Musketeer Madness

Purdue getting beat by Michigan by 25 pts with 4=minutes left! And they were down by NINE at the half. Oh my! What has happened to that program!

They are #3 in the nation and got beat on the road by a team that was in the elite eight last year. They are also in the year nearly every year, so I think they will be okay (and have won six in row prior to loss). If you are trying to compare their current program and coach to Xavier's current situation nice try. I'm not sure that anyone on our team besides Scruggs could start for Purdue.

Purdue's long running high seed program and coach and makes the Dance yearly to Xavier program. Painter has been at Purdue forever lol and they produce an above average to great program almost every year continually. Painter has been at Purdue through at least 3 different X coaches. Painter is going to be there till he wishes to leave or retire...lol.

Oldsingle some people do not understand sarcasm probably because they were born sucking lemons

Sarcasm is meant to make a joke of something. In this case, the poster appears to be making a joke of the idea of firing Travis.

The problem with that joke is that there are many legit reasons to fire Travis. Even the win today shows a lot of mental concerns about where this team is. Are the players incapable of playing at a high level or is the coach incapable of teaching the players? It is possible the bulk of the team was simply overrated but that isn't what I see on the court. I see poor decision making and that is correctable. Problem is this issue has been there since Travis has been HC. Many of the issues were also there during Mack years but he has some players capable of carrying the team.

Today's win possibly saves Travis's job. X has a shot of winning 50% of BE games and that will get them in the tournament. 50% win rate is failure in my opinion and I would rather give a dominant team in an easier conference a chance but I get the computer metrics argument. What the computer doesn't factor in is possible improvement of teams in the conferences that didn't do well early in the season. Power conference teams can rise in computer metrics late in the year while weak conferences can only suffer from a fluke loss in conference. I will always prefer to take the what if over the proven mediocrity. Does a team winning half their games in conference deserve a chance to win the National Title?

pdxmuskie wrote: ↑

Fri Feb 11, 2022 10:48 pm

Sarcasm is meant to make a joke of something. In this case, the poster appears to be making a joke of the idea of firing Travis.

The problem with that joke is that there are many legit reasons to fire Travis. Even the win today shows a lot of mental concerns about where this team is. Are the players incapable of playing at a high level or is the coach incapable of teaching the players? It is possible the bulk of the team was simply overrated but that isn't what I see on the court. I see poor decision making and that is correctable. Problem is this issue has been there since Travis has been HC. Many of the issues were also there during Mack years but he has some players capable of carrying the team.

Today's win possibly saves Travis's job. X has a shot of winning 50% of BE games and that will get them in the tournament. 50% win rate is failure in my opinion and I would rather give a dominant team in an easier conference a chance but I get the computer metrics argument. What the computer doesn't factor in is possible improvement of teams in the conferences that didn't do well early in the season. Power conference teams can rise in computer metrics late in the year while weak conferences can only suffer from a fluke loss in conference. I will always prefer to take the what if over the proven mediocrity. Does a team winning half their games in conference deserve a chance to win the National Title?

Does a team winning half their games in conference deserve a chance to win the National Title?

In CBB,

Yes. Even though the Power Five (minus the ACC this year) are light years better than the mid-majors, one (either the WCC or MW) has four top 50 NET teams, so is respectable. Unlike CFB, when you can play one quality opponent a year, and then be gifted with a FF, CBB is not like that. The CFB team I root for (My Cats) made it b/c they were ranked in the pre-season Top 10, played and won one good team all season while struggling in multiple games against the bball equivalent of teams like Duquesne, and kept moving up in the polls b/c the other contenders like OSU had to play the likes of Michigan, MSU, Wisconsin, PSU, and Iowa. Cannibalism is what occurs in high quality leagues. X plays in one where 2/3 or the league will probably make The Dance, as opposed to a maximum of two teams for most mid-majors for example.

A comparable analogy to the good fortune My Cats had would be if Arkansas St from the SunBelt beat Iowa on the road, then played and beat 10 conference foes like Appalachian St. & GA Southern, then gifted a FF, where they got beat like a drum as expected.

In CBB, you have to actually earn a trip to the FF by playing through a gauntlet of good bball teams. Take VCU for example in 2011. They made the FF by:

1. Beating 11 seed USC in PIG.
2. Beating 6 seed GTown (when they were good) in the Rnd of 64.
3. Beating 3 seed Purdue in the Rnd of 32.
4. Beating 10 seed FSU in the SW 16
5. Beating 1 seed Kansas in the E8.
6. Losing to 8 seed Butler, NC participant that year.
That is earning it.

X plays in one of the top conferences in bball. Going 500 means you still have to beat several Top 50 (X already has two Top 25 NET wins) teams. Then, even with upsets, you have to win multiple games against several highly ranked NET teams to make it to the FF. No way to game the system. That is why CBB has the most legitimate "playoff" system, and even mid-majors like Butler, VCU, and George Mason earned their trips.

Damn, I fell for the bait. You unwittingly made me admit what everyone out of Clifton knew. The playoff system in CFB is a farce. I'm going to end this thread before it puts me in a sour mood before the SB. Go Bengals!!!!

Who Dey!!!!

muskieman wrote: ↑

Fri Feb 11, 2022 7:00 pm

Oldsingle some people do not understand sarcasm probably because they were born sucking lemons

Apparently so, MM

Just to clarify this was pure sarcasm. Two of my daughters are Purdue grads, three grandsons are Purdue grads and two granddaughters and one grandson are juniors at a Purdue now. Next to X Purdue is my favorite team. And I like Matt painter (though he doesn’t like X - we are 5-0 in our last five games against him).

Go X and Boiler up.