Top 25 talk

[Greek Tragedy]

I'm an idiot. lol    That kind of looked familiar.

[David Collinge]

Top 25 At-a-Glance, Week of Feb. 12-18 (UPDATED with Wednesday scores and postponements)

#   1   UW-Stevens Point (21-2) def. UW-Platteville 69-58 and plays at UW-Superior Sat.
#   2   Virginia Wesleyan (21-3) hosts Lynchburg Sat.
#   3   Amherst (23-1) hosts Bates Sat. (NESCAC tournament)
#   4   Wooster (20-3) plays at Kenyon Wed.Thu. and hosts Ohio Wesleyan Sat.
#   5   UW-Oshkosh (19-5) lost at UW-Whitewater 88-71 and plays at UW-Platteville Sat.
#   6   Wittenberg (20-3) hosts Wabash Wed.Thu. and plays at Allegheny Sat.
#   7   Mississippi College (20-2) plays at UT-Dallas Thu. and plays at UT-Tyler Sat.
#   8   St. Thomas (21-3) hosts St. John's Sat.
#   9   Augustana (20-4) won at Illinois Wesleyan 80-77 and hosts North Central Sat.
#   10   Hope (20-3) won at Alma 88-62 and plays at Tri-State Sat.
#   11   Washington U. (18-3) plays at Carnegie Mellon Fri. and plays at Rochester Sun.
#   12   Elmhurst (18-5) lost at North Central 89-74 and hosts #25 Wheaton (IL) Sat.
#   13   Worcester Polytech (19-2) hosts Wheaton (MA) Wed.Thu. and plays at Coast Guard Sat.
#   14   Chicago (18-4) plays at Rochester Fri. and plays at Carnegie Mellon Sun.
#   15   Aurora (21-2) hosts Concordia (IL) Thu. and plays at Rockford Sat.
#   16   Whitworth (21-3) won at Whitman 84-72 and hosts Willamette Fri.
#   17   Guilford (20-3) def. Washington & Lee 95-77 and plays at Emory & Henry Sat.
#   18   UW-La Crosse (16-7) def. UW-River Falls 80-63 and plays at UW-Stout Sat.
#   19   Occidental (16-5) def. Cal Lutheran 41-40 and plays at Redlands Sat.
#   20   NYU (17-5) plays at Case Western Reserve Fri. and plays at Emory Sun.
#   21   Puget Sound (17-5) plays at Lewis & Clark Fri. and plays at Linfield Sat.
#   22   Trinity (CT) (20-3) hosts Bowdoin Sat. (NESCAC tournament)
#   23   Mary Hardin-Baylor (20-3) plays at McMurry Thu. and plays at Hardin-Simmons Sat.
#   24   Johns Hopkins (20-4) lost at Gettysburg 65-58 and hosts Franklin & Marshall Sat.
#   25   Wheaton (IL) (15-7) hosts Millikin Wed.Thu. and plays at #12 Elmhurst Sat.

[PrideSportBBallGuy]

Pat-

You know why the new regional rankings haven't come out yet.  I know its not your fault.  NCAA rankings say they will be released again today.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

Well... the NCAA offices are apparently closed today... and they can't figure out how to work from home when everyone is relying on them... so I am betting we won't see the regional rankings until Thursday!

PRIORITIES!!! I busted my ass to get to work in some horrible conditions in the Mid-Atlantic... just to make sure people had a safe and smooth day (ok, that's out of my system now!).

[David Collinge]

Well... the NCAA offices are apparently closed today... and they can't figure out how to work from home when everyone is relying on them... so I am betting we won't see the regional rankings until Thursday!

The NCAA's Commodore 64's don't work so well with the acoustic couplers and party lines the company provides to its key employees, so it's hard for them to work from home.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

Well... the last they could have done was upgrade to 386's!!!

Where in the world is those billions of dollars from CBS Sports going anyway???

(Pretty sure that will get some very interesting responses!)

[Mr. Ypsi]

d-mac,

You mean you didn't know they devote all the money to d3 tournament travel expenses.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

Ypsi - thanks for reminding me... I had completely forgot the NCAA paid for all those LONG airline trips for the teams. I'm sorry... thanks for the reminder... which actually reminds me I need to submit my expense report for covering Division III to the NCAA... which includes that five-star hotel and limo in Chicago when I plan to get out there for a weekend of basketball. They did say it would be no big deal... or did they say just no... hmm, can't remember!

[John Gleich]

Oshkosh falls at Whitewater 88-71.  With a La Crosse victory on Saturday at Stout, the Eagles will seal up the #2 seed in next week's WIAC tourney.

Point beats Platteville 69-58.  Already clinching at least a share of the WIAC championship with Saturday's victory over Stout, Point the victory bring's Point's 6 conference championship in 8 years.  The 14-1 Pointers now travel to Superior Saturday to take on the 2-13 Yellowjackets, who Point destroyed 101-45, Point's largest margin of victory in a WIAC game in 24 years in the first matchup in January.

[wooscotsfan]

Final:  #4 Wooster 87  Kenyon 62

Wooster gets the road win and clinches at least a tie for the NCAC regular season title as they move to 14-1 NCAC, 21-3 overall.  

