As the resident cynic/skeptic, I have to question nwhoops AND Crawford's Corner. Nwhoops states that Crawford's Corner is one of the "best basketball columns around" and that he "always does his homework."
In his column Crawford states that the "Big Sky deserves lots of credit for their play on the hardwod this year" when, in fact, this is the WORST the conference has been (based on conference RPI) in recent memory - I believe since the RPI came into existence. Crawford also states that both Weber and Montana deserve bids to the NCAA tournament. That is wishful "homer" thinking, but if he wishes to be taken seriously, he needs to actually do his homework. A few years ago under Coach Giac, we played Weber in the tourney championship game the season that Weber went undefeated in conference play - one of only two undefeated seasons in the history of the Big Sky. Going into the game Weber was in the low 40's in the RPI, and according to all prognostications, they would not have got into the Big Dance if they had not beat us in the championship game. Right now both Weber and Montana are hovering around the 100 mark in the RPI and neither has ANY chance of getting into the NCAA tourney as an at-large. As bad as the conference is this year, we'll be lucky if we can stay away from a 16 seed.
Crawford also calls us a "success story" and says that getting into the confernce tourney is a "great accomplishment." In my eyes, unless we win the tourney, we underachieved this year. Inheriting a whole team that went 7-9 last year, and was picked by the coaches to finish 3rd, we ended up a mere 1 game better at 8-8, and finished lower than we were picked - in a season where the conference was the worst it has been in a long, long time - maybe ever. Not my idea of a "success story" or a "great accomplishment."
Crawford does make one good point: he says that next year the Big Sky "should be better." Of course it should - there is very little room below us. Sorry for the reality check.
