College Hoops, February 9-15

[Red Dog]

National TV Schedule:

Mon., Feb. 9
Connecticut at Notre Dame 7 p.m. ESPN
Kansas at Oklahoma State 9 p.m. ESPN
San Diego State at Brigham Young Mid ESPN

Tues., Feb. 10
Alabama at Kentucky 7 p.m. ESPN
Colorado at Missouri 7 p.m. ESPN2
Michigan State at Illinois 9 p.m. ESPN

Weds., Feb. 11
Virginia at Duke 7 p.m. ESPN

Thurs., Feb. 12
Wake Forest at Clemson 7 p.m. ESPN2
Louisville at Charlotte 9 p.m. ESPN2
Gonzaga at San Francisco 11 p.m. ESPN2

Sat., Feb. 14
Seton Hall at Notre Dame Noon ESPN
Butler at Detroit Noon ESPN2
Kentucky at Georgia 1 p.m. CBS
Georgetown at Temple 2 p.m. ESPN
Penn State at Northwestern 2 p.m. ESPN2
UCLA at Arizona 3 p.m. FSN
Bowling Green at Kent State 4 p.m. ESPN2
Ohio State at Wisconsin 7 p.m. ESPN
Memphis at Marquette 9 p.m. ESPN

Sun., Feb. 15
Cincinnati at Wake Forest, Kansas at Nebraska or Connecticut at Pittsburgh 1:30 p.m. ABC-regional
UNLV at Missouri or Maryland at North Carolina 3:30 p.m. ABC-regional
Duke at North Carolina State 6:30 p .m. FSN

[Red Dog]

RPI Top-50 thru 2/8

1 Duke 20-1 0.6949 6 0.6091 1 1
2 Saint Joseph's 20-0 0.6821 27 0.5761 3 3
3 Kentucky 16-3 0.6719 4 0.6152 9 9
4 Connecticut 19-3 0.6561 22 0.5869 5 5
5 Louisville 17-3 0.6554 19 0.5906 6 6
6 Stanford 20-0 0.6535 81 0.5380 2 2
7 Mississippi St 19-1 0.6526 57 0.5535 7 7
8 Florida 14-6 0.6441 2 0.6255 21 21
9 Texas 16-3 0.6436 26 0.5775 11 14
10 Kansas 14-4 0.6434 10 0.5986 20 17
11 Oklahoma St 16-2 0.6391 53 0.5558 13 13
12 Providence 15-5 0.6388 8 0.6018 23 23
13 Pittsburgh 21-1 0.6370 92 0.5311 4 4
14 Gonzaga 19-2 0.6355 70 0.5457 8 8
15 North Carolina 14-6 0.6337 5 0.6116 17 19
16 Georgia Tech 17-5 0.6322 23 0.5853 15 16
17 Texas Tech 17-5 0.6319 24 0.5850 19 18
18 LSU 16-4 0.6313 29 0.5751
19 North Carolina St 14-5 0.6310 14 0.5957
20 Wisconsin 15-4 0.6271 32 0.5730 14 11
21 Seton Hall 14-5 0.6252 20 0.5880
22 Southern Ill 18-2 0.6226 93 0.5301
23 Cincinnati 16-3 0.6213 68 0.5477 10 10
24 Alabama 11-8 0.6194 1 0.6329
25 Arizona 14-6 0.6182 18 0.5909 12 12
26 Wake Forest 13-6 0.6167 16 0.5941 16 15
27 Boston College 15-7 0.6166 15 0.5948
28 Vanderbilt 14-5 0.6162 28 0.5760 25
29 UAB 13-6 0.6117 21 0.5876
30 Memphis 16-4 0.6111 66 0.5481
31 Rutgers 13-7 0.6108 11 0.5977
32 Maryland 13-7 0.6104 12 0.5972
33 Syracuse 14-5 0.6088 41 0.5662 18 20
34 Charlotte 14-5 0.6059 46 0.5622
35 Utah St 18-1 0.6043 174 0.4900 24
36 Dayton 19-3 0.6038 118 0.5172
37 Richmond 13-9 0.6004 7 0.6035
38 Utah 16-5 0.5970 75 0.5420
39 Oklahoma 14-5 0.5964 63 0.5496 22 22
40 Illinois 15-5 0.5954 73 0.5439
41 Michigan St 12-8 0.5933 17 0.5911
42 South Carolina 19-4 0.5925 121 0.5147 25 24
43 Florida St 15-7 0.5925 44 0.5627
44 UTEP 15-4 0.5905 104 0.5242
45 Hawaii 15-4 0.5901 105 0.5237
46 BYU 11-7 0.5876 25 0.5797
47 Michigan 13-6 0.5872 54 0.5548
48 Villanova 12-7 0.5844 37 0.5687
49 Clemson 9-11 0.5795 3 0.6226
50 Wis-Milwaukee 15-6 0.5794 87 0.5345

[Red Dog]

Tuesday, February 10
FSU at NC State, RSN, 7 p.m.
UNC at Ga. Tech, RJ, 9 p.m.

