A Sea Of Red

Well, here is how things stand in the top half of the ASUN after our off week.

After a sweep of J'Ville, N. Alabama is all alone in first place at 5-1

Newcomer Bellarmine is tied for second at 4-2 after sweeping Stetson

N. Florida is also at 4-2, along with our Flames, after sweeping lowly KSU. The Owls came close to their first D1 win of the year, falling by just 3 points.

Lipscomb is alone in 5th at 5-3 after beating FGCU last night to split the series.

It will be interesting to see what happens with the schedule next week. FGCU is supposed to be off, but with 4 games to make up, I don't see that happening. You have to think some switching around is going to happen to allow them to make up 2 of those 4 by playing either us or N. Alabama.

I just wasted almost an hour of my life trying to figure out how the ASUN could reschedule postponed games and complete a full schedule using only the remaining open dates (and that is of course assuming no other games need to be postponed/rescheduled). I came to the conclusion that if it is possible at all (I don't think it is) it will involve a ridiculous amount of shifting and juggling. I really think they will need to schedule a few mid-week games to get it all in. It means at least a couple of teams would need to play 6 games in 9 days. Not great, not easy, but certainly not impossible.

If anyone else wants to give it a shot, the basics are:

3 match-ups have been postponed and need to be re-scheduled.
FGCU vs N Bama
FGCU vs Liberty
N Florida vs Stetson

The open dates are:
1/29 & 30 FGCU
2/5 & 6 N Bama
2/12 & 13 Stetson
2/19 & 20 Liberty, Lipscomb, N Florida
2/26 & 27 KSU

Jacksonville and Bellarmine do not have any open dates remaining.

What scares me, is ASUN will juggle schedule near end of regular season, and shaft Liberty.

ballcoach15 wrote: ↑January 24th, 2021, 1:16 pm What scares me, is ASUN will juggle schedule near end of regular season, and shaft Liberty.

Nah. As long as we get those 2 games against FGCU at the Liberty Arena as originally scheduled, I don't care when we play them. I think maintaining home/away balance is a priority, so I'm pretty confident that will be the case.

ballcoach15 wrote: ↑January 24th, 2021, 1:16 pm What scares me, is ASUN will juggle schedule near end of regular season, and shaft Liberty.

The ASUN should not want to screw any of it's conference members - especially the Flames who are most likely to win the Conference Tournament and represent the ASUN in the NCAA Tournament. You want your conference to be well represented on a national stage.

Boy, the RPI has really tanked. 173... That is what a loss to Stetson does for you followers by almost 2 weeks of no play.!

rogers3 wrote: ↑January 26th, 2021, 6:41 pm Boy, the RPI has really tanked. 173... That is what a loss to Stetson does for you followers by almost 2 weeks of no play.!

At this point, the RPI is basically a dinosaur. Since the NCAA came out with the NET as their primary rating tool it's totally irrelevant. Not sure exactly why the big difference, but we are much higher in the NET, which is what matters.

Only one change so far in the ASUN schedule. FGCU, who were scheduled off, will face Stetson FR and Sat. This will mean a bye weekend for Lipscomb, who Stetson was scheduled to face. It will free up FGCU to make up their postponed games with N Bama on the 5th and 6th, when the Lions were scheduled off. The Lipscomb/Stetson match-ups will probably be moved to the 5th and 6th, bumping Lipscomb/KSU to a future date.

It would be awful this year to be a travel coordinator for one of these teams.

Schedule change for next FR and Sat. Instead of facing N Alabama on the road, it will be Bellarmine at home.

I'm not sure if this puts us any closer to being able to make up games missed against FGCU or N Florida, but it does prevent us from being in the ridiculous situation of having played 8 of 10 conference games on the road, with the real possibility of more postponements/cancellations to come.

Bellarmine is a good basketball team.

olldflame wrote: ↑February 5th, 2021, 9:07 pm Schedule change for next FR and Sat. Instead of facing N Alabama on the road, it will be Bellarmine at home.

I'm not sure if this puts us any closer to being able to make up games missed against FGCU or N Florida, but it does prevent us from being in the ridiculous situation of having played 8 of 10 conference games on the road, with the real possibility of more postponements/cancellations to come.

