Road to Selection Sunday (Week 4)

[SelectionSunday]

RPI data is through Sunday's games and are courtesy of CollegeRPI.com.

Bits & Pieces
(1) Top 5 in the RPI as of this morning?. ... (1) West Virginia (5-0); (2) Texas (5-0); (3) Duke (6-0); (4) St. John's (5-0); and (5) DePaul (4-1).

(2) Tournament winners of note from this past week. ... West Virginia (76 Classic); Kentucky (Cancun Challenge); Northwestern (Chicago Challenge); Texas (CBE Classic); Washington State (Great Alaska Shootout); Oklahoma State (Las Vegas Invitational); Florida (Legends Classic); Gonzaga (Maui Invitational); Florida State (Old Spice Classic); and Richmond (South Padre Island Invitational).

(3) ACC/Big 10 Challenge (no, not again): I'm projecting a 7-4 ACC win. My crystal ball says Clemson (over Illinois), Duke (over Wisconsin), Maryland (over Indiana), Miami-Florida (over Minnesota), North Carolina (over Michigan State), Virginia (over Penn State) and Virginia Tech (over Iowa) score for the ACC, while Michigan (over Boston College), Northwestern (over NC State), Ohio State (over Florida State) and Purdue (over Wake Forest) win for the Big 10. If the Big 10 loses again, expect the criticism of the conference to be ratcheted up several notches, and deservedly so after the Big 10's overall so-so performances in prominent in-season tournaments.

(4) After their 1-2 performance in Anaheim, the Gophers' game at Miami now looms especially large. Win & 2-2 against the "meat" of their nonconference slate is something they can work with, with two (what should turn out to be) good wins (Butler, Miami) for their resume. Lose & go 1-3 and it looks a lot like last year heading into the Big 10 season, only one truly significant win (Louisville last season, and one much larger than Butler will be this season) and having a resume that needs a lot of attention (at least 10-8) during the Big 10 season. One difference for the better? Because of the 76 Classic, the Gophers clearly will have played more quality nonconference opponents this season than last.

(5) As this past weekend proved, anyone who thinks Northwestern will be a "layup" for the Gophers is sadly mistaken. The Wildcats were very impressive in wins over two potential NCAA teams, Notre Dame and Iowa State.

(6) Inexcusable Gaffe by ESPN: While showing a graphic of recent College Basketball Hall of Fame inductees, the network misspelled the name of recently deceased Wayman Tisdale. ESPN showed his first name as "Waynam."

(7) In Case You Missed It: The Gophers will compete in the Puerto Rico Tip-Off next season along with Davidson, Hofstra, Nebraska, North Carolina, Vanderbilt, West Virginia and Western Kentucky.

(8) Don't Know Why: But of the elite programs we get to see a lot on TV, none bore me more than Louisville. Which is kind of interesting, because the Big East is my second favorite conference to watch.

(9) In case you missed the first 500 promos on ESPN, did you know Duke & UConn are playing for the NIT title tomorrow night?

(10) Come again? Analyst Bob Wenzel, speaking of Dan Monson's tenure at Minnesota: "He inherited a bad situation (true) and made it good (not true)." It's safe to say Wenzel didn't see the Gophers' awful performance at the Old Spice Classic (0-3) or the climax (Clemson) in Monson's final days. I guess I don't consider a near empty Williams Arena with a fan doing jumping jacks in the upper deck (all by his lonesome) at the conclusion of the Clemson debacle "good."

(11) Conference play begins in earnest Thursday with games in the Atlantic Sun, Big South, Horizon, Metro Atlantic, Northeast, Ohio Valley, Southern & Summit conferences/leagues.

