffs. Great, we’ll be playing in the DII playoffs. I’m excited, are you?

Beating the Tarholes would rock!

Hows this for logic?

Both Duke and Wake Forest lost to N.C. State.>>> N.C. State lost (both times) to Carolina.>>> Carolina (North) lost to College of Charleston.>>> College of Charleston lost to Appalachian.

Obviously, Appalachian is the best school in North Carolina!

Take that UNC School System!

FBS – FCS issues aside, I’m certainly not excited. Wouldn’t be even if we were going to the NIT, which presumably takes the third third of the best 100 D1 basketball teams. Oh, I forgot–one of those other tournaments could get numbers 97 – 100.

UNC nor App will make the NIT…..sorry everyone

No, nor should either make it.

Only 2 postseason tournaments are worth it. NCAA and the NIT. The only reason I think the NIT is worth it is because of the opportunity to host a big name school at your place, but if your a low seed that opportunity is pretty low.

Griz are playing for Big Sky championship tonight on ESPN2 at 7:05 MST. Go Griz!!!

Maybe we can hope for grizzlies to eat terriers in the NCAAs. Very long shot, but it makes for a nice mental picture.

FCS=NIT. One of these days, we will move out of mom and dad’s basement. The vision still needs a little more work, but we are still on track to become that “shining city on the hill.”

The vision is like the force. May it always be with you.

Comment by appfanmidwest 03.08.10 @ 11:37 pm

One day you say FCS=NIT, another day you say FBS=NIT…..make up your mind, midwest. And I believe it’s the pot calling the kettle black for you to be slamming somebody for making a “stupid analogy”.

Were all kettles and pots once black? Never understood the literal reading of that saying.

Why poo-poo the opportunity to play more basketball? Whichever tournament invites us (if any of them do), I’ll be excited to see ASU play at least one more time.

I don’t think UNC will make the NIT because what I have heard is that a team must be at least .500 overall and at least .400 in their conference. I could be wrong though.

I’ve always interpreted the “pot calling the kettle black” phrase as – we shouldn’t accuse someone of something we are ourselves. But if that’s not good enough for you, DRM, how about “one shouldn’t throw stones in glass houses”?

83 – i think the expression you’re looking for is ‘those who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones’. This is a little clearer than your version, becuase what if someone is trapped in a glass house? Then throwing stones is appropriate.

swim&cycle – even if those numbers are correct, which I have never heard the .400 in conference part before, UNC would meet both of those criteria.

Dan, you might want to check your math.

5 wins out of 16 is not over .400

Yeah, you’re right, my bad Sean. Still, I haven’t heard the bit about .400 in the conference before.

Easy, 83–all I’m saying is not all my mom’s pots and kettles were black. Whatever saying you want to use (for whatever purpose and however you want to express it) is fine with me.

I’m not sure what Midwest meant in either case, but here are football analogies that make sense to me:

BCS = NCAA
FBS, excluding BCS = NIT
FCS = whichever of the junior to the junior tourney (i. e., NIT) outranks the other, if either does
DII = whichever tournament is left

The one problem with that is that DII has its own national championship tourney, as does DIII. So maybe the fourth tournament is really equivalent to FCS schools not included in the FCS playoffs.

The analogy is broken anyway as the BCS does not determine a National Champion and does not involve a playoff format.

The reason you play in these tournaments is so your team can get extra practice. Remember that practice time is limited so an extra week to month of practice can be very beneficial.

So, they’re exactly like bowls.

Oh, but in the minds of most BCS does indeed determine a champion, Dan. Those of us in FCS (and lower divisions) know different, of course.

Based on the Wofford game, our team needs lots of extra practice. But practice as it relates to Brand or any other senior does nothing for the future. Re: basketball, I’m more of the mindset Midwest has re: football–if we’re not in the NCAAs, no one cares. Don’t misunderstand–if App is playing I want them to win, no matter who the opponent, where the game, in what event or what sport. But the NIT interests me little, those other tourneys even less. Since we’re not in the NCAAs (and since I don’t have UNC to root against this time), my main interest in that tournament is in how badly Wofford loses their one and only game.

Another thing to look at — while to us, these tournaments may not mean much at all. But to the people who run the preseason tournaments, they mean a lot. Remember when there was all the hype around the mens bball team because they won the San Juan Shootout? Who out there had heard of that tournament before that season? Not many people.. But because of that win (and a few other key victories) we were still a bubble team going into selection sunday.

So, they may not mean much to the average fan, but they mean a lot in getting invites to preseason tournaments.

Sorry, yes UNC will somehow make the NIT. Do not ask me how, they just will.

Good points, Joe. That was the year we later beat VCU, wasn’t it? Or were they part of the Puerto Rico event? Vandy was, weren’t they?

Joe, I don’t think it was the tournament, it was the teams we beat in the tournament. Getting invited to post season play has only happened once in our school history. We have won the conference tournament and went to the NCAA’s twice. Our program needs to be in a place where it is in the conversations for tournament consideration each season. These players delivered and deserve a chance to play again.

DRM – The BCS does indded determine the BCS Champion. Most people should recognize the difference between that and a National Champ, but then, most people should also know that the millenium didn’t change on January 1, 2000 either.

