Top 25 talk

[Just Bill]

Voters may have to consider Concordia (Wis.) very soon. 12-2 in the NathCon which has actually performed really well outside of conference this year.  They are 8-0 in league.
http://www.northernac.org/sports/basketball_men/statistics/2010-11/cuw.htm

[Pat Coleman]

Yes -- when I look down their schedule and play the "best win/worst loss" game, I come up with UW-La Crosse and Carroll, which is a good combo.

[Hugenerd]

Couple of Top 25 UAA upsets.

#15 Brandeis falls on the road to Carnegie Mellon 53-52.

#25 NYU loses at Case Western Reserve 80-76

Almost Deja Vu. Couple more Top 25 UAA upsets.

#15 Brandeis falls on the road to Case Western Reserve 66-63

#25 NYU loses at Carnegie Mellon 76-70

Serious question for my fellow posters...

This was the first trip out of the "northeast" for Brandeis and NYU.  When they hit the Great Lakes region, they were beaten by "average" teams from this well-respected part of the country.

Are "'Deis" and the Violets really deserving of Top 25 votes?

Yes and no. But then again, I haven't had NYU on my ballot.

Bad start for Brandeis on the road but I think Ralph understands what it's like to make a thousand mile trip on a weekend to play decent opponents. To suggest that Brandeis doesn't even deserve a vote is a little bit of hyperbole.

Decent may be a bit hyperbole too.  I agree that CMU and Case aren't bad teams, but they havent played that well before conference play, going a combined 7-14 out-of-conference (to-date).  That includes some really bad losses also.  Name me one signature win for Brandeis or NYU.  They really dont have one, so its hard to gauge them.

[Ralph Turner]

Couple of Top 25 UAA upsets.

#15 Brandeis falls on the road to Carnegie Mellon 53-52.

#25 NYU loses at Case Western Reserve 80-76

Almost Deja Vu. Couple more Top 25 UAA upsets.

#15 Brandeis falls on the road to Case Western Reserve 66-63

#25 NYU loses at Carnegie Mellon 76-70

Serious question for my fellow posters...

This was the first trip out of the "northeast" for Brandeis and NYU.  When they hit the Great Lakes region, they were beaten by "average" teams from this well-respected part of the country.

Are "'Deis" and the Violets really deserving of Top 25 votes?

Yes and no. But then again, I haven't had NYU on my ballot.

Bad start for Brandeis on the road but I think Ralph understands what it's like to make a thousand mile trip on a weekend to play decent opponents. To suggest that Brandeis doesn't even deserve a vote is a little bit of hyperbole.

Yes, thanks.  I assume that they flew from Boston to Pittsburgh on Thursday (?), or Friday (?), and bussed to Cleveland on Saturday and then flew home Sunday evening.  

561 miles from Boston to Pittsburgh.  Those distances are ASC- and SCAC-like, except the Interstates may not be as easy to travel as in the south.

[mass_d3fan]

Hopefully, WPI gets a bit more love & votes this week.  Their only D3 losses are on the road to 2 teams in the polls(Becker & West. Conn).

[Hugenerd]

Couple of Top 25 UAA upsets.

#15 Brandeis falls on the road to Carnegie Mellon 53-52.

#25 NYU loses at Case Western Reserve 80-76

Almost Deja Vu. Couple more Top 25 UAA upsets.

#15 Brandeis falls on the road to Case Western Reserve 66-63

#25 NYU loses at Carnegie Mellon 76-70

Serious question for my fellow posters...

This was the first trip out of the "northeast" for Brandeis and NYU.  When they hit the Great Lakes region, they were beaten by "average" teams from this well-respected part of the country.

Are "'Deis" and the Violets really deserving of Top 25 votes?

Yes and no. But then again, I haven't had NYU on my ballot.

Bad start for Brandeis on the road but I think Ralph understands what it's like to make a thousand mile trip on a weekend to play decent opponents. To suggest that Brandeis doesn't even deserve a vote is a little bit of hyperbole.

Yes, thanks.  I assume that they flew from Boston to Pittsburgh on Thursday (?), or Friday (?), and bussed to Cleveland on Saturday and then flew home Sunday evening.  

561 miles from Boston to Pittsburgh.  Those distances are ASC- and SCAC-like, except the Interstates may not be as easy to travel as in the south.

