atlantabison
PhD Student
Posts: 1835
Loc: Atlanta, GA
Reg: 01-25-06
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02-05-06 12:47 AM - Post#14651
With losses this week for Michigan, Indiana, Maryland, UNI, LSU, & Wisconsin, how far will we move up in the rankings. That is 6 of the 9 directly ahead of us. Any chance we sneak in this week by default.
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GoBison
Junior
Posts: 221
Reg: 01-22-06
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Re: Rankings this week?
02-05-06 01:11 AM - Post#14652
In response to atlantabison
I really doubt it... but, UNI did blaze the trail for mid-majors last week.
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Bison1999
Junior
Posts: 227
Reg: 01-23-06
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Short Answer:
02-05-06 02:47 AM - Post#14653
In response to GoBison
No.
And given what I heard about our play @ Army & Colgate, they don't deserve it. Any "default" votes that are handed out this week will go to the outsider Major schools who, because of name alone, are assumed to be better. After what I heard on the radio this week, however, I'm not sure that would be wrong.
There seems to be something amiss with the team right now. ALL games 2/11 through the Lehigh game scare the crap outta me right now.
Go Bison!
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BUFan
PhD Student
Posts: 1936
Reg: 01-24-06
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Re: Short Answer:
02-06-06 02:18 AM - Post#14654
In response to Bison1999
I think we may have an outside shot. Enough teams from 20-25 or above us in others receiving votes lost that we deserve to jump ahead. However, as mentioned, the pollsters are against mid-majors (although UNI snook in last week), so a lower team like Seton Hall or Kansas may take the 25th spot instead. Who knows though...We can keep our fingers crossed that we get that honor.
The big question is where our votes are coming from right now. Is it 10+ voters ranking us near 25 or is it 3-4 voters ranking us more towards 15-20. If it is the latter, it will be harder to gain additional votes. However, if lots of voters already have us near 25, then they could easily bump us up more, and that would also suggest we could more easily grab new votes.
Two more wins this week may still be needed to do the trick.
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id_203
newbie
Posts: 25
Reg: 01-26-06
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Re: Short Answer:
02-06-06 05:30 AM - Post#14655
In response to BUFan
i would say that unless there are some very weird results next week, we would make the top 25 for sure with 2 more wins. We have a shot with 7 of the 9 teams in front of us losing (colorado lost since atlantabison's post). Kansas beating OK was bad for us but we will gain some serious votes in any case. We just have to look out for holy cross and then we will be ranked for our game against NIU.
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BUFan
PhD Student
Posts: 1936
Reg: 01-24-06
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Re: Short Answer:
02-06-06 11:41 AM - Post#14656
In response to id_203
In the miraculous event that we were to get ranked today, that would fire up HC even more. Talking to a friend of mine who goes there, the campus is really psyched for the game, and it is going to be an electric atmosphere. If we leave there with a win, it will be a true credit to our team. I am really looking forward to that game.
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ericatbucknell
PhD Student
Posts: 1940
Reg: 01-22-06
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Re: Short Answer:
02-06-06 02:04 PM - Post#14657
In response to BUFan
i highly doubt we will be ranked this week. however, we should pick up at least a good number of votes and that is what is important right now.
there are two keys to getting ranked as a mid-major. one, you need to have very few losses. weve got that covered. two, you have to build momentum. by that i mean that you need to keep picking up a few more votes every week. in doing so, eventually you will come to a point where a good number of people have you fairly high (maybe around 20th) and consequently have a good enough number of votes to make you look much more appealing to those who had not previously voted for you. the tipping point seems to come around 27th.
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bison63
Postdoc
Posts: 3857
Reg: 01-23-06
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Re: Short Answer:
02-06-06 02:46 PM - Post#14658
In response to Bison1999
Quote:
No.
And given what I heard about our play @ Army & Colgate, they don't deserve it. Any "default" votes that are handed out this week will go to the outsider Major schools who, because of name alone, are assumed to be better. After what I heard on the radio this week, however, I'm not sure that would be wrong.
There seems to be something amiss with the team right now. ALL games 2/11 through the Lehigh game scare the crap outta me right now.
Go Bison!
OK GB, if something is "amiss" with this team, it is certainly not as amiss as it was last year at this time. And that turned out OK.
I think that any conference road win is a good win, and we've won in 3 of the 4 enemy arenas that we lost in last year. Further, we actually beat Colgate at Cotterell by more this year than we did last. (1 point last year, 9 this year)The team can talk all they want about "respect" for their opponents, but it has to be hard to get up for most of the PL after playing a legit big time schedule OOC. It is a long season, and it is hard to maintain a peak for the whole year.
