Top 25 talk

[Hugenerd]

#21 DeSales loses to Catholic tonight, for their third loss of the year and the second time to an unranked team.  Will this finally drop them from the poll?

[Mr. Ypsi]

As fully expected, Augustana is getting destroyed by Gonzaga (last I saw it was 67-35 late in the 2nd half), but Augie is actually looking pretty good.  It was 40-14 at the half, but I think much of Augie's problem on scoring was intimidation - they missed a lot of shots that were NOT due to Gonzaga's defense.  Augie's positioning, ball-distribution, and defense looked pretty respectable.

It is very difficult to judge when the players are so mismatched, but I don't think very many d3 teams would have beaten Augie tonite.  I wasn't sure before, but I think they are a legitimate top 25 team.  Saturday at WashU should be a much better indicator.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

As fully expected, Augustana is getting destroyed by Gonzaga (last I saw it was 67-35 late in the 2nd half), but Augie is actually looking pretty good.  It was 40-14 at the half, but I think much of Augie's problem on scoring was intimidation - they missed a lot of shots that were NOT due to Gonzaga's defense.  Augie's positioning, ball-distribution, and defense looked pretty respectable.

It is very difficult to judge when the players are so mismatched, but I don't think very many d3 teams would have beaten Augie tonite.  I wasn't sure before, but I think they are a legitimate top 25 team.  Saturday at WashU should be a much better indicator.

They're currently shooting 22% from the floor, including a whopping 1-20 from three point range.  On the other hand, we finally get an answer to what a solid d3 team would do against a solid d1 squad in the regular season.

[Pat Coleman]

Well, now that we know that Wheaton can play with the #1 ranked Washington Bears, on the Bears home court no less, doesn't that kind of justify their placement at #8? After all, last year's Kent Raymond led Thunder edition, lost 55-52 to Wash U in the sectional semis on Wheaton's home court. The Thunder were ranked #3 at that time and ended up in the #2 spot in the final rankings. Don't see a lot a difference between then and now except they lost by 2 on the road.

You could make that justification, OR you could say that this is a one game fluke:

For me, personally, I have to honestly wonder if it was some kind of fluke (aka Witt losing at Hiram) just because of everything else on their schedule.

I guess it depends on how you look at it. 

I don't believe that *everything* else on the schedule contradicts Wheaton staying close.

[usee]

GS - your right, I didn't mention those things.  I did however see the S.A.D. play 2 games, and if they are a top 20 team, then D3 hoops (basketball at the D3 level, not this website) have taken a couple of huge steps backwards.  

WashU 64 Wheaton 62 in St Louis. A sad day for D3 hoops. 

[Darryl Nester]

How They Fared -- Midweek report

Top 25

Rank	Pts	Team	W-L	Results
#1	625	Washington U.	6-0	def. #8 Wheaton (Ill.), 64-62; 12/12 vs. #15 Augustana
#2	586	John Carroll	6-1	LOST at Mount Union, 62-67; 12/12 at T#35 Wilmington
#3	582	St. Thomas	6-0	def. Augsburg, 77-61; vs. St. Mary's (Minn.) cancelled POSTPONED
#4	550	UW-Stevens Point	7-0	12/10 at #5 UW-Whitewater; 12/12 vs. Elmhurst
#5	514	UW-Whitewater	7-0	12/10 vs. #4 UW-Stevens Point; 12/12 at UW-Superior
#6	490	Randolph-Macon	6-0	12/13 vs. Alvernia
#7	448	Guilford	5-1	def. Hampden-Sydney, 77-72
#8	374	Wheaton (Ill.)	5-2	LOST at #1 Washington U., 62-64; 12/12 vs. Grinnell
#9	359	Middlebury	7-0	IDLE
#10	349	Mass-Dartmouth	6-1	def. Worcester State, 90-78; 12/12 at Western Connecticut
#11	324	Texas-Dallas	6-1	IDLE
#12	319	Chapman	7-1	LOST to Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, 56-57; 12/12 vs. La Verne
#13	254	Richard Stockton	5-2	12/11 vs. T#43 Albright (n); 12/12 vs. TBA @ King's College (n)
#14	251	St. Mary's (Md.)	6-1	def. Salisbury, 72-60; 12/12 at York (Pa.)
#15	228	Augustana	5-1	LOST at Gonzaga, 40-79; 12/12 at #1 Washington U.
#16	218	Franklin and Marshall	6-2	def. Gettysburg, 61-52
#17	185	Amherst	5-1	def. Emmanuel, 98-76; 12/12 at Lasell
#18	181	Brandeis	7-1	IDLE
#19	154	St. Norbert	6-0	POSTPONED: 12/09 vs. Beloit
#20	120	Williams	7-0	def. Framingham State, 88-50; 12/12 vs. Springfield
#21	113	DeSales	5-3	LOST at Catholic, 66-70; 12/12 vs. St. John Fisher
#22	107	Mississippi College	6-0	def. Texas Lutheran, 79-66; 12/12 vs. Wesley (Miss.)
#23	92	Wooster	4-3	12/13 vs. North Carolina Wesleyan (n)
#24	91	Carthage	6-2	IDLE
#25	90	Virginia Wesleyan	7-1	12/12 vs. Shenandoah

