Top 25 talk

[diehardfan]

NPU puts a scare on #9 Elmhurst. According to the Wheaton webcast, Elmhurst wins 79-76 on the road. Elmhurst was actually down six at the half.

Wheaton beat NPU solidly by 13 on Saturday...  My guess is that has a lot more to do with the fact that NPU was hungry after the Wheaton loss rather than Elmhurst being 10 pts worse than Wheaton.

It does set up an interesting game this weekend though, as Elmhurst takes on Wheaton @ Wheaton.

In other CCIW Top 25 action, #15 Augie wins at Millikin, 80-65.

#23 Carthage wins @ ORV North Central, 80-69

ORV Wheaton wins vs IWU, 79-65

[wooscotsfan]

Quick review of the scoreboard shows that four Top 25 teams dropped games tonight.

#3 St. Thomas, #6 Wittenberg, #16 UW-LaCrosse and #20 Guilford all lost road games this evening.

[David Collinge]

Top 25 Scores and Schedules, Jan. 15-21 (UPDATED with some FRIDAY scores):

#1 UW-Stevens Point (15-1) won at UW-Platteville 73-68 and hosts UW-River Falls Sat.
#2 Amherst (16-0) def. Elms 103-69, def. Middlebury 79-73, and hosts Williams Sat.
#3 St. Thomas (13-2) lost at St. John's 64-59 and plays at St. Mary's (MN) Sat.
#4 Wooster (14-2) won at Hiram 111-57 and plays at Ohio Wesleyan Sat.
#5 Virginia Wesleyan (13-2) won at Eastern Mennonite 85-56 and hosts Randolph-Macon Sat.
#6 Wittenberg (13-3) lost at Ohio Wesleyan 70-48 and hosts Allegheny Sat.
#7 Mississippi College (14-1) won at Louisiana College 63-43 and plays at U. of the Ozarks Sat.
#8 Ohio Northern (13-3) def. Otterbein 79-70 and plays at Marietta Sat.
#9 Elmhurst (14-1) won at North Park 79-76 and plays at Wheaton (IL) Sat.
#10 Whitworth (15-1) def. Whitman 62-59 and plays at Willamette Fri.
#11 Hope (13-2) won at Adrian 81-42 and hosts Alma Sat.
#12 UW-Oshkosh (14-3) def. UW-Whitewater 65-60 and plays at UW-Superior Sat.
#13 Washington U. (12-1) hosts Rochester Fri. and hosts Carnegie Mellon Sun.
#14 Puget Sound (12-2) hosts Lewis and Clark Fri. and hosts Linfield Sat.
#15 Augustana (13-3) won at Millikin 80-65 and plays at North Central Sat.
#16 UW-La Crosse (11-5) lost at UW-River Falls 81-72 and plays at UW-Eau Claire Sat.
#17 Occidental (10-3) won at Pomona-Pitzer 70-54 and plays at Cal Lutheran Sat.
#18 Worcester Polytech (13-1) won at MIT 64-43 and hosts Springfield Sat.
#19 Aurora (14-1) won at Concordia (IL) 77-71, won at Concordia (WI) 95-71, and hosts Rockford Sat.
#20 Guilford (11-2) lost at Roanoke 72-68, hosts Bridgewater (VA) Sat., and hosts Eastern Mennonite Sun.
#21 Bates (13-2) won at St. Joseph's (ME) 89-80, def. Husson 70-55, and hosts Tufts Sat.
#22 Rhode Island College (14-1) def. Western Connecticut 85-61 and plays at #24 Keene St. Sat.
#23 Carthage (10-5) won at North Central 80-69 and hosts Millikin Sat.
#24 Keene St. (13-2) lost to Eastern Connecticut 73-71 and hosts #22 Rhode Island College Sat.
#25 Johns Hopkins (14-2) won at Franklin and Marshall 69-66 and plays at Dickinson Sat.

Four games on tap for Friday from the NESCAC, UAA, and NWC (2).

[Titan Q]

Final:  Ohio Wesleyan 70  #6 Wittenberg 48

Wittenberg takes a bad road loss tonight as the Bishops dominate this game with a strong shooting performance.

The Ohio Wesleyan team I saw in November looked like a Top 25 candidate to me...I'm not sure I'd call this a "bad road loss."  OWU is a very well-coached team with a great player leading the way (Chojnacki, sp?).