So I am taking the "glass half full" approach and anticipating we will respond when the time comes. HC at Hart and UNI will be very tough. HC can atone for a lot of disappointments this year with a win over us. So like everybody else they will be loaded for bear vs us. I think that the only team that may have taken us lightly this year is Syracuse.
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ericatbucknell
PhD Student
Posts: 1940
Reg: 01-22-06
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Re: Short Answer:
02-06-06 03:27 PM - Post#14659
In response to bison63
on a somewhat topical note, we held onto our number 2 spot in the newest mid-major top 25...
http://www.collegeinsider.com/mmpoll/
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BUFan
PhD Student
Posts: 1936
Reg: 01-24-06
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Re: Short Answer:
02-06-06 04:16 PM - Post#14660
In response to ericatbucknell
Looking at the mmpoll, Gonzaga has the same record as us and does not play in a conference all that much better than ours. Also, the quality wins and quality losses are not much different. Therefore, if Gonzaga suffers a bad WAC loss before we suffer a bad Patriot loss, I think we have a CHANCE to sneek ahead of them. Gonzaga is ranked highly on reputation. However, I get the feeling that the mid-major poll values reputation less than the Top 25. Also, I think some mid-major coaches hate Gonzaga and do not consider them a mid-major, so they would jump at the chance to bump them from the top spot.
I know my argument is flawed by the fact that BU lost to a bad WAC team, but I also think that some Patriot League teams would give Gonzaga a fight when played on A PL home court.
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BUFan
PhD Student
Posts: 1936
Reg: 01-24-06
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Re: Short Answer:
02-06-06 04:19 PM - Post#14661
In response to BUFan
By the way, I meant WCC, not WAC...My bad.
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Bison137
Professor
Posts: 16147
Reg: 01-23-06
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Re: Short Answer:
02-06-06 04:33 PM - Post#14662
In response to BUFan
Quote:
Looking at the mmpoll, Gonzaga has the same record as us and does not play in a conference all that much better than ours. Also, the quality wins and quality losses are not much different. Therefore, if Gonzaga suffers a bad WAC loss before we suffer a bad Patriot loss, I think we have a CHANCE to sneek ahead of them. Gonzaga is ranked highly on reputation. However, I get the feeling that the mid-major poll values reputation less than the Top 25. Also, I think some mid-major coaches hate Gonzaga and do not consider them a mid-major, so they would jump at the chance to bump them from the top spot.
I know my argument is flawed by the fact that BU lost to a bad WAC team, but I also think that some Patriot League teams would give Gonzaga a fight when played on A PL home court.
No chance of us passing Gonzaga unless they have several bad losses. Their overall record is much stronger than ours, as well as having the Gonzaga name. They are #11 in RPI and #10 out of conference. We are #42 and #21 respectively. They have wins over Maryland, Michigan State, St Joes, Virginia, and a few other names. Seven wins in total against top 100 teams compared to our 3 wins. They also had a 2-point loss to UConn that helps with the voters.
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ericatbucknell
PhD Student
Posts: 1940
Reg: 01-22-06
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Re: Short Answer:
02-06-06 05:14 PM - Post#14663
In response to Bison137
new espn/coaches poll is out... bucknell stayed in 30th but added 11 new votes (up to 29).
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Panthers Win!!
newbie
Posts: 47
Reg: 01-30-06
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Re: Short Answer:
02-06-06 06:04 PM - Post#14664
In response to ericatbucknell
Just FYI, UNI dropped to 28th in Coach's and remained in AP Poll at 25. Wouldn't it be cool if we both could be ranked at the 11th?
Again FYI, another very tough game for UNI against Wichita State Tuesday evening.
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ericatbucknell
PhD Student
Posts: 1940
Reg: 01-22-06
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Re: Short Answer:
02-06-06 06:09 PM - Post#14665
In response to Panthers Win!!
bucknell moved up to 28th in this weeks ap poll by picking up an additional 45 votes (we now have 81). very exciting! now if we could just get through this week!
The Bracket Bustin' Bison are Back!
Okay. First round streak BACK ON! |
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jck45
Junior
Posts: 221
Reg: 01-24-06
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Re: Short Answer:
02-06-06 06:50 PM - Post#14666
In response to ericatbucknell
I'm surprise, that's a HUGE jump in the AP. I think we're only two wins away....
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GoBison
Junior
Posts: 221
Reg: 01-22-06
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Re: Short Answer:
02-07-06 12:57 AM - Post#14667
In response to jck45
81 is the 2nd highest AP Poll point tally for the Bison this year (Week #5 - the week before Villanova - BU was in the #26 slot with 114 points).
Looking forward to another exciting week ahead - the team is certainly capable of winning both games, which might put them over the top as Eric said....
