Top 25 talk

[Onward on, John Carroll]

Here you go: http://bit.ly/2G9RKH8

Come on, Dave, a little love for the Blue Streaks?  On January 16, you rank us 14th and on January 23 you admit to mistakenly leaving them off your ballot (but state you are OK with that omission).  We go 6-2 in the interim and we can't find our way to the  bottom of your ballot? 

That Muskingum loss must have really put a bad taste in your mouth (me too). JCU has two bad losses (Mount and Musky), one good loss (to a fellow OAC contender, BW) and an average loss (to Hope, at their place and over the holiday).  If you feel the OAC is weak this year, you have them in the right place - off your ballot.  I disagree.

Thanks for all you do.

[WUPHF]

Blog will be out shortly... and what I did with Emory will surprise you.

Surprised and not surprised at all.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

Here you go: http://bit.ly/2G9RKH8

Come on, Dave, a little love for the Blue Streaks?  On January 16, you rank us 14th and on January 23 you admit to mistakenly leaving them off your ballot (but state you are OK with that omission).  We go 6-2 in the interim and we can't find our way to the  bottom of your ballot? 

That Muskingum loss must have really put a bad taste in your mouth (me too). JCU has two bad losses (Mount and Musky), one good loss (to a fellow OAC contender, BW) and an average loss (to Hope, at their place and over the holiday).  If you feel the OAC is weak this year, you have them in the right place - off your ballot.  I disagree.

Thanks for all you do.

On my list. Nearly made it. You seem to think I should ignore the "2" in that 6-2 .

I don't think the OAC is weak, just as I don't think the WIAC is weak... but that doesn't indicate teams are automatically great or weak accordingly. JCU just missed out this week. I want to see how the following week progresses.

[Onward on, John Carroll]

Here you go: http://bit.ly/2G9RKH8

Come on, Dave, a little love for the Blue Streaks?  On January 16, you rank us 14th and on January 23 you admit to mistakenly leaving them off your ballot (but state you are OK with that omission).  We go 6-2 in the interim and we can't find our way to the  bottom of your ballot? 

That Muskingum loss must have really put a bad taste in your mouth (me too). JCU has two bad losses (Mount and Musky), one good loss (to a fellow OAC contender, BW) and an average loss (to Hope, at their place and over the holiday).  If you feel the OAC is weak this year, you have them in the right place - off your ballot.  I disagree.

Thanks for all you do.

On my list. Nearly made it. You seem to think I should ignore the "2" in that 6-2 .

I don't think the OAC is weak, just as I don't think the WIAC is weak... but that doesn't indicate teams are automatically great or weak accordingly. JCU just missed out this week. I want to see how the following week progresses.

I absolutely want you to ignore the 2 in that 6-2.     The Muskingum loss was bad and they suffered in the polls accordingly.  However the BW loss was just a good game between two very good teams. They avenged that loss and own 4 more wins against Etta and ONU.

If they get knocked off this week (and either of these teams, especially the Berg), I would not vote us very either.  I really want them to rattle off 5 in a row so they can get hosting duties (might even get them if they are 4-1 down the stretch) but I think that may be a stretch.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

Welp - not ignoring the two losses.

I am sure MIT would love me to lose their three losses. Or E&H their four. OWU I think is one of the best teams in the country, but they are 6-7 in the last 13. I can't ignore those losses. 

I know it is tongue-and-cheek... but there are a LOT of losses this year and ignoring bad games isn't something in the cards. I wanted to shift Wittenberg WAY down for their loss to Hiram... just couldn't do it when everyone else is losing, too. I did move some teams up after losses, but not because I wanted to.

I did consider moving JCU you. They were on my ballot half a dozen times until the very, very end. Will watch intently to see how this week works out.

(As an aside, I hate voting anew for a team one week and then removing them the next week. Bugs me to no end. Makes me think I made the wrong choice originally.)

[Onward on, John Carroll]

Welp - not ignoring the two losses.

I am sure MIT would love me to lose their three losses. Or E&H their four. OWU I think is one of the best teams in the country, but they are 6-7 in the last 13. I can't ignore those losses. 

I know it is tongue-and-cheek... but there are a LOT of losses this year and ignoring bad games isn't something in the cards. I wanted to shift Wittenberg WAY down for their loss to Hiram... just couldn't do it when everyone else is losing, too. I did move some teams up after losses, but not because I wanted to.

I did consider moving JCU you. They were on my ballot half a dozen times until the very, very end. Will watch intently to see how this week works out.

