Top 25 talk

[David Collinge]

Tough week for Averett; after reaching an all-time high ranking of #11, today they dropped their third straight game, losing to Hobart 73-66 in the consolation game of the York (Pa.) tournament.

#9 William Paterson also falls today, 67-66 at Manhattanville.

[David Collinge]

More top 25 carnage as #2 Ohio Northern drops their second OAC game at home, 68-57 to Capital.

[Warren Thompson]

#9 William Paterson also falls today, 67-66 at Manhattanville.

And just what happened to Willy Pat?

[John Gleich]

#1 will stay intact, as Point is blasting Stout right now 66-39 with about 10 remaining.

Point jumped out to a 10-0 lead and never looked back.

[hope1]

Hope   beat  Olivet   99  to  70   today

[wooscotsfan]

Final:  #4 Wooster 96  Denison 67

Wooster coasted tonight and won this game easily.   Tim Vandervaart did not play tonight for Wooster due to a calf injury but there is a chance that he will play in next Wednesday's game.

Wooster was led by Tom Port with 26 points, Brandon Johnson with 14 points, James Cooper with 13 points, Marty Bidwell with 13 points and Devin Fulk with 11 points.

Wooster is now 11-2, 4-0 NCAC    Next game at Allegheny on 1/10

GO SCOTS!

[David Collinge]

So now what do you do with Wooster and Ohio Northern?  ONU is #2 but lost at home by 11 to 8-4 Capital (they also won at 6-6 Muskingum); Wooster is #4, 64 points behind the Polar Bears, and playing without perhaps their best player, they wiped out a crummy 1-11 Denison team.  There's no reason to drop Wooster in the poll, especially when you consider that #5 is a stumbling St. Thomas.  But that means you either drop ONU behind Wooster, despite the fact that ONU beat Wooster on its own court just last week, or you hold ONU as #3 despite their second double-digit home loss.  As a voter, what do you do in this situation?

[ILive4This]

you drop wooster, and ONU, you are ranking the team as they are now, not their potential, the fact that their best player is out right now means they are not the team they were when they were at one time ranked first in the country, also one would assume that without their best player they are an even worse team compared to ONU than before. Were there best player not out, you could justify dropping ONU below wooster, because as you said they have 2 double digit loses at home. However in this case i think both teams drop a bit say from 3/4 to somewhere in the 5-8 range.

[David Collinge]

The injured player for Wooster will probably be back on Wednesday, missing only one game; two games at the outside.  I don't think you can justify dropping Wooster 2 to 4 places when they won their only game of the week by 29 points and the team immediately behind them in the poll had to go 2 overtimes to beat 6-4 Bethel.

[wooscotsfan]

Three ranked teams lost in CCIW games tonight:

Elmhurst 82  #12 Augustana 71

North Central 52  #16 Wheaton 47

Illinois Wesleyan 79  #17 Carthage 76

[Mr. Ypsi]

Three ranked teams lost in CCIW games tonight:

Elmhurst 82  #12 Augustana 71

North Central 52  #16 Wheaton 47

Illinois Wesleyan 79  #17 Carthage 76

True, but note that two of the winners (NCC and IWU were previously ranked - and may well be again before it's all over), while Elmhurst will almost certainly be ranked this week.

I'm starting to agree with Q - the CCIW may not have a top 5 (or even 10) team this year, but we've got a LOT of top 25 teams!  ANY team 'taking a night off' is almost guaranteed a loss.

[kiltedbryan]

Re: ONU/Wooster Polling

They played a pretty even, hard-fought game against each other.  Both have played a tougher schedule than #3 Amherst.  I think that ONU's signature wins at Wittenberg and at Wooster keep them tighter to the top of the poll.  They lose their #1 votes to Amherst and UWSP, and drop at least one spot.  I think in vote points, Wooster-ONU will be extremely tight next week, erasing the 64-point gap that is currently seperating them.

[frodotwo]

UWSP wins big and should increase their #1 votes

  1. UWSP
  2. Amherst
  3. Wooster
  4. St. Thomas
  5. Whitworth
  6. Ohio Northern
  7. Wittenberg
  8. Virginia Wesleyan
  9. Mississippi College
10. Puget Sound

Just an opinion.

[David Collinge]

Top 25 schedule and results, Jan. 1-7 (FINAL):

#1 UW-Stevens Point (12-1) def. UW-Superior 101-45 and won at UW-Stout 80-50
#2 Ohio Northern (11-2) won at Muskingum 69-57 and lost to Capital 68-57
#3 Amherst (10-0) def. Babson 89-70 and won at Williams 64-45
#4 Wooster (11-2) def. Denison 96-67
#5 St. Thomas (10-1) won at Carleton 64-62 and won at Bethel 91-86 (2 OT)
#6 Whitworth (13-0) won at UC-Santa Cruz 89-44, won at Linfield 77-64, and won at George Fox 83-53
#7 Wittenberg (11-2) won at Kenyon 72-67 (OT) and def. Oberlin 71-41
#8 Virginia Wesleyan (11-2) won at Methodist 84-49, def. Emory & Henry 128-84, and def. Guilford 75-55
#9 William Paterson (10-2) def. Tufts 79-57 and lost at Manhattanville 67-66
#10 Mississippi College (11-1) won at Sul Ross State 69-39 and won at Howard Payne 76-64
#11 Averett (9-3) lost to Guilford 74-69, lost to Richard Stockton 57-51 at York (Pa.), and lost to Hobart 73-66 at York (Pa.)
#12 Augustana (10-3) def. North Park 62-48 and lost at Elmhurst 82-71
#13 Puget Sound (10-2) won at Pacific Lutheran 108-96 and lost at Pacific 77-71
#14 Hope (10-2) won at Kalamazoo 87-55 and def. Olivet 99-70
#15 Bates (10-0) def. Elms 73-56 at Union and won at Union 81-66
#16 Wheaton (IL) (8-4) won at Baruch 75-66 and lost to North Central 52-47
#17 Carthage (9-3) def. Northland 84-74 and lost at Illinois Wesleyan 79-76
#18 UW-Oshkosh (12-2) def. UW-Platteville 79-58, def. Grinnell 123-105, and def. UW-Eau Claire 80-55
#19 Johns Hopkins (11-1) def. Washington Coll. 77-72
#20 NYU (11-1) lost at Carnegie Mellon 68-64 and won at Rochester 70-61 (OT)
#21 Lawrence (6-4) lost at Ripon 60-56
#22 Texas-Dallas (11-2) lost at Hardin-Simmons 75-56 and lost at McMurry 81-57
#23 Brandeis (10-3) won at Curry 81-73, lost at Rochester 83-65, and lost at Carnegie Mellon 75-68
#24 Washington U. (10-1) won at Webster 81-65 and won at Chicago 70-59
#25 UW-La Crosse (9-4) def. UW-Stout 57-42

Welcome to the wonderful world of conference play!

[David Collinge]

UWSP wins big and should increase their #1 votes

  1. UWSP
  2. Amherst
  3. Wooster
  4. St. Thomas
  5. Whitworth
  6. Ohio Northern
  7. Wittenberg
  8. Virginia Wesleyan
  9. Mississippi College
10. Puget Sound

Just an opinion.

You might want to reconsider #10, as homestanding Pacific upset #13 Puget Sound late Saturday, 77-71.