NE Region General Questions

[Hugenerd]

According to the national top 25, here is how the northeast looks, same format as last week:

1. Middlebury (7 in the top 25, 445 points, +41 points)
2. Williams (10, 333, +53)
3. Amherst (11, 303, +35)
4. Brandeis (13, 292, +85)
5. MIT (21, 144, +12)
6. UMD (22 , 128, -36)
7. WPI (ORV 30, 26, +6)
8. Elms (ORV 31, 24, -3)
9. Western Connecticut (ORV 32, 21, +14)

Biggest gainer was Brandeis with about 3.5 spots per ballot, despite not playing any games.  Essentially all the NE teams moved up a bit or stayed the same, except UMD fell about 1.5 spots per ballot.

[Hugenerd]

According to the national top 25, here is how the northeast looks, same format as last week:

1. Middlebury (7 in the top 25, 488 points, +43 points)
3. Brandeis (8, 361, +69)
3. Amherst (9, 356, +53)
4. Williams (10, 333, 0)
5. MIT (15, 236, +92)
6. WPI (ORV 27, 53, +27)
7. Western Connecticut (ORV 30, 35, +14)
8. Elms (ORV 34, 21, -3)

UMD loses all 128 of their votes to drop off the list.  Biggest gainer is MIT at +92 points (or about 4 spots per ballot).  MIT is at it highest ranking ever for the 3rd week in a row.  Williams does not lose any points with their loss, but drop in the rankings because people around them gained points.  Middlebury, Brandeis and Amherst each gain about 2-3 spots worth of points each.

[nescac1]

Tough week for the New England top group, with everyone in the top eight going down except for Williams.  Williams and MIT are now the clear top two, each with one very understandable loss (on road v. number one and on road v. Harvard).  After that still a bit of a jumble, I'd say Middlebury three, then Amherst, Western Conn, WPI, Brandeis, after that, it is an even bigger jumble ...

[Hugenerd]

Tough week for the New England top group, with everyone in the top eight going down except for Williams.  Williams and MIT are now the clear top two, each with one very understandable loss (on road v. number one and on road v. Harvard).  After that still a bit of a jumble, I'd say Middlebury three, then Amherst, Western Conn, WPI, Brandeis, after that, it is an even bigger jumble ...

Actually, MIT lost two weeks ago, they were undefeated this week.  If you check the rankings, their loss to Harvard  has been in their record for the past two rankings.

[thatdude 30]

Tough week for the New England top group, with everyone in the top eight going down except for Williams.  Williams and MIT are now the clear top two, each with one very understandable loss (on road v. number one and on road v. Harvard).  After that still a bit of a jumble, I'd say Middlebury three, then Amherst, Western Conn, WPI, Brandeis, after that, it is an even bigger jumble ...

I agree Williams and MIT are the clear cut top two teams as of now in the northeast

[Mr. Ypsi]

Tough week for the New England top group, with everyone in the top eight going down except for Williams.  Williams and MIT are now the clear top two, each with one very understandable loss (on road v. number one and on road v. Harvard).  After that still a bit of a jumble, I'd say Middlebury three, then Amherst, Western Conn, WPI, Brandeis, after that, it is an even bigger jumble ...

I agree Williams and MIT are the clear cut top two teams as of now in the northeast

While I'd agree they are the top two, to say 'clear cut' is exaggerating the margin of victory by Williams over Amherst (and Midd might be in the discussion also).

[nescac1]

Yeah, but Amherst has one more loss than Williams, and Amherst's loss to Elms is looking worse as Elms is struggling, plus Williams' loss by five on the road to the number one team is about an impressive as a loss can be.  You can't just compare head-to-head.  Overall, in terms of aggregate body of work, Williams and MIT are deservedly at the top of New England. 

As for Williams v. Midd, they played the same team back to back the same week (and Midd even got them second), Williams wins by double digits, Midd loses by double digits, so that is also fairly persuasive, especially now that Williams has a signature win, something Midd has yet to achieve.  OF course, Williams has to play both Midd and Amherst on the road in conference play, which is a bit of bad luck with scheduling, so the Ephs will have to play even better if they hope to pick up wins in one or both of those games. 

New England outside of NESCAC and MIT is a big jumble this year.  Lots of results that are hard to make sense of.  No good teams in MASCAC, no great teams in LEC, although with its talent I still wouldn't totally discount UMD from turning things around ...

[Hugenerd]

Yeah, but Amherst has one more loss than Williams, and Amherst's loss to Elms is looking worse as Elms is struggling, plus Williams' loss by five on the road to the number one team is about an impressive as a loss can be.  You can't just compare head-to-head.  Overall, in terms of aggregate body of work, Williams and MIT are deservedly at the top of New England. 

