MBB: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[columbianmaffia]

and incase you dont know what it is...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-WoRcYfP1Y

[Drake Palmer]

With all this talk about league power ratings, Massey, Pool C, etc.  Where's Sum when you need him?  

I think the majority of MIACERs would say the only way we get two teams into the dance (or deserve two teams in the dance), is if someone other than UST wins the league tourney. And as much as it pains me to say this, Sensei is right.  We just don't deserve that much respect on the national scene. As Garrison Keillor once stated about us Minnesotans – "all the women are strong, the men are good-looking, and all the children are above average," but not exceptional.  

Historically, the MIAC is slightly above average on the national level, but not a powerhouse.  It would be nice to believe that our non-conference record this season was an indicator of an upward trend for the MIAC, but I don't think so.  

Plus when we pad our collective non-conference record by going "99-1" over the UMAC, we can't help but look good.    Our exceptional non-conference record this year is somewhat similar to the "once in a blue moon" year the UMAC had a few seasons ago.  Instead of the annual 99-1 MIAC beat down of the UMAC, our upstart colleagues upset a couple of MIAC teams, & the MIAC ended up going "95-5" against the UMAC.  However, the power axis has tipped back to normal; the UMAC has slipped back into "the immense design of things," & their proper place:  The cellar of the upper Midwest athletic pecking order.  
***
Regarding the Ray Brown letter:  What a crock!  And nice timing for the release of this letter.  Hamline is trying to make a playoff run & someone sends this letter?   Hopefully this all blows away, but as far as I'm concerned, that's garbage.  Helicopter parent/s are upset because their Little Johnnie & his teammates might not make the playoffs, or get a lower playoff seed because of big, bad, Ray Brown??  

Win or lose it on the court. Perhaps we should recall the old biblical verse which stated "let him who is without sin cast the first stone."   Practically every single league contender in this league has benefitted at one point or another by a high impact student-athlete transfer.  I'd just hope that Hamline, the Hamline coaching staff & Ray Brown have done their due diligence.

[sumander]

DP, Alas, I fear you are correct. KnightSlappy's calculations show the following after Sunday's games. The only way the MIAC gets two teams in is if UST doesn't get the automatic bid from the MIAC.

I would be interested to hear Pat or Sensei's take on the scenario of UST getting beat in the MIAC semi finals. Would they still be strong enough to get a Pool C bid? My guess is yes they would.

REG   #   WP      OWP     OOWP    SOS     RPI50   RPI     NAT   Pool        REG     OVR   CONF     Team

W   001   0.850   0.603   0.549   0.585   0.718   0.651   007   A   C      17-3    18-3   WIAC     UW-SP
W   002   0.889   0.528   0.545   0.534   0.711   0.622   009   A   C      16-2    19-2   MIAC     St. Thomas
W   003   0.895   0.508   0.537   0.517   0.706   0.612   010   A   C      17-2    19-2   NWC      Whitworth
W   004   0.810   0.620   0.548   0.596   0.703   0.650   011   C   003    17-4    17-4   WIAC     UWW
W   005   0.941   0.415   0.515   0.448   0.695   0.571   012   B   001    16-1    20-2   IND      Chapman
W   006   0.889   0.472   0.518   0.487   0.688   0.588   015   A   C      16-2    18-4   IIAC     Central
W   007   0.800   0.518   0.494   0.510   0.655   0.582   035   A   C      12-3    16-4   SCIAC    Claremont-Mudd-Scripps
W   008   0.700   0.545   0.529   0.540   0.620   0.580   066   C   029    14-6    14-6   MIAC     Augsburg
W   009   0.750   0.486   0.480   0.484   0.617   0.551   070   C   032     9-3    14-6   SCIAC    Occidental
W   010   0.650   0.585   0.556   0.576   0.613   0.594   072   C   034    13-7    14-8   WIAC     UW-La Crosse
W   011   0.682   0.532   0.529   0.531   0.607   0.569   077   C   039    15-7    15-7   MIAC     Hamline
W   012   0.684   0.524   0.536   0.528   0.606   0.567   079   C   040    13-6    13-8   MIAC     Gustavus Adolphus

[AO]

With all this talk about league power ratings, Massey, Pool C, etc.  Where's Sum when you need him?  

