Winning is Losing...but Losing is ALSO Losing...

The following is a post about the Drake University men's basketball team and their upcoming slate against Bradley (Saturday) and the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament (March 6-9). This is a Drake student writing about Drake and all things Drake on this occasion. As both a student, fan and broadcaster, I don't want Drake to play Wichita State. The average point loss when the Bulldogs played Wichita State was 23 points. When Drake played Indiana State, who has clinched the #2 seed? Four points. So there's clearly at least a little bit of an advantage to playing the Sycamores instead of the Shockers Two things to be established: 

1) Wichita State has the #1 seed clinched
2) For the teams near the bottom that will be discussed (Drake, Evansville, Loyola), the #7 seed is unattainable. Bradley, at 7-10 in the conference, is two games ahead of both Drake and Evansville, so the three teams to be examined (again, Drake/Evansville/Loyola) are fighting for seeds #8-10. 

Nobody wants to play Wichita State. The following is a HYPOTHETICAL as to what could happen and who would end up having to play the Shockers first.

Bracket (Generic)

If you want to see the detailed MVC bracket, go here.. http://cdn.streamlinetechnologies.com/mvc/081CA563-F63D-444B-9EF7-D3C3B4958BB7/2014ArchMadnessBracket_v1.pdf


Current MVC Standings
Team (MVC Record, Overall Record)

8. Drake (5-12, 14-15)
9. Evansville (5-12, 12-18)
10. Loyola (IL) (4-13, 9-20)


Super Happy Fun Time
Saturday: Drake hosts Bradley, Evansville visits Loyola.
Obviously if you're a Drake fan (like me), you DON'T want to be the 8 or 9 seed, because then if you win you get Wichita State (there's a "shocker", rim shot). If you're an Evansville or Loyola fan, a) THANK YOU FOR READING! and b) HOW DID YOU FIND THIS BLOG? But seriously, thank you for reading.

Anyway, what to make of this final weekend of games?

You want a higher seed in the tourney, but you DON'T want to have to cross paths with Wichita State (at least, not until the MVC Championship Game).

To Drake NOT to play Wichita State in the conference quarterfinals, they need the 10 seed (because the 7 seed, mentioned previously, is out of reach). So let's say Drake loses to Bradley and Loyola beats Evansville. Ok, now all teams are 5-13 in the conference. What now?

MVC Tiebreaker Rules (Super Happy Fun Time PART TWO!)

So the above (hypothetically) happens, Drake/Loyola/Evansville all stand at 5-13 in the conference. TO THE TIEBREAKERS!

"Multiple Ties
 1. If three or more teams are tied, regular-season competition among the tied schools shall be pooled into a “mini round-robin.”  Teams shall be ranked according to their position in such a round- robin.

[Looks at schedules of teams in play, head to head schedule, slams head against desk]

If Loyola beats Evansville on Saturday, ALL THREE TEAMS (Drake, Evansville, Loyola WOULD BE 1-1 AGAINST EACH OTHER. Or in simpler terms, onto another tiebreaker scenario!



 2. If head-to-head competition does not break the tie, the deadlock will be broken by non-conference schedule strength as calculated by The RPI Report on the day before the final day of conference games.  The teams will be seeded in order of their non-conference schedule strength." (via mvc-sports.com)


[Depression hits.]


Following non-conference RPIs courtesy of cbssports.com:

Drake: 84 (for some reason it only has an 8-3 record recorded for non-conference, so maybe the Iowa Weslyan game doesn't count towards RPI since they're not Division 1?)
Evansville: 225
Loyola: 326

So for those keeping track at home, Drake, by virtue of their non-conference RPI (which isn't all that bad), is "awarded" the eighth seed at the MVC tourney. Evansville would get the #9 seed, and Loyola the #10 seed. This all happening, again, if the hypothetical Drake lose/Loyola win happens on Saturday. If Drake wins then we don't have to go through this again. And it means I did all this research for nothing. Dang.


Let me finish this post by saying that I hope the Bulldogs win Saturday for the seniors and get some traction heading to St. Louis. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't worried about Saturday's game, because Drake's body of work doesn't warrant confidence going into ANY Missouri Valley tilt. I prefer to see the glass half full though. Go Bulldogs.

Happy Spring: Olympics, College Hoops and the NFL Combine

Ah yes, the week (and part of the weekend) that was. Let's get to it.

Winter Olympics
These Winter Olympics have been interesting to say the least (oh wait, that's a general word to describe basically any event ever). THESE OLYMPICS HAVE BEEN ODD. I can't try and sympathize with journalists who haven't had great accommodations, clean drinking water, etc. I'd gladly cover the Sochi Winter Games if all the columns I read are going to be about how poor Russia's planning for the Olympics were.

The biggest thing I struggle with this year is the fact that I not a fan of the tape delayed broadcasts when I get the notifications earlier in the day of who won. There's no real solution, Russia is hours ahead of us (nine to be exact, at least I think). It just makes it hard to watch for me. Plus, I'm a morning person, so I'd rather drink black coffee and watch live events at 6 a.m. then watch prime time performances that have already happened. Which leads me to...

I'M SORRY FOR CURSING THE UNITED STATES! I LOVE THIS COUNTRY AND WILL EAT COPIOUS AMOUNTS OF SUGARY AND FATTY CALORIES TO PROVE MY ADORATION!

The U.S. men's and women's hockey teams were rolling going into this weekend.

