Top 25 talk

[Hugenerd]

Nerd, do you think WPI losing earlier in the week devalued slightly the MIT victory?

WPI's only loss this week was to MIT, so I don't follow your reasoning.

[Pat Coleman]

Thanks for the heads-up, it's been corrected. Someone selected Mitchell from the dropdown menu instead of MIT.

[Titan Q]

Thanks for the heads-up, it's been corrected. Someone selected Mitchell from the dropdown menu instead of MIT.

Man, heartbreaker for Mitchell.  They were dancing in the streets of New London, CT earlier today, and now...poof.  Poll points gone.

[David Collinge]

I think they were voting for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cryogenics, Hematology, Exobiology, Linguistics and Lace-making. Isn't that the same school?

[Hugenerd]

Glad to see it was a clerical mistake.

[pjunito]

Nerd, I thought WPI lost to Wheaton on Saturday. That would drop their overrall record and give them a bad lost in the pollster's eyes.. Which would makeMIT win overthem not as impressive.  That was my point.. However, now I understand that it was a clerical error.

[Hugenerd]

Nerd, I thought WPI lost to Wheaton on Saturday. That would drop their overrall record and give them a bad lost in the pollster's eyes.. Which would makeMIT win overthem not as impressive.  That was my point.. However, now I understand that it was a clerical error.

That was last week, and I dont think I have ever seen a secondary result like that have an affect on a teams ranking.  If a team drops, it is typically because of their own loss(es), especially this late in the year.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

Or their results and other team's results are changing the mind of a voter... I have seen some teams fall due to another team's success or the team's results or play are not what voters expected... seen all of that happen on many occasions.

[Hugenerd]

Yes and that makes sense, like when Amherst beat #1 Middlebury just a week back and jumped ahead of several teams that didn't lose.  Thats not relevent here, though, as my comment referred to what pjunito said, which is MIT's ranking being highly contingent on one of WPI's results, which isnt true.  For example, that would be like Hope dropping a spot because Wheaton (IL) (Hope's best win) dropped out of the rankings in previous weeks, which obviously isnt true. There is a difference and I think you understand what I mean, but if you would like to argue its your choice.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

I am just saying I have reconsidered a team's win over an opponent if it turned out that opponent wasn't nearly as good as I was led to believe... then maybe I moved a team up or have them in a certain position too high because they aren't as good as I previously thought.

[Hugenerd]

I understand your explanation, and I am sure that is more true early in seasons when there are less games to go by, I just cant seeing it happening the last week of the regular season.  I know that people give MIT a hard time for their scheduling, but if they were really dropped a spot for beating WPI on the road this week, I would have lost some faith in the voters.  I know MIT gets knocked for their schedule, but its not as bad as people make it out to be. When the rankings come out tomorrow, you will see that their OWP will be in the 0.50's and their OOWP will be in the 0.53's, giving them an SOS somewhere in the 0.51-0.52 range, which will be essentially identical to a lot of other highly ranked teams (eg, Hope). I'm not trying to say voters don't look at the whole picture and dont have a right to reevaluate teams as they feel fit, just that in this case, at this late in the season, it didn't seem to be a very believable explanation.

[pjunito]

Nerd, no need to argue with D-mac... I was scratching my head over why MIT lost so many points and was trying to think outside of the box. I understand and agree where you are coming from.

[Hugenerd]

Nerd, no need to argue with D-mac... I was scratching my head over why MIT lost so many points and was trying to think outside of the box. I understand and agree where you are coming from.

Dont worry pjunito, if we didnt argue on these boards sometimes, they would be a lot more boring.  Dave and I like to go back and forth sometimes, but I dont think either of us ever take it personally. It may seem like I get heated sometimes, but its more my sense of humor and that I like to use satire to make my point when things seem absurd to me (ie, the Week 1 NE Region rankings).

[pjunito]

With that being said... Argue away!!!!!  I enjoy reading both points of view!!!!

[KnightSlappy]

I understand your explanation, and I am sure that is more true early in seasons when there are less games to go by, I just cant seeing it happening the last week of the regular season.  I know that people give MIT a hard time for their scheduling, but if they were really dropped a spot for beating WPI on the road this week, I would have lost some faith in the voters.  I know MIT gets knocked for their schedule, but its not as bad as people make it out to be. When the rankings come out tomorrow, you will see that their OWP will be in the 0.50's and their OOWP will be in the 0.53's, giving them an SOS somewhere in the 0.51-0.52 range, which will be essentially identical to a lot of other highly ranked teams (eg, Hope). I'm not trying to say voters don't look at the whole picture and dont have a right to reevaluate teams as they feel fit, just that in this case, at this late in the season, it didn't seem to be a very believable explanation.

Through most of tonight's results, I have MIT as having the #6 tournament resume in the country.

Amherst
Hope
Middlebury
Cabrini
Mary Hardin-Baylor
MIT