As for Williams v. Midd, they played the same team back to back the same week (and Midd even got them second), Williams wins by double digits, Midd loses by double digits, so that is also fairly persuasive, especially now that Williams has a signature win, something Midd has yet to achieve.  OF course, Williams has to play both Midd and Amherst on the road in conference play, which is a bit of bad luck with scheduling, so the Ephs will have to play even better if they hope to pick up wins in one or both of those games. 

New England outside of NESCAC and MIT is a big jumble this year.  Lots of results that are hard to make sense of.  No good teams in MASCAC, no great teams in LEC, although with its talent I still wouldn't totally discount UMD from turning things around ...

According to the LEC board, UMD has lost 4 players including Matt Walker for the 2nd semester.  If true, that really hurts their depth and their chances for the post season.

http://www.d3boards.com/index.php?topic=1679.510

[Mr. Ypsi]

FWIW, I had Williams #7 on my Posters' Poll ballot, MIT #10, Amherst 13, and Midd 14.  Against my better judgment, I also had Brandeis at #20 (from the early returns, they MIGHT finish #25) and WPI at 25 (so far the only vote they've gotten).

OMG, I've become a lobster-loving beaneater!   (Rumor has always had it that I'm a CCIW booster - I had IWU 18th and Wheaton 24th, and while I considered them, I barely had Augustana and Carthage in my top 35.)

[nescac1]

Wow, that is wild news re: UMD.  I wonder if there is something more going on behind the scenes that would explain the rough start and the defections after such high expectations ...

Mr. Ypsi, those ratings look about right ... and I agree that Brandeis and WPI will both be lucky to finish in or near the top 25, although WPI always seems to manage to put up fairly gaudy regular season records before having a bit more trouble against the tougher teams in the post season. 

[Hugenerd]

According to the national top 25, here is how the northeast looks, same format as last week:

1. Williams (7, 438, +105)
2. MIT (9, 329, +103)
3. Middlebury (10, 328 points, -160 points)
4. Amherst (13, 302, -54)
5. Brandeis (20, 150, -211)
6 Western Connecticut (ORV 33, 11, -24)
7. WPI (ORV 36, 7, -46)

Biggest losers are Brandeis (-211 points, average of 8.5 sp0ts per poll) and Middlebury (-160 points, average of 6.5 spots per poll).  Biggest gainers are Williams and MIT at almost exactly 4 spots per poll.  MIT slides into the top 10 for the first time ever.  Congrats to them.

[toooldtoplay]

I think MIT a bit high right now as they have not played a real notable team. First test will be tomorrow vs. WPI.  What is the highest D3 ranking that a Newmac team has attained in the last few years? I assume that it was WPI. How high did they get in the top 25?

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Yeah, MIT is having a problem of luck this season.  They scheduled fairly well, but most of the solid teams on the schedule are having down years thus far.  They've lacked a barometer by which to judge their ability so far.

I'm happy to see MIT doing so well; let's hope it continues.

[Mr. Ypsi]

Yeah, MIT is having a problem of luck this season.  They scheduled fairly well, but most of the solid teams on the schedule are having down years thus far.  They've lacked a barometer by which to judge their ability so far.

I'm happy to see MIT doing so well; let's hope it continues.

It's a sure sign of a confident (cocky?) team when opponents having down years is seen as bad luck!

[Hugenerd]

I think MIT a bit high right now as they have not played a real notable team. First test will be tomorrow vs. WPI.  What is the highest D3 ranking that a Newmac team has attained in the last few years? I assume that it was WPI. How high did they get in the top 25?

Highest I remember from memory was when WPI was ranked #9 for a few weeks at the beginning of the 05-06 season.  You would have to look it up to see if anyone was ever ranked higher than that.

Yeah, MIT is having a problem of luck this season.  They scheduled fairly well, but most of the solid teams on the schedule are having down years thus far.  They've lacked a barometer by which to judge their ability so far.

I'm happy to see MIT doing so well; let's hope it continues.

I think you are right with respect to the scheduling part.  How can you foresee an NCAA tourney team returning so many players to start 1-10.  I still think, by the end of the season, their out of conference schedule wont look as bad.  Emerson is starting to play better with the return of Shannon, Gordon is the best team I have seen in the CCC, and some of the other schools they played seem to be starting to pick it up.  If nothing else, they played teams that should do pretty well in their conferences, so at least their OWP numbers will go up.