ISUCubsFan

The promised huge post going over teams I think have a chance at an at large. ACC North Carolina: Moved up back on the 1 line because their winning and no one else is. They'll be a 1 or 2 depending on how they handle Duke. Duke: Comeback vs NC State keeps them in striking distance of a 1 seed. They likely need to get past UNC again to get there. Clemson: In barring a collapse. Could be seeded anywhere depending on how they handle their remaining games. Miami: In as of now due to a win over Duke and good computer numbers. Easy part of their schedule coming up, so they should be able to hold on. Virginia Tech: Need to keep winning because they're right on the edge now. Beating both WF and Clemson would be huge. Maryland: Slightly better shape than VT, probably can get in with two more wins. The Clemson game would've been nice though. Big 10 Wisconsin: Quietly building a good profile. Will probably finish 16-2, and only losses are Purdue(X2), Duke, and Marquette. Probably a 3/4 seed. Indiana: Loss to Michigan State puts them second in the conference pecking order. Probably a 4/5 now with time to make a move up or down. Purdue: Unlike the previous two teams they have some bad early season losses, so they probably end up with a 5/6 seed. Michigan State: Win over Indiana keeps their seeding high. Probably around a 5/6 seed depending on how they finish off the season. Ohio State: Out for now because they haven't beaten a tournament caliber team, and they're slumping at the wrong time. Big 12 Texas: Loss to Tech hurts their chances of a 1 seed. Still could get there though, since they have better quality wins than almost everyone. Kansas: Win over K-State gives them a chance at a #1, but they need a strong run in the tournament and possibly some help to avoid a 2 seed. Kansas St: 4 losses in a row brings them back towards the bubble, but wins over Colorado and ISU should be enough this year. Texas A&M: Ugly loss to Oklahoma puts them back on the bubble. Needs to beat either Baylor or Kansas to give themselves breathing room. Baylor: Comeback over Missouri keeps them out of trouble for now. Beating Tech or A&M is a good idea though. Oklahoma: Win over A&M puts them in decent shape. Easier schedule to close out the season could lead to an 8/9 seed. Texas Tech: Big win over Texas keeps them alive for now. Need to win @ Kansas though, which doesn't happen much. Oklahoma State: RPI is probably too low to bring them into the discussion. Need to beat OU and Texas and a deep tourney run for a real chance. Big East Georgetown: They've been really lucky at the end of games this year, but several good wins probably gives them a 3 seed. Louisville: More people should be talking about them, they can win the conference with a W vs Georgetown. 3/4 seed depending mostly on that game. Connecticut: Another solid Big East team. Easy closing schedule could give them a 3/4 seed. Notre Dame: Also a good profile. Road record isn't great, but they're solid 4 seed as of now. Marquette: Can't seem to beat the top teams in the conference. They beat most of the other teams though, and probably end up as a 5 or 6 seed. Pittsburgh: Win over Cuse should all but lock them into the field. Losing to WVU and DePaul might put them back on the bubble though. West Virginia: They've had the opposite luck of Georgetown, and probably need 2 more W's to stay in. Beating Pitt would be huge. Syracuse: Massive collapse against Pitt puts them clearly out right now. @ Seton Hall and vs Marquette isn't easy, and they might need both. Villanova: They can get back in it w/ a W over Louisville, and the rest of their schedule is easy. Still a lot of work to do though. Pac 10 UCLA: Texas losing opens the door for a 1 seed, especially since UNC and Duke play each other at least once. Pac 10 tourney will be tough though. Stanford: Could get serious consideration for a 2 if they can beat UCLA Thursday. Sitting on a 3 seed right now. Washington State: Being swept by UCLA, Stanford, and Arizona doesn't look good after a 14-0 start. Backing into a 5/6/7 at this rate. USC: Also unimpressive in conference play. They need to grab a few wins to avoid the 8/9 game, but I can't see them missing the field entirely. Arizona: Good SOS and RPI, bad record, and the last 10 (or 12) looks ugly. Might need to win vs Oregon schools to feel comfortable. Arizona State: Win over USC keeps them alive. They play a near-elimination game vs Oregon and then @OSU. Wins in the tourney might be needed too. Oregon: Winning out to get to 9-9 is a must. Might need multiple tourney wins as well. They have no good wins since early January. SEC Tennessee: Still looks good for a 1 seed, mostly a matter of where unless they get a bad loss. #1 RPI and #2 SOS help with the committee. Mississippi State: Unimpressive start to the season, but they've been great in the SEC. Win @ Vandy could push them as high as a 6 seed. Vanderbilt: Rebounded strong from a 2-4 conference start, and the win over Tenn helped their seeding a bunch. 4/5 as of now. Arkansas: Win over Vandy puts them in for now. Following it up with W's over Mississippi and Auburn would likely lock them in. Mississippi: 5-9 in the SEC isn't going to get it done. Need to win out and make a deep run for an at large at this point. Florida: Probably need at least 2 more wins, maybe 3. Home wins over UK and Vandy are the only quality wins on their resume. Kentucky: Injuries and a terrible start are going to kill them. Need to win out and make a deep run for an at large. Atlantic 14 Xavier: Can maybe get the last 2 if they win out, but a 3 is more likely. Falling conference perception doesn't help their case. Massachusetts: Good computer profile keeps them close, but they lack quality wins. Winning out and 1 more the tourney should lock them in. Saint Joseph's: Losing to Temple kills them. Probably need to beat Xavier and/or make the title game to get in. Rhode Island: 5 game losing streaks in February are very bad. Need to get to the semis or finals to have an at large shot. Dayton: In consideration because of their RPI, not anything they've done in 2008. Another team that needs to go deep in their tourney. Missouri Valley Drake: Recent slide hurts their seeding, but the W @ Butler keeps them high. Tournament will decide if they're a 4, 5, or 6. Illinois State: Won what might be an elimination game @ Southern Illinois. They lack big wins though, and might still need to make the finals. Southern Illinois: Almost have to win the tourney now. Bad road record and 13 losses already really kill their at large chances. CUSA Memphis: Almost a lock for a 1 seed. Could be #1 overall if they win their tournament, which is likely. UAB: A run to the finals could do it if they can't beat Memphis, but a win over them would put them on the good side of the bubble. Mountain West BYU: Win over Louisville looks good now. Can go as high as a 6, but a 7/8 is likely if they slip up in their tournament. UNLV: Lack a high quality win, but they do have a lot of W's. Getting one of New Mexico and Utah might be enough. A 8/9 seed at the moment. New Mexico: Have to beat UNLV, Colorado State, and make a run in the tourney. Another team in search of quality wins. WCC Gonzaga: Win over St. Mary's gives them the conference title and a boost in seeding. They'll end up in the 5/6/7 range. St. Mary's: The Zags have a slight edge on them, but they're in the dance, no problem. In the 6/7/8 range. Sun Belt South Alabama: Probably in even with an early exit in the tourney, which means bubble teams everywhere should be rooting for them. 8/9 seed likely. Western Kentucky: Could get an at large with a run to the finals, but no quality wins means they probably have to get the auto bid to make it. Other At Large Teams Butler: Probably sitting at a 5 or 6 seed now. Didn't lose many, but they didn't play many top teams either. Kent State: Followed up a big W @ St. Mary's with an L to Bowling Green. Still in with this year's bubble, but another bad loss could change that. VCU: Winning a lot, but not against great teams. Probably need to make the championship and lose to George Mason to have a chance. Davidson: Needed a big win to have a realistic chance. Losses to Western Michigan and Charlotte also hurt. Win the tourney to be safe. That's 63 teams if I counted right and didn't forget anyone. If no one from off the list gets an auto bid there's 50 spots available.