(As an aside, I hate voting anew for a team one week and then removing them the next week. Bugs me to no end. Makes me think I made the wrong choice originally.)

Your love for OWU this season, despite their record and the fact they are under .500 in a rather pedestrian NCAC (the usual two horse race between Woo and Witt), is entertaining to no end.  I respect your loyalty.

I just hope JCU keeps it together (my viewpoint) or puts it together (your viewpoint) as the season hits the homestretch.  If I had known how long it would be before we made our next Sweet Sixteen, I sure would have enjoyed the previous trips a lot more.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

Welp - not ignoring the two losses.

I am sure MIT would love me to lose their three losses. Or E&H their four. OWU I think is one of the best teams in the country, but they are 6-7 in the last 13. I can't ignore those losses. 

I know it is tongue-and-cheek... but there are a LOT of losses this year and ignoring bad games isn't something in the cards. I wanted to shift Wittenberg WAY down for their loss to Hiram... just couldn't do it when everyone else is losing, too. I did move some teams up after losses, but not because I wanted to.

I did consider moving JCU you. They were on my ballot half a dozen times until the very, very end. Will watch intently to see how this week works out.

(As an aside, I hate voting anew for a team one week and then removing them the next week. Bugs me to no end. Makes me think I made the wrong choice originally.)

Your love for OWU this season, despite their record and the fact they are under .500 in a rather pedestrian NCAC (the usual two horse race between Woo and Witt), is entertaining to no end.  I respect your loyalty.

I just hope JCU keeps it together (my viewpoint) or puts it together (your viewpoint) as the season hits the homestretch.  If I had known how long it would be before we made our next Sweet Sixteen, I sure would have enjoyed the previous trips a lot more.

If I loved them, they would be in my ballot, right? Haven't been for quite awhile now.

I saw them in front of me play two of the more incredible games I have seen in years. They have the best point guard in the country. You may think the NCAC is pedestrian, but it is a far better conference than you are giving it credit for. That said, they have fallen apart. I was using the example as an extreme in a tongue-and-cheek comment. I could pick out a lot of other examples as well (Whitewater).

It isn't loyalty, it is appreciation for what I saw and I am not the only one who is a) impressed with what we saw and b) amazed that they have come unglued.

[Smitty Oom]

Welp - not ignoring the two losses.

I am sure MIT would love me to lose their three losses. Or E&H their four. OWU I think is one of the best teams in the country, but they are 6-7 in the last 13. I can't ignore those losses. 

I know it is tongue-and-cheek... but there are a LOT of losses this year and ignoring bad games isn't something in the cards. I wanted to shift Wittenberg WAY down for their loss to Hiram... just couldn't do it when everyone else is losing, too. I did move some teams up after losses, but not because I wanted to.

I did consider moving JCU you. They were on my ballot half a dozen times until the very, very end. Will watch intently to see how this week works out.

(As an aside, I hate voting anew for a team one week and then removing them the next week. Bugs me to no end. Makes me think I made the wrong choice originally.)

For a team who looked as good as Witt has this year to want to move them "WAY" down doesn't seem fair. I know you will bring up the lopsided score of 20ish points, but it is a single blemish to a decent team in a solid conference on the road on senior night. Teams lose, opposing teams hit shots and the ball may not bounce your way one day. I have been thinking this all season, a loss to solid/average team for all of these top tier teams are not the end of the world. Especially when you think about everybody getting their best shot. If it becomes a trend like it has for E&H or OWU I totally get it but just one loss for Witt did not make me significantly change their ranking in the poster poll

[Smitty Oom]

Welp - not ignoring the two losses.

I am sure MIT would love me to lose their three losses. Or E&H their four. OWU I think is one of the best teams in the country, but they are 6-7 in the last 13. I can't ignore those losses. 

I know it is tongue-and-cheek... but there are a LOT of losses this year and ignoring bad games isn't something in the cards. I wanted to shift Wittenberg WAY down for their loss to Hiram... just couldn't do it when everyone else is losing, too. I did move some teams up after losses, but not because I wanted to.

I did consider moving JCU you. They were on my ballot half a dozen times until the very, very end. Will watch intently to see how this week works out.

(As an aside, I hate voting anew for a team one week and then removing them the next week. Bugs me to no end. Makes me think I made the wrong choice originally.)

