Posters' Poll

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

I was keeping Calvin in the running for a while; they are clearly the most impressive MIAA team this year.  Then they got walloped by Hope, who is not good this year.  That sealed the deal for me.  I could see someone closer to the situation making a more detailed determination on it.

I feel like Hope is a Top 25 team...somewhere between 20-25.

If Hope had Cabrini's schedule, they're be ranked about #3 right now and everyone would think they're awesome.

I'm not convinced Cabrini is a good team.  I've watched them play more over the last three or four years than any other school.  Yes, the have quite possibly the best player in the country, but that team does not look good.  You watch them on the floor and they're fearless and aggressive, but they don't appear overly talented.  They just seem to keep winning.

I sort of think about teams with the question, "All things being equal (in terms of bracket positioning and strength of opponents), would I expect these teams to make the second weekend?"  For Cabrini and Hope, I'd say, "probably not, but it wouldn't surprise me."  That says probably somewhere in the 30-50 range and probably not a great candidate for the Top 25.  I believe in Cabrini because they just seem to keep winning games.  Hope has lost a number of games I wouldn't expect a good Hope team to lose, thus: not good this year.

I try very hard not to use past performance as a guide, but at some point you have to give credit to coaching or system or some other intangible that makes an otherwise ordinary team consistently outperform expectations.

How can someone be NOT GOOD if they're in the top 30 to 50 teams in ALL of D-3?

If you're not winning, you're losing.  If you're considering teams for national rankings, the definition of good goes up a few notches.

[smedindy]

No, not really. ALL are considered, in reality. Good is good is good.

What I think it should be:

ELITE
GREAT
GOOD
OKAY
MEDIOCRE
FAIR
POOR
WRETCHED
ABYSMAL

[FCGrizzliesGrad]

I was keeping Calvin in the running for a while; they are clearly the most impressive MIAA team this year.  Then they got walloped by Hope, who is not good this year.  That sealed the deal for me.  I could see someone closer to the situation making a more detailed determination on it.

I feel like Hope is a Top 25 team...somewhere between 20-25.

If Hope had Cabrini's schedule, they're be ranked about #3 right now and everyone would think they're awesome.

I'm not convinced Cabrini is a good team.  I've watched them play more over the last three or four years than any other school.  Yes, the have quite possibly the best player in the country, but that team does not look good.  You watch them on the floor and they're fearless and aggressive, but they don't appear overly talented.  They just seem to keep winning.

I sort of think about teams with the question, "All things being equal (in terms of bracket positioning and strength of opponents), would I expect these teams to make the second weekend?"  For Cabrini and Hope, I'd say, "probably not, but it wouldn't surprise me."  That says probably somewhere in the 30-50 range and probably not a great candidate for the Top 25.  I believe in Cabrini because they just seem to keep winning games.  Hope has lost a number of games I wouldn't expect a good Hope team to lose, thus: not good this year.

I try very hard not to use past performance as a guide, but at some point you have to give credit to coaching or system or some other intangible that makes an otherwise ordinary team consistently outperform expectations.

How can someone be NOT GOOD if they're in the top 30 to 50 teams in ALL of D-3?

[7express]

Luckily we only have 2 more weeks of voting.  Pretty soon I'm going to have 8-17 teams at #25 if everyone keeps losing they've been the last 3 weeks.

[magicman]

Luckily we only have 2 more weeks of voting.  Pretty soon I'm going to have 8-17 teams at #25 if everyone keeps losing they've been the last 3 weeks.

You need to put my Plattsburgh State Cardinals in your poll. They haven't been losing much. 19-2 in their past 21 and not a bad loss on their 21-4 record. Massey now has them at #11 for a reason.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

I'm in.  Not too bad this week.  A lot of the losses weren't terrible.

[kiltedbryan]

No, not really. ALL are considered, in reality. Good is good is good.