In representing Iowa State. I'll make a huge post tomorrow on teams that deserve a look for an at large bid.

Conference tournaments don't start until Tuesday, but Cornell locked up the Ivy today. First time since 1988 Penn or Princeton didn't win it. 19-5 (12-0) probably puts them at a 14 seed right now.

Only caught the last few innings, but thanks for the updates everyone.

Not sure what Boeheim though he would accomplish by wondering 10 feet onto the court at the end there. Cost his team any chance they had at winning and didn't even argue with the ref that much. Their bubble is on life support now.

Count me in. I have a midterm that Friday, but other than that I'll be free the entire weekend.

I don't think being late to a game or two hurt his stock as much as moving from 2B to OF did. I'd be surprised if his bat improves enough to make him valuable at a corner outfield position, not to mention he's behind a lot of players on the Cubs in terms of playing time right now.

I'm a little late with this, but ISU blew a 13 point lead in the 2nd half and lost to Texas in OT 71-65. AJ Abrams had 25 and hit some big 3's down the stretch to get the Longhorns back in the game. ISU had their chances down the stretch, but once Texas focused on Hubalek (24 points, 9 boards) late in the 2nd half ISU started relying on the three, which is bad for a team who went 6-27 today and shoots 30.7% on the season. It almost felt like a replay of the Kansas game in Ames last year, though today was much better than the effort against Texas A&M and in the 2nd half of the Nebraska game.