Actually, in my opinion, the polls determine the BCS champion. I guess the accurate thing to say is that the polls eliminate all but two teams from consideration. Whatever, it’s all bogus.

Not being able to determine a champion on the field is the principal reason I will likely never move to the “go FBS” camp.

That’s when my computer stopped working.

Did not. Your computer is going to stop working on December 21, 2012 (unless you’re using a Mac–supposedly, they never stop).

But you’re down to 94 days now, so you won’t care one way or the other.

again, everyone. app and unc will not be in the NIT. if anything we’ll play them in the cbi.

lot – you’re looking at the wrong things when saying that UNC won’t make the NIT. The revenue that having UNC would generate would almost certainly guarantee their appearance, deserved or not.

DRM, yes that was the year we beat VCU and Vandy. Vandy was in the shootout, but VCU was a regular season game.

Ballfan, yes, it was the teams we beat in the tournament. But, more likely than not, we will be facing tougher competition in post season tournaments. And believe it or not, those preseason tournaments invites are based on the previous season, returning players, and previous season tournament reputation. Even if it is the collegeinsider.com or the CBI tournament, it still brings in more recognition to the team because there are only 4 pre season tournaments; unlike the bowl system, not everyone gets invites to the bball tournaments

I’d say the college insider tourney would be tantamount to the New Orleans Bowl. Only because there’s no longer a Poulan-Weedeater Bowl.

Joe, we beat Virginia and Vandy in San Juan, both went to the ncaa. We beat something like 8 tournament teams that season I think. Dan, I think you are dead on with revenue, that’s why we played away in the NIT, home fan base. This year may be different, depends on how this week’s games play out. Would love to see us get a home game. Home game sell out would go a long way in future considering and promoting the program.

Dog the .com tournament all you want but it does provide some teams some extra games to play during the year against similar or better competition (better than Furman/Samford/UNCG or any other dog in the SoCon at least). And look what it did for Old Dominion. They won the tournament this year, maybe perhaps with a little added boost from playing those .com tournament games this year, it surely can’t hurt Butts, Sims and some of other guys that will be back to get some good quality competition before the season’s over with.

SEems to me that any extra games under any situation would be a step up for us since we really don’t have any basketball tradition.

Montana down 32 to 13 late in the first half… and i though i felt bad.

Ok comment retracted… Good for you montana

Do any of you know if the deal struck by The Apps. and Montana includes B-ball ?

That Montana kid was even more unconscious than Brand against CofC.

I doubt Montana’s win has any effect on at- large selections (not that we care about or are directly affected by those). I’m assuming Big Sky is like SoCon (one bid and one bid only)–Woofie wouldn’t be going to the NCAAs if we’d won the SoCon championship. Does anyone know if that is indeed the case with Big Sky?

There is nothing wrong or shameful with playing in the NIT, CBI, or the Insider.com tournaments. All four events combined only take the top third of DI teams; that’s fewer than make football’s post-season.

Unless Buzz and Cobb can politic into a game at UNC in the CBI (because neither team will be invited to the NIT), I predict we will be invited to play at VCU in the Insider.com tournament – in a rematch of one of the most fun basketball games I’ve ever watch.

First, I’d take issue with the statement that ASU has no basketball tradition, but that’s another post.

Whatever happens this year, the future strategy should be that adopted by Davidson. Schedule as many tough teams as possible ON THE ROAD. The only way we ever make the NCAAs is to 1) win the tourney or 2) Have an RPI high enough that some wins over top teams would get us an at-large bid. At any rate, playing top teams on the road would toughen us for the postseason and make us better. If we lose to them, so what? We win the tourney, we’re in.

Relative to football (and I’m not just referring to the post-clayton era), we actually do have little basketball tradition. “No tradition” isn’t correct, but there isn’t a lot. Even Montana has earned eight trips to the NCAAs, if those guys announcing their game last night are to be believed (whomever plus Bob Valvano were not fantastic, but were much better than the team assigned to App – Woofie or W&M – ODU, by the way).

Realistically, the only way we ever get to the NCAAs is to win the conference tournament. I’m not opposed to a tougher schedule, but more likely than not those contests turn into blowouts; in the long run, big losses to high RPI teams get us no farther than wins over low RPI squads. Tougher OOC opponents could better prepare us to win the SoCon, however–that would be the major advantage to playing a tougher non-conference schedule.

Tradition? Maybe not as much as football, but ASU can lay claim to one of our own changing the face of basketball forever.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belus_Smawley

That’s reaching a LONG way back–which is part of the definition of tradition, I suppose.

I find it very ironic that you anti-FBS people also wish and hope for the opportunity to make the big dance.

Why? Because you KNOW it would be great to play a Duke, Kentucky, UNC, etc. There is a always a glimmer of hope that we could win, because that’s why they play the game, baby.

It is impossible for you to believe in the Big Dance and not want to play football at the highest level.

And the issues get blurred….

It’s a foggy day in Boone, speaking of blurred vision(s) . . .

I once did a paper on irony at App (did the paper as a student there, I mean–not that App as an institution was ironic or had irony, ya know?). Got an A+, as I recall.