Top 25 talk

[nwhoops1903]

It appears that Luther vs. Concordia (WI) was an upset...  Luther currently sits at 34 (up 13 spots) and CUW is #28 (down 5 spots), though that may be one of the five losses you noted.

What were the other upsets from the "other 16?"

Massey loses in round 1 were:

#72 FM over #32 NCW  (only loss on left side of bracket) UPSET

#43 MHB over #36 UTD
# 47 Luther over #23 Concordia  UPSET
# 31 IWU over # 10 UW-RF  UPSET
# 188 Johnson and Wales over # 48 Ramapo  UPSET
# 92 MIT over # 52 Ithaca  UPSET
#91 Buffalo St. over # 84 Gwynedd-Mercy

Round 2:

Left side perfect

#43 MHB over #28 McMurry
# 18 St. Mary's over #7 Randolph Macon UPSET

[nwhoops1903]

Does anyone feel that the remaining 8 teams all deserve to be in the top 8 of the final ballot?  UW-SP #9?

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

Hard to argue... BUT VWC could also be a good #9. UWSP reminded me of what I wasn't impressive with at Las Vegas... so I am not convinced I would move then to #9.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Does anyone feel that the remaining 8 teams all deserve to be in the top 8 of the final ballot?  UW-SP #9?

Its possible.  One thing I was noticing is that all eight of the remaining teams, if they won the tournament, would likely be unanimous #1.

Usually there's one or two teams that sneak into the final eight where that might not be the case.

Every team here has proven themselves throughout the year.

[John Gleich]

Hard to argue... BUT VWC could also be a good #9. UWSP reminded me of what I wasn't impressive with at Las Vegas... so I am not convinced I would move then to #9.

I, unfortunately, was unable to do any more this weekend than follow live stats... but if your you look at the result of SP/UST versus Augie/UST, there is a significant case for ranking Point ahead of Augie, let alone anyone else in the sweet 16.  It didn't really seem like Augie was in the game very much and SP came back and tied the game after being down double digits.

It may depend on how the Tommies end up... but they just shot better than 50% against two of the best defensive teams in the country... I like their chances.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

Point - I saw both games... and UWSP didn't impress me over Augustana. I know that Augustana's score and UWSP's score make it look like UWSP was the better team... but it isn't that straight forward.

St. Thomas really controlled both games... both teams would make runs (a lot of them from UWSP but in the end no results). I was more impressed with Augustana's play over the weekend then UWSP - who I have seen several times this season. UWSP looked like the team I saw in Vegas... not completely together on offense and struggling on defense to find a way to stop easy shots.

If I were to rank them now... Augustana is over UWSP in my poll - but I still have 8 days to think about it!

[John Gleich]

Point - I saw both games... and UWSP didn't impress me over Augustana. I know that Augustana's score and UWSP's score make it look like UWSP was the better team... but it isn't that straight forward.


St. Thomas really controlled both games... both teams would make runs (a lot of them from UWSP but in the end no results). I was more impressed with Augustana's play over the weekend then UWSP - who I have seen several times this season. UWSP looked like the team I saw in Vegas... not completely together on offense and struggling on defense to find a way to stop easy shots.

If I were to rank them now... Augustana is over UWSP in my poll - but I still have 8 days to think about it!

We likely will have to agree to disagree...

But the results don't jive with your impression of the better team.  SP tied the game after being down double digits and lost on a play by a great player.  Augie couldn't get it under about 10 points.

Would you feel the same way if the bracket had been slated in such a way that SP beaten MHB by 13 and Augie lost to UST by 16 in the Sweet 16 and then UWSP lost by one basket in the Elite 8?

We'll never know, of course... but the fact of the matter is that SP was a stop or couple of previous free throws away from overtime... with the momentum in their court.

They didn't get that opportunity... but that was more due to the relative weakness of the Midwest region versus the West region. 

But the West region got no favors... in fact, the flagship program this season got shipped more than halfway across the country and the next two received a sweet 16 match-up.

Yes, we know the tournament that we have, and it is one of equal opportunity, not equality for quality... that St. Thomas had to match up with Point in the Sweet 16 wasn't right for them, either, but that shouldn't penalize teams that are knocked out of the tournament earlier than they should have been based on the brackets.

And there was better national equality for the brackets this year... but they certainly didn't do any favors for the West/Midwest again, as usual, but such is life as the strongest region in the country.


Maybe I'll change my tune when I watch the game, but the final margin speaks for itself.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

Point - we will disagree... because while I do understand the point differential says one thing and that UWSP may have had a better game in terms of keeping it close... I was more impressed in Augustana simply because of how deep they were and how many players contributed.

If UWSP had played UMHB, it actually might have been surprising by how much they could have struggled. Remember, UMHB didn't roll over... they fought the entire game and nearly made it a contest late after being down 20 or so.

The simple thing I found with UWSP was the same thing I saw in Vegas which I thought they had resolved. There were too many times where they looked lost on offense, not knowing where to go with the ball.. and too many times on defense where they simply left men open with no communication. There just wasn't any confidence in the way they played... and that surprised me considering the 14 game winning streak they had been on.

[frodotwo]

Point - we will disagree... because while I do understand the point differential says one thing and that UWSP may have had a better game in terms of keeping it close... I was more impressed in Augustana simply because of how deep they were and how many players contributed.

If UWSP had played UMHB, it actually might have been surprising by how much they could have struggled. Remember, UMHB didn't roll over... they fought the entire game and nearly made it a contest late after being down 20 or so.

The simple thing I found with UWSP was the same thing I saw in Vegas which I thought they had resolved. There were too many times where they looked lost on offense, not knowing where to go with the ball.. and too many times on defense where they simply left men open with no communication. There just wasn't any confidence in the way they played... and that surprised me considering the 14 game winning streak they had been on.

I didn't see much of Augustana's play other than several minutes by video, but their play against the Tommies was statistically awful. 32% shooting, 15% from 3 pt land, 5 assists and 19 to's resulting in 23 pts. Point's line of 52% shooting, 40% from 3 pt, 11 assists and 11 to's looked lost compared to that of Augustana??  Point missed several open looks that had been falling the past couple of months and St Thomas made some unexpected and unbelievable shots. The Tommies played a little better than Point and won. Point played their worst game since losing at Platteville 2 months ago and still had a chance to win at the end. Augie never led and at the end had no chance.

[David Collinge]

When will the preseason polls be released?  C'mon already, I'm getting tired of waiting! 

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

When will the preseason polls be released?  C'mon already, I'm getting tired of waiting!

If you had to vote now, based solely on the assumption that all returning players will return, who do you vote #1?

[RustCollege]

When will the preseason polls be released?  C'mon already, I'm getting tired of waiting!

If you had to vote now, based solely on the assumption that all returning players will return, who do you vote #1?

I don't know who should be #1 but Rust should be 25 with everybody returning

[toad22]

I really liked Va Wes in the Sweet Sixteen this year. They have no seniors. They should be really good next year.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

I like VaWes as well.  I was wondering about Williams, though.  They're losing a lot, but they're also bringing a lot back.  I didn't see them enough to know if the bench guys are capable of filling the holes.

[ECSUalum]

Sorry guys, I have to give a shout out to the University of Connecticut Huskies on their National Championship win, not only because I went to grad school @ Uconn, but also because Storrs CT is 15 miles away from ECSU and Willimantic CT.

again my apologies!!!!