I think the majority of MIACERs would say the only way we get two teams into the dance (or deserve two teams in the dance), is if someone other than UST wins the league tourney. And as much as it pains me to say this, Sensei is right.  We just don't deserve that much respect on the national scene. As Garrison Keillor once stated about us Minnesotans – "all the women are strong, the men are good-looking, and all the children are above average," but not exceptional.  

Historically, the MIAC is slightly above average on the national level, but not a powerhouse.  It would be nice to believe that our non-conference record this season was an indicator of an upward trend for the MIAC, but I don't think so.  

Plus when we pad our collective non-conference record by going "99-1" over the UMAC, we can't help but look good.    Our exceptional non-conference record this year is somewhat similar to the "once in a blue moon" year the UMAC had a few seasons ago.  Instead of the annual 99-1 MIAC beat down of the UMAC, our upstart colleagues upset a couple of MIAC teams, & the MIAC ended up going "95-5" against the UMAC.  However, the power axis has tipped back to normal; the UMAC has slipped back into "the immense design of things," & their proper place:  The cellar of the upper Midwest athletic pecking order.  

While it is true the MIAC has been winning the UMAC v MIAC battle, this year is a definite outlier with only 1 win for the UMAC.  The final tally this year was 15-1, accounting for less than a third of all non-conference games.  The MIAC performed very well in the other non-conference games compared to previous years.   Looking at the numbers today, and still the door is open for gustavus, augsburg, hamline and st. john's to win out in the regular season, lose to the tommies in the tourney and get a pool c.    Winning all of the remaining regular season games is the real trick though, ain't it.

Regarding the Ray Brown letter:  What a crock!  And nice timing for the release of this letter.  Hamline is trying to make a playoff run & someone sends this letter?  Hopefully this all blows away, but as far as I‘m concerned, that’s garbage.  Helicopter parent/s are upset because their Little Johnnie & his teammates might not make the playoffs, or get a lower playoff seed because of big, bad, Ray Brown?? 

Win or lose it on the court. Perhaps we should recall the old biblical verse which stated “let him who is without sin cast the first stone.”   Practically every single league contender in this league has benefitted at one point or another by a high impact student-athlete transfer.  I’d just hope that Hamline, the Hamline coaching staff & Ray Brown have done their due diligence.

maybe VOJ can identify the parent next game since the offending team has now been identified....

[Gacman]

With all this talk about league power ratings, Massey, Pool C, etc.  Where’s Sum when you need him? 

I think the majority of MIACERs would say the only way we get two teams into the dance (or deserve two teams in the dance), is if someone other than UST wins the league tourney. And as much as it pains me to say this, Sensei is right.  We just don’t deserve that much respect on the national scene. As Garrison Keillor once stated about us Minnesotans – “all the women are strong, the men are good-looking, and all the children are above average,” but not exceptional. 

Historically, the MIAC is slightly above average on the national level, but not a powerhouse.  It would be nice to believe that our non-conference record this season was an indicator of an upward trend for the MIAC, but I don’t think so. 

Plus when we pad our collective non-conference record by going “99-1” over the UMAC, we can’t help but look good.    Our exceptional non-conference record this year is somewhat similar to the “once in a blue moon” year the UMAC had a few seasons ago.  Instead of the annual 99-1 MIAC beat down of the UMAC, our upstart colleagues upset a couple of MIAC teams, & the MIAC ended up going “95-5” against the UMAC.  However, the power axis has tipped back to normal; the UMAC has slipped back into “the immense design of things,” & their proper place:  The cellar of the upper Midwest athletic pecking order.   
***
Regarding the Ray Brown letter:  What a crock!  And nice timing for the release of this letter.  Hamline is trying to make a playoff run & someone sends this letter?  Hopefully this all blows away, but as far as I‘m concerned, that’s garbage.  Helicopter parent/s are upset because their Little Johnnie & his teammates might not make the playoffs, or get a lower playoff seed because of big, bad, Ray Brown?? 

Win or lose it on the court. Perhaps we should recall the old biblical verse which stated “let him who is without sin cast the first stone.”   Practically every single league contender in this league has benefitted at one point or another by a high impact student-athlete transfer.  I’d just hope that Hamline, the Hamline coaching staff & Ray Brown have done their due diligence.

I would have to agree with you on the MIAC and the Brown issue.

