Posters' Poll

[Mr. Ypsi]

As the keeper of the Posters' Poll, does Mr Ypsi qualify to be considered a "psephologist"?



(Actually, I had to look that word up in my dictionary when I read it in the UK Times Online.)

Wow - my unabridged doesn't even have THAT word!  Though it does have psephisma (from the Greek for a vote of the people), which I'd assume is the same root.

Yippee!  I'm a psephologist!

[Ralph Turner]

As the keeper of the Posters' Poll, does Mr Ypsi qualify to be considered a "psephologist"?



(Actually, I had to look that word up in my dictionary when I read it in the UK Times Online.)

Wow - my unabridged doesn't even have THAT word!  Though it does have psephisma (from the Greek for a vote of the people), which I'd assume is the same root.

Yippee!  I'm a psephologist!

Webster's Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary reports that the word was first used in 1952.

It comes from the Greek word, psephos, meaning "pebble", as in the use of pebbles in by ancient Greeks in voting.  (Long e  eta as in psi eta phi omicron sigma )

[Mr. Ypsi]

Eastern Mennonite destroys Randolph-Macon.  They are real, as I have been suggesting all year, and they still are undefeated in the ODAC.  Their schedule is set up real favorably also.  They only have two more games against the top 4 in the ODAC, VWU at home (whom they already beat on the road) and Guilford on the road.  They are setup to do some big things in the regular season if they dont have letdowns or look past any teams.

I though MIT was equally impressive tonight.  From the opening tip they exerted their will in their matchup with WPI and they had double digit lead for the majority of the game.  They won 76-53, holding WPI to 30 points below their season average.

Since you are an advocate of MIT, you may be more attuned to teams 'coming from nowhere' than many of us.  Last year was EMU's first winning season (overall or conference) in seemingly forever (and even then only marginally - 15-11 and 9-7), and only 3 years ago they were 3-15 in the ODAC.  Their win over VaWes alerted me that they were pretty decent; now I'm fully on the bandwagon.  I still suspect Guilford is the team to beat, but that is one tremendous conference this year!

I'm also now a full-fledged believer in MIT.  With the graduation of their greatest player ever, I expected them to slide back to mediocrity (or worse).  I'm currently wiping egg off my face after trying to 'steal' a point from everyone by taking WPI in the National Pickems!

[Hugenerd]

Eastern Mennonite destroys Randolph-Macon.  They are real, as I have been suggesting all year, and they still are undefeated in the ODAC.  Their schedule is set up real favorably also.  They only have two more games against the top 4 in the ODAC, VWU at home (whom they already beat on the road) and Guilford on the road.  They are setup to do some big things in the regular season if they dont have letdowns or look past any teams.

I though MIT was equally impressive tonight.  From the opening tip they exerted their will in their matchup with WPI and they had double digit lead for the majority of the game.  They won 76-53, holding WPI to 30 points below their season average.

Since you are an advocate of MIT, you may be more attuned to teams 'coming from nowhere' than many of us.  Last year was EMU's first winning season (overall or conference) in seemingly forever (and even then only marginally - 15-11 and 9-7), and only 3 years ago they were 3-15 in the ODAC.  Their win over VaWes alerted me that they were pretty decent; now I'm fully on the bandwagon.  I still suspect Guilford is the team to beat, but that is one tremendous conference this year!

I'm also now a full-fledged believer in MIT.  With the graduation of their greatest player ever, I expected them to slide back to mediocrity (or worse).  I'm currently wiping egg off my face after trying to 'steal' a point from everyone by taking WPI in the National Pickems!

It is true MIT is a completely different team than last year.  I hope they can keep this up.  Those of you who listened to Hoopsville this past Sunday got a chance to hear Coach Anderson speak and I am sure you were scratching your heads when he said one of their strengths is their youth,  He is absolutely correct.  5 out of the 7 guys (one of their usual rotation guys was hurt, they usually play an 8-9 man rotation) who saw significant minutes in tonight's game are new to the team (4 freshman, 1 soph transfer) and another is just a sophomore.  These guys dont care if WPI has beat them for 7 years straight.  They just go out there and play hard every night regardless of who the opponent is.  This group has a very high ceiling, and they have only played half a season together so far.