This Week in the Big 10
Monday
Penn State at Virginia

Tuesday
Maryland at Indiana
Virginia Tech at Iowa
Michigan State at North Carolina
Northwestern at NC State
Wake Forest at Purdue

Wednesday
Illinois at Clemson
Boston College at Michigan
Minnesota at Miami-Florida
Florida State at Ohio State
Duke at Wisconsin

Thursday
NO GAMES

Friday
Wofford at Michigan State

Saturday
Boise State at Illinois
Prairie View A&M at Iowa
Arkansas-Pine Bluff at Michigan
Brown at Minnesota
Eastern Michigan at Ohio State
Penn State at Temple
Buffalo at Purdue
Grambling State at Wisconsin

Sunday
NO GAMES

Worth Keeping An Eye On (non-Big 10)
Monday
Saint Joseph's at Rider

Tuesday
Providence at Northeastern

Wednesday
BYU at Utah State
Cal at New Mexico
Duquesne at Pitt
Missouri at Vanderbilt
Northern Iowa at Iowa State
Oklahoma State at Tulsa
Old Dominion at Richmond
Rhode Island at VCU
San Diego State at San Diego
Siena at Georgia Tech
UNLV at Arizona
Washington State at Gonzaga

Thursday
Baylor at Arizona State
Washington at Texas Tech

Friday
NONE

Saturday
Iowa State at Cal
North Carolina at Kentucky
NC State at Marquette
Oregon at Missouri
Providence at Rhode Island
St. Bonaventure at Mississippi State
St. John's at Duke
Wake Forest at Gonzaga
Washington State at Kansas State

Sunday
Arizona at Oklahoma
Maryland vs. Villanova
Miami-Florida at Boston College
South Carolina at Clemson

Upset Special (1-2)
New Mexico over Cal (Wednesday). Hit my first one last week with Portland's 74-47 trouncing of UCLA.

The "Staples"
Non-BCS over BCS (Week 3 results in ALL CAPS)
1. Boston U over Indiana
2. BRADLEY OVER ILLINOIS
3. Butler over Northwestern
4. BUTLER OVER UCLA
5. Cal State Fullerton over UCLA
6. Cornell over Alabama
7. Dayton over Georgia Tech
8. Duquesne over Iowa
9. EAST TENNESSEE STATE OVER ARKANSAS
10. George Mason over Indiana
11. GONZAGA OVER CINCINNATI
12. GONZAGA OVER COLORADO
13. GONZAGA OVER WISCONSIN
14. HOUSTON OVER OKLAHOMA
15. LONG BEACH STATE OVER UCLA
16. Loyola Marymount over USC
17. MONTANA OVER OREGON
18. MORGAN STATE OVER ARKANSAS
19. North Carolina-Wilmington over Penn State
20. NORTHERN IOWA OVER BOSTON COLLEGE
21. Oral Roberts over Stanford
22. PORTLAND OVER MINNESOTA
23. Portland over Oregon
24. PORTLAND OVER UCLA
25. RICHMOND OVER MISSISSIPPI STATE
26. RICHMOND OVER MISSOURI
27. Rider over Mississippi State
28. Sacramento State over Oregon State
29. Saint Joseph's over Boston College
30. Saint Louis over Nebraska
31. SAN DIEGO OVER OKLAHOMA
32. 16. San Diego over Stanford
33. SOUTH ALABAMA OVER ARKANSAS
34. TEMPLE OVER VIRGINIA TECH
35. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi over Oregon State
36. Texas-San Antonio over Iowa
37. Tulane over Penn State
38. UAB over Georgia
39. UNLV OVER LOUISVILLE
40. UTAH OVER ILLINOIS
41. Vermont over Rutgers
42. VCU over Oklahoma
43. WICHITA STATE OVER IOWA
44. WILLIAM & MARY OVER WAKE FOREST
45. Wofford over Georgia

Week 3 Resume Builders? (not listed above)
1. Alabama over Baylor
2. Alabama over Michigan
3. Baylor over Xavier
4. Boston College over Providence
5. Cincinnati over Maryland
6. Cincinnati over Vanderbilt
7. Clemson over Butler
8. Florida over Florida State
9. Florida over Michigan State
10. Florida State over Alabama
11. Florida State over Marquette
12. Illinois State over St. Bonaventure
13. Marquette over Michigan
14. Marquette over Xavier
15. Minnesota over Butler
16. Mississippi State over Old Dominion
17. Missouri over Old Dominion
18. Missouri State over Tulsa
19. Northeastern over Wright State
20. Northwestern over Iowa State
21. Northwestern over Notre Dame
22. Pacific over San Diego State
23. St. John's over Siena
24. St. John's over Temple
25. Texas A&M over Clemson
26. Texas A&M over Minnesota
27. Vanderbilt over Arizona
28. VCU over Nevada
29. Washington State over San Diego
30. Wisconsin over Arizona
31. Wisconsin over Maryland

Week 3 Most Stunning Result
William & Mary 78, Wake Forest 68 -- The Tribe now has two pretty solid wins, as they also defeated 6-1 Richmond (winner of the South Padre Island Invitational) earlier this season. Nevertheless, one doesn't expect Wake to lose at home to Bill & Mary.