What I think it should be:
RICHARD STOCKTON
ELITE
GREAT
GOOD
OKAY
MEDIOCRE
FAIR
POOR
WRETCHED
ABYSMAL

Fixed it for you.

[7express]

In.  Not as bad as a thought it would be.  As Hopsfan said, none of the losses were really that bad.

[magicman]

Mine's in with 3 new members.

[Mr. Ypsi]

Well, I've received the seven ballots from those who have voted all season.  Any ballots on their way from the more irregular voters?  Unless someone requests more time, I'll post about the usual 9 o'clock.

[Mr. Ypsi]

POSTERS' POLL, 2-23-14:

1.  UWSP            175 (unanimous)
2.  IWU               161 (2,2,2,2,2,4,7)
3.  UWW             158 (3,3,3,3,3,4,5)
4.  WashU           149 (2,2,3,4,4,8,10)
5.  Wooster         143 (4,4,5,5,5,8,8)
6.  Amherst         142 (3,4,5,6,7,7,8)
7.  St. Norbert     139 (5,6,6,7,9,9,11)
8.  Cabrini           128 (5,6,7,8,9,9,10)
9.  Wesley           123 (6,6,8,9,10,10,10)
10  Williams         119 (6,7,8,9,9,10,14)
11  Brockport         86 (7,12,13,14,15,15,20)
12  St. Thomas      84 (11,12,13,13,14,16,19)
13  A. Magnus        79 (11,12,12,15,16,17,20)
14  WPI                 78 (11,11,11,13,16,16,-)
15  Purchase          76 (12,14,14,14,16,17,19)
16  Staten Island    67 (10,12,13,16,16,22,-)
17  Randy Mac        57 (11,13,15,20,20,21,25)
t18 Plattsburgh       47 (12,17,17,19,23,23,24)
t18 TX Dallas          47 (13,15,18,18,19,-,-)
20  M Washington   38 (15,19,19,20,21,24,-)
21  Whitworth         36 (17,17,18,20,23,25,-)
22  Scranton           33 (15,18,21,22,23,24,-)
23  Centre               21 (18,21,22,22,-,-,-)
24  St. Olaf             20 (17,22,22,23,-,-,-)
25  Wheaton           12 (14,-,-,-,-,-,-)

t26 Bowdoin             8 (18)
t26 Calvin                8 (18)
t26 Ohio Wes           8 (19, 25)
t29 R Stockton         7 (21,24)
t29 Wittenberg         7 (22,23)
31  Babson              6 (20)
t32 Dickinson           5 (21)
t32 Geneseo            5 (21)
t34 Marietta             3 (24,25)
t34 Mt. Union           3 (23)
t36 Bethany             2 (24)
t36 Va Wes              2 (24)
t38 Augie                 1
t38 Hope                  1
t38 PSU-Behrend      1

[Mr. Ypsi]

Remember, we vote again next week, then take a break 'til the national tourney is over.

For now, we've definitely reached consensus on a top 10 - they got all but two of the top ten votes, and the drop from 10th to 11th is a startling 33 points (with only seven voters this week, that is virtually FIVE slots down)!  Notice also that it is virtually random beyond #24 - NO team received votes from more than two voters.

[7express]

1.  UWSP            175 (unan1mous)
2.  IWU               161 (2,2,2,2,2,4,7)
3.  UWW             158 (3,3,3,3,3,4,5)
4.  WashU           149 (2,2,3,4,4,8,10)
5.  Wooster         143 (4,4,5,5,5,8,8)
6.  Amherst         142 (3,4,5,6,7,7,8)
7.  St. Norbert     139 (5,6,6,7,9,9,11)
8.  Cabrini           128 (5,6,7,8,9,9,10)
9.  Wesley           123 (6,6,8,9,10,10,10)
10  Williams         119 (6,7,8,9,9,10,14)
11  Brockport         86 (7,12,13,14,15,15,20)
12  St. Thomas      84 (11,12,13,13,14,16,19)
13  A. Magnus        79 (11,12,12,15,16,17,20)
14  WPI                 78 (11,11,11,13,16,16,-)
15  Purchase          76 (12,14,14,14,16,17,19)
16  Staten Island    67 (10,12,13,16,16,22,-)
17  Randy Mac        57 (11,13,15,20,20,21,25)
t18 Plattsburgh       47 (12,17,17,19,23,23,24)
t18 TX Dallas          47 (13,15,18,18,19,-,-)
20  M Washington*   38 (15,19,19,20,21,24,-)
21  Whitworth         36 (17,17,18,20,23,25,-)
22  Scranton           33 (15,18,21,22,23,24,-)
23  Centre               21 (18,21,22,22,-,-,-)
24  St. Olaf             20 (17,22,22,23,-,-,-)
25  Wheaton           12 (14,-,-,-,-,-,-)

