Top 25 talk

[Greek Tragedy]

Look for Oxy, L&C, St. Thomas and Cal. Lutheran all to drop out of the Top 25.  Who takes their spots?

[David Collinge]

HOW THEY FARED (week of Jan. 7-13) (COMPLETE)       
      
#   1   Rochester (12-0) def. Keuka 81-37 at Geneseo, def. Brockport St 75-70 and def. Nazareth 87-75 (Chase tournament, Rochester NY)
#   2   Brandeis (11-1) won at Elms 96-94 (OT) and won at NYU 66-56
#   3   Amherst (10-2) def. Wesleyan 85-63 and def. #4 Williams 87-80
#   4   Williams (11-1) lost at #3 Amherst 87-80
#   5   Augustana (10-3) lost at North Park 67-58 and def. #10 Elmhurst 74-72
#   6   Mary Hardin-Baylor (11-1) def. Concordia-Austin 104-102 (2OT) and won at U. of the Ozarks 76-72
#   7   Washington U. (10-2) def. Webster 74-60 and def. Chicago 76-50
#   8   Hope (10-2) def. Albion 64-49 and won at Olivet 80-71
#   9   Puget Sound (11-1) def. Pacific Lutheran 125-116 (2OT) and def. Linfield 89-82
#   10   Elmhurst (10-2) def. Millikin 98-78 and lost at #5 Augustana 74-72
#   11   Guilford (8-3) def. Hampden-Sydney 93-79, lost to Randolph-Macon 69-60, and def. #17 Virginia Wesleyan 85-69
#   12   UW-Oshkosh (11-3) lost to UW-Platteville 72-53 and won at UW-Superior 87-72
#   13   Wheaton (IL) (11-2) def. Carthage 70-64 and lost at North Central (IL) 73-72
#   14   UW-Stevens Point (11-3) def. UW-River Falls 87-44 and def. UW-Platteville 70-67
#   15   UW-Whitewater (12-2) won at UW-La Crosse 65-62 and won at UW-Eau Claire 69-63
#   16   Capital (11-2) def. Mount Union 83-67 and won at Ohio Northern 69-67
#   17   Virginia Wesleyan (9-3) def. Bridgewater (VA) 76-53, won at Emory & Henry 119-89, and lost at #11 Guilford 85-69
#   18   Stevens (12-1) def. Staten Island 71-56, def. Hartwick 64-43, and def. Utica 60-59
#   19   Mass.-Dartmouth (13-0) won at Salem St. 97-88, won at Roger Williams 67-60, and def. Keene St. 100-97 (OT)
#   20   Wooster (11-2) won at Wabash 72-70
#   21   Occidental (10-2) lost at Claremont-Mudd-Scripps 55-42
#   22   Lewis & Clark (8-4) lost at Whitworth 64-33 and won at Whitman 76-68
#   23   St. Thomas (10-3) def. Bethel 83-77 (OT), won at Augsburg 80-72, and lost at Gustavus Adolphus 59-58
#   24   Cal Lutheran (10-2) lost at Whittier 69-58
#   25   Plattsburgh St. (10-2) won at Fredonia St. 74-65 and won at Buffalo St. 79-70

[bouttime]

look for the UAA to get its 4th team in the top 25. CMU has recieved votes in the last 2 polls and with 2 more wins this weekend moving them 10-2, I would be shocked if they weren't included in the top 25.

[Ralph Turner]

HOW THEY FARED, interim edition

No Monday games for current Top 25 teams
One game involving a team that's on my "maybe" radar:

Millsaps at U. of Dallas

IMHO, Millsaps by 15, even on the road in the 3rd game in four days including two plane fights.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

look for the UAA to get its 4th team in the top 25. CMU has recieved votes in the last 2 polls and with 2 more wins this weekend moving them 10-2, I would be shocked if they weren't included in the top 25.

Be ready to be shocked... just a gut feeling.

[Ralph Turner]

I have no idea what is happening in the western side of the South.  For Millsaps to be on "radars" is not logical, because the ASC is not thought of as a "power conference", and they have a better post-season record over the last decade than the SCAC!  (13-13 with 5 byes versus 7-13 and 2 byes).

Millsaps has a 2-point home win over Louisiana College (3-5 ASC-East/ 4-9 overall) their only ASC opponent.  However, as Titan Q said on Hoopsville tonight, scores seem to mean less this year than previous years!

[Pat Coleman]

Don't know if I'll vote for CMU but it looks like there's some room at the bottom of the poll.