That said, I've felt that we've been rating Wittenberg too high this year.

[smedindy]

Having seen OWU, they are a very solid team....

[Pat Coleman]

Q,

I'm sure if you saw them in December you'd think differently. They were under .500 for the month:

Sat., Dec 2   3:00 pm   vs. Hiram • *   W, 90-49       
Sat., Dec 9   2:00 pm   at Allegheny • *   L, 70-73   (OT)   
Thu., Dec 21   7:30 pm   vs. Wilmington •   L, 60-63       
Thu., Dec 28   6:00 pm   vs. Aquinas   L, 79-80   (OT)   
Fri., Dec 29   6:00 pm   vs. Notre Dame (Ohio)   W, 86-76       

[David Collinge]

More recently, OWU lost this past Saturday at 5-11 Earlham.  OWU is a very tough team to figure out this year, and most years.  They get another bite at the apple this coming Saturday when Wooster comes to town.

Wittenberg, on the other hand, has long looked like a disaster waiting to happen.  This is a team that got taken to triple OT by Denison (3-13), who was in the midst of a 10-game losing streak, and needed a running three by Mark Caraway at the buzzer to force OT at Kenyon (7-9).  Caraway tore his ACL Saturday; his absence may have been pivotal in the loss at Delaware.

[PrideSportBBallGuy]

Quick review of the scoreboard shows that four Top 25 teams dropped games tonight.

#3 St. Thomas, #6 Wittenberg, #16 UW-LaCrosse and #20 Guilford all lost road games this evening.

Not to toot my own horn, but my ranking didn't have UW-LaCrosse or Guilford ranked.  Plus I had Wittenberg and St. Thomas much lower in the rankings so I don't feel so bad that they lost.  I know I am going to get smited for saying that, so It would be nice if you wouldn't 

[gordonmann]

Uh, yeah but how'd that Lincoln ranking work out?

[ScotsFan]

That said, I've felt that we've been rating Wittenberg too high this year.

Wittenberg, on the other hand, has long looked like a disaster waiting to happen.  This is a team that got taken to triple OT by Denison (3-13), who was in the midst of a 10-game losing streak, and needed a running three by Mark Caraway at the buzzer to force OT at Kenyon (7-9).  Caraway tore his ACL Saturday; his absence may have been pivotal in the loss at Delaware.

I totally agree about Wittenberg.  I have felt all season long that Witt was a bit overrated.  Even with the scare they gave Wooster, I attribute that to more of Witt playing out of their trees anytime they see the Black and Old Gold.  They got beat pretty soundly up in Ada earlier in the season.  And, as David noted, they needed 3 OT's to get by a pretty poor Denison team and a 3 point prayer to send them to OT and eventually beat Kenyon.  I think they have been walking the tight rope too long and maybe Caraway's injury was enough for that tight rope to snap in a big way last night. 

As for OWU, I don't think anyone will question them as having the capabilities of a 'Top 25' caliber team (well, maybe some would ).  The problem I have with them is that they have their moments when they just forget to show up.  They are very Jekyll and Hyde IMO.  Those December losses really stick out as Hyde moments for them.  And then Jekyll comes back but, just when you think they've put all that Hyde behaviour behind them, they go and lay an egg at Earlham???  And Jekyll returned last night.  So what team can Wooster expect on Saturday?  It's anybody's guess as far as I'm concerned?!

[Flying Dutch Fan]

I did mean Calvin; sorry.  Hope, Calvin, what's the difference?

just catching up on reading some posts, and though this was written a couple days ago, it was still painful to read

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

I did mean Calvin; sorry.  Hope, Calvin, what's the difference?

just catching up on reading some posts, and though this was written a couple days ago, it was still painful to read

What?  I don't see anything wrong with that.

[PrideSportBBallGuy]

So doesn't anyone know what that Amherst - Middlebury game was like. It looks like it was a good game.  6pt win is that what everyone expected out of tonight's game or was Amherst really supposed to blow them out.

[Pat Coleman]

If you're going to keep gloating about your ranking then we're going to have to point out what happened to that alma mater of yours, for which you kept lobbying for a vote.

You might get more info on a NESCAC game on the NESCAC board.

[PrideSportBBallGuy]

I am not gloating I really wanted to know what happened.  I did lobby for a vote because I thought they should have gotten in the poll.  I mean they didn't even get in mine.  I even said I thought they wouldn't get in mine.  I posted it right on here.