Posters' Poll

[Mr. Ypsi]

I was mildly surprised (but only mildly) that Point was still unanimously #1.

[FCGrizzliesGrad]

I feel like everyone is ranking Amherst and Williams high simply because they're NESCAC.

1.  UWSP          200  (unan1mous)
2.  Cabrini         186 (2,2,2,2,2,2,3,7)
3.  IWU             178 (2,2,3,3,3,4,5,8)
4.  UWW            172 (3,4,4,4,4,5,5,7)
5.  WashU          162 (3,3,3,4,5,9,9,10)
6.  Wooster        156 (5,6,6,6,6,7,8,8)
7.  Amherst *       152 (5,5,5,6,7,7,8,13)
8.  St. Norbert    139 (6,6,7,9,9,10,11,11)
t9. Wesley          121 (6,8,9,10,10,12,14,16)
t9. Williams *        121 (7,8,9,9,9,12,13,20)
11. Brockport      114 (4,10,10,11,11,12,18,18)
12. St. Thomas    105 (4,10,11,11,12,14,17,24)
13. M. Washington* 94 (8,10,11,12,13,17,20,23)
14. Purchase *        82 (7,13,14,14,15,16,21,-)
15. TX-Dallas        63 (8,13,15,15,18,20,20,-)
16. WPI                57 (13,13,16,17,17,23,-,*)
17. Randy Mac      55 (12,14,14,16,22,23,-,-)
18. Wittenberg *     52 (15,16,17,19,20,21,22,*)
19. A. Magnus *      49 (14,15,18,19,20,21,-,-)
20. Ohio Wes         41 (15,16,17,22,22,23,-,-)
21. Bowdoin           40 (16,18,18,19,20,25,-,*)
22. Wheaton          34 (12,14,21,24,25,-,-,*)
23. Marietta           31 (11,15,22,25,-,-,-,*)
24. Whitworth        30 (17,19,19,19,-,-,-,-)
25. Dubuque *         28 (12,19,21,24,-,-,-,-)

26. Va Wes             20 (16,19,23)
t27 St. Olaf             18 (17,22,24,24,25)
t27 Staten Island *    18 (18,20,22)
t29 Messiah             13 (15,24)
t29 Plattsburgh        13 (13)
t31 Centre               11 (21,23,24,25)
t31 St. Mary's          11 (18,23)
t33 Augie                  5 (21)
t33 Scranton *            5 (21)
t35 Geneseo *             4 (23,25)
t35 R. Stockton          4 (22)
37. Mt. Union             3 (24,25)
38. C-M-S                  1

[7express]

2 people still have St. Mary's ranked??

[sac]

I think its interesting Marietta is getting a vote at 11, while OAC conference leader Mt. Union who also beat Marietta is no higher than 24.

More interesting still is I voted for neither.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

I was mildly surprised (but only mildly) that Point was still unanimously #1.

I know it was after the poll closed, but they only beat Cairn by seven points. Cairn!

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

2 people still have St. Mary's ranked??

I'm very high on the CAC this year.  I keep trying to find ways to justify getting Salisbury in there.

Just a heads up, my final, post tournament poll may or may not sneak Salisbury and UMHB into the last two spots.  Those are good teams, even if they can't seem to string together wins this year.

[FCGrizzliesGrad]

Amongst the 1 loss teams... everyone except for myself has St Norbert several spots higher than Purchase... I'm curious as to why. Both teams lost by similar margins to ranked teams (StN 11 to WW, Purchase 9 to Alb Magnus). Neither has played a stellar schedule. Norbert's best win is an OT win @ Grinnell while Purchase beat Brockport.

[Greek Tragedy]

How good are you if you can't string together wins?

[smedindy]

I was mildly surprised (but only mildly) that Point was still unanimously #1.

I know it was after the poll closed, but they only beat Cairn by seven points. Cairn!

They let off the gas, two players were out, and they have FOUR games this week. They probably just wanted to get the W and get outta there.

[smedindy]

Amongst the 1 loss teams... everyone except for myself has St Norbert several spots higher than Purchase... I'm curious as to why. Both teams lost by similar margins to ranked teams (StN 11 to WW, Purchase 9 to Alb Magnus). Neither has played a stellar schedule. Norbert's best win is an OT win @ Grinnell while Purchase beat Brockport.

