George Mason went Final Four, and Butler made the title twice. VCU's Final Four run stands out, but honestly to me it seems very flukey. But if prestige is meant to measure whether the average fan has heard of them and not what hardcore folks think, the tourney success should probably stand out more than the regular season success. 

I think wins play a big role, and pergaps RPI. I dropped from a n A+ prestige to an A with a 1st round NT exit. It was a down year as I only made the tournament on the basis of a CT win and was 20-10 on the season. The season prior, i was a top 15 team and made the sweet 16. This tells me that just making the tourney is less important than having a solid season.

Or, just exactly what Al was saying, only with an anecdotal reference to use.

Posted by tarvolon on 2/16/2014 6:00:00 PM (view original):
George Mason went Final Four, and Butler made the title twice. VCU's Final Four run stands out, but honestly to me it seems very flukey. But if prestige is meant to measure whether the average fan has heard of them and not what hardcore folks think, the tourney success should probably stand out more than the regular season success. 

George Mason, Butler and VCU all moved to more prestigious conferences.  I doubt that would've happened if they hadn't had a great tournament.  You notice that noone's knocking on Murray State's door.  Murray has 26 consecutive winning seasons and won 31 games in 2 of the last 4 years.  They lost to Butler by two points in the 2010 2nd round.

Posted by alblack56 on 2/17/2014 8:53:00 AM (view original):

Posted by tarvolon on 2/16/2014 6:00:00 PM (view original):
George Mason went Final Four, and Butler made the title twice. VCU's Final Four run stands out, but honestly to me it seems very flukey. But if prestige is meant to measure whether the average fan has heard of them and not what hardcore folks think, the tourney success should probably stand out more than the regular season success. 

George Mason, Butler and VCU all moved to more prestigious conferences.  I doubt that would've happened if they hadn't had a great tournament.  You notice that noone's knocking on Murray State's door.  Murray has 26 consecutive winning seasons and won 31 games in 2 of the last 4 years.  They lost to Butler by two points in the 2010 2nd round.

To be fair, Belmont moved up too, and they haven't exactly been a case study in winning tournament games.