My Fantastic 5 (alphabetical order)
1. Gonzaga (arguably the most impressive squad so far this season)
2. Kansas (holdover from last week)
3. Purdue (liked the gritty win over talented Tennessee)
4. Texas (holdover from last week)
5. West Virginia (this may be the Big East's best team)

My Big 10 Power Rankings
1. Purdue (5-0)
2. Michigan State (5-1)
3. Ohio State (5-1)
4. Wisconsin (4-1)
5. Northwestern (5-1)
6. Minnesota (4-2)
7. Michigan (2-2)
8. Illinois (4-2)
9. Penn State (4-2)
10. Indiana (3-3)
11. Iowa (2-4)

Big 10 in the RPI
28. Purdue
32. Wisconsin
57. Minnesota
70. Northwestern
116. Ohio State
125. Michigan State
210. Michigan
239. Illinois
249. Iowa
271. Penn State
291. Indiana

Gophers' Nonconference Opponents in the RPI
10. Texas A&M (4-1)
15. Portland (5-1)
68. Butler (4-2)
73. Saint Joseph's (3-2)
106. Miami-Florida (6-0)
117. Morgan State (4-2)
137. Brown (3-4)
195. Tennessee Tech (3-4)
197. South Dakota State (1-4)
235. Stephen F. Austin (1-2)
261. Northern Illinois (1-4)
324. Utah Valley (2-3)

BCS Conferences Head to Head
Week 3 Results (not listed among resume builders)
Arizona 91, Colorado 87
Arizona State 71, LSU 52
Connecticut 81, LSU 55
Duke 64, Arizona State 53
Duke 68, Connecticut 59
Florida 73, Rutgers 58
Kentucky 73, Stanford 65
Nebraska 51, USC 48
Purdue 73, Tennessee 72
Stanford 57, Virginia 52
Texas 85, Iowa 60
Texas 78, Pitt 62
West Virginia 73, Texas A&M 66

Standings
1. SEC (12-9, 57.1%)
2. Big 12 (6-5, 54.5%)
3. ACC (8-7, 53.3%)
4. Big East (10-9, 52.6%)
5. Big 10 (6-7, 46.2%)
6. Pac 10 (3-8, 27.3%)

Next RTSS: Monday, December 7

 

[Monty519]

(7) In Case You Missed It: The Gophers will compete in the Puerto Rico Tip-Off next season along with Davidson, Hofstra, Nebraska, North Carolina, Vanderbilt, West Virginia and Western Kentucky.

I did miss this lol. And yeah, we need to get that Miami game, hopefully the shooting can come back for this one.

 

[GVBadger]

I never understood the Michigan hype. Illinois is young at some key spots, but those loses are alarming. The Gophers seem to have some chemistry issues but it is a tad early to throw in the towel. I would be really disappointed if I was a Gophers fan in Nolan and Westbrook. You need better decision making then that. I thought the Badgers board was bad after a loss. I was wrong. This place takes the cake.

I hope the Badgers don't get blown off their home floor by Duke like Purdue did last year.

Good stuff as usual. Nice to see the Badgers 4th and climbing.

 

[SelectionSunday]

I thought you might like seeing the Badgers 4th. They earned it with their showing in Maui.

If nothing else, the early struggles by Illinois, Michigan & the Gophers vs. quality opponents offers proof that 3 through 8 in the Big 10 standings (for now I still consider NW in this mix) is going to be one big crapshoot. There's just not a lot of difference.

 

[GVBadger]

I thought you might like seeing the Badgers 4th. They earned it with their showing in Maui.

If nothing else, the early struggles by Illinois, Michigan & the Gophers vs. quality opponents offers proof that 3 through 8 in the Big 10 standings (for now I still consider NW in this mix) is going to be one big crapshoot. There's just not a lot of difference.

The question remains, unfortunately, whether 3-8 is wide open because they are all good or all average. I am not sure we will see the answer until much later in the season.