Top 25 talk

[wooscotsfan]

Final:  #5 Wooster 96  Wabash 52

Wooster jumped out to a 12-0 start and made 13 three pointers to control this game.  Wooster was led by James Cooper with 18 points, Brandon Johnson with 16 points and Andy Van Horn with 10 points.

Wooster is now 13-2, 6-0 NCAC    Next game is at Hiram on 1/17

GO SCOTS!

[David Collinge]

#4 Ohio Northern drops another game in the tough OAC, losing at John Carroll 63-61. 

[David Collinge]

From the Concordia-Moorhead website:

Concordia overcame a 12-point deficit midway through the second half to take a one-point lead at 65-64 with 1:36 remaining but four straight points by Tommie All-American Isaac Rosefelt helped nationally-ranked St. Thomas escape with a 68-65 win.

#3 UST moves to 13-1, but sure is living dangerously.  Concordia falls to just 2-11 (or 2-11-0, as their schedule/results page insists. )

[David Collinge]

Top 25 Schedules and Results, Jan. 8-14 (UPDATED with Saturday scores):

#1 UW-Stevens Point (14-1) def. Lakeland 97-59 and won at UW-Eau Claire 77-43
#2 Amherst (14-0) won at Wesleyan 76-52, won at Tufts 96-92 (OT), and won at #12 Bates 79-64
#3 St. Thomas (13-1) def. Augsburg 80-63, def. Gustavus Adolphus 74-57, and won at Concordia-Moorhead 68-65
#4 Ohio Northern (12-3) won at Wilmington 63-62 and lost at John Carroll 63-61
#5 Wooster (13-2) won at Allegheny 97-87 and def. Wabash 96-52
#6 Whitworth (14-1) lost to #17 Puget Sound 77-72 and def. Pacific Lutheran 80-56
#7 Virginia Wesleyan (12-2) won at Lynchburg 79-57
#8 Wittenberg (13-2) won at Earlham 71-60 and won at Hiram 72-50
#9 Mississippi College (13-1) def. Texas-Dallas 66-54 and def. Texas-Tyler 66-45
#10 UW-Oshkosh (13-3) lost at #20 UW-La Crosse 48-47 and won at UW-River Falls 69-66
#11 Hope (12-2) def. Albion 94-58 and won at Calvin 65-62
#12 Bates (11-2) def. U. New England 90-46, lost to Trinity (CT) 68-63, and lost to #2 Amherst 79-64
#13 William Paterson (10-5) lost at New Jersey City 56-42 and lost to Ramapo 72-69
#14 Elmhurst (13-1) won at #18 Carthage 72-62 and def. Illinois Wesleyan 76-57
#15 Augustana (12-3) won at #21 Wheaton (IL) 74-69 and def. #18 Carthage 70-54
#16 Washington U. (11-1) won at Case Western Reserve 73-56 and plays at Emory Sun.
#17 Puget Sound (12-2) won at #6 Whitworth 77-72 and won at Whitman 102-88
#18 Carthage (9-5) lost to #14 Elmhurst 72-62 and lost at #15 Augustana 70-54
#19 Johns Hopkins (13-2) lost to Haverford 64-59, won at Ursinus 66-50, and def. Muhlenburg 78-58
#20 UW-La Crosse (11-4) def. #10 UW-Oshkosh 48-47 and won at UW-Superior 77-62
#21 Wheaton (IL) (9-5) lost to #15 Augustana 74-69 and won at North Park 73-60
#22 Occidental (9-3) def. Caltech 103-40 and def. Claremont-Mudd-Scripps 71-56
#23 Worcester Polytech (12-1) won at Springfield 82-75, def. Babson 59-53, and won at Clark 77-61
#24 NYU (11-2) lost at Brandeis 52-48
#25 Aurora (12-1) def. Dominican 90-66 and won at Clarke 72-63

[golden_dome]

Mississippi College beats UT-Tyler 66-45, led 34-14 at half. Senior 6'8" guard Timothy Broomfield 4-5 from three (25-40 this year).

[PrideSportBBallGuy]

Maybe some votes finally coming in Greensboro's way.  They gave Averett a good beating yesterday 78-55.  Plus earlier in the in the week it was the first time in 7 years they beat Methodist at Methodist. 

[wooscotsfan]

PrideSport -- at 11-3, Greensboro has a decent record but the USAC conference has not been strong in recent years.  My guess is that Greensboro may still need to run off another 5 wins in a row, including wins over both North Carolina Wesleyan and Christopher Newport before you will get serious consideration from the Top 25 voters.

[Titan Q]

A post I made on the CCIW board last night...

-----
Before this week I thought the CCIW had 6 pretty even teams and 2 (Millikin and North Park) good and very dangerous teams a notch below the other 6.   After this week's games and after seeing Elmhurst tonight, I am beginning to think that the Bluejays are clearly the best team in the CCIW and after that we have 7 fairly even teams.  In that pack of 7, there is certainly separation, but maybe the gap between 2 and 8 is smaller than the gap between 1 and 2.  In other words, we could see final standings like...

Elmhurst:  12-2
Team 2:  8-6
Team 3:  7-7
Team 4:  7-7
Team 5:  7-7
Team 6:  5-9
Team 7:  5-9
Team 8:  5-9

Elmhurst's size is just simply amazing for a Division III team, and senior point-guard Brian Lee has become a very good player.  Lee has become that take charge floor general type that every great team has.  Ryan Burks gives them a a nice perimeter threat and should keep getting better.

