Top 25 talk

[Hugenerd]

EMU up by 10 at the half @Guilford.

EMU blitzes Guilford out of the break, they are up by 17 with 15 minutes to play.  Could this be EMU's second 20+ point win over the #1 team in the country this season?

[deanslist]

EMU Runnin' Royals up by 30 points over #1 Guilford!

[nwhoops1903]

EMU Runnin' Royals up by 30 points over #1 Guilford!

Watching this and it isn't even close.  Based on recent results...hello Williams!!

[Jeremybozz]

#16 EMU wins 90-63 over #1 Guilford.

[nescac1]

nwhoops1903, don't jinx the Ephs!  Still have a tough back-to-back on the road against Amherst (who has been playing poorly, but will certainly raise its game against the Ephs, and Amherst's star MAY be back from injury) and a decent Trinity team before they can ascend to the top spot.  Never easy to sweep a NESCAC road weekend, especially with a bullseye on your back as a potential number one ...

[John Gleich]

#6 Point wins 80-61 over Eau Claire
#9 WW beat Platteville by about 10 (not sure of the final)

[gordonmann]

I'm sure I'm not the first person to think this - and maybe not the first to say it on these boards - but what if all four ranked ODAC teams are good but none are really great?  What if they all should be rated closer to where EMU and RMC are?

EMU dismantling Guilford tonight raises that concern anew and even stronger than before.  I know (or I think know) EMU is good.  But losing by 30 on your home floor?  As the No. 1 team in the country?

I look at the schedules for RMC, GC, EMU and VWC, hoping to find validation in how I've assessed these teams.  And I don't find very much.  There are lots of wins against the USAC which has one team with a winning record.   I'd feel a little better if at least one of RMC's wins over Wooster or Williams happened away from home.

Maybe this is a little buyer's remorse since I'm one of the 23 people who voted Guilford No. 1 in the Top 25.  And I don't have a good answer to the inevitable follow up, "Who should be ranked in front of the ODAC teams?"  But I'm starting to wonder if I should look harder for teams who fit that bill.

[Darryl Nester]

How They Fared--Midweek Report

Other than the EMU/Guilford upset, the only losses occurred in the ORV group -- for those with 4 or fewer poll points.

Top 25

Rank	Pts	Team	W-L	Results
#1	623	Guilford	19-2	LOST to #16 Eastern Mennonite, 63-90; 02/13 vs. Lynchburg
#2	586	Williams	21-1	02/12 at Amherst; 02/13 at Trinity (Conn.)
#3	576	Washington U.	18-2	02/12 at #21 Brandeis; 02/14 at New York University
#4	542	St. Thomas	20-2	def. Bethel, 78-55; 02/13 at St. John's
#5	492	Virginia Wesleyan	20-2	def. Emory and Henry, 101-61; def. Randolph, 73-50; 02/13 vs. #17 Randolph-Macon
#6	469	UW-Stevens Point	19-3	def. UW-Eau Claire, 80-61; 02/13 vs. UW-River Falls
#7	432	Middlebury	19-2	02/12 at Trinity (Conn.); 02/13 at Amherst
#8	420	Whitworth	19-2	02/12 vs. Puget Sound; 02/13 vs. Pacific Lutheran
#9	411	UW-Whitewater	18-4	def. UW-Platteville, 83-73; 02/13 vs. UW-Eau Claire
#10	382	William Paterson	21-1	02/13 vs. Montclair State
#11	370	MIT	19-2	02/11 vs. Clark; 02/13 vs. Coast Guard
#12	368	Chapman	20-2	02/11 at Hope Int'l; 02/13 vs. UC Santa Cruz
#13	315	Anderson	20-2	def. Franklin, 80-58; def. Rose-Hulman, 76-69; 02/13 vs. Transylvania
#14	286	St. Norbert	19-2	def. Ripon, 77-72; 02/13 vs. Lawrence
#15	269	Franklin and Marshall	18-3	def. Muhlenberg, 69-63; 02/11 at Gettysburg; 02/13 at Washington College
#16	262	Eastern Mennonite	17-3	def. #1 Guilford, 90-63; 02/13 at Roanoke
#17	218	Randolph-Macon	18-4	def. Washington and Lee, 56-53; def. Bridgewater (Va.), 77-69; 02/13 at #5 Virginia Wesleyan
#18	212	St. Mary's (Md.)	17-3	02/11 vs. Wesley; 02/13 vs. Hood
#19	199	Wooster	18-4	def. Hiram, 69-50; 02/13 vs. Wittenberg
#20	155	Texas-Dallas	18-4	def. University of the Ozarks, 83-82; 02/11 at Texas-Tyler
#21	98	Brandeis	16-4	def. Amherst, 71-55; 02/12 vs. #3 Washington U.; 02/14 vs. Chicago
#22	95	Carthage	17-5	def. Elmhurst, 82-68; 02/13 vs. North Central (Ill.)
#23	76	Illinois Wesleyan	18-4	def. Millikin, 75-66; 02/13 vs. Wheaton (Ill.)
#24	58	Cabrini	18-2	02/11 vs. Immaculata; 02/13 vs. Marywood
#25	49	St. John Fisher	19-4	def. Alfred, 80-53

