Top 25 talk

[balls a dunkin]

I really feel sorry for the voters of the top 25.  it seems like there are more upsets in DIII than any other division.  Maybe I am wrong,  But David's work on the top 25 really shows it alot better than the newspaper. Thanks alot David!

[Titan Q]

As the season has played out, I've become convinced that, a) there is not one dominant team this year (a team as good as, say, the 2004 and 2005 UW-Stevens Point teams), and b) there is tremendous parity in Division III up and down the top 25.  I think #25 Wheaton and superstar Kent Raymond would give #1 Amherst all they could handle.

I think there are 10-12 teams with a legitimate chance to win the 2007 title.  At this stage of most seasons, that list is probably much smaller.

[diehardfan]

You heard it here first... Wheaton for #1 in the next poll! Just kidding!!!!

I agree though, I have no idea who's going to be in the final four, and its been a bit of a demotivator to buy my tickets to Salem thus far. Odd, but true. For some reason the event's more exciting when I think there is likely to be a certain set of matchups that will be really good, or that there's going to be a team you really enjoy the style of or who has that great humble star player its more interesting. Oh well, I suppose I should get on that before tickets become too expensive!

I've been of the opinion that Point should be #1 for a while now. I'm not really sure what people have expected them to do differently with their sched. Is it supposed to surprise us that they lost a few conference games? I wouldn't want to pick 2-25 though!

[Greek Tragedy]

As the season has played out, I've become convinced that, a) there is not one dominant team this year (a team as good as, say, the 2004 and 2005 UW-Stevens Point teams), and b) there is tremendous parity in Division III up and down the top 25.  I think #25 Wheaton and superstar Kent Raymond would give #1 Amherst all they could handle.

I think there are 10-12 teams with a legitimate chance to win the 2007 title.  At this stage of most seasons, that list is probably much smaller.

I don't know anything about Amherst and I haven't seen them play.  I know there is an East-Coast bias about those teams not being as strong as the midwest area teams.  In 2004, Amherst barely lost to Williams, who lost to Point in the National Championship game.  I don't want to compare that year to this year, but maybe the cream of the crop teams "out east" can compete with the teams in this area.  I mean, everyone seemed to give IWU the championship last year and they lost to "lowly" VWU and Amherst beat Wittenberg! lol. 

[Pat Coleman]

Wittenberg beat Amherst.

[Mr. Ypsi]

As the season has played out, I've become convinced that, a) there is not one dominant team this year (a team as good as, say, the 2004 and 2005 UW-Stevens Point teams), and b) there is tremendous parity in Division III up and down the top 25.  I think #25 Wheaton and superstar Kent Raymond would give #1 Amherst all they could handle.

I think there are 10-12 teams with a legitimate chance to win the 2007 title.  At this stage of most seasons, that list is probably much smaller.

I don't know anything about Amherst and I haven't seen them play.  I know there is an East-Coast bias about those teams not being as strong as the midwest area teams.  In 2004, Amherst barely lost to Williams, who lost to Point in the National Championship game.  I don't want to compare that year to this year, but maybe the cream of the crop teams "out east" can compete with the teams in this area.  I mean, everyone seemed to give IWU the championship last year and they lost to "lowly" VWU and Amherst beat Wittenberg! lol. 

Wittenberg beat Amherst.

As did IWU.

I'm curious to see whether Amherst will fall below #2.  My impression is they made it to #1 more by the attrition of others than by any strong support, and will no doubt be replaced by UWSP this week.  But the other close pursuers all have at least 3 losses, while Amherst still has but 1.

Likewise, I wonder if #25 Wheaton will remain in the top 25 with another loss, since (#26) Lake Erie and (#27) MHB just keep winning, and Trinity CT is bound to get some strong consideration.  But on the other hand, Wheaton lost AWAY to the #10 team by only 3 points, and beat IWU on the road (hardly the achievement of past years, but still not chopped liver).  If anything, Wheaton should probably move up slightly, except the next five above them all were undefeated this week.  Hmmm...

[David Collinge]

I'm curious to see whether Amherst will fall below #2.  My impression is they made it to #1 more by the attrition of others than by any strong support, and will no doubt be replaced by UWSP this week.  But the other close pursuers all have at least 3 losses, while Amherst still has but 1.

The pack following Amherst didn't exactly have stellar weeks either, as my Week-at-a-Glance shows.  Point won at home by 1 point, Wooster eked out 17- and 5-point wins over a teams they beat by 54 and 44 just last month; VWC had a good but not great week; Hope lost; and St. Thomas...well, they're the team that I think has been overrated all year due to the attrition around them.  I don't have anything against the Tommies, but I hope the voters' patience has finally run out and they take a serious tumble this week.  I'd guess that Amherst is either #2 or #3 (behind VWC) this week.

[Greek Tragedy]

Wittenberg beat Amherst.

That's actually what I meant.  Not sure how I typed that the other way, my argument wouldn't have made any sense then!    Oops.

[Titan Q]

As the season has played out, I've become convinced that, a) there is not one dominant team this year (a team as good as, say, the 2004 and 2005 UW-Stevens Point teams), and b) there is tremendous parity in Division III up and down the top 25.  I think #25 Wheaton and superstar Kent Raymond would give #1 Amherst all they could handle.

I think there are 10-12 teams with a legitimate chance to win the 2007 title.  At this stage of most seasons, that list is probably much smaller.