As for the MIAC issue, I think the miac has had a better nonconference record this year even without the UMAC. I also think this had the potential of being a two or three team bid this year until the recent struggles of GAC and Augsburg. Gac losing to Hamline which is  a good team isn't a problem but losing to BU and SMU is and those two losses took away any hope for getting a pool C bid if you are GAC. There only shot to make the national tourney like you said is to upset UST and win the conference tourney. The same goes for Aug with there loss to CON. The only way the MIAC is ever going to get more than one or even two teams  in the national tourney in the future is if there is a a top heavy year. Saying that the top three teams have four conference losses or less. Other than that scenario, it will always be two or one bid league looking ahead. Because realistically, if a MIAC team suffers more than 5 region game losses it has no shot, short of winning the conference tourney, to make it to the national one. Which is why those two losses especially for GAC stand out because with four left they would have 4 region losses instead of 6. They would be sitting pretty good as I see it.

[Willy Wonka]

I'm a little torn by the Ray Ray story. I mean...he got busted doing drugs, he's unmarried at 21ish with two kids, he dropped out of insurance classes and he's in his third basketball program. There's a definite pattern there, right? At some point he's got to become the problem rather than the victim of circumstance. As a buddy of mine said, it's a little difficult to view Ray Ray as the heroic figure Reusse seems to be trying to portray.

That said, I hope he gets another year at Hamline and ends up getting his degree out of this opportunity. He's a fun player to watch, but it'd be a shame that's all he ends up to be.

[Gregory Sager]

DP, Alas, I fear you are correct. KnightSlappy's calculations show the following after Sunday's games. The only way the MIAC gets two teams in is if UST doesn't get the automatic bid from the MIAC.

I would be interested to hear Pat or Sensei's take on the scenario of UST getting beat in the MIAC semi finals. Would they still be strong enough to get a Pool C bid? My guess is yes they would.

REG   #   WP      OWP     OOWP    SOS     RPI50   RPI     NAT   Pool        REG     OVR   CONF     Team

W   001   0.850   0.603   0.549   0.585   0.718   0.651   007   A   C      17-3    18-3   WIAC     UW-SP
W   002   0.889   0.528   0.545   0.534   0.711   0.622   009   A   C      16-2    19-2   MIAC     St. Thomas
W   003   0.895   0.508   0.537   0.517   0.706   0.612   010   A   C      17-2    19-2   NWC      Whitworth
W   004   0.810   0.620   0.548   0.596   0.703   0.650   011   C   003    17-4    17-4   WIAC     UWW
W   005   0.941   0.415   0.515   0.448   0.695   0.571   012   B   001    16-1    20-2   IND      Chapman
W   006   0.889   0.472   0.518   0.487   0.688   0.588   015   A   C      16-2    18-4   IIAC     Central
W   007   0.800   0.518   0.494   0.510   0.655   0.582   035   A   C      12-3    16-4   SCIAC    Claremont-Mudd-Scripps
W   008   0.700   0.545   0.529   0.540   0.620   0.580   066   C   029    14-6    14-6   MIAC     Augsburg
W   009   0.750   0.486   0.480   0.484   0.617   0.551   070   C   032     9-3    14-6   SCIAC    Occidental
W   010   0.650   0.585   0.556   0.576   0.613   0.594   072   C   034    13-7    14-8   WIAC     UW-La Crosse
W   011   0.682   0.532   0.529   0.531   0.607   0.569   077   C   039    15-7    15-7   MIAC     Hamline
W   012   0.684   0.524   0.536   0.528   0.606   0.567   079   C   040    13-6    13-8   MIAC     Gustavus Adolphus

Yeah, barring an end-of-season collapse prior to a semifinal bow-out, St. Thomas is pretty much a shoo-in at this point for a Pool C berth.

Of course, KnightSlappy is the first to admit that his calculations don't allow for the human element; i.e., the various regional committee chairs who will get together in the national-conference-call equivalent of the smoke-filled room on Selection Sunday have five different primary criteria with which to play, and they can put those five in any order of precedence that they feel is best. But in-region winning percentage always seems to be one of the most strongly-emphasized criteria among the five every year, and UST's is a rock-solid .888 at this point. (The typical cutoff for a Pool C bid is between .700 and .750, and that cutoff point gets slightly lower every time that an additional space is added to what is now going to be a 61-team field.)

[sumander]

I also think this had the potential of being a two or three team bid this year until the recent struggles of GAC and Augsburg.

