How bad was Belmont basketball's loss to Ohio? We asked Joe Lunardi

Could a 6½-hour, 420-mile bus ride to Athens, Ohio on Nov. 9, the first day of men’s college basketball competition, actually ruin an entire season for the Belmont men’s team?

The answer is maybe but remain calm. “It’s way too early to say,’’ said Joe Lunardi, the man who popularized Bracketology, the skill of predicting the NCAA Tournament field. He produces brackets every week for ESPN and even wrote a book about it.

However, it’s pretty much accepted that the tournament selection committee is not going to give proper credit to a team even playing a non-conference game at Ohio, a team that could win the Mid-American Conference and could very well pull off an upset in this season’s tournament.

“Quad one wins are the new coin of the realm,’’ said Lunardi, “and it’s as much about quantity as much as quality.’’

Despite the difficulty of playing at Ohio, it’s not a Quadrant 1 at this point although it could transform into one if Ohio has a great season. A Quadrant 1 road game is one against one of the top 75 teams in the country according to the Net Rankings. Right now, winning or losing in Athens, Ohio isn’t that big a factor.

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“They need quad one wins,’’ said Lunardi. “They’ve got to get them against LSU (Nov. 22) and somewhere in the DisneyWorld event (Nov. 25-28 where the Bruins play Drake and have possible games against Alabama and even Kansas).’’

Even though the Ohio trip seemed to have backfired on the Bruins, Lunardi endorses the idea of going there. “I think it’s better to roll the dice on scheduling because it might get you to an at-large bid,’’ he said. Despite the effort by Belmont, Lunardi still feels the selection committee will not be kind to mid-majors seeking at-large bids.

Belmont coach Casey Alexander isn’t thinking in those terms

“We really didn’t have much choice about why we scheduled the game,’’ he said. “We couldn’t get games and Ohio couldn’t either.

“You know, it could end up being the one that costs us, but you know I didn't approach it that way, and I don't see it that way. We’ve got plenty of opportunities out there in front of us, including landing our conference tournament.’’

The Bruins beat Furman in overtime Monday night in a terrific game between two high-level mid-major teams that both are NCAA Tournament caliber. Furman won at Louisville on Saturday night, but the hill to climb will be steep for both teams.

For Belmont, it will still probably come down to three days in Evansville, Indiana, in March when the Ohio Valley Conference tournament is played. That’s when Belmont will have to gain an automatic bid.

The Bruins, who are leaving the OVC for the Missouri Valley next season, are lucky to have that opportunity. James Madison, which is leaving the Colonial Athletic Association for the Sun Belt for football reasons, won’t get the same chance because the CAA has banned all James Madison teams from post-season conference tournaments. Talk about vindictive.

The OVC never considered anything like that.

“Almost a decade ago, we purposely addressed the issue from a policy standout to allow departing schools to remain eligible to qualify for and participate in OVC championships,’’ said OVC commissioner Beth DeBauche. “We are committed to providing all our student-athletes with an exemplary championships experience.”

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Lonely night on West End

Not sure about the Sunday night experience for Vanderbilt during the NFL season. The box score indicates 5,642 were in attendance Sunday night at Memorial Gymnasium for the Texas State game. It sure didn’t look like that many and it made for a dull atmosphere. There’s got to be a better time to play that game.

Coach K’s slow departure

I’m one of the least sentimental humans on earth so I’m probably in the minority with this opinion: I really don’t like this season-long farewell for Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski. It’s going to be monotonous. Good thing he doesn’t schedule many road games outside of the ACC. I’d hate to be the guy who has to concoct some original presentation and gift before a Duke game. Good luck to those people. I much prefer an Irish Goodbye.

Late night TV

Gonzaga may have beaten Texas 86-74 on Saturday night/Sunday morning, but the top-ranked Zags were not perfect and showed some possible weaknesses. They were 7-of-19 on 3-pointers, but Rasir Butler, an Iowa State transfer who also played at Penn State, hit four of six. Subtract him and it’s 3-of-16.

The Zags were 25-of-40 on twos — that’s their strength — and Texas could not stop All-American center Drew Timme, who scored 37. The Zags’ big recruit, seven-footer Chet Holmgren, got pushed around a lot and wasn’t much of a factor. Texas, meanwhile, is a disorganized mess, a team that doesn’t seem to have enough minutes to satisfy all the players who transferred into the program.

The pain

Former Boston College coach Jim Christian would sometimes make the point to reporters that there is great parity in college basketball. (Somehow, the NCAA selection committee hasn’t gotten the message.) His position is supported by some scores in the first week of play.

There’s a great book about Citadel basketball by the fantastic writer Pat Conroy and it’s called, “My Losing Season.’’ That sums up Citadel basketball, but the Bulldogs were good enough last week to beat Pitt. It was the school’s first victory over an ACC team since 1979 and snapped a 46-game losing streak against ACC teams. By the way, Pat Conroy’s nephew, Ed, is an assistant at Vanderbilt.

Some other surprising results

Oklahoma State lost to Oakland; Georgia Tech lost to Miami of Ohio; Georgetown lost to Dartmouth; Virginia lost to Navy. (It was the Middies’ first win over a ranked opponent since 1986 when David Robinson played there.) That’s just a few.

Games I’m looking forward to seeing this week:

Thursday

Arizona State at San Diego State: There’s always extra incentive when SD State plays the Pac 12.

Saturday

Tennessee vs. Villanova at Mohegan Sun Casino in Connecticut: It’s a big weekend for the Vols. First this game against a veteran, defensive-minded Villanova team. Then either North Carolina or Purdue on Sunday.

North Carolina vs. Purdue at Mohegan Sun: There are some who think Purdue is a national championship contender. This will give us an indication if that’s right.

Richmond at Drake: Two veteran teams that will most likely be in the NCAA tournament. A big mid-major matchup.

Joe Sullivan, former sports editor of the Boston Globe, can be reached at josephsullivan1974@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @GlobeSullivan

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: How bad was Belmont basketball's loss to Ohio? We asked Joe Lunardi