t26 Bowdoin             8 (18)
t26 Calvin                8 (18)
t26 Ohio Wes           8 (19, 25)
t29 R Stockton         7 (21,24)
t29 Wittenberg         7 (22,23)
31  Babson              6 (20)
t32 Dickinson           5 (21)
t32 Geneseo            5 (21)
t34 Marietta             3 (24,25)
t34 Mt. Union           3 (23)
t36 Bethany             2 (24)
t36 Va Wes              2 (24)
t38 Augie                 1
t38 Hope                  1
t38 PSU-Behrend      1

[FCGrizzliesGrad]

Staten Island seems to have a wide variance... a team whose only two losses were in OT and have won 23 straight. Sure they haven't had any signature wins, but in their last 10 games they only have one single digit win and 7 have been by at least 20. They've taken care of business while everyone else has had hiccups.

1.  UWSP            175 (unan1mous)
2.  IWU               161 (2,2,2,2,2,4,7)
3.  UWW             158 (3,3,3,3,3,4,5)
4.  WashU           149 (2,2,3,4,4,8,10)
5.  Wooster         143 (4,4,5,5,5,8,8)
6.  Amherst*         142 (3,4,5,6,7,7,8)
7.  St. Norbert     139 (5,6,6,7,9,9,11)
8.  Cabrini           128 (5,6,7,8,9,9,10)
9.  Wesley           123 (6,6,8,9,10,10,10)
10  Williams*         119 (6,7,8,9,9,10,14)
11  Brockport         86 (7,12,13,14,15,15,20)
12  St. Thomas*      84 (11,12,13,13,14,16,19)
13  A. Magnus*        79 (11,12,12,15,16,17,20)
14  WPI                 78 (11,11,11,13,16,16,-)
15  Purchase*          76 (12,14,14,14,16,17,19)
16  Staten Island*    67 (10,12,13,16,16,22,-)
17  Randy Mac        57 (11,13,15,20,20,21,25)
t18 Plattsburgh       47 (12,17,17,19,23,23,24)
t18 TX Dallas          47 (13,15,18,18,19,-,-)
20  M Washington   38 (15,19,19,20,21,24,-)
21  Whitworth         36 (17,17,18,20,23,25,-)
22  Scranton*           33 (15,18,21,22,23,24,-)
23  Centre               21 (18,21,22,22,-,-,*)
24  St. Olaf             20 (17,22,22,23,-,-,-)
25  Wheaton           12 (14,-,-,-,-,-,*)

t26 Bowdoin             8 (18)
t26 Calvin                8 (18)
t26 Ohio Wes           8 (19, 25)
t29 R Stockton         7 (21,24)
t29 Wittenberg         7 (22,23)
31  Babson              6 (20)
t32 Dickinson           5 (21)
t32 Geneseo            5 (21)
t34 Marietta             3 (24,25)
t34 Mt. Union           3 (23)
t36 Bethany*             2 (24)
t36 Va Wes              2 (24)
t38 Augie                 1
t38 Hope                  1
t38 PSU-Behrend*      1 (25)

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

I love that I single-handedly kept Wheaton in the poll.  Funny.