Top 25 talk

[Titan Q]

Here is the ballot I submitted for this week's poll - https://twitter.com/IWUhoopscom/status/1465139981110890497?s=20.

I went:

1) RMC
2) Yeshiva
3) IWU
4) UW-Platteville
5) UW-Oshkosh

Even after the loss at CNU, I felt like RMC has the best overall #1 resume.  RMC has really nice wins over Emory (neutral) and at Marietta.  The Marietta win was especially impressive to me -- vs a great team in a packed, hostile environment.  And I never penalize a team for losing on the road vs another great team...OT loss at my #10 CNU is a no biggie for me.

Yeshiva is hard to handle as a voter because of the SOS - Massey has their schedule #401 right now.  So I just watch their games and go by the eye test as best as I can.  They are really outstanding...I wish they played more good teams.

IWU has a tremendous win vs Oshkosh -- if that was on the road, I'd probably have IWU #1.  I think IWU's wins over Hope and Calvin will turn out to be real good ones.  The Titans have some big-time games coming up.

[PoppersMacsLive]

Yeshiva has not played a team ranked at the time of the game during the streak. Looks like IWU will be the first (assuming the streak is still intact on the morning of 12/30).

They've showed, in the few big games they've been able to manage, that they can tighten it up when they need to, but I want to see the consistency you get from a team like RMC, where everything is locked down regardless of opponent, ever game, before I pull the #1 trigger.

The big games being Rochester and St. Joseph or are you also going back to Williams and the second round of the tournament from March 2020?

I like Yeshiva a lot and I agree with nearly everyone else in the world that they have the POY.  But, the closest I can get is relatively big games.

During the 44-game streak, has Yeshiva played a ranked team (at the moment of the game)?

WPI and PSU-Harrisburg were not ranked in Week 12 of 2019-20.

Will Illinois Wesleyan be the first ranked team the Macs have faced during the streak?

[deiscanton]

FYI-- here are the OWPs of the current top 5 ranked DIII teams in the D3Hoops.com Top 25 poll according to the NCAA stats through games of Monday, November 29, 2021

Source:  http://stats.ncaa.org/rankings/change_sport_year_div Click on Men's Basketball for sport, 2021-22 for season, and III for Div.  Then go to Misc Reports and select Toughest Schedule.

Reminder:  OWP is 2/3 of SOS, and these are very early numbers.  I would look at Cumulative OWP (OWP of past and future opposition) for a sense of whether the schedule gets tougher throughout the season.

1.)  Yeshiva-- current OWP is .395 (ranked #309 among DIII men's basketball teams)/ Cumulative OWP is .405

2.)  Illinois Wesleyan-- current OWP is .567 (ranked in a tie for #106 among DIII men's basketball teams)/  Cumulative OWP is .671

3.)  Randolph-Macon-- current OWP is .730 (ranked #13 among DIII men's basketball teams)/ Cumulative OWP is .553

4.)  UW-Platteville-- current OWP is .438 (ranked #261 among DIII men's basketball teams)/Cumulative OWP is .644

5.)  Wheaton (IL)-- current OWP is .548 (ranked #129 among DIII men's basketball teams)/Cumulative OWP is .641

It will be interesting to recheck these numbers as the season goes along, as there is a lot more basketball still to be played.

BTW, Marietta of the OAC is tied with Purchase of Skyline for highest current OWP at .826, but Marietta's cumulative OWP is .754, while Purchase's cumulative OWP is .455 

Just some tidbits....

[SpringSt7]

If Yeshiva lost to Williams in 2020, which would have been their second loss of the season, they would've been a bubble team from a Pool C standpoint. That's how bad their SOS is. The great thing is that none of that matters once you're in the tournament, it's just too bad we didn't get a real postseason sample size.

You can also say this treatment of Yeshiva is unfair but it would be silly to act like the past performances of historically relevant programs and conferences isn't an understandable data point for discussing resumes. They've earned them.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

If Yeshiva lost to Williams in 2020, which would have been their second loss of the season, they would've been a bubble team from a Pool C standpoint. That's how bad their SOS is. The great thing is that none of that matters once you're in the tournament, it's just too bad we didn't get a real postseason sample size.

