Butler's seed justified?

[Big D]

Ok, I could be completely wrong on this. But my initial reaction to Butler getting a #12 overall seed in the NCAA tournament is "What?!".

Look at Butler's schedule...very unimpressive. They beat Indiana...who hasn't (how they got in is another story)? Butler lost to Ohio State. The rest of their schedule was HL and cream puffs. And they are rewarded with a #12 overall seed, a 1st round bye, and a home game?

Apparently, UIC has got it all wrong. I guess we just need to weaken our schedule considerably and just pile up a really nice record.

UIC's national soccer reputation is much greater than Butler's. For 3 years, we had solid teams with All-Americans and one of the best defenses in all of soccer (and one of the best in the history of the game)....and let's not forget our incredible postseason success. Not a single top 16 seed, not a single bye,...not a single second-round home game.

Is their basketball reputation carrying over to other sports?

[UICJohn]

I can't say that I know too much about how rankings or college soccer seeds are set. However, I do know that they don't have the type of national exposure that basketball and football have. For example, if a voter is on the West Coast, how much knowledge do they really have about a team in the midwest or on the East Coast? They probably have results and things like that, but how much knowledge of the actual teams? They see a team with a 10-0 record and probably just assume that team is better than a team with an 8-2 record and don't relaly take things into consideration like opponents.

The fact of the matter is that UIC has had some very quality teams these past few years. We have beaten top teams and things like that. However, and I can't say this for sure off of the top of my head, we only won the conference tourney one season and I don't think it was our best season in terms of regular season record.

However, Butler got a seed and they didn't win the Tourney either!

I want to be happy - a Horizon League team getting an at large, a national seed, and all that - but it does seem a little like we have deserved one before. Actually, no doubt we have deserved one before.

And I still think that UIC / UMASS game should have been at UIC!

Either way, let's hope that John Trask and the team take this as a challenge. We'll have to replace Jovan which is going to be tough. However, I'm sure that Trask cannot be happy about what has happened this last year. I'm looking for a big time recruiting class this offseason.

[Big D]

Agree with everything you said John.

So apparently Butler will not a get a home game as they did not apply for one, which is a requirement of the NCAA. Perhaps their facilities would not allow them to host anyway and this is why they didn't place a bid (the NCAA may requires lights and I'm not sure Butler has them).

But, had they put in a bid, they would've gotten a home game.