By Jonah Bronstein
As strange as it sounds, we should know by Saturday morning whether the Niagara Purple Eagles will be in contention for an at-large berth in the 2010 NCAA Tournament.
Niagara achieved its highest RPI rating (among the top 50 on Selection Sunday) last year by getting 15 of their 26 wins away from home, and defeating a slew of strong teams from other mid-major conferences.
But without a marquee win against a major foe on its résumé, the Purple Eagles were left out of the field of 65.
Auburn isn’t likely to be a nationally-ranked team this year, but the Tigers have the kind of name value that, come March, could boost Niagara’s profile with the selection committee. If the Purple Eagles can win tonight’s season opener.
“That’s certainly not what I’m thinking about right now, but maybe by the end of the year,” Niagara coach Joe Mihalich said. “That wasn’t really the plan. What we try to do with our non-conference schedule is get ready for league play. A team like Auburn is going to help us get ready for Siena. A team like Bonaventure is going to help us get ready for Fairfield.
“We kind of stumbled into that last year where we figured out how to have a good RPI — win a lot of road games and play good teams from good conferences. You don’t have to play every game against Auburn. It’s good to play Austin Peay. It’s good to play Central Florida. It’s good to play Mount St. Mary’s. It’s good to play Akron. If you win those games, you can accomplish what you want to accomplish.”
Although Auburn has been picked to finish last in the six-team Western division of the Southeastern Conference, Mihalich said the Purple Eagles need to be in midseason form to win their first game.
“They are a veteran team with great guards,” Mihalich said. “They have they’re sixth and seventh men back. They have Southeastern Conference athletes. It’s going to be really tough.”
E-mail reporter Jonah Bronstein at jonah.bronstein@niagara-gazette.com