You can also say this treatment of Yeshiva is unfair but it would be silly to act like the past performances of historically relevant programs and conferences isn't an understandable data point for discussing resumes. They've earned them.

And it works the other way, too. At one point I told Bob, "just watch them," he did and became a covert. I don't know if they can win six tournament games in a row, but they can compete with any team in the country regardless of the conference they're in.

[Baldini]

If Yeshiva lost to Williams in 2020, which would have been their second loss of the season, they would've been a bubble team from a Pool C standpoint. That's how bad their SOS is. The great thing is that none of that matters once you're in the tournament, it's just too bad we didn't get a real postseason sample size.

You can also say this treatment of Yeshiva is unfair but it would be silly to act like the past performances of historically relevant programs and conferences isn't an understandable data point for discussing resumes. They've earned them.

And it works the other way, too. At one point I told Bob, "just watch them," he did and became a covert. I don't know if they can win six tournament games in a row, but they can compete with any team in the country regardless of the conference they're in.

The kind of wisdom that comes from reaching milestone birthdays in your life. 

[WUPHF]

And it works the other way, too. At one point I told Bob, "just watch them," he did and became a covert. I don't know if they can win six tournament games in a row, but they can compete with any team in the country regardless of the conference they're in.

Possibly in more ways than one even if it is honorary, lol.

[PoppersMacsLive]

I break down the D3hoops Week 1 Top 25 Poll and provide my analysis and opinions here:
https://www.macslive.com/post/d3hoops-top-25-week-1-breakdown-analysis-and-opinions

[CNU85]

I break down the D3hoops Week 1 Top 25 Poll and provide my analysis and opinions here:
https://www.macslive.com/post/d3hoops-top-25-week-1-breakdown-analysis-and-opinions

Very nice analysis and thoughts. Thanks!

[y_jack_lok]

I break down the D3hoops Week 1 Top 25 Poll and provide my analysis and opinions here:
https://www.macslive.com/post/d3hoops-top-25-week-1-breakdown-analysis-and-opinions

That's good stuff. Really enjoyed reading it. Is there a way you can include W/L records next to each team you include in your analysis?

[Darryl Nester]

How They Fared (So Far)

Results since Monday's poll, and what's coming before the next poll.

Top 25

Rank	Pts	Team	W-L	Results
#1	603	Yeshiva	9-0	won at Farmingdale State, 80-66; 12/04 vs. SUNY-Old Westbury
#2	586	Illinois Wesleyan	6-0	def. Chicago, 83-50; 12/04 vs. Carroll
#3	583	Randolph-Macon	7-1	def. Virginia Wesleyan, 65-53; 12/04 at #9 Roanoke
#4	562	UW-Platteville	8-0	won at #8 UW-La Crosse, 73-67; 12/04 vs. UW-River Falls
#5	471	Wheaton (Ill.)	7-0	won at Carthage, 65-64; 12/04 at #7 Elmhurst
#6	435	St. Joseph (Conn.)	5-0	12/04 at Dean
#7	420	Elmhurst	6-1	LOST at T#42 Calvin, 57-75; 12/04 vs. #5 Wheaton (Ill.)
#8	402	UW-La Crosse	7-1	LOST to #4 UW-Platteville, 67-73; 12/04 vs. #10 UW-Oshkosh
#9	385	Roanoke	6-0	def. Bridgewater (Va.), 83-58; 12/04 vs. #3 Randolph-Macon
#10	376	UW-Oshkosh	7-1	def. T#40 UW-Eau Claire, 69-60; 12/04 at #8 UW-La Crosse
#11	354	Mary Hardin-Baylor	3-0	12/03 vs. University of the Ozarks
#12	351	Mount Union	5-0	12/04 vs. Heidelberg
#13	320	Marietta	3-2	12/04 vs. Ohio Northern
#14	281	Trine	5-1	IDLE
#15	271	Johns Hopkins	6-1	def. Washington College, 92-61; 12/04 at Muhlenberg
#16	253	Whitworth	5-1	12/04 at Willamette
#17	221	Christopher Newport	5-2	12/04 vs. Averett
#18	220	Swarthmore	5-1	won at Haverford, 81-50; 12/04 vs. Dickinson
#19	159	Wesleyan	7-0	def. Worcester State, 81-73; 12/04 vs. #29 Williams
#20	146	Washington U.	5-1	12/03 vs. Hendrix; 12/04 vs. Hope/St. Thomas (Tex.)
#21	128	Amherst	6-0	def. Thomas, 79-54; 12/04 at St. Elizabeth
#22	105	Emory	4-2	def. LaGrange, 95-65
#23	78	RPI	4-0	12/03 vs. Hobart; 12/04 vs. Rochester Tech
#24	71	Maryville (Tenn.)	5-1	def. Asbury, 85-63; 12/04 vs. Huntingdon
#25	59	DeSales	7-0	won at Wilkes, 65-61; 12/04 vs. Arcadia

