"Big Opportunity" vs. "Must Win"

[theshadow]

I don't know where all those teams finished in the rankings at the end of the regular season, so it's difficult to gauge it completely. There were 4 wins vs. ranked in '88 — 2 in and 2 out of conference. Ended up as 12 seed. Enough quality even with a losing record in Big 8.

1988 - Purdue (Big Ten #1, NCAA #1 seed), Iowa (Big Ten #3), Florida (SEC #2), Kansas (Big Eight #3), Missouri (Big Eight #2)

1992 - Iowa (Big Ten #5), Oklahoma (Big Eight T-#2, NCAA #4 seed), Oklahoma State (Big Eight T-#2, NCAA #2 seed), Kansas (Big Eight #1, NCAA #1 seed), Missouri (Big Eight T-#2). Iowa State finished T-6th.

1995 - Kansas twice (Big Eight #1, NCAA #1 seed), Missouri (Big Eight #4)

 

[cyclones500]

1988 - Purdue (Big Ten #1, NCAA #1 seed), Iowa (Big Ten #3), Florida (SEC #2), Kansas (Big Eight #3), Missouri (Big Eight #2)

1992 - Iowa (Big Ten #5), Oklahoma (Big Eight T-#2, NCAA #4 seed), Oklahoma State (Big Eight T-#2, NCAA #2 seed), Kansas (Big Eight #1, NCAA #1 seed), Missouri (Big Eight T-#2). Iowa State finished T-6th.

1995 - Kansas twice (Big Eight #1, NCAA #1 seed), Missouri (Big Eight #4)

Thanks.

Pretty much explains getting in with underwhelming conference records.

Maybe — maybe — there was less emphasis in those days about "bad loss" and "road win." Other than that, it's revisionist history to assume it used to be a cakewalk to get to the tournament compared to recent years.

 

[theshadow]

Maybe — maybe — there was less emphasis in those days about "bad loss" and "road win." Other than that, it's revisionist history to assume it used to be a cakewalk to get to the tournament compared to recent years.

I keep coming back to 1992, because it was the worst conf record ISU got in with (5-9). The "power" leagues dominated the at-large field. Especially so if you take the 2012 conference alignments.

29 of the 34 at-large spots went to teams that are now considered in a power six league. 3 went to current CUSA teams, and 2 went to current A-10 teams.

At-Large Bids (34)
Big Eight - 5 (ISU, MU, NU, OU, OkSt)
ACC - 4 (FSU, GT, UNC, Wake)
Big Ten - 4 (IND, Iowa, Mich, MSU)
Big East - 4 (Conn, G'town, St.J., Seton)
SEC - 3 (Ala, Ark, LSU)
Pac-10 - 3 (Ariz, USC, Stan)
********
Metro - 4 (Charlotte, Louisville, USF, Tulane)
Great Midwest - 3 (Cincinnati, DePaul, Memphis)
A-10 - 2 (Temple, West Virginia)
SWC - 1 (Texas)
WAC - 1 (UTEP)
********

 

[cyclones500]

I keep coming back to 1992, because it was the worst conf record ISU got in with (5-9). The "power" leagues dominated the at-large field. Especially so if you take the 2012 conference alignments.

29 of the 34 at-large spots went to teams that are now considered in a power six league. 3 went to current CUSA teams, and 2 went to current A-10 teams.

At-Large Bids (34)
Big Eight - 5 (ISU, MU, NU, OU, OkSt)
ACC - 4 (FSU, GT, UNC, Wake)
Big Ten - 4 (IND, Iowa, Mich, MSU)
Big East - 4 (Conn, G'town, St.J., Seton)
SEC - 3 (Ala, Ark, LSU)
Pac-10 - 3 (Ariz, USC, Stan)
********
Metro - 4 (Charlotte, Louisville, USF, Tulane)
Great Midwest - 3 (Cincinnati, DePaul, Memphis)
A-10 - 2 (Temple, West Virginia)
SWC - 1 (Texas)
WAC - 1 (UTEP)
********

Intriguing.

If you had to say one way or another — assuming for the moment it was still a 64-team format — is it (on average) easier or more difficult for a big-conference team to land an at-large bid today with a lukewarm resume today, vs. late 80s/early 90s?

 

[mcblogerson]

We need to go at least 10-8 in conference and beat at least one high ranked team to go dancing imo.

 

[Cyclonefarmer]

Intriguing.

If you had to say one way or another — assuming for the moment it was still a 64-team format — is it (on average) easier or more difficult for a big-conference team to land an at-large bid today with a lukewarm resume today, vs. late 80s/early 90s?

My thoughts are it was easier with a lukewarm resume back then.If CU last year had been in the late 80's they'd probably be an 8-10 seed. But we also scheduled a tougher non-conference and you had to win 1 or 2 of those. The worst record we got in with was 17-12,which would put you in the NIT now unless you were like UConn last year. Usually the B8 had 4,5,or6 pretty decent teams out of 8. Now it's more like 4 or 5 good teams, 2-3 middle of the road,and 2-3 bad teams. There is also no coaching longevity like there was.