There's a big difference between WW and Magnus. (2nd vs 46th in Massey).

St. Norbert's Massey is 8th and Purchase is 27th. St. Norbert's schedule is 168th and Purchase is 281 (in the bottom half of D3).

That's why.

[madzillagd]

I feel like everyone is ranking Amherst and Williams high simply because they're NESCAC.

   Isn't that why people rank the CCIW teams high, and the WIAC teams high, and the....    We give more credit to the schools that play in the better conferences.  The NESCAC has proven year in and year out that it is one of the better conferences so it makes sense that folks would recognize that.  If you look back at the last 11 years with those two schools, Amherst and Williams have combined for 14 appearances in the Sweet Sixteen or better.  14 appearances in 22 chances =  64% of the time they've finished in the top 16 teams in the country. 

Compare that with Albertus Magnus that you put at #14.  In that same time period they've made the tournament 3 times (someone correct me if I'm wrong) and have lost in the first or second round every time.  Given that track record are you indicating that AM is that much better this year that they are likely going to make the Sweet Sixteen? 

[FCGrizzliesGrad]

I feel like everyone is ranking Amherst and Williams high simply because they're NESCAC.

   Isn't that why people rank the CCIW teams high, and the WIAC teams high, and the....    We give more credit to the schools that play in the better conferences.  The NESCAC has proven year in and year out that it is one of the better conferences so it makes sense that folks would recognize that.  If you look back at the last 11 years with those two schools, Amherst and Williams have combined for 14 appearances in the Sweet Sixteen or better.  14 appearances in 22 chances =  64% of the time they've finished in the top 16 teams in the country. 

Compare that with Albertus Magnus that you put at #14.  In that same time period they've made the tournament 3 times (someone correct me if I'm wrong) and have lost in the first or second round every time.  Given that track record are you indicating that AM is that much better this year that they are likely going to make the Sweet Sixteen?

I can understand early in the season giving more weight to the "power" conferences because we just don't know much about the current group of players... but we're more than 20 games into the season. We should worry more about the current teams rather than teams from several years ago because their eligibility has expired
Considering you just have to play 2 good games and you could make the Sweet 16, I'd consider at least 40-50 teams that make the tournament should have a realistic shot at making the last 16. I don't know that I'd label anyone other than maybe UWSP as likely to make the Sweet 16 though.

[sac]

Purchase has a 7-2 center who appears competent at basketball.

Joel Neri 27 min.  16.3pts, 8 rbs,


Going out on a limb and saying he's the guy in the middle.

[madzillagd]

Nice guess.

Went to the UC Davis vs UC Irvine game this past weekend.  UC Irvine starts a 7'6 center and his backup is 7'2.  They've got a 3rd 7'0 guy on the roster but he's redshirting this year I believe.  The 7'6 guy was fantastic at dunking without leaving the ground, the problem was the 5 steps he took without dribbling each time to accomplish it.   

[nescac1]

I think Williams and Amherst are ranked appropriately -- I don't see any team behind them which is in either's class, talent-wise.  How much lower should they be?  If anything, I think both of them have talent level a bit higher than their ranking (higher than a few teams above them, certainly) -- I put both in the top six, talent-wise, in D3.  Amherst DID win the national title last year, after all, and does feature one of the best three players (at worst) in America in Aaron Toomey -- who has been absolutely dominating games of late, two other strong seniors who played key roles on last year's title team and who are improved as they have stepped into bigger roles, another guy who can light it up in Green, and a very, very imposing center platoon. 

Williams features the best freshman (and one of the best players, period) in America in Duncan Robinson, an elite center who, after being limited by illness and injury earlier in the year is now playing like the all-American he was projected to be in Michael Mayer, and a group of solid supporting players in Daniel Wohl, Taylor Epley, Hayden Rooke-Ley, Ryan Kilcullen and Mike Greenman, all of whom can both shoot threes and get to the basket.  Despite missing two starters due to injury (both of whom will be back at some point), Williams dominated three games last week, two of them conference games and one vs. a solid Stevens squad.  Williams seems to be coming together at the right time and sure looked like a top 10, at worst, team to me over the past week.