Never say never but, it will be a long time before the MIAC becomes a 3 bid conference!

Keep in mind the last Pool C from the MIAC was the J's in 06/07. They went 1-1 in the tourney. Outside of last years near historic run through the "bracket of death" the MIAC has been less than stellar in the NCAA's. From the 04/05 season through the 07/08 season the MIAC had 2 Pool C bids. The other one beside the Johnnies was CAR in 05/06 with a 17-3 record. In the NCAA over the same time frame the MIAC was 2-5. You want to know why there isn't any respect???

I know WW Gusties made a couple of nice tournament runs in the early 2000's but every 5-6 years for a nice run doesn't make a league a Power Conference

[Drake Palmer]

Sum- Is it possible to add to what the Sensei has said?  Call me foolish but I'll try.

If the season ended today, & UST lost in the league championship final, I would say yes they would probably make it to the dance. But, they've still got 4 tough games ahead of them over the next two weeks: @ Bet, @ SJU, GAC & @ HAM.

If they go 2-2 in their last 4 regular season games & lose in the semis or finals, I think they would be a questionable selection. 3-1, lose in the semis or tourney finals, their odds are a little better, 4-0 & lose in the semis or finals, they're in. but that's just my opinion.

And before I incur the wrath & ire of VOJ & the Johnnie nation, Let me rephrase my earlier sentence:

Helicopter parent/s are upset because their Little Johnnie, Pedro, Ramon, Felix, Dexter, Brett etc. & his teammates might not make the playoffs, or get a lower playoff seed because of big, bad, Ray Brown??

Happy AO?

[VOJ]

With all this talk about league power ratings, Massey, Pool C, etc.  Where’s Sum when you need him? 

I think the majority of MIACERs would say the only way we get two teams into the dance (or deserve two teams in the dance), is if someone other than UST wins the league tourney. And as much as it pains me to say this, Sensei is right.  We just don’t deserve that much respect on the national scene. As Garrison Keillor once stated about us Minnesotans – “all the women are strong, the men are good-looking, and all the children are above average,” but not exceptional. 

Historically, the MIAC is slightly above average on the national level, but not a powerhouse.  It would be nice to believe that our non-conference record this season was an indicator of an upward trend for the MIAC, but I don’t think so. 

Plus when we pad our collective non-conference record by going “99-1” over the UMAC, we can’t help but look good.    Our exceptional non-conference record this year is somewhat similar to the “once in a blue moon” year the UMAC had a few seasons ago.  Instead of the annual 99-1 MIAC beat down of the UMAC, our upstart colleagues upset a couple of MIAC teams, & the MIAC ended up going “95-5” against the UMAC.  However, the power axis has tipped back to normal; the UMAC has slipped back into “the immense design of things,” & their proper place:  The cellar of the upper Midwest athletic pecking order.   

While it is true the MIAC has been winning the UMAC v MIAC battle, this year is a definite outlier with only 1 win for the UMAC.  The final tally this year was 15-1, accounting for less than a third of all non-conference games.  The MIAC performed very well in the other non-conference games compared to previous years.   Looking at the numbers today, and still the door is open for gustavus, augsburg, hamline and st. john's to win out in the regular season, lose to the tommies in the tourney and get a pool c.    Winning all of the remaining regular season games is the real trick though, ain't it.

Regarding the Ray Brown letter:  What a crock!  And nice timing for the release of this letter.  Hamline is trying to make a playoff run & someone sends this letter?  Hopefully this all blows away, but as far as I‘m concerned, that’s garbage.  Helicopter parent/s are upset because their Little Johnnie & his teammates might not make the playoffs, or get a lower playoff seed because of big, bad, Ray Brown?? 

Win or lose it on the court. Perhaps we should recall the old biblical verse which stated “let him who is without sin cast the first stone.”   Practically every single league contender in this league has benefitted at one point or another by a high impact student-athlete transfer.  I’d just hope that Hamline, the Hamline coaching staff & Ray Brown have done their due diligence.

maybe VOJ can identify the parent next game since the offending team has now been identified....

I am sorry AO, I missed the part in the story where it said an SJU parent, coach or administrator sent the letter in...I re-read it a few times, but I guess when Drake passes judgement that is good enough for you?  Just couldn't miss the opportunity to take the shot huh? 

