Posters' Poll

[Gregory Sager]

My own eyes have seen two Mid Atlantic representatives in the final four who wouldn't have advanced past the 1st or 2nd round in the Midwest, West or Great Lakes, both only had 1 or 2 losses on the year.............sorry but thats just the truth.

It sounds like your issue is more with the NCAA distributing tournament matchups in regional manner, and less with RPI and/or SOS.

I agree.  Much of the reason these teams wouldn't advance as far in the West/MW/GL is because those regions have a dearth of good teams all clumped together.

You mean "surplus," not "dearth," right? A dearth is a shortage.

[frodotwo]

I think we all get enamored of teams from the power conferences, rightly so in most cases. But sometimes you just have to give the little feller his due once in a while. I look at Boise State football and all they seem to do is win, but are given barely any credit. They win the games in their conference. Voters continually disregard them at the start of every season and by the end of the year they are undefeated or have only one loss and rarely see the top ten. So I guess I'll admit to possibly "over rating" at least a couple of teams compared to other pollsters here, but all they do is beat who they play.

[Mr. Ypsi]

I think we all get enamored of teams from the power conferences, rightly so in most cases. But sometimes you just have to give the little feller his due once in a while. I look at Boise State football and all they seem to do is win, but are given barely any credit. They win the games in their conference. Voters continually disregard them at the start of every season and by the end of the year they are undefeated or have only one loss and rarely see the top ten. So I guess I'll admit to possibly "over rating" at least a couple of teams compared to other pollsters here, but all they do is beat who they play.

I don't really see that in the PP.  I had Anderson, MIT, Chapman, and Maryville all slightly higher on my ballot than they finished, but F&M and Medaille slightly lower (I listed St. Norbs right where they placed).  And we were quick to recognize that borderline power conference ODAC was THIS year THE power conference (including previously run-of-the-mill EMU).

It probably DOES take somewhat longer for a member of a weaker conference to be recognized, but I'm pretty confident that if they earn recognition, they will (eventually) get it.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

I think it also takes time.  Boise State got is due in the preseason poll this year and will again next year.

St. Norbert started pretty high this year, probably because the MWC has sent some very strong teams to the tournament for four or five years in a row now.

There are lesser known teams that come out of nowhere every season, but the power conferences have that name for a reason - they recruit well, have a track record of winning, and are generally pretty deep with talent.

[KnightSlappy]

No its with using RPI

2008

Ursinas 22-1

Washington U  16-5

If you played both of these teams, you get far more credit for playing Ursinas, yet there was little doubt in anyone's mind at Salem in 2008 that Washington was far and away the better team.

Good thing teams play more than one game then!

Washington U also had a higher RPI than Ursinus that year, so "on paper" Washington U was the better team.

[John Gleich]

I think we all get enamored of teams from the power conferences, rightly so in most cases. But sometimes you just have to give the little feller his due once in a while. I look at Boise State football and all they seem to do is win, but are given barely any credit. They win the games in their conference. Voters continually disregard them at the start of every season and by the end of the year they are undefeated or have only one loss and rarely see the top ten. So I guess I'll admit to possibly "over rating" at least a couple of teams compared to other pollsters here, but all they do is beat who they play.

I guess the question is WHICH little guy.  I look at Anderson, St. Norbert, and Whitworth.  WW has the best SOS... but it's possible that Norbert or Anderson is better.

The problem is, SNC and WW are going to be in the West this year, so they're going to have to go through the likes of Point, Whitewater, St. Thomas, etc...  So even though they might be the better little guy that Anderson, Anderson might go farther in the tournament due to bracket imbalance.

[magicman]

#9 Randolph-Macon drops a 65-57 decision to Washington & Lee.

[John Gleich]

#1 Stevens Point leads #5 Whitewater 36-21 at the half

[Ralph Turner]

#9 Randolph-Macon drops a 65-57 decision to Washington & Lee.

Another nice win by W&L, to go along with their win over Emory (and their 3-point win over Otterbein ?      Go figure.)

[John Gleich]

#1 Stevens Point leads #5 Whitewater 36-21 at the half

And now trails 53-43 with 6:19 in the second half.  Wow.

[sac]

#9 Randolph-Macon drops a 65-57 decision to Washington & Lee.

Another nice win by W&L, to go along with their win over Emory (and their 3-point win over Otterbein ?      Go figure.)

Otterbein ?  they are 4-14

[John Gleich]

#1 Stevens Point leads #5 Whitewater 36-21 at the half

And now trails 53-43 with 6:19 in the second half.  Wow.

Whitewater wins 61-58.  Point retook the lead 58-57 with :27 but WW scores quickly on the next possession.  Matt Moses turned it over trying to make something happen with :09.9, but Point only had 3 fouls and had to foul 4 times.  Dustin Mitchell nailed 2 FT's with :03.4 and Moses' half court shot didn't fall.

[KnightSlappy]

Whitewater wins 61-58.  Point retook the lead 58-57 with :27 but WW scores quickly on the next possession.  Matt Moses turned it over trying to make something happen with :09.9, but Point only had 3 fouls and had to foul 4 times.  Dustin Mitchell nailed 2 FT's with :03.4 and Moses' half court shot didn't fall.

So who's #1 now?

I think I'm just going to go ahead and award 5 teams #3 next week, and then resume with 6-25. Is that cool with everyone else? 

[John Gleich]

Whitewater wins 61-58.  Point retook the lead 58-57 with :27 but WW scores quickly on the next possession.  Matt Moses turned it over trying to make something happen with :09.9, but Point only had 3 fouls and had to foul 4 times.  Dustin Mitchell nailed 2 FT's with :03.4 and Moses' half court shot didn't fall.

So who's #1 now?

I think I'm just going to go ahead and award 5 teams #3 next week, and then resume with 6-25. Is that cool with everyone else? 

If it isn't Stevens Point (which, even with tonight's result, I'm not convinced) it's probably Guilford. 

[magicman]

Whitewater wins 61-58.  Point retook the lead 58-57 with :27 but WW scores quickly on the next possession.  Matt Moses turned it over trying to make something happen with :09.9, but Point only had 3 fouls and had to foul 4 times.  Dustin Mitchell nailed 2 FT's with :03.4 and Moses' half court shot didn't fall.

So who's #1 now?

I think I'm just going to go ahead and award 5 teams #3 next week, and then resume with 6-25. Is that cool with everyone else?  

Well I've had Guilford #2 on my poll for the past 2 weeks so now it's their turn to be in the catbird seat. Besides they were my pick in the survivors pool and though they didn't win it, I believe, they now have the longest winning streak of any team in the top 10. And,with the exception of Willie Paterson, the longest in all of D3. Of course that's all dependent on whether they beat Randy-Macon on Saturday afternoon.