POWER 16: Feb. 11 Edition
by BracketCat on Feb 11, 2010 12:00 PM CST
in Men's Basketball
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PrintFinally, some stability at the top of my ballot for the first time since I started this endeavor.
The bottom, of course, is full of the usual volatility.
- Kansas Jayhawks
- Syracuse Orange
- Kentucky Wildcats (+1)
- Villanova Wildcats (-1)
- Purdue Boilermakers (+2)
- BYU Cougars (-1)
- New Mexico Lobos (+2)
- Duke Blue Devils (+2)
- West Virginia Mountaineers (-3)
- Kansas St. Wildcats (+1)
- Butler Bulldogs (+5)
- Gonzaga Bulldogs (NR)
- Georgetown Hoyas (NR)
- Texas Longhorns (-6)
- Tennessee Volunteers (-1)
- Baylor Bears (-1)
The top two remain unchanged, but Nos. 3 and 4 performed a Wildcat flip-flop due to Villanova getting snowed under — literally and figuratively — in Washington, D.C.
Purdue leapfrogged BYU due to the impressive nature of its win at the Breslin Center, while New Mexico inched its way upward after making up for its home loss to UNLV on the Runnin' Rebels' home court. In fact, the Lobos currently have the tiebreaker on the Cougars for the conference championship. Both teams' resumes virtually are identical.
As much as I hope that they lose so we can move up, Duke just keeps winning, so it also keeps advancing. West Virginia suffered an ugly home loss to the aforementioned Villanova Wildcats, and thus slid a little, but will have a chance to avenge that loss later this year. K-State rounded out my Top 10, with the potential for more upward movement in the weeks to come, as other teams continue to lose to better competition.
After that, it got tricky. Although Butler already clinched its conference, the Bulldogs moved up not because of anything they did, but because everyone around them kept losing. That phenomenon also allowed Gonzaga and Georgetown to rejoin our illustrious ranks.
Stop me if you've heard this one before: Texas had a really bad week. One more loss and the Longhorns probably are gonzo for good, but they clung to life this week on the strength of a non-conference schedule that seems like a distant, foggy memory.
Tennessee and Baylor rounded out the Power 16, even though both lost road games this week — the former in ugly fashion. I reward overall performance, which is why you don't see any member of the Big Ten six-loss trio — Michigan State, Ohio State and Wisconsin — here this week.
The Spartans and Vanderbilt dropped out. Until Kalin Lucas is 100 percent, I don't know if you'll see the former back in this thing any time soon.
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I totally agree with Michigan St..
and other 6 loss teams should not be up there. Michigan St remains above a lot of teams like New Mexico in ESPN’s rankings. New Mexico has more quality wins, 3 less losses and a much higher RPI. I know the Big 10 is starved for attention lately, but frankly they are not that good.
One thing that stands out to me is “bad losses.” Not RPI bad losses, but blow outs. Kstate has not been truly beat down the whole season and when a team gets crushed like Tennessee did, I believe them less to be a legitimate final four or eight team. Kstate definitely is out of the 16 you’ve chosen.
Wildcat for life
BYU comments aside
the only other questions I have towards your list would be the upswing of Georgetown compared to Texas. Georgetown jumps in and out of your rankings with good wins, bad wins, good losses, and bad losses – but Texas which has been in a free-fall the past three weeks is still a mainstay?
Surgeon General's Warning: K-State-Mizzou basketball may increase the risk of high blood pressure. Please consult your doctor prior to watching any of these games.
He's a secret Texas-homer
He actually has a pair of longhorn antlers on the front of his car. That is my explanation anyway.
More of a Big 12 homer
A month and a half ago, I was the only voter to rank Baylor. I was way ahead of the curve.
Two reasons
One is timing. Georgetown lost to USF just before the last ballot, and I thought I was done with them. And then the bastards went and beat Villanova. Had to put them back after that.
The other is the nature of losses. Other than OU and UConn, Texas is losing to really, really good teams. But they’re at the end of their rope. One more loss should knock them off pretty much for good.
WVU & Duke Ahead of Us...
BYU and New Mexico as well? I just don’t see it. West Virginia has escaped so many times this season until their luck finally ran out. Duke is playing uninspired basketball right now. BYU just was crushed by UNLV who we dominated. What is New Mexico’s RPI and their signature win was?
BYU and UNM
have only 3 losses against a tough schedule. The MWC is better than the Pac-10 and the SEC, and you can make an argument that it’s at least equivalent to the ACC.
Don’t believe me? Wait until Selection Sunday. Those three MWC teams will be Top 4 seeds. How many will the ACC get? One? Maybe two?
The majority of computers have Duke and WVU ahead of us
I’m sort of using that to break ties right now. Until each loses one more game, I’m inclined to keep it this way so the other voters don’t accuse me of being too much of a K-State homer. Collectively, they’re ranking us about 10th as it is.
New Mexico is 9th in the RPI
One spot behind us. Signature wins include Cal, Texas A&M in Houston when it still had Derrick Roland (which looks pretty damn good in retrospect), Texas Tech, Dayton, BYU, San Diego State and UNLV. That’s a better resume than 90 percent of Division I teams.
I'm a little late to this discussion,
but as of now, UNM’s RPI is 9. That’s right. 9. And undefeated against top 25 teams.
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