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id_203
newbie
Posts: 25
Reg: 01-26-06
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Re: Short Answer:
02-07-06 03:06 AM - Post#14668
In response to GoBison
has anyone heard of a #25 team losing to an unranked team and staying in the poll? I guess the voters just didnt think there was anyone good enough to put ahead of UNI or Colorado.
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jck45
Junior
Posts: 221
Reg: 01-24-06
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Re: Short Answer:
02-07-06 03:20 AM - Post#14669
In response to id_203
Well, it was an away game against the second best best team in their league and there were sooo many losses by other ranked teams.... That being said, I probably have to agree with you.
We will not do so well if we lose to HC.
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Panthers Win!!
newbie
Posts: 47
Reg: 01-30-06
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Re: Short Answer:
02-07-06 12:10 PM - Post#14670
In response to id_203
As the resident UNI fan frequenting your board until our Bracket Buster game I suppose I'll jump in here and defend UNI's ranking. No disrespect of the Bison intended here. I think we all know the polls are biased in favor of the "BCS conferences". If you examine what teams immediately above and below did in the last week as well as the teams UNI has defeated it wouldn't be too unexpected.
All comments are based on Ken Pomeroy's RPI computations found here: http://kenpom.com/rpi.php
UNI's RPI is 15 with victories over teams with RPI's of 7 (defeated top team in Big Ten), 16, 21, and 23. The loss UNI suffered last week was to Creighton (RPI of 16) on Creighton's home court (Creighton was favored by the Las Vegas odds makers) where seemingly no one beats them (crowd of 14,900 for the game, fifth largest in their history, undefeated this season there). UNI's at the top of the fifth best conference in the country (again using RPI as a measure of relative conference strength), has 20 victories for the season, etc. It makes sense to have at least one MVC team in the top 25 rather than two or more from conferences rated sixth or seventh (Big 12 or Pac 10). They might as well rank the team from the MVC with the most total victories and highest in RPI. Personally what I am a bit surprised about is that Creighton or Wichita State didn't move up and UNI out.
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BUFan
PhD Student
Posts: 1936
Reg: 01-24-06
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Re: Short Answer:
02-07-06 02:00 PM - Post#14671
In response to Panthers Win!!
Panthers Win, I think I speak for most people on this board when I say that I agree with you. You are in the same boat as us. UNI should've been in the top 25 a long time ago, but since they do not play on TV or in a major conference, the pollsters show no respect. Being in the top 25 increases TV interest and ratings, so people are biased and don't show you any love. Also, with less TV exposure, voters don't get to see how good you are. I think in a perfect world, both Bucknell and UNI would be in the top 25. In my opinion, teams like Colorado and Indiana would not doubt lose to the Bison and UNI more than 50% of the time on a neutral court.
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atlantabison
PhD Student
Posts: 1835
Loc: Atlanta, GA
Reg: 01-25-06
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Re: Short Answer:
02-07-06 04:44 PM - Post#14672
In response to BUFan
Which is why we never get to play them on a neutral court.
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SteelCity
Junior
Posts: 261
Reg: 02-04-06
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Re: Short Answer:
02-09-06 12:07 AM - Post#14673
In response to Panthers Win!!
Here's what I don't get about some teams in the MVC: who did WSU beat out of conference? What about SIU? Nothing stands out to me as impressive. Creighton had some decent wins over Dayton, George Mason, and Nebraska but none of those are powerhouse teams. NIU had the best OOC run, with big wins at LSU and Iowa. Those are both impressive wins and I can see why they are ranked so high. It seems everyone talks about 4 maybe 5 teams from the MVC making the tournament, but I only see NIU and Creighton as having proven anything so far.
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Panthers Win!!
newbie
Posts: 47
Reg: 01-30-06
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Re: Short Answer:
02-09-06 12:39 AM - Post#14674
In response to SteelCity
I agree to an extent Steel. I think it's relative though. The reason that Missouri State and Wichita State are getting a lot of talk as well is, in my opinion, the ordinarily overhyped "BCS" type conferences, the Big 12 and Pac 10, are down this year. As a result the MVC is fifth rated as a conference (which usually gets the conference in that position five bids). Of course Conference USA is down with so many schools going to the Big East, the Big East is huge in terms of number of schools, etc. so it's not as simple as I described.
Bottom line is I think Missouri State and Wichita State aren't losing. While they have no outstanding wins they do have a lot of wins, few losses or "bad losses" and are playing in a highly rated conference this year. I'm not sure it's fair but I definitely think it's fairer than very down conferences this year like the Pac 10 and Big 12 sending five teams.
Edit: Please don't think I'm anal, and hopefully no offense but Northern Iowa is the "University of Northern Iowa" aka "UNI". "NIU" is "Northern Illinois University". Not a big deal and I almost hesitate to mention it because it's a mistake made often but I'm probably one of the few around with degrees from both.
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