I don't know anything about Amherst and I haven't seen them play.  I know there is an East-Coast bias about those teams not being as strong as the midwest area teams.  In 2004, Amherst barely lost to Williams, who lost to Point in the National Championship game.  I don't want to compare that year to this year, but maybe the cream of the crop teams "out east" can compete with the teams in this area.  I mean, everyone seemed to give IWU the championship last year and they lost to "lowly" VWU and Amherst beat Wittenberg! lol. 

The "cream of the crop" in almost every region can compete with the best in the Midwest, West, and Great Lakes.  The national championships won by Catholic (2001), Williams (2003), and Virginia Wesleyan (2006) illustrate that as do most of the game results from Salem.  

The "bias" against the east coast (and South region for that matter) has more to do with the depth.  There just are not as many Final Four caliber squads as there are in the top 3 regions.  

[David Collinge]

Top 25 Schedule and Scores, Feb. 5-11 (FINAL):      

#   1   Amherst (23-1) lost at Trinity (CT) 62-59
#   2   UW-Stevens Point (20-2) won at UW-Whitewater 83-80 and def. UW-Stout 73-72
#   3   St. Thomas (21-3) won at Augsburg 80-75 (2 OT), lost at Gustavus Adolphus 80-74 (OT), and def. Concordia-Moorhead 77-57
#   4   Virginia Wesleyan (21-3) def. Eastern Mennonite 87-60 and won at Randolph-Macon 77-69
#   5   Wooster (20-3) def. Hiram 90-73 and won at Wabash 68-63
#   6   Hope (19-3) won at Albion 78-71, lost to Calvin 77-71, and def. Adrian 84-71
#   7   Wittenberg (20-3) def. Ohio Wesleyan 71-64 and def. Hiram 78-41
#   8   UW-Oshkosh (19-4) won at UW-Eau Claire 77-54
#   9   Mississippi College (20-2) def. Louisiana College 88-52 and def. U. of the Ozarks 89-63
#   10   Augustana (19-4) def. #25 Wheaton (IL) 63-60 and def. Millikin 71-59
#   11   Washington U. (18-3) def. Emory 74-62 and def. Case Western Reserve 86-65
#   12   Elmhurst (18-4) def. #15 Carthage 81-59 and def. North Park 83-80
#   13   Whitworth (20-3) lost at #18 Puget Sound 95-90 (OT) and won at Pacific Lutheran 65-63
#   14   Occidental (15-5) lost at Claremont-Mudd-Scripps 68-51 and def. Pomona-Pitzer 76-59
#   15   Carthage (14-8) lost at #12 Elmhurst 81-59 and lost to North Central 62-60
#   16   NYU (17-5) lost to Rochester 58-53 and def. Carnegie Mellon 78-57
#   17   Johns Hopkins (20-3) lost to McDaniel 70-68 and def. Ursinus 74-68
#   18   Puget Sound (17-5) def. #13 Whitworth 95-90 (OT) and lost to Whitman 106-99
#   19   Ohio Northern (17-6) def. Wilmington 75-53 and lost at Capital 74-70
#   20   Worcester Polytech (19-2) def. Mass.-Boston 89-67 and def. MIT 68-47
#   21   Aurora (21-2) def. Edgewood 90-62 and won at Dominican 83-80 (OT)
#   22   UW-La Crosse (15-7) def. UW-Platteville 54-32
#   23   Chicago (18-4) def. Case Western Reserve 77-73 and def. Emory 89-71
#   24   Guilford (19-3) def. Hampden-Sydney 86-72, won at Bridgewater (VA) 74-52, and won at Eastern Mennonite 84-75
#   25   Wheaton (IL) (15-7) lost at #10 Augustana 63-60 and won at Illinois Wesleyan 93-84

Collectively 38-12 overall and 35-9 against unranked teams.

[John Gleich]

Tough week for 13-19...and (almost) for the entire top 3!

[golden_dome]

Likewise, I wonder if #25 Wheaton will remain in the top 25 with another loss, since (#26) Lake Erie and (#27) MHB just keep winning, and Trinity CT is bound to get some strong consideration.  But on the other hand, Wheaton lost AWAY to the #10 team by only 3 points, and beat IWU on the road (hardly the achievement of past years, but still not chopped liver).  If anything, Wheaton should probably move up slightly, except the next five above them all were undefeated this week.  Hmmm...

I don't see what they did this week that would merit moving up in the polls.  A loss against #10 Augustana and close win at a 10-12 Illinois Wesleyan team that has lost eight of their last ten.

[golden_dome]

Will Stevens Point be a unanimous #1 this week. Based on voters reluctance to vote Amherst #1 this season, I would not be completely shocked to see them fall to #3 behind Virginia Wesleyan or Wooster.

[Pat Coleman]

Likewise, I wonder if #25 Wheaton will remain in the top 25 with another loss, since (#26) Lake Erie and (#27) MHB just keep winning, and Trinity CT is bound to get some strong consideration.  But on the other hand, Wheaton lost AWAY to the #10 team by only 3 points, and beat IWU on the road (hardly the achievement of past years, but still not chopped liver).  If anything, Wheaton should probably move up slightly, except the next five above them all were undefeated this week.  Hmmm...

I don't see what they did this week that would merit moving up in the polls.  A loss against #10 Augustana and close win at a 10-12 Illinois Wesleyan team that has lost eight of their last ten.

Lost to a higher-ranked team, so that's usually not something a team gets punished for. Probably status quo here.

[Marty Peretz]

Two easy WashU wins over the weekend. Do they move up at all in the poll? I say maybe to 9.