Quote: Originally Posted By jslotman on 10/19/2009

Quote: Originally Posted By jeffdrayer on 10/16/2009

To add my two cents -- "fixing" this issue may have to coincide with "fixing" the tremendous power of HCA (not looking for an "HCA is fine/not fine argument here, just stating). Whereas teams in lower-level conferences are facing D+ HCAs on a regular basis and therefore are playing their away games nearly "straight-up" in regards to HCA, when BCS teams go on the road they almost always face a B- or higher, always coached by a human and almost always filled with BCS-caliber players. Which is how you get into my current plight: #1 seed in the entire (Smith) NT, and I am terrified of having to face the #13 seed in my bracket because Oklahoma is a 780 with a walkon, but went 7-7 on the road against a very tough Big 12 this year. I'd much rather face the #4 seed, even though they did dominate the NEC this year.

The fact is, there was a day when BCS teams could go 25-1, but these are becoming fewer and farther between as every BCS road game becomes a gargantuan task. The allure of simply going 24-2 with a 710-rated Bethune-Cookman team that can't lose it's A+ HCA becomes pretty strong...

Reading this makes what UConn is doing in Allen this season all the more impressive.

Not to take anything away from UConn, but two huge factors are how down the BEast is this season (8 of 12 teams with 130+ rpi's, including five over 200) and the sheer luck that neither of those senior guards (or the pf) early. If they'd experienced the kind of early entry losses that, say, Texas had, we wouldn't be having this conversation.

Which stinks when you think about how enormous a factor luck plays in determining who has a shot at the DI NT.