For a team who looked as good as Witt has this year to want to move them "WAY" down doesn't seem fair. I know you will bring up the lopsided score of 20ish points, but it is a single blemish to a decent team in a solid conference on the road on senior night. Teams lose, opposing teams hit shots and the ball may not bounce your way one day. I have been thinking this all season, a loss to solid/average team for all of these top tier teams are not the end of the world. Especially when you think about everybody getting their best shot. If it becomes a trend like it has for E&H or OWU I totally get it but just one loss for Witt did not make me significantly change their ranking in the poster poll.

That said you only moved witt down one spot and mentioned some of the reasons i did above in your blog. I guess I agree with your actions, just not the theory that losing needs to be accomponied by the feeling of needing to move a team "WAY down."

[magicman]

Here you go: http://bit.ly/2G9RKH8

Pleasantly surprised to see you had the Plattsburgh State Cardinals so high in your rankings this week (#12). I know most voters look at those 4 losses and have a tendency to dismiss them but as you noted, all 4 losses came with their best player (and most likely the SUNYAC Player of the Year), Jon Patron, missing from the lineup. With Jon, who averages 22.4 ppg and 10.3 rpg,  they are undefeated and now boast the 2nd longest current winning streak in the country, 15 games,  behind only Whitman.

They end the regular season with a pair of home conference games this weekend against 2 teams they have already beaten on the road by 37 and 29 points respectively, so I think they will win out and enter the SUNYAC tournament with a 17 game winning streak and a 20-4 record. Their last 8 games against the top teams in the conference have all been double digit wins 

Hopefully some of your fellow voters will hop on the Cardinals bandwagon this coming week and they will finally make the Top 25. I think they were hurt last week when they only played a single game and everyone jumped on the Johns Hopkins train because of their two big wins.       

[Onward on, John Carroll]

Welp - not ignoring the two losses.

I am sure MIT would love me to lose their three losses. Or E&H their four. OWU I think is one of the best teams in the country, but they are 6-7 in the last 13. I can't ignore those losses. 

I know it is tongue-and-cheek... but there are a LOT of losses this year and ignoring bad games isn't something in the cards. I wanted to shift Wittenberg WAY down for their loss to Hiram... just couldn't do it when everyone else is losing, too. I did move some teams up after losses, but not because I wanted to.

I did consider moving JCU you. They were on my ballot half a dozen times until the very, very end. Will watch intently to see how this week works out.

(As an aside, I hate voting anew for a team one week and then removing them the next week. Bugs me to no end. Makes me think I made the wrong choice originally.)

Your love for OWU this season, despite their record and the fact they are under .500 in a rather pedestrian NCAC (the usual two horse race between Woo and Witt), is entertaining to no end.  I respect your loyalty.

I just hope JCU keeps it together (my viewpoint) or puts it together (your viewpoint) as the season hits the homestretch.  If I had known how long it would be before we made our next Sweet Sixteen, I sure would have enjoyed the previous trips a lot more.

If I loved them, they would be in my ballot, right? Haven't been for quite awhile now.

I saw them in front of me play two of the more incredible games I have seen in years. They have the best point guard in the country. You may think the NCAC is pedestrian, but it is a far better conference than you are giving it credit for. That said, they have fallen apart. I was using the example as an extreme in a tongue-and-cheek comment. I could pick out a lot of other examples as well (Whitewater).

It isn't loyalty, it is appreciation for what I saw and I am not the only one who is a) impressed with what we saw and b) amazed that they have come unglued.

Perhaps loyalty was the wrong word and I certainly did not mean to imply that you were voting for them as I know that you are not.  I just get a chuckle because you cannot say the words Ohio Wesleyan on Hoopsville without a sign of disappointment before mentioning how good they looked to you in December.  You can love a team and not want to vote for them. I believe you when you say that they looked sooooo good in December and so many of us have followed a team that we know is good but just keeps losing ball games.  I can certainly relate and I can name two John Carroll teams in the past 20 years that I still cannot figure out how they lost as many games as they did.

FWIW, I did talk to a Wooster fan who said that NO ONE in the region should want OWU to win the NCAC tournament because if they get it back together and get things rolling, that would be as nasty a bid thief as there could be. I asked "What if that knocks out Etta and they are fully healthy?"  He still though OWU was more dangerous. Like you said, there are others saying just what you are saying.

[sac]

Ohio Wesleyan could finish with one win against a team with a winning record significantly above .500.  Ramapo

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

Welp - not ignoring the two losses.

I am sure MIT would love me to lose their three losses. Or E&H their four. OWU I think is one of the best teams in the country, but they are 6-7 in the last 13. I can't ignore those losses. 

