Yet another Big Six school (and formerly ranked #1 team) fell victim to the mid-major juggernaut, otherwise known as St. Joseph's. Looks like we've got ourselves an HD Butler, ladies and gentlemen! St. Joseph's faces #1 Texas Tech in the NT championship tomorrow night. 

When was the last time a mid-major in any world made the championship game? 

Way to go guys.  Proud of the A-10.  With the coaches there now, you guys will definitely build on that success with all the extra recruiting money.

Richmond is still open, duke. Now is a great time to come back! 

If I ever move up from Drury, the a10 is on the list.

Looks like another Big 12 title coming, although St. Joe's has already beaten some teams that I wouldn't have given them a particularly good shot against...

Posted by a_in_the_b on 12/14/2012 1:35:00 PM (view original):
If I ever move up from Drury, the a10 is on the list.

This is the year to make the move, ab. Every team will have about $19,000 in extra recruiting cash. That on-par or slightly less than most Big 6 schools. We'd love to have you join us!

Way back when, like season 24-30 or some such, I had cups of tea at Rhode Island and St. Louis.

its a great story and a nice season pep, and I didn't check the other conferences, so I guess it might be accurate to say that $19k is on par or slightly less than most of the Big 6, but I know its not in the same league as the Big East where we'll each get over $40k.

Have any of you looked at that St. Joseph team? This is a joke. That team has no business playing in the championship game. No experience, no athletes, no speed...just defense and bigs that rebound well. I'm sorry but that's a joke.
http://www.whatifsports.com/hd/TeamProfile/History.aspx?tid=13030

Thanks ugs. Sorry to disappoint you. Let us know how that ticket ends up, seriously.

mm_harmon, don't take it personally. Try to be rational and look at your team. Explain on what planet your team deserved to have been in the championship game. I don't care if you are the John Wooden of coaches, that team, with those players, has no business in that game. For you to beat Providence is an indictment of how bad the current HD system is. He has a team full of amazing players, yet he got beat by a school with one guy over 80 in athlete. It ain't personal, heck I don't even know you, but it is about the numbers and they don't add up.

skunk, the same thing was said about the Butler teams that made the championship two seasons in a row. They didn't have any players (maybe with the exception of Gordon Heyward) with anything resembling the athletic ability of the teams they defeated, i.e. Michigan State, Syracuse, Florida, Pittsburgh.

Upsets happen in real life...but not nearly often enough in HD. I'm glad some of the "superteams" were defeated by St. Joseph's. It shows that coaching sometimes matters. mm_harmon knew the strengths and weaknesses of his team and he used a strategy that was very effective against those 90+ ATH, 90+ DEF teams. That's something to applaud, not call a "joke." 

Heck, I thought people would be more excited about St. Joseph's run considering how much whining goes on regarding the lack of mid-major success in HD. 

Maybe you should look past just ATH then, I knew (and posted) that I had no shot against Texas Tech, I felt reasonably good in a one game setting vs. press teams. 
Do I believe I was the 2nd best team? ABSOLUTELY not. Do I think I was even a top 25 team? probably not, *maybe* borderline top 25.
I was very fortunate to run up against a zone team, then two press teams. In those games I knew my only shot was to shoot a bunch of 3's - the great equalizer.
Everyone talks about the press and its unfair advantage - I actually think it's a flawed defense with the right personnel. I just hate that my success was seen as a 'CPU error' and you can't acknowledge that I actually had a decent game plan to beat those teams.
I will say my defensive performance in those games was a bit suspect, and Providence's FT performance was whacky. 

Again, I'd love to hear the response from your ticket. 

Posted by pepwaves007 on 12/15/2012 2:01:00 PM (view original):
skunk, the same thing was said about the Butler teams that made the championship two seasons in a row. They didn't have any players (maybe with the exception of Gordon Heyward) with anything resembling the athletic ability of the teams they defeated, i.e. Michigan State, Syracuse, Florida, Pittsburgh.

Upsets happen in real life...but not nearly often enough in HD. I'm glad some of the "superteams" were defeated by St. Joseph's. It shows that coaching sometimes matters. mm_harmon knew the strengths and weaknesses of his team and he used a strategy that was very effective against those 90+ ATH, 90+ DEF teams. That's something to applaud, not call a "joke." 

Heck, I thought people would be more excited about St. Joseph's run considering how much whining goes on regarding the lack of mid-major success in HD. 

+1

Posted by uglyskunk3 on 12/15/2012 10:34:00 AM (view original):
mm_harmon, don't take it personally. Try to be rational and look at your team. Explain on what planet your team deserved to have been in the championship game. I don't care if you are the John Wooden of coaches, that team, with those players, has no business in that game. For you to beat Providence is an indictment of how bad the current HD system is. He has a team full of amazing players, yet he got beat by a school with one guy over 80 in athlete. It ain't personal, heck I don't even know you, but it is about the numbers and they don't add up.

You can also be rationql and realize that sometimes the fab five, ofr the atheletic kentucky supestars lose, and sometimes a butler wins. Unless you want a game that just compares ratings then awards the game o the team that has the better ath.