Wooster was led tonight by Tom Port with 22 points, Devin Fulk with 15 points (5 three pointers), Brandon Johnson with 14 points and James Cooper with 13 points.

GO SCOTS!

[David Collinge]

Top 25 At-a-Glance, Week of Feb. 12-18 (UPDATED through Thursday)

#   1   UW-Stevens Point (21-2) def. UW-Platteville 69-58 and plays at UW-Superior Sat.
#   2   Virginia Wesleyan (21-3) hosts Lynchburg Sat.
#   3   Amherst (23-1) hosts Bates Sat. (NESCAC tournament)
#   4   Wooster (21-3) won at Kenyon 87-62 and hosts Ohio Wesleyan Sat.
#   5   UW-Oshkosh (19-5) lost at UW-Whitewater 88-71 and plays at UW-Platteville Sat.
#   6   Wittenberg (21-3) def. Wabash 82-59 and plays at Allegheny Sat.
#   7   Mississippi College (21-2) won at UT-Dallas 70-67 and plays at UT-Tyler Sat.
#   8   St. Thomas (21-3) hosts St. John's Sat.
#   9   Augustana (20-4) won at Illinois Wesleyan 80-77 and hosts North Central Sat.
#   10   Hope (20-3) won at Alma 88-62 and plays at Tri-State Sat.
#   11   Washington U. (18-3) plays at Carnegie Mellon Fri. and plays at Rochester Sun.
#   12   Elmhurst (18-5) lost at North Central 89-74 and hosts #25 Wheaton (IL) Sat.
#   13   Worcester Polytech (20-2) def. Wheaton (MA) 73-57 and plays at Coast Guard Sat.
#   14   Chicago (18-4) plays at Rochester Fri. and plays at Carnegie Mellon Sun.
#   15   Aurora (22-2) def. Concordia (IL) 109-86 and plays at Rockford Sat.
#   16   Whitworth (21-3) won at Whitman 84-72 and hosts Willamette Fri.
#   17   Guilford (20-3) def. Washington & Lee 95-77 and plays at Emory & Henry Sat.
#   18   UW-La Crosse (16-7) def. UW-River Falls 80-63 and plays at UW-Stout Sat.
#   19   Occidental (16-5) def. Cal Lutheran 41-40 and plays at Redlands Sat.
#   20   NYU (17-5) plays at Case Western Reserve Fri. and plays at Emory Sun.
#   21   Puget Sound (17-5) plays at Lewis & Clark Fri. and plays at Linfield Sat.
#   22   Trinity (CT) (20-3) hosts Bowdoin Sat. (NESCAC tournament)
#   23   Mary Hardin-Baylor (20-4) lost at McMurry 80-76 (OT) and plays at Hardin-Simmons Sat.
#   24   Johns Hopkins (20-4) lost at Gettysburg 65-58 and hosts Franklin & Marshall Sat.
#   25   Wheaton (IL) (16-7) def. Millikin 83-72 and plays at #12 Elmhurst Sat.

[Titan Q]

UW-Oshkosh is now 16-5 (.762) in-region with a game @ UW-Platteville Saturday.  Elmhurst is 14-5 (.737) with a home game vs Wheaton and a road game at Millikin (a team that beat them at home).  The two best leagues per Massey - the CCIW and WIAC - are getting dangerously close to sending just one team a piece to the tournament.  If Augustana and UW-Stevens Point protect their respective homecourts in conference tournament play, Elmhurst and Oshkosh will both pick up another loss.  Last year the worst 5 in-region winning percentages of the 17 Pool C teams were:


Illinois Wesleyan .714 (15-6)
UW-La Crosse .720 (18-7)
Occidental .750 (12-6)
Randolph-Macon .760 (19-6)
Utica .769 (20-6)

I don't have the update QOWI figures, but I suspect Elmhurst and Oshkosh don't look great there either after last night's losses.

[Ralph Turner]

McMurry and UMHB are going to OT, tied at 72.

[Pat Coleman]

Final: McMurry 80, UMHB 76 (OT)

[Ralph Turner]

McMurry 80, UMHB 76 in OT.  McMurry extends its winning streak to 11 and ends UMHB's 16 game streak.

This doesn't surprise me.  McMurry lost its starting point guard, Robert Moreno, to a broken ankle in the first 20 secs of the Rowan game, the first game of the season, at the Johns Hopkins Tourney.

Without our starting point guard, we lost to Rowan by 68-63.  Rowan lost to JHU the next night by 70-68.  The McMurry partisans who saw what McM had done without their starting point guard just thought what it could have been.  That assessment from the JHU tourney was what prompted me to predict the Mississippi College blowout of JHU.

Moreno returned to the starting lineup on Jan 25th, 7 games ago.  That is the difference in this team.  They have tied UMHB for the ASC-West.  A win over Concordia on Saturday and Coach Holmes gets his 6th ASC-West title in the last 9 years.

I don't consider this an upset.  Moreno has made the difference.  The 2 one-point losses in December (without Moreno) really hurt our Pool C chances. Otherwise, we would have an in-region record of 18-2, and playing those 2 games without Moreno as well.

McMurry (and probably UMHB) must win the ASC tourney to make the NCAA's.  We definitely put a very talented UMHB farther onto the Pool C bubble.