Others receiving votes

Rank	Pts	Team	W-L	Results
#26	50	Berry	6-0	def. Huntingdon, 76-53; 12/04 at Oglethorpe
#27	36	WPI	6-1	won at #33 Brandeis, 79-60; 12/04 at Worcester State
#28	29	Lynchburg	4-1	won at Washington and Lee, 82-69; 12/04 vs. Bridgewater (Va.)
#29	23	Williams	5-0	12/02 vs. Worcester State; 12/04 at #19 Wesleyan
T#30	21	Mass-Dartmouth	7-1	IDLE
T#30	21	Cal Lutheran	7-0	def. Occidental, 76-60; 12/04 vs. Chapman; 12/05 at UC Santa Barb.
#32	19	Trinity (Texas)	6-1	12/04 at Schreiner
#33	18	Brandeis	3-2	LOST to #27 WPI, 60-79; 12/03 vs. Babson; 12/04 vs. TBA
#34	13	Case Western Reserve	7-1	12/04 at Adrian
#35	12	Wooster	3-1	won at Oberlin, 62-51; 12/04 vs. DePauw
#36	9	Colby	4-2	LOST to Southern Maine, 71-74; 12/03 at Bates; 12/05 at Bowdoin
#37	7	Rochester	6-2	IDLE
T#38	5	Dubuque	4-3	won at Buena Vista, 66-51; 12/04 vs. Central
T#38	5	Linfield	2-2	12/03 at Puget Sound; 12/04 vs. Lewis and Clark
T#40	4	UW-Eau Claire	5-3	LOST at #10 UW-Oshkosh, 60-69; 12/04 at UW-Stevens Point
T#40	4	Hanover	4-0	def. Anderson, 67-52; 12/04 vs. Bluffton
T#42	3	Calvin	5-2	def. #7 Elmhurst, 75-57
T#42	3	LeTourneau	4-0	12/02 vs. Sul Ross State; 12/04 vs. Howard Payne
T#44	1	Baldwin Wallace	4-2	LOST to Heidelberg, 59-92; 12/04 at Wilmington
T#44	1	Catholic	6-1	LOST to Marymount, 69-74; 12/04 vs. Scranton
T#44	1	Nichols	6-0	won at Salve Regina, 67-66; 12/04 vs. University of New England

[PoppersMacsLive]

Thanks!

Great idea, I will include that moving forward.

I break down the D3hoops Week 1 Top 25 Poll and provide my analysis and opinions here:
https://www.macslive.com/post/d3hoops-top-25-week-1-breakdown-analysis-and-opinions

That's good stuff. Really enjoyed reading it. Is there a way you can include W/L records next to each team you include in your analysis?

[PauldingLightUP]

There are three top ten matchups on Saturday.

Randolph Macon at Roanoke, Wheaton at Elmhurst, and Oshkosh at La Crosse.

Anyone have any stats on how rare this is? And has it happened this early in the season before? And has it happened before where all three are conference games?

[Titan Q]

There are three top ten matchups on Saturday.

Randolph Macon at Roanoke, Wheaton at Elmhurst, and Oshkosh at La Crosse.

Anyone have any stats on how rare this is? And has it happened this early in the season before? And has it happened before where all three are conference games?

Awesome matchups.

[Titan Q]

Watched WashU dismantle a good Hendrix team.  They are back.

I think the Bears are legit Top 10 good now.