College Hoops Notebook (Dec. 29)

[SelectionSunday]

What's happened and what's ahead in the world of college basketball. This week we have our first in-season "Field of 65" projection. RPI rankings (through Dec. 28) are courtesy of CollegeRPI.com.

The Unbeatables (9)
With West Virginia's drubbing of Ohio State in Columbus, we're down to 9 undefeated squads. Illinois State remained on the list Sunday with a gutty 72-69, come-from-behind OT road win over Missouri State in its Missouri Valley Conference opener. Here's where the unbeatens sit in the RPI, and who they play next.
1. Pitt (Wednesday: at Rutgers)
3. Oklahoma (Tuesday: at Arkansas)
5. Clemson (Tuesday: at South Carolina)
7. UConn (Tonight: Georgetown)
8. North Carolina (Wednesday: at Nevada)
13. Stanford (Tuesday: Hartford)
31. Wake Forest (Saturday: at BYU)
32. GOPHERS (Wednesday: Michigan State)
61. Illinois State (Wednesday: Evansville)

Tracking My Preseason Final Four
4. Duke (10-1)
8. North Carolina (11-0)
33. Louisville (8-2)
42. Arizona State (10-1)

BCS Conferences Head to Head
1. ACC (23-16, 59%)
2. Big 10 (18-17, (51.4)
3. Big East (20-19, 51.3%)
4. Big 12 (17-17, 50%)
5. Pac 10 (13-17, 43.3%)
6. SEC (10-15, 40%)

Tracking the Gophers' Nonconference Opponents
33. Louisville (8-2)
85. Virginia (6-4)
107. Cornell (4-6)
118. Eastern Washington (6-5)
141. Bowling Green (4-5)
161. Colorado State (4-7)
194. North Dakota State (5-4)
255. South Dakota State (4-8)
270. Southeastern Louisiana (2-5)
308. Georgia State (1-9)
333. High Point (1-8)

Gophers' Nonconference SOS
With their non-Big Ten schedule complete, the Gophers' nonconference strength of schedule (SOS) rating sits at a paltry #236. It will be interesting see if that number goes up or down as the Big 10 season progresses. Now's the time to start rooting like h*ll for all of the Gophers' non-league opponents to do well in their respective leagues. Every little bit helps.

Worth Watching This Week
Davidson at Charleston (Monday)
Georgetown at UConn (Monday)
Portland State at Baylor (Monday)
Clemson at South Carolina (Tuesday)
Illinois at Purdue (Tuesday)
Oklahoma at Arkansas (Tuesday)
Evansville at Illinois State (Wednesday)
Michigan State at GOPHERS (Wednesday)
UNLV at Louisville (Wednesday)
Wisconsin at Michigan (Wednesday)
Villanova at Marquette (New Year's Day)
Arizona at Cal (Friday)
Arizona State at Stanford (Friday)
North Dakota State at Oakland (Friday)
Creighton at Illinois State (Saturday)
Ohio State at GOPHERS (Saturday)
Penn State at Wisconsin (Saturday)
Pitt at Georgetown (Saturday)
Tennessee at Kansas (Saturday)
Wake Forest at BYU (Saturday)
Washington at Washington State (Saturday)
Xavier at Virginia (Saturday)
Arizona at Stanford (Sunday)
Arizona State at Cal (Sunday)
Illinois at Michigan (Sunday)
Kentucky at Louisville (Sunday)

"FIELD OF 65" PROJECTION (12/29/08)
America East (1): Vermont

ACC (7): Clemson, Duke, Florida State, Maryland, Miami-Florida, North Carolina, Wake Forest

Atlantic Sun (1): East Tennessee State

Atlantic 10 (2): Dayton, Xavier

Big East (9): Georgetown, Louisville, Marquette, Notre Dame, Pitt, Syracuse, UConn, Villanova, West Virginia

Big Sky (1): Portland State

Big South (1): VMI

Big 10 (7): GOPHERS, Illinois, Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State, Purdue, Wisconsin

Big 12 (5): Baylor, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Texas A&M

Big West (1): Long Beach State

Colonial (1): Northeastern

Conference USA (1): Memphis

Horizon (1): Butler

Ivy (1): Cornell

Metro Atlantic (1): Niagara

MAC (1): Buffalo

MEAC (1): Morgan State

Missouri Valley (2): Creighton, Illinois State

Mountain West (2): BYU, UNLV

Northeast (1): Quinnipiac

Ohio Valley (1): Austin Peay

Pac 10 (4): Arizona, Arizona State, Stanford, UCLA

Patriot (1): Navy

SEC (4): Florida, Kentucky, LSU, Tennessee

Southern (1): Davidson

Southland (1): Stephen F. Austin

SWAC (1): Jackson State

Summit (1): Oakland

Sun Belt (1): Western Kentucky

West Coast (2): Gonzaga, St. Mary's

WAC (1): Utah State

Non-BCS At-Larges (4): BYU, Creighton, Dayton, St. Mary's

Last 4 In: BYU, Creighton, LSU, Miami-Florida

First 4 Out: Cal, Charleston, Oklahoma State, Washington

10 to Watch: Boston College, Illinois-Chicago, Missouri, Rhode Island, San Diego State, UAB, USC, Vanderbilt, Virginia Tech, Washington State

The SS Mailbag
Dear Selection Sunday,

Now that nonconference games (for the most part) are completed, who do you pick to win regular-season championships in the "Big 6" conferences?

-- Clark K, Columbus, Ohio --

Dear Superman, er Special K,

I'll give it a shot. The first one is easy. North Carolina will run away with the ACC crown.

In the Big East I like UConn, in the Big 10 I'll stick with the preseason favorite (Purdue), in the Big 12 I'll take Texas to edge out Oklahoma and Baylor, in the Pac 10 I'll go with a surprise (Stanford. ... like the way Johnny Dawkins' team plays) & in the SEC I'll take Tennessee (East)/LSU (West).

 

[Holy Man]

Long Beach State?

Hodger, are you predicting a first round match up between our Gophers and LBS? Curious minds want to know.

Serioulsy, do you think LBS will make the tourney, or are you just tossing that out?

 

[SelectionSunday]

Long Beach State

The Big West looks really weak so far. For the most part I'm just throwing a dart at the board. It was either LBSU or Fullerton State (the preseason favorite), and I went with Monson's squad. Fullerton State hasn't beaten anyone. Monson has played a good schedule with a couple close losses (BYU & Bucky), and has a good win over Temple.

This first in-season projection is more of a "who will be there at the end" guess, but from here on out the projection will be based on actual "body of work" (apologies to Jay Bilas) and the actual conference leaders, not projected conference winners. I suspect this will be the last time LBSU appears, but ya' never know.