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Welcome back, former A-10 fans. While I enjoyed Xavier's time in that league, you could rest assured that being under .500 in conference after 5 games was basically a death sentence for at-large hopes. No matter who the losses came to, no amount of wins over Fordham and Charlotte were going to rescue that resume. I only bring that up because Xavier currently sits at 2-3 in the Big East.
It's hard to get out of the mindset that every conference loss is a land mine to your tournament hopes, but - as we'll see below - the benefit of playing in a league loaded with talented, productive teams is that a loss every now and then or in all of your road games isn't going to send you spiraling towards the NIT.
Here's this week's s-curve...
| The | KenPom s-curve | 1/15 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | VIRGINIA | KENTUCKY | GONZAGA | VILLANOVA |
| 2 | Louisville | North Carolina | WISCONSIN | UTAH |
| 3 | Arizona | WEST VIRGINIA | Duke | Oklahoma |
| 4 | Iowa St. | Notre Dame | Kansas | VCU |
| 5 | Ohio St. | WICHITA ST. | Michigan St. | Baylor |
| 6 | Oklahoma St. | Florida | Northern Iowa | Maryland |
| 7 | SMU | Xavier | St. John's | Butler |
| 8 | SAN DIEGO ST. | Texas | Davidson | Arkansas |
| 9 | Dayton | Georgia | Cincinnati | Alabama |
| 10 | Iowa | BYU | South Carolina | Seton Hall |
| 11 | Connecticut | Stanford | OLD DOMINION | Georgetown |
| 12 | Minnesota | Mississippi | North Carolina St. | Syracuse |
| 12 | GREEN BAY | HARVARD | ||
| 13 | STEPHEN F. AUSTIN | EASTERN KENTUCKY | BUFFALO | HOFSTRA |
| 14 | GEORGIA ST. | NORTH CAROLINA CENTRAL | UC SANTA BARBARA | IONA |
| 15 | COASTAL CAROLINA | WOFFORD | EASTERN WASHINGTON | NEW MEXICO ST. |
| 16 | USC UPSTATE | TEXAS SOUTHERN | SOUTH DAKOTA ST. | STONY BROOK |
| 16 | LAFAYETTE | ST. FRANCIS NY | ||
| First 4 out | Louisiana Tech | Miami FL | LSU | Illinois |
| Next 4 out | UCLA | Providence | Vanderbilt | TCU |
...and the bracket:
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The Big Ten and Big East each lost a team, with the ACC and SEC picking up an extra bid this week. Once again five leagues have six or more bids before a big drop off to everyone else. There are only five more multi-bid leagues, with the A10, AAC, and Pac-12 each grabbing three and the MVC and WCC being represented by a pair of team. Beneath them are 22 one-bid leagues.
Anyway, there is a lot of basketball left between now an Selection Sunday. Xavier has missed some opportunities, but the Muskies aren't in as bad a position as you might think just by watching them play on the road.