[John Gleich]

And the Gusties took out the Tommies - looks like Hugenerd and Hoops Fan were right to look at a second MIAC team.

Second week of our poll, and back to square one already!

Clearly, with the win today GAC puts them ahead of St. Johns.  Looks like the top of the MIAC is pretty strong this year.

Especially because St. Johns lost again today, this time to Hamline. 

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

And the Gusties took out the Tommies - looks like Hugenerd and Hoops Fan were right to look at a second MIAC team.

The problem is, I never really believed this St. Thomas team was for real.  I was the lowest voter for them in the first poll and now I don't know how far to drop them.  They've played a tough schedule, but haven't been blowing out teams like they have been for the past few seasons.  Now with a GAC team that lacks a point of reference to beat them.  I've very lost on this one.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

I'm also now a full-fledged believer in MIT.  With the graduation of their greatest player ever, I expected them to slide back to mediocrity (or worse).  I'm currently wiping egg off my face after trying to 'steal' a point from everyone by taking WPI in the National Pickems!

I'm also wiping egg, but for the opposite reason.  I watched a lot of MIT teams during the early part of the past decade and they always had better talent than most of the other NE region schools, they just never put together a decent performance.  I always chalked it up to different priorities for an MIT student, and routinely expected them to under-perform.  I still have trouble believing they'll put it all together, but with each game it gets more and more likely that they will.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

My ballot got decimated last night.  Losses for three of my top 10, plus another top ten team (one I took a flier on) barely beat a squad that a top ten team should stomp.  A host of other losses and near losses in 11-20.  Maybe Calvin will stay on my ballot after all - at least they had an impressive win over a middling opponent.

[John Gleich]

And the Gusties took out the Tommies - looks like Hugenerd and Hoops Fan were right to look at a second MIAC team.

The problem is, I never really believed this St. Thomas team was for real.  I was the lowest voter for them in the first poll and now I don't know how far to drop them.  They've played a tough schedule, but haven't been blowing out teams like they have been for the past few seasons.  Now with a GAC team that lacks a point of reference to beat them.  I've very lost on this one.

The seasoned MIACers didn't see this UST team as being as good as last year's either... they thought the Tommies were too high and the old St. Peter Principle came into full effect, as the Tommies matriculated up to #2.  They didn't lose, so there wasn't any reason to knock them down at all, but even as it was, the MIACers thought #4 was too high.  I don't recall seeing anything that stated if any other MIAC schools were better or at least comparable (though there may have been some initial discussions about St. John's).

I think GAC looks pretty good.  Two losses to NCAA-II teams, another loss to La Crosse (LaX's loss last night to RF looks pretty bad, but other losses were not, @ Stevens Point, Whitewater, and ranked NAIA-II Dakota Wesleyan... not a great loss, but not a loss to miserable team)... and that's it.  They got 2 votes in the last poll... this should get them several more, though I'm not sure if it's enough to crack the top 25.

[Gregory Sager]

I confess to that (and have sometimes ended up in hot water),

So what are the odds IWU goes unbeaten this year

EXTREMELY slim!

But I seriously doubt I was the only one who harbored those thoughts in 2005-2006.  That was one helluva team, and unanimously #1 by the beginning of January.  Apparently I was the only one foolish enough to express those thoughts!

Ask Mr. Ypsi that question on the women's boards ....and, he might give you a different answer!

I didn't know of anybody besides Chuck who harbored those thoughts in 2005-06. In fact, most of us who are long-time D3 followers went to great lengths on these boards to impress upon him the extraordinary difficulty of finishing the season with an unbeaten record in D3 men's basketball, no matter how great that team may be.