Others receiving votes

Rank	Pts	Team	W-L	Results
#26	87	Elms	5-1	12/10 vs. Wheaton (Mass.); 12/12 at Husson
#27	86	MIT	9-0	def. Mass-Boston, 74-54; 12/10 vs. Salem State; 12/12 vs. Lesley
#28	76	Hope	4-2	12/11 vs. Purdue-North Central; 12/12 vs. TBA
#29	57	UW-Platteville	6-2	12/10 vs. UW-Oshkosh; 12/12 at UW-La Crosse
#30	45	Eastern Mennonite	8-0	12/12 at Southern Va.
#31	42	Chicago	5-1	12/12 vs. Kalamazoo
#32	37	Illinois Wesleyan	5-2	12/12 vs. MacMurray
#33	18	Cabrini	6-0	IDLE
#34	14	Wittenberg	5-1	def. Kenyon, 76-66; 12/12 at #37 Anderson
T#35	12	Wilmington	7-1	12/12 vs. #2 John Carroll
T#35	12	Worcester Polytech	7-1	def. University of New England, 88-70; 12/11 vs. Gwynedd-Mercy (n); 12/12 vs. TBA @ Weston, MA (n)
#37	9	Anderson	6-1	def. Bluffton, 68-47; 12/12 vs. #34 Wittenberg
#38	7	Whittier	4-0	12/10 at Biola
#39	5	Rochester	7-1	def. Hobart, 68-63
T#40	3	DePauw	6-1	def. Purdue-North Cent., 92-70; 12/11 at Wabash
T#40	3	Illinois College	5-1	12/10 vs. Monmouth
#42	2	Manchester	5-3	LOST at Defiance, 82-95; 12/12 at Mount St. Joseph
T#43	1	Albright	6-0	def. Penn State-Berks, 85-62; 12/11 vs. #13 Richard Stockton (n); 12/12 vs. TBA @ King's Ramada Inn/Monarch Classic (n)
#44	3	Maryville (Tenn.)	6-1	12/12 vs. Rust
T#45	1	New Jersey City	5-2	LOST to Brooklyn, 62-77; 12/12 at York (N.Y.)
T#45	1	Scranton	6-2	12/12 at Elizabethtown

[Flying Dutch Fan]

GS - your right, I didn't mention those things.  I did however see the S.A.D. play 2 games, and if they are a top 20 team, then D3 hoops (basketball at the D3 level, not this website) have taken a couple of huge steps backwards.  

WashU 64 Wheaton 62 in St Louis. A sad day for D3 hoops. 

I completely agree   

[Hugenerd]

I like the mid-week update Darryl!

[Pat Coleman]

St. Thomas-St. Mary's (Minn.) is postponed until some undetermined date.

[Gregory Sager]

GS - your right, I didn't mention those things.  I did however see the S.A.D. play 2 games, and if they are a top 20 team, then D3 hoops (basketball at the D3 level, not this website) have taken a couple of huge steps backwards.  

WashU 64 Wheaton 62 in St Louis. A sad day for D3 hoops. 

Nicely done, USee.

[John Gleich]

#4 Stevens Point @ #5 Whitewater going to OT.

[Hugenerd]

MIT first team in the country to 10 wins tonight.   They have one more game at home on Saturday before the winter break.

[Marty Peretz]

What's up with Wooster? I haven't been following them but was told this was their year to make a real run. I was really looking forward to the Wooster-Wash.U game but with 3 L's in the early going,  a WUSTL victory would seem to virtually be a foregone conclusion. Anyone have a scoop?

[David Collinge]

What's up with Wooster? I haven't been following them but was told this was their year to make a real run. I was really looking forward to the Wooster-Wash.U game but with 3 L's in the early going,  a WUSTL victory would seem to virtually be a foregone conclusion. Anyone have a scoop?

I hope you don't mind if I attach this post to the bulletin board in Wooster's locker room, Marty.  Thanks for the help. 

For the record, Wooster and WashU. will only meet if both win (or both lose) in preliminary games on the 29th: WUSTL vs. Transylvania and Wooster vs. Kalamazoo. 

[Marty Peretz]

David,
It wasn't a knock on Wooster or meant as trash talk. I'm genuinely curious how they have lost 3 times because I was expecting them to be excellent. On paper, it would seem a 3 loss team would loset to the undefeated, number 1, and 2 time defending national champs. That's not trash talk; it's just a logical conclusion based on available information. I was asking the question though because I figured their L's might be anomalous and was hoping for some context. Not to mention, I don't think a great program like Wooster needs a message board to get them fired up to play the top team in the land. If they do, they're probably looking at loss number 4...