I knew about the letter last week and did some checking on it with officials with the MIAC.  Truth be told its a non-story, he was cleared to play before the season and I am sure Hamline made extra sure he was eligible, why would they risk what has turned out to be an excellent season?

Drake...I realized what you meant when you wrote it...and I know its just AO being AO...

[slickyquick]

Been following Nelly's crew from afar this year. Just want to throw another interesting article that was brought to my attention about the aforementioned "Downtown" Ray Brown from Hamline's school newspaper.

http://media.www.hamlineoracle.com/media/storage/paper1367/news/2010/02/09/Sports/Mens-Baskeball.Downtown.Ray.Brown.Presses.On-3867179.shtml

[AO]

I am sorry AO, I missed the part in the story where it said an SJU parent, coach or administrator sent the letter in...I re-read it a few times, but I guess when Drake passes judgement that is good enough for you?  Just couldn't miss the opportunity to take the shot huh?  I think your moniker should be TA rather than AO, (A__ Orafice) even though everyone has one, why do we have to subjected to yours?

I knew about the letter last week and did some checking on it with officials with the MIAC.  Truth be told its a non-story, he was cleared to play before the season and I am sure Hamline made extra sure he was eligible, why would they risk what has turned out to be an excellent season.

it was a joke.  I think drake was able to pick up on it, but I'll be sure to add more smiley faces in the future.   It's clearly a non-story, but Reusse included it and it certainly is disappointing that there are people out there looking for ways to bring downtown brown down.

[Gregory Sager]

Looking at the numbers today, and still the door is open for gustavus, augsburg, hamline and st. john's to win out in the regular season, lose to the tommies in the tourney and get a pool c.    Winning all of the remaining regular season games is the real trick though, ain't it.

Augsburg is the only non-Tommies MIAC team that appears to have any kind of a decent shot at a Pool C bid. If the Auggies win out in the regular season, win a MIAC tourney semifinal game, and then lose in the MIAC finals, they'd end up with a 20-7 in-region record, good for a .741 in-region winning percentage. Anything less than a stretch run that good, and they draw closer and closer to bubble territory; that seven in-region losses figure seems to be the big mathematical tipping point.

If Gustavus Adolphus were to have a similar run to an eventual MIAC tourney finals loss, the Gusties would have a much iffier .720 in-region winning percentage (18-7 in-region record). That's already a bubble number.

Hamline (15-7 in-region) and St. John's (12-7) are already at the seven-loss threshold. A winning streak starting now and ending with a MIAC finals loss would give Hamline a 19-8 record and a .703 in-region winning percentage, which probably ain't gonna cut it unless every conference champ out there wins its' league tourney and there are thus no Pool C surprises -- and even then there's no guarantees. St. John's can't do any better than a 17-8 in-region record and a .680 in-region winning percentage, so the Johnnies wouldn't even "get to the table," to use the Selection Sunday discussion parlance.

The best way to get a read on all of this, besides KnightSlappy's number-crunching, is to track the West Region's published rankings. This was last week's:

1. UW-Whitewater 16-3 16-3
2. UW-Stevens Point 17-2 18-2
3. St. Thomas 14-2 17-2
4. Whitworth 15-2 17-2
5. UW-La Crosse 13-5 14-6
6. Gustavus Adolphus 12-4 12-6
7. Chapman 15-1 18-2
8. Central 14-2 16-4
9. Augsburg 12-5 13-5

Since then, GAC has gone 1-2 and Augsburg has gone 2-1, with the Auggies claiming a win over the Gusties, so the Auggies now have higher stock than the Gusties -- but I doubt that either will be ranked this week by the West Region committee. The two WIAC powers are stumbling at the moment, but not enough to dive below any MIAC teams besides St. Thomas. Chapman and Central keep winning, so they're going to move ahead of GAC and stay ahead of Augsburg or any other MIAC team that might ascend to the bottom of the nine-team West Region ranking this week. Whitworth and St. Thomas will stay ahead of any MIAC also-rans, of course, and I would look for CMS and Oxy to move ahead of any of them as well.

In short, the door is not open for St. John's, it's open so slightly for Hamline and GAC that you can't even see any light coming through, and it's barely open a crack for Augsburg.