Actually, I just went back and checked the posts.  At my most exuberant (I believe it was December 31, 2005, so champagne may have been involved! ), I only had them up to a 30% probability of running the CCIW, and 20% of winning the title undefeated.  (I DID go on to 'stick my neck out' and, despite the fact I thought the odds were against it, predict that they would do it anyway.)

Two additional points:

That same season Lawrence went undefeated until IWU beat them in the tourney.

Hiker Jim posted (4 or 5 posts later) that he thought my 30% was too LOW.

Those odds were still way too high, although I stand corrected about your being alone in your estimations. As for Lawrence, that's what the tournament does -- it eventually cuts down to size teams that emerge undefeated from lesser conferences. Not to cast aspersions upon what was a fine Lawrence team that year, but I doubt that anyone aside from Lawrence fans anticipated seeing the Larries run the table from stem to stern, Braier or not.

[John Gleich]

And the Gusties took out the Tommies - looks like Hugenerd and Hoops Fan were right to look at a second MIAC team.

The problem is, I never really believed this St. Thomas team was for real.  I was the lowest voter for them in the first poll and now I don't know how far to drop them.  They've played a tough schedule, but haven't been blowing out teams like they have been for the past few seasons.  Now with a GAC team that lacks a point of reference to beat them.  I've very lost on this one.

The seasoned MIACers didn't see this UST team as being as good as last year's either... they thought the Tommies were too high and the old St. Peter Principle came into full effect, as the Tommies matriculated up to #2.  They didn't lose, so there wasn't any reason to knock them down at all, but even as it was, the MIACers thought #4 was too high.  I don't recall seeing anything that stated if any other MIAC schools were better or at least comparable (though there may have been some initial discussions about St. John's).

I think GAC looks pretty good.  Two losses to NCAA-II teams, another loss to La Crosse (LaX's loss last night to RF looks pretty bad, but other losses were not, @ Stevens Point, Whitewater, and ranked NAIA-II Dakota Wesleyan... not a great loss, but not a loss to miserable team)... and that's it.  They got 2 votes in the last poll... this should get them several more, though I'm not sure if it's enough to crack the top 25.

As an aside... I just remembered that the River Falls team that beat La Crosse last night played St Thomas to a 1 point game earlier this year.  I think the not-Point/Whitewater WIAC teams this year are all really talented... so they can play well against good competition, but they also play down to their competition too.

[Mr. Ypsi]

I put together a 'midweek' ballot today.  If the weekend is anything like Wednesday, I'll be tearing it up and starting over AGAIN.

[John Gleich]

I put together a 'midweek' ballot today.  If the weekend is anything like Wednesday, I'll be tearing it up and starting over AGAIN.

That's one of the definite pluses of a last-minute ballot... I haven't even really THOUGHT about mine yet, so I won't have to change my mind on anything!!

[frodotwo]

I put together a 'midweek' ballot today.  If the weekend is anything like Wednesday, I'll be tearing it up and starting over AGAIN.

That's one of the definite pluses of a last-minute ballot... I haven't even really THOUGHT about mine yet, so I won't have to change my mind on anything!!

I too did the mid-week ballot and should have saved the paper. Shocking losses by several teams in my top 15, especially WU and RMU. #1 and #2 will be WIAC next week.......unless of course upset week continues Sat & Sun.

[Mr. Ypsi]

I put together a 'midweek' ballot today.  If the weekend is anything like Wednesday, I'll be tearing it up and starting over AGAIN.

That's one of the definite pluses of a last-minute ballot... I haven't even really THOUGHT about mine yet, so I won't have to change my mind on anything!!

I too did the mid-week ballot and should have saved the paper. Shocking losses by several teams in my top 15, especially WU and RMU. #1 and #2 will be WIAC next week.......unless of course upset week continues Sat & Sun.

Probably true, but EMU and/or the winner of Guilford/VaWes may give 'em a run for the money.  The ODAC is having an historic year - they should have 3 (maybe 4) teams in the top ten next week.  Has any conference ever had four?