Elmhurst has pounded Augustana and Illinois Wesleyan at home and won convincingly at Carthage.  I may be wrong, but the team I saw tonight looked like one that could get to the Final Four.  I don't how how anyone is going to deal with Elmhurst's size and balance.
-----

I could be wrong about the size of that gap between 1 and 2, but I'm confident that Elmhurst is the best team in the CCIW by a good margin.  After seeing them last night, I will be moving them way up on my Top 25 ballot.  I think they're good enough to get to Salem.

After losing their opener to Simpson, Elmhurst has won 13 a row, including victories over UW-Oshkosh, UW-Whitewater, Augustana in a blowout, @ Carthage comfortably, and Illinois Wesleyan by a bunch.

[PrideSportBBallGuy]

PrideSport -- at 11-3, Greensboro has a decent record but the USAC conference has not been strong in recent years.  My guess is that Greensboro may still need to run off another 5 wins in a row, including wins over both North Carolina Wesleyan and Christopher Newport before you will get serious consideration from the Top 25 voters.

Oh I agree USASouth has been weak in recent years.  Yet we had two teams ranked at the same time in the top 25 at one point in the season.  Plus for the first time in at least a long time we beat (USASouth) the ODAC conference in the season series.  11-9

[sludge]

Oh I agree USASouth has been weak in recent years.  Yet we had two teams ranked at the same time in the top 25 at one point in the season.  Plus for the first time in at least a long time we beat (USASouth) the ODAC conference in the season series.  11-9

PrideSport Guy, I agree that Greensboro College is headed in the right direction towards cracking the top 25 soon, but it may take a few more games.

I wonder how people figure Guilford is not top 25 material!  They've lost one game, to the defending champs, a team that is arguably #1 in the land (until proven otherwise!), or easilly #6 in the land.  How does that keep Guilford out of anything?

[Pat Coleman]

I wonder how people figure Guilford is not top 25 material!  They've lost one game, to the defending champs, a team that is arguably #1 in the land (until proven otherwise!), or easilly #6 in the land.  How does that keep Guilford out of anything?

What's the big win on that schedule that makes them a Top 25 lock?

Remember, Guilford has the 26th-most votes on the board. It's not like they have no support whatsoever. Your complaint seems a little odd given that placement.

[sludge]

I wonder how people figure Guilford is not top 25 material!  They've lost one game, to the defending champs, a team that is arguably #1 in the land (until proven otherwise!), or easilly #6 in the land.  How does that keep Guilford out of anything?

What's the big win on that schedule that makes them a Top 25 lock?

Remember, Guilford has the 26th-most votes on the board. It's not like they have no support whatsoever. Your complaint seems a little odd given that placement.

Ouch!  Busted and humbled on both counts.   

Maybe more later on this topic, then.

[Ralph Turner]

I wonder how people figure Guilford is not top 25 material!  They've lost one game, to the defending champs, a team that is arguably #1 in the land (until proven otherwise!), or easilly #6 in the land.  How does that keep Guilford out of anything?

What's the big win on that schedule that makes them a Top 25 lock?

Remember, Guilford has the 26th-most votes on the board. It's not like they have no support whatsoever. Your complaint seems a little odd given that placement.

Ouch!  Busted and humbled on both counts.   

Maybe more later on this topic, then.

Sludge, you are getting lots of respect! You have the third highest vote total of the South Region teams.  I think that you are basking in the "love" that the ODAC is getting for having the defending champ and 3 Final Four appearances in the last 8 seasons.  Pat pointed out that there was no big win (like Mississippi College's Westmont win). 

For a very average region among the 8, the South should not expect much more love.  I see Guilford contending for the Conference championship, or trying to get one of the 19 Pool C bids, if they only lose to VWC, here on out.

[PrideSportBBallGuy]

Oh I agree USASouth has been weak in recent years.  Yet we had two teams ranked at the same time in the top 25 at one point in the season.  Plus for the first time in at least a long time we beat (USASouth) the ODAC conference in the season series.  11-9

PrideSport Guy, I agree that Greensboro College is headed in the right direction towards cracking the top 25 soon, but it may take a few more games.

I wonder how people figure Guilford is not top 25 material!  They've lost one game, to the defending champs, a team that is arguably #1 in the land (until proven otherwise!), or easilly #6 in the land.  How does that keep Guilford out of anything?

I have seen Guilford play, they are starting to get some respect and I think they should already be in the poll.  I mean in the actual top 25 not just votes.

For a very average region among the 8, the South should not expect much more love.  I see Guilford contending for the Conference championship, or trying to get one of the 19 Pool C bids, if they only lose to VWC, here on out.

Thats the problem though, the region is average.  How do teams that are great in the south supposed to schedule great teams in the south if the south is so average.  They have to schedule out of region games.  Luckily for Greensboro they had some out of region teams in the south. aka John Carroll (a quality win)  Oswego State (5-1 at the time and 7-6 now) at CNU.  I couldn't imagine the traveling costs for those games and it would be bad for Greensboro too.  I am not too sure how much weight there is on games out of region for NCAA's, but from what I hear in region games are highly weighted.  Someone correct me if I am wrong.

[Pat Coleman]

Other schools manage to do it. Guilford now can claim in-region games against a rather wide swath of the USA that includes top-notch competition in Ohio and Michigan.

Lack of opportunity is not an excuse. We're not going to punish a team that played a more challenging slate in order to elevate someone who hasn't challenged itself.