Top 25 talk

[Fifth and Putnam]

Wahoo... Being the Major fan in the universe of the SLIAC, you know I love to see ANY little guy recognized... was ecstatic to see tiny La Roche garner a single vote this week!!! La Roche, which probably has far fewer students than Neighboring North Hills or North Allegheny High Schools in the beautiful northern suburbs of Pittsburgh (guess where hopefan was born and raised) fell short by just a couple points to Marietta and Hope, but has otherwise run through AMCC and other local competition... Their near miss vs Marietta seems to indicate that they may actually be able to be competitive in their first round NCAA tourney matchup, assuming they win the AMCC tourney or squeek into a "C" bid....

I'll admit to being the La Roche vote. I've been contemplating it now for a couple of weeks. SOS numbers will scare folks away but I've had the chance to see them on several occasions this year and been very impressed. This is Coach Carmichael's best team (and he has had a few over the years) and they legitimately put a scare into Marietta on their home court. They really should have beaten Hope (lost a double digit lead in the 2nd half) on the road as well. The AMCC schedule is what it is, but they did as well as they could putting together a difficult OOC SOS (I am guessing they thought they would get more out of the John Carroll game). La Roche needs to just keep winning. They're a quality team and will be a dangerous opponent for a 1 or 2 seed in the pod if they can get to the tournament.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

It is a busy week, but I finally got my Top 25 blog done. Here it is for those interested: http://bit.ly/2Tm9RAy

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

No. 3 Whitman controlled most of the game against No. 10 Whitworth, though the Pirates got it to within 8 with 3:30 remaining, but Blues win 110-98.

Whitman sweeps the season series for the third straight season.

Whitworth losses two in a row. First back-to-back regular season losses for the Pirates since Nov. 2014.

Kyle Roach was limited, though hit a shot to cut it to within eight - missed the ensuing free throw.

[SaintPaulite]

Whitman 110, Whitworth 98.

Whitworth's defense is just not good. Even if they had been able to handle the press in the first half, they still wouldn't have won because they couldn't get stops, and that's with shooting 69% from the floor in the second half. They shot absolutely lights out and barely made a dent in the lead.

They didn't even look like a Pool C team to me. 312 points allowed in their last 3 games, the last 5 halves on really poor shot defense.

Whitman is very good, but it was just way too easy for them to score.

[BluesBrother]

They didn't even look like a Pool C team to me.

Yup. I think they're closer to Linfield than Whitman this year.

[SaintPaulite]

They didn't even look like a Pool C team to me.

Yup. I think they're closer to Linfield than Whitman this year.

I don't usually watch west coast games, but it's -50 windchill and I'm not going to work tomorrow, so what else was I gonna do?

I wasn't really impressed. College is an outstanding shooter that I'm not sure why Whitman left alone in the second half. But again, their defense is just not good. I think a lot of teams would have success going against that.

[TheOsprey]

I got to admit; I wasn't impressed with the first half Whitworth displayed last night.  Taking care of the ball was their biggest issue.

However,  the Blues are still the best team I have seen and will be a very formidable opponent to any tournament team.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

The Hoopsville Marathon Show ... is tomorrow!

Tune in starting at 12:00 p.m. ET as we talk to guests from around the country about nothing but #d3hoops.

It is all about celebrating the season, student-athletes, coaches, and an exciting season.

For more information, click here: http://bit.ly/2HGx0N3

We will share more about the show a little later.

[SaintPaulite]

I got to admit; I wasn't impressed with the first half Whitworth displayed last night.  Taking care of the ball was their biggest issue.

However,  the Blues are still the best team I have seen and will be a very formidable opponent to any tournament team.

Even if they had handled the ball well, they still didn't play good enough defense to win. Whitman is good but they didn't really shoot lights out, they just got a lot of very makeable shots. Other teams they beat have done a better job on defense against them but either turned it over too much or didn't make enough shots themselves.

[Darryl Nester]

How They Fared (So Far)