The women played Canada in the gold medal final. It's Canada. CANADA! Such a rivalry deserved my viewing. The Americans had gold all locked up. I had never been happier to be watching hockey. Then the final 3:26 happened, Canada scored two goals and went on to win in overtime. Heartbreak. Silver medal is nothing to shake a stick at though. Next!

The men scored 15 goals in group play, dropped in five more against the Czech Republic in the quarterfinals. And then...Canada. The semifinal was dominated by Canada as the U.S. couldn't get anything going. Canada scores a second period goal courtesy of Jamie Benn and that's that. But a medal is still in play...right?

Wrong. I decided to watch the U.S. go for the bronze against Finland this morning.
It didn't go well: Finland 5, U.S.A. 0.

I'm sorry America, it's all my fault. Any hate directed towards me is justified. I will gladly NOT watch hockey in the Olympics next time if it makes you happy.

What I DID enjoy about watching hockey these Olympics: Doc Emrick http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AXen0WzwADQ (I hope someone puts up an Olympic highlight reel of Emrick soon, he was fantastic)

Emrick has quickly moved up my Commentator Power Rankings (totally fictional at this point but an interesting idea for a blog post) to somewhere in the top five. I somewhat enjoy hockey. I THOROUGHLY enjoy hockey when Emrick is doing play-by-play.

College Hoops
Iowa State: Watched the first half of the TCU game today and...almost fell asleep. What I DON'T like about this team is that they can become to self-centered at times. I don't think Iowa State will ever get to where they want to be (presumably a Final Four) with a big man in the post that can assert his will. DeAndre Kane can (and WILL) force the issue and, like we saw today, get himself in trouble with fatigue and minor injuries. He reminds me of another point guard that plays for an in-state school...

Drake: ...RICHARD CARTER! Only people that watch both teams as much as I do will understand the comparison, but I think it's fairly accurate. If Drake is going to beat Wichita State (lone undefeated team left in the country, playing at home), Carter will have to play composed. Composed = not driving into the lane with three defenders waiting for him. Carter will have to be the senior floor general that sparks the offense only when he has to. Chris Caird and Aaron Hawley have to shoot like they've never shot before. Jordan Daniels has to be the Energizer Bunny off the bench. Seth VanDeest and Jacob Enevold Jensen need to be dominate in the paint. They'll have an advantage when it comes to height, so get the big guys the ball, pray that they can hit some shots and draw double teams. Kick it out to the guards and hit some threes. That game, as I post this, will have probably already be in progress. Let's go Bulldogs!

Iowa: Watched the entire game against Wisconsin, as I did last time when they played at Wisconsin's place.

Pros: Roy Devyn Marble. Josh Oglesby(!!!). Adam Woodbury.
Cons: Everyone hating on Zach McCabe (http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20140221/SPORTS020504/302210137/Iowa-s-McCaffery-criticizes-fan-defense-Zach-McCabe), Zach McCabe's final shot (AIRBALL!) and Aaron White running the point after grabbing a defensive board.


Right now (right now, right now, RIGHT NOW) I don't buy into Iowa OR Iowa State making deep runs into the NCAA tournament until A) Iowa State finds THAT GUY down the stretch. It's not McCabe. It's not White. IT'S MARBLE! Fran needs to start running plays for him to win games. Does you know good to have him get you to the end and ignore him on the final possession. He's not a point guard. Mike Gesell is, and B) Iowa State decides to show up for 40 minutes of a game. First twenty against TCU: awkward. Second twenty against Texas Tech a week ago: Regressive.


UNI: Now 13-14 on the year, the Panthers will be hoping to improve their Arch Madness seeding the rest of the way. Currently fifth in the conference, Ben Jacobson's squad could make some noise if they're able to move into the top four in the conference. I haven't been able to watch this team a whole lot this year, but they have good enough shooting and a decent inside presence to get something going.

NFL Combine
There are certain things I don't think I'll ever understand: Politics. Mandarin Chinese. People who spend hundreds of dollars on sunglasses.

Add the NFL Combine to the list.


The NFL Combine. Where scouts, front office personnel and seemingly every cable sports station shows up to analyze practice drills that guys fresh out of college (or not yet out of college) do inside a domed stadium in shorts and a a t-shirt. Oh and there's no defense, there's no play clock or roaring crowd. No 12th man, not even a Bruno Mars halftime show to look forward to.

I find it pretty absurd that, from what I can tell, we weight the Combine more heavily than collegiate games played in front of hundreds of thousands of fans WHILE BEING STUDENTS. If Khalil Mack was a beast of a linebacker at Buffalo while studying and balancing college, draft him! He probably would much rather spend his days fine tuning his game and working to be the best player he can be. What does his 40 yard dash time have to do with it? Teddy Bridgewater or Blake Bortles? How about watching how they did in college under pressure and not whether or not they can jump really high. I understand that the recordings could be helpful when comparing multiple players, or for general info. I mean if it comes down to a couple of prospects, it might be nice to see who's physically strong or taller or whatever. But the NFL Combine just seems overblown in so many different ways.

But then again, this is just another cog in the machine that results in a very popular product that pays off...especially for its commissioner.. http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nfl-shutdown-corner/roger-goodell-made-more-44-million-last-wait-211537621--nfl.html


That's all for now, thanks for reading and feel free to contact me with any questions or ideas for my next blog post!


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