[Hugenerd]

Well if we look at how they #21-30 vote getters fared, we see:

#   21   Occidental (10-2) lost at Claremont-Mudd-Scripps 55-42
#   22   Lewis & Clark (8-4) lost at Whitworth 64-33 and won at Whitman 76-68
#   23   St. Thomas (10-3) def. Bethel 83-77 (OT), won at Augsburg 80-72, and lost at Gustavus Adolphus 59-58
#   24   Cal Lutheran (10-2) lost at Whittier 69-58
#   25   Plattsburgh St. (10-2) won at Fredonia St. 74-65 and won at Buffalo St. 79-70

#26 Centre (12-1) won at Birmingham-Southern 77-53 and won at Rhodes 84-77
#27 Milsaps (12-1) won at Colorado College 94-83 and won at Austin 85-54
#28 Nazareth (10-3) won at Rochester Tech 88-82, won at Geneseo St. 70-68, and lost at Rochester 87-75
#29 Salem State (9-2) lost to UMD 97-88
#30 CMU (10-2) def.  Averett 70-62 and def. Lycoming 81-59


21-24 all lost games against unranked opponents and will probably lose some votes, how much is not clear.  The interesting teams, in my view, are #28 and #29.   Nazareth got two solids wins in the Chase tournament before losing to #1 Rochester by double digits.  I think they will gain votes, but then again you never know.  Salem State lost to UMD at home, who is undefeated and is ranked in the top 20, I dont know if they will lose any votes but I dont see how they can gain any by losing their only game this week. 

25-27 and 30 won all of their games this past week.  So the real question, at the bottom of the rankings, is how much the #21-24 teams will slip due to their losses to unranked teams.  My guess is that Centre and Milsaps will probably get enough votes to be ranked (based on last weeks voting), and that Nazareth or CMU could also get in if the voters drop each of the #21-24 teams 2-3 spots in their rankings, on average, and increase the position of Naz or CMU 1-2 spots.

[LogShow]

Thats a lot of red at the bottom of the poll...

[Mr. Downtown]

I know a lot of people are looking at teams 26-30 to be in the new top 25 tomorrow, but one team outside of that range that I think should be in is UW-Platteville. They beat a very good Oshkosh team on the road (by 19 nonetheless) and it took a 3 pointer with seconds left for Stevens Point to knock them off.

They had the toughest road stretch for any team in the WIAC this season, and passed with flying colors. They are truly one of the toughest teams in the WIAC, and will be battling for that conference championship the rest of the season.

I also expect Oshkosh to drop a few spots, Point to gain a spot or two, and Whitewater to make a jump, they also played some tough games on the road and won.

I think 4 teams in the WIAC should be in the top 25.

[sac]

6+ places is a long way to move up with a fresh loss.

[John Gleich]

I agree Mr DT.  From my perspective, there are a number of midwestern teams who all fit in about the same range: UWSP, UW Oshkosh, UW Whitewater, UW Platteville, Augustana, Elmhurst, Wash U, Wheaton... they're all showing the ability to beat each other up, and none of them is really rising to the top.

I'm not sure how they fit in with the teams from the East and east coast.  I guess we'll get a bit of a barometer when Wash U plays their UAA foes.  Not really sure how the teams from the Northeast fit in there either...  By schedule design (and due to regions that tend to not be as tough) they've beaten most comers (Amherst dropped a game to Brandeis, who's ahead of them in the polls currently). 

Rochester, who hasn't lost yet, has only left the city of Rochester once (3 away games, but one each against Rochester Tech and Nazareth, right across town).  I don't see evidence that they're geared up for their grueling UAA schedule.

Brandeis has beaten everybody but UMass Dartmouth, but have they been tested?


This is the difficult part of a national poll in a regional system, and especially with lower budget teams.  We get a small handful of inter-region games but not enough to really be a meaningful sample.

I think it's going to be a very intersting rest of the season and tournament.  Whereas in other seasons there appeared teams who early on separated themselved, it looks like it may take a bit longer

[Jacketfan2011]

Or...maybe the Midwestern teams are weak and beating up each other is as good as it gets  

And while it is true undefeated UR (gosh, that has a nice ring to it) has not strayed far from home, it was very strange to see them be virtual underdogs on their own court during the Chase this weekend.  At best the crowd was 50/50 and I suspect more along the lines of 60/40.

I guess the beauty of the UAA is that teams from across the country do play each other.  It was nice to see Ohio Wesleyan at UR earlier this year as sort of a preview

[sac]

I believe this new poll means we get a #1 vs #2 game next Sunday.  Cool  8)

[Pat Coleman]

I believe this new poll means we get a #1 vs #2 game next Sunday.  Cool  8)

Indeed, although they were 1/2 in the old poll, too.

I've inquired and U of R is attempting to add capacity to its video stream to handle the demand.