Top 25

Rank	Pts	Team	W-L	Results
#1	607	Augustana	19-1	01/31 vs. #22 North Central (Ill.); 02/02 vs. North Park
#2	595	Nebraska Wesleyan	19-1	def. Central, 95-70; 02/02 vs. Buena Vista
#3	582	Whitman	19-1	def. #10 Whitworth, 110-98; 02/01 vs. Lewis and Clark
#4	564	UW-Oshkosh	18-1	01/30 vs. UW-Whitewater postponed; 02/02 vs. UW-Stout
#5	510	St. Thomas	17-1	01/31 vs. Macalester; 02/02 vs. Hamline
#6	464	Williams	18-2	def. Albertus Magnus, 85-67; 02/01 vs. T#32 Colby; 02/02 vs. Bowdoin
#7	446	MIT	18-2	def. Babson, 88-77; 02/02 vs. Wheaton (Mass.)
#8	428	Marietta	17-2	01/31 vs. #19 Capital; 02/02 vs. Ohio Northern
#9	392	Randolph-Macon	19-2	def. Shenandoah, 96-76; 02/02 vs. Roanoke
#10	384	Whitworth	16-4	LOST to #3 Whitman, 98-110; 02/02 vs. Lewis and Clark
#11	371	Hamilton	17-2	def. Wells, 80-65; 02/01 vs. Bates; 02/02 vs. Tufts
#12	327	St. John's	15-3	01/31 vs. Bethel; 02/02 vs. Macalester
#13	304	Wooster	17-3	def. Kenyon, 105-67; 02/02 vs. Ohio Wesleyan
#14	291	Wabash	17-2	02/01 vs. Allegheny; 02/02 vs. Hiram
#15	288	Pomona-Pitzer	19-1	def. Redlands, 81-68; 02/02 vs. Chapman
#16	232	Swarthmore	17-3	def. Washington College, 84-61; 02/02 vs. Gettysburg
#17	196	Christopher Newport	17-3	def. St. Mary's (Md.), 79-76; 02/02 vs. Mary Washington
#18	179	Loras	16-5	LOST to Dubuque, 94-96 OT; 02/02 vs. Simpson
#19	164	Capital	16-3	01/31 vs. #8 Marietta; 02/02 vs. John Carroll
#20	155	UW-Stevens Point	13-5	01/31 vs. #25 UW-La Crosse; 02/02 vs. UW-River Falls
#21	129	Lynchburg	17-4	LOST to Roanoke, 56-78; 02/02 vs. Bridgewater (Va.)
#22	91	North Central (Ill.)	17-3	01/31 vs. #1 Augustana
#23	89	Amherst	15-3	02/01 vs. Tufts; 02/02 vs. Bates
#24	77	Nichols	19-2	def. Western New England, 82-63
#25	53	UW-La Crosse	14-5	01/31 vs. #20 UW-Stevens Point; 02/02 vs. UW-Platteville

Others receiving votes

Rank	Pts	Team	W-L	Results
#26	47	Oswego State	17-2	def. SUNY New Paltz, 67-46; 02/02 vs. Cortland
#27	29	Plattsburgh State	15-4	def. SUNY Potsdam, 77-75 OT; 02/01 vs. Buffalo State; 02/02 vs. Fredonia
#28	21	Rochester	14-4	02/01 vs. New York University; 02/03 vs. Brandeis
#29	16	Centre	17-3	02/01 vs. Rhodes; 02/03 vs. Hendrix
#30	14	Emory	14-4	02/01 vs. Brandeis; 02/03 vs. New York University
#31	10	Gordon	18-2	def. Wentworth, 73-71; 02/02 vs. Roger Williams
T#32	9	Wesleyan	15-5	02/01 vs. Trinity (Conn.)
T#32	9	Wittenberg	15-5	def. Denison, 82-72; 02/02 vs. Kenyon
T#32	9	Middlebury	15-5	02/01 vs. Bowdoin; 02/02 vs. T#32 Colby
T#32	9	Colby	15-5	02/01 vs. #6 Williams; 02/02 vs. T#32 Middlebury
T#32	9	Guilford	15-5	02/02 vs. Hampden-Sydney
#37	6	Wheaton (Ill.)	15-5	01/31 vs. Carroll; 02/02 vs. Elmhurst
#38	5	New Jersey City	16-5	def. Montclair State, 74-66; 02/02 vs. Stockton
T#39	3	Arcadia	17-3	def. Albright, 77-69; 02/02 vs. Messiah
T#39	3	Occidental	17-3	def. Chapman, 59-46; 02/02 vs. Cal Lutheran
T#39	3	Scranton	16-4	LOST to Susquehanna, 81-89 OT; 02/02 vs. Catholic
T#42	2	Eastern Connecticut	16-4	def. Mass-Boston, 79-54; 02/02 vs. Mass-Dartmouth
T#42	2	WPI	16-4	def. Clark, 79-55; 02/02 vs. Coast Guard
#44	1	La Roche	17-2	01/31 vs. Penn State-Behrend; 02/02 vs. Pitt-Bradford

[SaintPaulite]

Well, Capital may have helped solve a couple of bracketing problems. They have to be in the driver's seat to host, and they may have sent Marietta to points south. #CNUislessthan500

[Gregory Sager]

#22 North Central 68
#1 Augustana 63

Nobody will go undefeated in CCIW play for the 46th straight season.

[SaintPaulite]

#22 North Central 68
#1 Augustana 63

Nobody will go undefeated in CCIW play for the 46th straight season.

Vintage upset. Slow tempo, hit a bunch of 3, don't give up many, play defense.

If I understand what I heard from the selection committee guy on Hoopsville today, it sounds like the new methodology may favor a team like North Central. It sounded to me like it's going to be about who you beat, not who you lost to. So losing to North Park and Ohio Northern won't matter as much when you can say you beat Augustana.

Edit: I guess they only hit 7 3's. Seemed like more. Still +9 from 3, made the difference.

[Gregory Sager]

That, and the six straight stops the North Central defense got between 7:08 and 1:43 that were the key to an 8-0 run that allowed the Cards to flip a 56-52 deficit into a 60-56 lead.

[fantastic50]

If I understand what I heard from the selection committee guy on Hoopsville today, it sounds like the new methodology may favor a team like North Central. It sounded to me like it's going to be about who you beat, not who you lost to.

I have observed in previous years that the number of wins vs regionally-ranked opponents matters much more than the number of losses vs that same group.  For example, 3-5 vRRO appears to get a better outcome than 2-2 vRRO.  Also, it has been really tough to get a Pool C bid without at least two wins vRRO, no matter your SOS or who the schedule includes.