I know it is tongue-and-cheek... but there are a LOT of losses this year and ignoring bad games isn't something in the cards. I wanted to shift Wittenberg WAY down for their loss to Hiram... just couldn't do it when everyone else is losing, too. I did move some teams up after losses, but not because I wanted to.

I did consider moving JCU you. They were on my ballot half a dozen times until the very, very end. Will watch intently to see how this week works out.

(As an aside, I hate voting anew for a team one week and then removing them the next week. Bugs me to no end. Makes me think I made the wrong choice originally.)

For a team who looked as good as Witt has this year to want to move them "WAY" down doesn't seem fair. I know you will bring up the lopsided score of 20ish points, but it is a single blemish to a decent team in a solid conference on the road on senior night. Teams lose, opposing teams hit shots and the ball may not bounce your way one day. I have been thinking this all season, a loss to solid/average team for all of these top tier teams are not the end of the world. Especially when you think about everybody getting their best shot. If it becomes a trend like it has for E&H or OWU I totally get it but just one loss for Witt did not make me significantly change their ranking in the poster poll.

That said you only moved witt down one spot and mentioned some of the reasons i did above in your blog. I guess I agree with your actions, just not the theory that losing needs to be accomponied by the feeling of needing to move a team "WAY down."

You are taking my one comment about one team and then extrapolating out that I would do it for all teams. "Theory that losing needs to be accomponied by the feeling of needing to move a team 'WAY down.'"

If you have read my blogs or listened to my show enough times, you would know that is not true. I don't move teams based on losses a LOT. Heck, in the last few years probably a majority of the time. However, that doesn't meant there aren't exceptions. Wittenberg lost by 20+ to Hiram! Really?! If they lost to Wooster, I wouldn't be inclined to move them down as much. If they lost to OWU (that was a shot across the bow at Onward), I wouldn't do it... but it was Hiram. But I also know Hiram is 14-9 this season and I did take that into account.

But please don't assume because I said I wanted to move Wittenberg way down that I mean to do that with every team that takes a loss. That loss, how it happened, and the spread.. concerned me. That kind of loss can open a door...

[Onward on, John Carroll]

As I used to say during a rousing game of Battleship with my brother:  Hit

[Gregory Sager]

Welp - not ignoring the two losses.

I am sure MIT would love me to lose their three losses. Or E&H their four. OWU I think is one of the best teams in the country, but they are 6-7 in the last 13. I can't ignore those losses. 

I know it is tongue-and-cheek... but there are a LOT of losses this year and ignoring bad games isn't something in the cards. I wanted to shift Wittenberg WAY down for their loss to Hiram... just couldn't do it when everyone else is losing, too. I did move some teams up after losses, but not because I wanted to.

I did consider moving JCU you. They were on my ballot half a dozen times until the very, very end. Will watch intently to see how this week works out.

(As an aside, I hate voting anew for a team one week and then removing them the next week. Bugs me to no end. Makes me think I made the wrong choice originally.)

For a team who looked as good as Witt has this year to want to move them "WAY" down doesn't seem fair. I know you will bring up the lopsided score of 20ish points, but it is a single blemish to a decent team in a solid conference on the road on senior night. Teams lose, opposing teams hit shots and the ball may not bounce your way one day. I have been thinking this all season, a loss to solid/average team for all of these top tier teams are not the end of the world. Especially when you think about everybody getting their best shot. If it becomes a trend like it has for E&H or OWU I totally get it but just one loss for Witt did not make me significantly change their ranking in the poster poll.

That said you only moved witt down one spot and mentioned some of the reasons i did above in your blog. I guess I agree with your actions, just not the theory that losing needs to be accomponied by the feeling of needing to move a team "WAY down."

You are taking my one comment about one team and then extrapolating out that I would do it for all teams. "Theory that losing needs to be accomponied by the feeling of needing to move a team 'WAY down.'"

If you have read my blogs or listened to my show enough times, you would know that is not true. I don't move teams based on losses a LOT. Heck, in the last few years probably a majority of the time. However, that doesn't meant there aren't exceptions. Wittenberg lost by 20+ to Hiram! Really?! If they lost to Wooster, I wouldn't be inclined to move them down as much. If they lost to OWU (that was a shot across the bow at Onward), I wouldn't do it... but it was Hiram. But I also know Hiram is 14-9 this season and I did take that into account.

But please don't assume because I said I wanted to move Wittenberg way down that I mean to do that with every team that takes a loss. That loss, how it happened, and the spread.. concerned me. That kind of loss can open a door...

That's the same Hiram team that's already swept your Battling Bishops, Dave.