Guesses at Seeding

[MSU01]

I'm curious why you would give USD the 4 seed?

The eye test, I was not overly impressed by UC Davis in their last two games. IMO they aren't quite as good as the three MVFC teams even if their resume on paper says they are. Barely beating a 3-8 team by 3 points is not going to impress the selection committee, it's not all about computer ratings and SoS.

I guess I don't understand. South Dakota barely beat 4-8 Youngstown, and got pushed hard by 5-7 North Dakota. Why should UC Davis be punished for their close wins over bad teams, but not USD? If it's not all about SOS and computer rankings, then UC Davis absolutely should be seeded above USD.

I don't think it's about punishing anyone, there's nothing bad about getting a Top 5 seed! To me Davis and USD are very close on paper. Davis has more D-1 wins and two good wins vs Idaho and at Montana, but USD has the most impressive win over NDSU and took SDSU to overtime on the road. If I'm on the committee the tiebreaker becomes "if I watch both these teams play right now who do I think is better?", and to me the answer is South Dakota. Maybe if I went back and watched South Dakota's game against UND last week I'd change my mind, but as I'm not on the committee I'll just save those three hours of my weekend and stick to speculation.

I see what you're saying, but that sends the message that your overall body of work doesn't mean squat.

I'm not sure I see how UC Davis' overall body of work is significantly better than South Dakota's. I don't think USD should be punished because they had a likely win over Portland State get cancelled through no fault of their own. But we'll see what the committee does. Craig Haley and Sam Herder both have South Dakota at 4 and Davis at 5 so I don't think I'm way out there with this prediction.

I don't think you are either, I just think it's wrong when the talk even from the mesia guys is always about reaume and SOS. Davis has 2 top 10 wins, one on the road. The rest of their wins are pretty damn comparable, and Davis (even if USD beat PSU) would still have 1 more DI win.

Fair enough, either way it's fun to discuss! And a whole lot more fun when we're discussing other teams and not where MSU will be.

[BleedingBLue]

I'm curious why you would give USD the 4 seed?

The eye test, I was not overly impressed by UC Davis in their last two games. IMO they aren't quite as good as the three MVFC teams even if their resume on paper says they are. Barely beating a 3-8 team by 3 points is not going to impress the selection committee, it's not all about computer ratings and SoS.

I guess I don't understand. South Dakota barely beat 4-8 Youngstown, and got pushed hard by 5-7 North Dakota. Why should UC Davis be punished for their close wins over bad teams, but not USD? If it's not all about SOS and computer rankings, then UC Davis absolutely should be seeded above USD.

I don't think it's about punishing anyone, there's nothing bad about getting a Top 5 seed! To me Davis and USD are very close on paper. Davis has more D-1 wins and two good wins vs Idaho and at Montana, but USD has the most impressive win over NDSU and took SDSU to overtime on the road. If I'm on the committee the tiebreaker becomes "if I watch both these teams play right now who do I think is better?", and to me the answer is South Dakota. Maybe if I went back and watched South Dakota's game against UND last week I'd change my mind, but as I'm not on the committee I'll just save those three hours of my weekend and stick to speculation.

I see what you're saying, but that sends the message that your overall body of work doesn't mean squat.

I'm not sure I see how UC Davis' overall body of work is significantly better than South Dakota's. I don't think USD should be punished because they had a likely win over Portland State get cancelled through no fault of their own. But we'll see what the committee does. Craig Haley and Sam Herder both have South Dakota at 4 and Davis at 5 so I don't think I'm way out there with this prediction.

I don't think you are either, I just think it's wrong when the talk even from the mesia guys is always about reaume and SOS. Davis has 2 top 10 wins, one on the road. The rest of their wins are pretty damn comparable, and Davis (even if USD beat PSU) would still have 1 more DI win.

Fair enough, either way it's fun to discuss! And a whole lot more fun when we're discussing other teams and not where MSU will be.

That's for damn sure. No matter how 4-5 shake out, the matchup would be the same, we think anyway.

[Monymony]

I’m sure happy we won and don’t have to worry!