The only way the MIAC is ever going to get more than one or even two teams  in the national tourney in the future is if there is a a top heavy year. Saying that the top three teams have four conference losses or less. Other than that scenario, it will always be two or one bid league looking ahead. Because realistically, if a MIAC team suffers more than 5 region game losses it has no shot, short of winning the conference tourney, to make it to the national one. Which is why those two losses especially for GAC stand out because with four left they would have 4 region losses instead of 6. They would be sitting pretty good as I see it.

You make it sound as though there's some sort of congenital bias against the MIAC, some sort of defect that will keep the selection committee from ever taking it seriously for Pool C berths. And that's just not the case. The committee is mandated to hew closely to the five primary criteria, which are objective and do not allow for either pro- or anti-league perceptions.

As I said, seven in-region losses (which, of course, include any losses incurred in a postseason conference tournament) seems to be the tipping point, as it's what pushes most in-region winning percentages into the low .700s (or even lower if you're a team that filled some dates with non-regional competition).

Again, the in-region winning percentage criterion is only one of five primary criteria that the committee will use. But it's a pretty reliable starting point when you want to talk about who will get to the table in Selection Sunday's Pool C apportionment process and who won't.

[Drake Palmer]

Slick - thanks for posting the article. It doesn't let Brown off the hook, but it does let people get a little better background on what he's had to overcome.  He may have been a victim of his circumstances, but he's got the tools & knows the right way & wrong way to proceed with his life. Good luck to him.  

The sad thing is, there are countless more stories like Brown's out in the AAU circuit. He just happened to be one of the more talented players. Others never got this type of news coverage.  
***
VOJ- easy big fella, easy.  There you go. "And how in the world was I passing judgment?? Helicopter parents yes, specifically Johnnies  - no.  GAWD!!    

[Gacman]

The only way the MIAC is ever going to get more than one or even two teams  in the national tourney in the future is if there is a a top heavy year. Saying that the top three teams have four conference losses or less. Other than that scenario, it will always be two or one bid league looking ahead. Because realistically, if a MIAC team suffers more than 5 region game losses it has no shot, short of winning the conference tourney, to make it to the national one. Which is why those two losses especially for GAC stand out because with four left they would have 4 region losses instead of 6. They would be sitting pretty good as I see it.

You make it sound as though there's some sort of congenital bias against the MIAC, some sort of defect that will keep the selection committee from ever taking it seriously for Pool C berths. And that's just not the case. The committee is mandated to hew closely to the five primary criteria, which are objective and do not allow for either pro- or anti-league perceptions.

As I said, seven in-region losses (which, of course, include any losses incurred in a postseason conference tournament) seems to be the tipping point, as it's what pushes most in-region winning percentages into the low .700s (or even lower if you're a team that filled some dates with non-regional competition).

Again, the in-region winning percentage criterion is only one of five primary criteria that the committee will use. But it's a pretty reliable starting point when you want to talk about who will get to the table in Selection Sunday's Pool C apportionment process and who won't.

Not at all, I'm just making the same point as you. If you take Augsburg and GAC out of the latest region rankings, almost all of the teams have 4 or less losses. I'm just pointing out that if you can have 5 or less region losses you have a very good chance of getting that pool C bid. A lot of those gustie teams in the earlier part of this decade that got pool C bid's had 5 losses. I didn't say because people are against the MIAC that with 6 losses they don't have a chance but when you get to that many region losses especially in a tough region, you start having to count on the fewest amount of upsets happening in conference tourney's to improve your chances. If you can end the season with 5 or less I would feel fairly confident where I stand regardless of upsets.

I also said that we were on track for three teams with UST, GAC, and AUG being the candidates before the recent struggles of the latter two teams. If I'm entertaining the possibility of it being a three team bid even this year precludes me from assuming there is a bias against the MIAC. Now I know that Buena Vista isn't from the MIAC but they have been a very good program in the 2000's and they lost in their conference tourney last year giving them a 23-3 record, and even they didn't make it as a pool C bid. So to say 5 losses is a noteworthy plateau or goal isn't too off and doesn't imply a bias in any way shape or form. I would say that for anyteam from any conference in the West Region. That 5 loss plateau would give teams over a .750 winning percentage which would be very favorable for a pool C bid.

You even pointed out that if GAC or AUG were to run the table and lose somewhere in the conference tourney, they still would be long shots and that's with 6 region losses one short of the 5 I said. Are you sure you aren't saying there is "some sort of congenital against the miac" yourself?