Others receiving votes

Rank	Pts	Team	W-L	Results
#26	43	Medaille	20-2	02/13 vs. Frostburg State
#27	37	Mississippi College	16-4	02/11 vs. LeTourneau; 02/13 vs. East Texas Baptist
#28	17	John Carroll	16-5	def. Otterbein, 103-93; 02/13 vs. Capital
#29	12	Stevens	17-4	def. Rutgers-Camden, 86-57; 02/14 at Hartwick
#30	11	Central	19-4	def. Loras, 69-59
#31	8	Merchant Marine	18-4	02/12 vs. Goucher; 02/13 vs. T#40 Catholic
T#32	6	Colby	17-4	def. Thomas, 71-69; 02/12 vs. Connecticut College; 02/13 vs. Wesleyan
T#32	6	Defiance	17-5	02/13 vs. Mount St. Joseph
T#34	4	Augustana	14-8	LOST to Wheaton (Ill.), 53-56; 02/13 vs. Millikin
T#34	4	Claremont-Mudd-Scripps	17-4	def. Caltech, 96-28; 02/13 at La Verne
T#34	4	Hope	16-6	def. Kalamazoo, 85-63; 02/13 vs. Albion
#37	3	Bridgewater State	15-5	LOST at Bowdoin, 57-68; 02/13 vs. Worcester State
T#38	2	Gordon	17-4	LOST at Colby-Sawyer, 63-74; 02/11 at Bates; 02/13 at Western New England
T#38	2	Western Connecticut	16-5	LOST at Rhode Island College, 70-96; 02/13 vs. Keene State
T#40	1	Catholic	15-5	02/12 at Drew; 02/13 at #31 Merchant Marine
T#40	1	SUNY-Old Westbury	15-6	LOST at St. Joseph's (L.I.), 48-49; 02/11 at Farmingdale State; 02/13 at Mount St. Mary
T#40	1	UW-Stout	13-9	def. UW-Superior, 85-77; 02/13 at UW-Platteville

[pbrooks3]

I'm not sure the ODAC isn't more like the WIAC where the breadth & strength of the conference is such that you'll have nights like the one Guilford experienced last night.  Think it's getting more difficult to carve out a top 10 let alone a top 25 this season with the relative balance that I observe across conferences and regions. Who knows - when it's all said & done, Wash U may emerge the victor yet again.

[ScotsFan]

I like how the headline on the front page did a complete 180^o turn last night.  First, it was questioning whether or not EMU was running out of gas.  I guess the Runnin' Royals didn't like being questioned about how good they really are?

And now after their 30 point beat-down of another #1 ranked team, they are 'Off and running again'... 

Hopefully, the Runnin' Royals didn't use too much gas running all over Guilford last night.   

[Pat Coleman]

Perhaps, but with the headline only going up an hour before game time, I am not sure they read it before tipoff.

Eastern Mennonite, in particular, seems to be a team that either has it or doesn't on any given night. If they aren't hitting from 3, they're in trouble, from what it seems.

[Jeremybozz]

Perhaps, but with the headline only going up an hour before game time, I am not sure they read it before tipoff.

Eastern Mennonite, in particular, seems to be a team that either has it or doesn't on any given night. If they aren't hitting from 3, they're in trouble, from what it seems.

Having seen them play, you are correct about this.

[John Gleich]

Dunno how many people caught this but 13-9 (11-7 in-region) UW Stout picked up a #25 vote this week.  I don't think it's unwarranted either... they've gone 9-2 in their last 11 and beaten the #1 and #2 ranked West Region teams.  Sure they started off the year 4-7, but there has to be some latitude for teams who have improved immensely during the year.  Right now, more than anyone else in the WIAC (and maybe eveb the country) Stout is who I don't want to play.

They won't get an NCAA bid without winning the tourney, but they're hot right now.  They right now are on track to host a conference tournament game and if they win their last two, they'll have 10 wins in the WIAC this year after being picked 9th in the preseason poll.

[Marty Peretz]

Quietly, Wash.U. has begun to make its annual run. The chattering classes who cast doubt on the Bears' chances of a 3-peat just a couple of weeks ago have begun to die down and a pair of wins this weekend, you'd think, would have to get the Bears back into the conversation for number 1. Avenging their lone home and lone conference loss on the road at Deis could go a long way in convincing people that the champs from the Arch City haven't lost their mojo just yet. Aaron Thompson's break-out performance against Rochester last weekend will hopefully be the start of something special in leading WUSTL back to the promised land of Salem come mid March.

And the best part is, I get to witness WU hoops in action live for the first time this year on Sunday at NYU. With an alumni event planned for the huge throng of WU alums in NYC, this should be a de facto neutral court game for the UAA leader.

[Hugenerd]

Quietly, Wash.U. has begun to make its annual run. The chattering classes who cast doubt on the Bears' chances of a 3-peat just a couple of weeks ago have begun to die down and a pair of wins this weekend, you'd think, would have to get the Bears back into the conversation for number 1. Avenging their lone home and lone conference loss on the road at Deis could go a long way in convincing people that the champs from the Arch City haven't lost their mojo just yet. Aaron Thompson's break-out performance against Rochester last weekend will hopefully be the start of something special in leading WUSTL back to the promised land of Salem come mid March.

And the best part is, I get to witness WU hoops in action live for the first time this year on Sunday at NYU. With an alumni event planned for the huge throng of WU alums in NYC, this should be a de facto neutral court game for the UAA leader.

I am still not convinced about WashU.  Are they a top 10 team? Probably, but I think a 3-peat is highly unlikely with their inconsistent post play.