[GoCats18]

All I know is that we as fans owe it to the players, the coaches and everyone involved with this program to sellout and show up for all 3 home games. This team feeds off the crowd and having the home field advantage. As it’s been said for a while around this program, NOW IS THE TIME, THIS IS THE PLACE!!!!

[onceacat]

If I had a vote, my top 16 would be:

1) MSU
2) NDSU
3) SDSU
4) USD
5) UC Davis
6) Idaho
7) Mercer
8 ) Incarnate Word
9) Richmond
10) Rhode Island
11) Villanova
12) Tarleton State
13) Montana
14) Illinois State
15) SE Missouri
16) Abilene Christian

Unseeded Autobids: Central Connecticut State, Drake, Lehigh
At-Large Bids: Northern Arizona, UT-Martin, New Hampshire, Eastern Kentucky, Tennessee State

The Bracket

(1) MSU
(16) Ablilene Christian vs Tennessee State

(8) Incarnate Word
(9) Richmond vs UT-Martin

(4) South Dakota
(13) Montana vs New Hampshire

(5) UC Davis
(12) Tarleton State vs NAU

(2) NDSU
(15) SE Missouri vs E. Kentucky

(7) Mercer
(10) Rhode Island vs Central Conn. St.

(3) SDSU
(14) Illinois State vs Drake

(6) Idaho
(11) Villanova vs Lehigh

I'm curious why you would give USD the 4 seed?

I mean they should’ve beat SDSU and did beat NDSU. Plus UCD hurt themselves by not killing Sac

Yes, but Davis has 2 top wins, and 10 DI wins. I don't see the argument for USD AT ALL! They have shouldn't have been that close wins over Youngstown and UND, so why do they get a pass for that, but not Davis? The argument for USD makes absolutely no sense, no matter how you slice it.

UM isn't a Top 10 win, barely a top 20. Idaho is barely a top 10 win.

NDSU was the #1 team.

NDSU is 20 points better than Idaho on a neutral field, 25 points better than UM.

So a win over NDSU is in a totally different class than wins over a bubble playoff team and a bubble top 8 seed.

Probably more important: USD was ranked above UCD in every single poll prior to the weekend. Theres 0.0% possibility that USD knocks off the #1 team in the country and DROPS in the rankings.

Thats absurd. I've never seen a #4 drop in the polls because they beat the #1 seed. Its never happened. In any sport.

[Helcat72]

Why should NDSU be seeded above USD?

I think that maybe USD gets the 3 seed.

[MSU01]

Why should NDSU be seeded above USD?

I think that maybe USD gets the 3 seed.

Easy, you look at the overall resume and not simply what happened in Week 13. 10 D-1 wins for NDSU vs 8 for USD, plus NDSU played a tougher schedule overall. If USD should be seeded above NDSU due to head to head results, then where the heck do you put SDSU who beat USD but lost to NDSU?

[91catAlum]

Why should NDSU be seeded above USD?

I think that maybe USD gets the 3 seed.

Yesterday was USD's first ranked win of the season. Ndsu and sdsu both have better overall resumes than usd.

[CodyCat]

If NAU doesn’t get in, how do the gris get a seed. The only two decent wins the gris have are Mo St and W Carolina. And you could put NAU in that category if they make the field.

Could the gris be unseeded? Could the gris not make it at all?

[MSU01]

If NAU doesn’t get in, how do the gris get a seed. The only two decent wins the gris have are Mo St and W Carolina. And you could put NAU in that category if they make the field.

Could the gris be unseeded? Could the gris not make it at all?

There's no chance the Griz will be left out completely and only a very small chance that they won't be seeded. The Griz don't have a whole lot going for them in terms of their overall resume, but then again neither do the teams they're competing against in that 12 - 15 seed range. I think NAU gets in too as an unseeded team, although the argument against them would be they played a D-2 game and didn't have MSU or Davis on the schedule in conference play.

[allcat]

I'm just really curious as to the brackets as to who we might have to play again.

[Cataholic]

To be fair 4 and 5 will probably play each other and we will play the better team.

This is correct. Not much impact on us however they are seeded until the Semifinal. We won’t see seeds 4 or 5 till the semifinals and won’t see 2 or 3 till the championship.