Well there is the proverbial good news and bad news to consider in the remaining schedule and our quest to avoid a Thursday play in game.

The good news:

Drake lost by a narrow margin at Evansville dropping them 1.5 game behind us at 5 and 10.

The bad news:

Their next game is at home in Des Moines against 3-11 Missouri State. If they win they will be 6 and 10.

The bad news:

We play number eleven Northern Iowa tonight and obviously are underdogs. A loss drops us to 6 and 9.

We then travel Saturday to Normal to play Illinois State that is one game above us at 7-7. We will be underdogs again.

If we lose we then are tied with Drake at 6-10 if the above scenarios play out.

The good news sort of:

With both the Ramblers and Drake at 6-10, the February 25th game in Des Moines is critical for both teams but especially Drake.
If we win we will be one up on Drake with one to play but we would have the tiebreaker since we would have swept the series.

From a strategic point of view that FEb 25 game is the key to our season and we control our own fate.

If Drake wins they would be one up on us with one game to go.

The good news well sort of:

We would end the season at home against Missouri State while Drake is on the road against SIU and Anthony Beane.

If we win and they lose we would be tied again and would have split the season series.

I do not know what the tie breaker is but it might be in our favor if Evansville finishes third and we beat them.

Maybe someone can help me out on the tiebreaker.

Personally speaking we control our own fate, sort of. And assuming two losses heading into the Drake game in Des Moines, we could still make sixth on our own.
The Bradley road win was huge for us. And who knows, a healthy but rusty Milton Doyle could just be the tonic we would need for the Drake game.

We shall see.

In any event a heck of lot more interesting than the Horizon League.

I look forward to JCT's comments later in the week on the ISU game. On a side bar the Loyola bus trip is on. So we should have a good contingent down in Normal.

We do control our own destiny in that if we can win at Drake and then beat Missouri State at home, we will be the six seed.

If we lose at Drake to split the series with them, it gets much more hairy.

The tiebreaker in that case would be non-conference strength of schedule, and (according to ESPN), Drake is 40th and we are 240th. So, if we lose at Drake, it's probably Thursday for us.

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So we have a chance?

Well, that's not so good but heck if we don't beat Drake, we don't deserve to have the first round bye.

Thanks for clarifying that point.

So you're telling me that the Rockhurst, Abilene Christian and Southern Utah games don't carry a lot of RPI weight!

Agree with your statement about Drake. It seems fair enough that the game there will most likely determine who gets the 6th seed. i'll take our chances with a healthy Doyle (knock on wood).

Only D1 games count, so Rockhurst doesn't hurt us, but the others...

Our worst non-con games right now are:

UIC (295)
Abilene Christian (311)
Jackson State (317)
Southern Utah (324)

At least we won all those!

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Here's another daunting aspect of the Drake game: It's their Senior Night, and last home game of the season, so they'll probably have a bigger crowd than usual.

Speaking of attendance-- obviously we're last in the league at home, but we're third highest in the league in road attendance for all games (behind Wichita State and Bradley), and we're second-highest in the league in conference road attendance behind only Wichita State. Ironic, ain't it?

P.S. I am a hopeless stat geek. I need help.

Hopeless ??? Maybe !!! A Geek ?? No way ( I keep thinking of that old Tyrone Power movie where he WAS a real Geek) so nope !!!!

Tyrone Hill? or Austin Powers? never heard of Tyrone Powers!

An older guy such as you--never heard of Tyrone Power ???? Played lead in the Mark of ZORRO ( old edition)--Also the lead in one of my favorite movies--and novels, THE CAPTAIN FROM CASTILE--opposite Jean Peters( Howard Hughes wife) Movie also starred Caesar Romero , I believe he won an Academy Award (Romero)--
Another little tid-bit from the film--The sound track- it now serves as the main marching piece for the USC Marching band---

There now--aren't you glad you read this post----OH yes another--T Power also starred in a film re the Spanish Civil War--Title escapes me at the moment--

OK !! Fun on a bitter cold night here in FARGO---oops ! I mean AKRON !!

There you go !! 63 to the rescue once again !! Was he not also in the film--IN OLD CHICAGO--with Alice Faye ???

That film came out in the Lennie Sachs era - I believe !! You see how we can segue back to HOOPS !!