Any updates or confirmation on this?

Liberty_2023 wrote: ↑February 8th, 2021, 4:32 pm

olldflame wrote: ↑February 5th, 2021, 9:07 pm Schedule change for next FR and Sat. Instead of facing N Alabama on the road, it will be Bellarmine at home.

I'm not sure if this puts us any closer to being able to make up games missed against FGCU or N Florida, but it does prevent us from being in the ridiculous situation of having played 8 of 10 conference games on the road, with the real possibility of more postponements/cancellations to come.

Any updates or confirmation on this?

The official announcement should come today, but I'm thinking it's a done deal. York spilled the beans during the broadcast Friday and then kind of backtracked. Bellarmine was N Florida's next scheduled opponent, and that's not happening this weekend, so they are available. Like I said, if they don't do this, and we play at N Bama as scheduled, that would have us playing 8 of 10 conference games on the road. With nothing certain going forward, I really don't think the ASUN wants to be in that position.

Fingers crossed!

We will be playing at home this weekend, but not against Bellermine. N Florida is apparently out of quarantine (or will be before Friday) and we will be facing them at Liberty Arena a week later than originally scheduled.

That didn't last long. The original tweet from MBB which ASOR retweeted has been removed.

olldflame wrote: ↑February 9th, 2021, 9:51 pm That didn't last long. The original tweet from MBB which ASOR retweeted has been removed.

Due to likely time changes

So, now we have this.


To be fair, we don't really know if this will be for the regular season championship, since (Chinese virus permitting) both teams have 4 games to play before the 26th and 27th. What it does mean is, at best, Liberty will be shorted 2 home games compared to the original balanced schedule. Another factor is that, since Bellarmine plays in massive Freedom Hall, even with limited attendance they can have 2,700 fans compared to 250 at Liberty.

I honestly believe this is insignificant compared to the potential embarrassment the ASUN faces if they somehow end up with a Bellarmine vs N Alabama matchup in the tournament final. I personally think they should allow only the 7 eligible teams to play, with the top seed getting a first round bye.

Stop complaining. Just go win the games. The best prepared, most talented teams will win. If we are an NCAA tournament caliber team, it should show on the count and in the Win column.

Geraldos Mustache wrote: ↑February 10th, 2021, 10:00 am Stop complaining. Just go win the games. The best prepared, most talented teams will win. If we are an NCAA tournament caliber team, it should show on the count and in the Win column.

That is excellent advise for our team (although I am not aware that they have uttered a peep in the way of a complaint.) As fans on the other hand, we have every right to point out inequities. With everything going on, perhaps some of that is unavoidable. When it came to deciding where the games between Liberty and Bellarmine on 2/26 and 27 were to be played, it was totally up to the ASUN, and there was no reason I am aware of that they could not have been played in Lynchburg.

Question. Are you aware that as transitional programs coming from D2, Bellarmine and N Alabama are both ineligible to represent the ASUN in the NCAA tournament?

olldflame wrote: ↑February 10th, 2021, 10:30 am
Question. Are you aware that as transitional programs coming from D2, Bellarmine and N Alabama are both ineligible to represent the ASUN in the NCAA tournament?

Who gets the auto-bid if they win the tournament?

BlueBlood wrote: ↑February 10th, 2021, 10:34 am

olldflame wrote: ↑February 10th, 2021, 10:30 am
Question. Are you aware that as transitional programs coming from D2, Bellarmine and N Alabama are both ineligible to represent the ASUN in the NCAA tournament?

Who gets the auto-bid if they win the tournament?

If one of them were to defeat an eligible team in the final, the eligible finalist will get the auto-bid (which raises the question "why even bother to play it?".) To the best of my knowledge, the conference has made no announcement as to the possibility of them playing each other in the final. My best guess is that they will tweak the seedings to assure that cannot happen, which could result in some other teams getting better or worse seedings than they should have according to the normal protocols.

All silly IMHO. Conference tournaments have 2 purposes. To make money (mainly from TV) and to select who gets the conference automatic bid. Why include teams that are not eligible for that bid?

If North Alabama and Bellarmine advance to the championship game, the way it currently stands is the eligible semifinalist with the highest NET ranking will get the auto bid.