Is there a copy of it online somewhere? http://www.rogerclemensreport.com/reports/ClemensReport.pdf

I just skimmed the report, but the last page is so confusing. I'm not sure what's worse, Clemens' agent including an exhibit stating that he would have gone 24-3 in 2005 in a report trying to prove he was similar to other pitchers at late ages, or the Rangers assuming he would give up the same number of runs in the AL West as he did in the NL Central. As for the report on the whole, it tries to arrange the evidence in Clemens' favor, but all the cherry picking the world can't hide the numbers he put up in Houston in his 40's. I not sure Clemens is guilty, but his later years don't follow a classic pattern of great pitchers who aged well.

Kansas beats ISU by 24. Iowa State couldn't get much going on offense in the first half, and basically went to an offense of missing 21 footers in the 2nd half. Kansas was just too good for them down low. If they play like they did the last 2 games they might've only lost by 15. @ K-State next, have to shoot/rebound/play much better to have any chance.

That's not a terrible idea, especially since it will keep Marshall's innings down and might lessen the chances of Lieber getting hurt. Anyone have any numbers on how pitchers do after skipping a turn in the rotation? I kind of doubt Lou will go with that though. Ultimately, I don't think this signing is a horrible move, and it's likely it's a sign that Marquis/Dempster/Marshall/Gallagher will be a part of a trade (which could be good or bad).

ISU winning the turnover battle 17-10 helped as well. I though Missouri was a terrible match-up Iowa State this year, since Missouri runs a press and Iowa State has been horrible against teams like that for a while (see Drake). They cut down on careless turnovers tonight, and finally had more than one player per night step up on offense. They still can't hit a 3 (1-16 tonight), and they really need to stop shooting that many and pound it down low where they have a size advantage on almost everyone. Oklahoma State is next, another game they can win @ home, and then @Kansas, where keeping it within 20 would be good.

Put money on it. DePaul is only getting 1.5 :shock: Nova is a stone cold lead pipe lock to cover. I haven't been on these boards very long, but if I bet sports I could make a fortune by taking the opposite side of the line every time I see these words on here.

While I completely agree with you regarding that with or without they aren't going to the playoffs, it wasn't like he traded those guys for a one year rental. He saw value and he got it. He'll have Swisher locked down for cheap for a while and he should gain a lot of perceived value playing in that park. KW could possibly flip him for better pitching prospects in the future. Although his Dye blunder makes that unlikely. Even with Gio and De Los Santos they aren't going to be a playoff contender. I say good trade because he got value IMO. Swisher will be under a favorable contract for a while, but unless the Sox make some more moves it probably won't matter much. Right now they have a "win now" type of team in a division they can't win, and with no minor league system to speak of, they're probably in for a drop off in performance unless they spend a lot in free agency. In a vacuum I think it's a good trade for Chicago, but it's a move in a direction they shouldn't be going.

If the Cubs don't make anymore moves, I think Lou's lineup will be: Soriano Lee Fukudome (Splits up the righties) Ramirez DeRosa Soto Theriot (Cedeno hopefully earns more time here) Pie (Moves up if he starts hitting) Ideally, I'd put DeRosa or Soto at leadoff, and move Soriano to 5th, but I don't see it happening. I could see Lou moving DeRosa or Theriot up to 2nd and taking everyone else down a spot for a more traditional lineup. Like last year, though, it will probably change a lot.

Iowa State played 3 good halves in Las Vegas this weekend (beat Purdue 83-80 last night) but ran out of gas in the last one and lost 83-68 to Alabama. They finally found their offense, but most of their big scorers have been streaky this year. Jiri Hubalek had 16 points in the first 5:08 of the 2nd half against Purdue and basically disappeared after that. They're probably looking at another 6-10 year in the Big XII at this rate, which is about what I expected coming into the year.

Well, Boise State bowl games are always exciting, I'll give them that.

Don't know if anyone is watching since it's a Friday night, but the New Orleans Bowl has been pretty good so far. Schnellenberger and Co. leading Memphis 24-13 with about 6 minutes to go in the 1st half. I have 17 points on FAU, so I'd like the result to hold up.

Jeter Eckstein Eric Byrnes Basically anyone the media vastly overrates. Having Kruk or another former player in the studio at the time the report was released would be great, but since they had advanced warning I'm sure they would find a way not to be there.

This is why this is a huge waste of everybody's time. Nobody's going to be exonerated ever because people have their personal beliefs on who was using and they'll never let them die. Not on the list? List must be a joke. QFT

Jack Cust. I guess I should've seen that one comming.

Ctrl+F Wood isn't turning up anything but Woodard. Nothing for Prior or Pujols either.

Hendry doesn't see Fukudome's OBP. All he sees is his left handedness. Untrue. He also sees that he has speed and is Japanese. He can also catch the ball.

Buffalo up 21-0 on Miami with 4:29 left in the first. At least when Tampa Bay went winless they had John McKay interviews for entertainment. I hate being a Dolphin fan.