When I played, it was travel Thursday afternoon/evening, play Friday night, travel Saturday morning, play Sunday noon, and then travel Sunday night.  Pittsburgh - Cleveland is only a couple of hours on a bus.  The Emory/Rochester weekend is probably worst in terms of travel (used to be Case/Emory when I played). Brandeis/NYU can also be bad depending on traffic or weather, because you can spend the good part of a day idle on a bus.  There shouldnt be exams yet this semester either, so schoolwork isnt a good excuse.  Taking an exam in a hotel room or lobby a few hours before a Friday game is never fun, nor does it make it easy to focus on the game or the exam.  Its probably a combination of both teams not playing well and being somewhat over-rated.

[Hugenerd]

Hopefully, WPI gets a bit more love & votes this week.  Their only D3 losses are on the road to 2 teams in the polls(Becker & West. Conn).

I agree about WPI.  They are a solid team, especially with the play of Matt Carr.  In my opinion, he should be on peoples' AA radar. With Hollingsworth out, he is one of the top two big men in the conference, if not the top one all by himself.  They have already avenged the loss to Becker also.  West Conn is a pretty solid team, so a road loss to them should not be too much of a surprise. I think they are a generally better, more experienced team than Brandeis in the NE. If ranking teams in the NE, I would put them right behind the top 3 in the NESCAC, along with West Conn.

[Ralph Turner]

McMurry went to tablet-based curricula, campus-wide, about 3 years ago.  The sports teams carry a wireless router on the busses, so Wi-Fi is available on the road trips.

I wonder how many other schools have done this.

[Hugenerd]

McMurry went to tablet-based curricula, campus-wide, about 3 years ago.  The sports teams carry a wireless router on the busses, so Wi-Fi is available on the road trips.

I wonder how many other schools have done this.

You dont even need a router nowadays, my 4G phone can turn into a hotspot wherever I want.

By the way, although both are correct, I prefer the single "s" plural spelling of bus.  This avoids confusion with the plural of buss (although context will almost always tell you which word is appropriate), as its plural form always contains "ss".

[zander]

McMurry went to tablet-based curricula, campus-wide, about 3 years ago.  The sports teams carry a wireless router on the busses, so Wi-Fi is available on the road trips.

I wonder how many other schools have done this.

You dont even need a router nowadays, my 4G phone can turn into a hotspot wherever I want.

By the way, although both are correct, I prefer the single "s" plural spelling of bus.  This avoids confusion with the plural of buss (although context will almost always tell you which word is appropriate), as its plural form always contains "ss".

the name of the poster says it all.

[gordonmann]

I think Brandeis will cling to a Top 25 spot but, if not, does anyone know if there has ever been a D3hoops poll without a representative from the UAA?

[magicman]

Not much action in the Top 25 tonight but that's probably a good thing because the teams that played lost..

#4 St Thomas has their unbeaten string come to an end as host Hamline downs the Tommies 92-79. St Thomas is now 13-1 and Hamline improves to 8-6. The Pipers had 12 made 3 pointers tonight outscoring the Tommies 36-15 from behind the arc.

#17 St Mary's (Md) was also on the road and they come up short against Wesley 95--80. St Mary's led 40-33 at the break but were outscored by the Wolverines 62-40 in the 2nd half.

[Pat Coleman]

Not much action in the Top 25 tonight but that's probably a good thing because the teams that played lost..

+1

[nescac1]

Has there ever been a top 25 with as few as five regions (South, West, Northeast, Midwest, Great Lakes) represented?  Because that could, as improbable as it seems, be on the horizon if the East, Atlantic and Mid-Atlantic regions continue to struggle the way they have been ... I think come tourney time a lot of teams are going to be hoping to be sent to regionals with teams from those three areas, as there don't appear to be any really consistent good teams in any of the three ... 

Ramapo does seem to be playing well, however, and should move into the top 20 or so (five straight wins, only three losses, two of which came to a non-D-III and Stevens Point).   A pretty young team (no senior starters), still, that should keep getting better and probably peak as a contender next year.  A good bet to stick in the top 25 for the rest of the year, unlike perhaps anyone else from those three regions. 

[Pat Coleman]

New poll is up.