Wednesday, February 11
Virginia at Duke, ESPN, 7 p.m.

Thursday, February 12
Wake at Clemson, espn2, 7 p.m.

Saturday, February 14
Clemson at FSU, RSN, Noon
Ga. Tech at Virginia, RJ, 2 p.m.

Sunday, February 15
Cincinnati at Wake, ABC, 1:30 p.m.
Maryland at UNC, ABC, 3:30 p.m.
Duke at NC State, FSN, 6:30 p.m.


Standings:

Duke 9-0 20-1
NC State 7-2 14-5
Georgia Tech 4-4 17-5
North Carolina 4-5 14-6
Florida State 4-5 16-7
Wake Forest 4-5 13-6
Maryland 4-5 13-7
Virginia 2-7 12-8
Clemson 2-7 9-11

[Tommy_Harn]

Is Ga. Tech's conference record accurate? You have them listed as 4-4, but all of the other teams have played 9 games.

[Red Dog]

Originally posted by Tommy_Harn
Is Ga. Tech's conference record accurate? You have them listed as 4-4, but all of the other teams have played 9 games.

Right off the ACC website. Keep in mind that there are odd number of teams so it should not be that surprising that there will be points during the regular season where teams will not have played the same number of games. For example, Maryland only plays 1 game this week. GT only played 1 conference game last week.

[B.A.]

Originally posted by Red Dog
RPI Top-50 thru 2/8

1 Duke 20-1 0.6949 6 0.6091 1 1
22 Southern Ill 18-2 0.6226 93 0.5301
40 Illinois 15-5 0.5954 73 0.5439

Let's hear it for the Salukis!!!

The ACC next Sunday looks really nice. Maryland playing in Chapel Hill - wth, Go Terps! And Duke playing the Pack in Raleigh - Go Devils Go!!!

[Red Dog]

Have to give a shout out to my alma mater, Bucknell. They've won 6 of their last 7, after a horrendous start, to go to 5-3 in Patriot League play. They host league co-leader, Lehigh (7-1), on Tuesday night. Best of all, the Bison's 4 leading scorers are 2 sophs and 2 frosh, so the future is bright in Lewisburg.

[B.A.]

Originally posted by Red Dog
National TV Schedule:

Sun., Feb. 15
Cincinnati at Wake Forest, Kansas at Nebraska or Connecticut at Pittsburgh 1:30 p.m. ABC-regional
UNLV at Missouri or Maryland at North Carolina 3:30 p.m. ABC-regional
Duke at North Carolina State 6:30 p .m. FSN

Looks like I will get screwed out of the UConn/Pitt game and the Maryland/UNC game. And I'm sure the FSN-Midwest will not show the Duke/NCState game. Damn - that sucks.

[Red Dog]

Originally posted by B.A.hist
Looks like I will get screwed out of the UConn/Pitt game and the Maryland/UNC game. And I'm sure the FSN-Midwest will not show the Duke/NCState game. Damn - that sucks.

Your FSN affiliate should show the Sunday Night Hoops game - those are supposed to be national telecasts.

As for the rest, what can I say - move back east or get Full Court.

[B.A.]

Originally posted by Red Dog
Your FSN affiliate should show the Sunday Night Hoops game - those are supposed to be national telecasts.

As for the rest, what can I say - move back east or get Full Court.

Really? I didn't know that was a national telecast. Maybe there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Thanks for the info.

I would like the Full Court package one day, but w/ a baby on the way that is kind of at the bottom of my priority list. And moving back east is just crazy talk.

[Red Dog]

Wasn't the Duke/Clemson game on your FSN affiliate last night?

[B.A.]

Originally posted by Red Dog
Wasn't the Duke/Clemson game on your FSN affiliate last night?

I'm not sure - I completely forgot that there was a game until I was reading over the sport scores before I went to bed. Plus, my wife commandeered the tv to watch the Grammy's - I gave in for once and let her be.

[Josh H]

Coverage has sucked. I was going to get Full Court, but they didn't offer enough WVU games to be worth the $$$ for me. Hardly any of the non-conference games, and not even all of the Big East ones.

[Red Dog]

Originally posted by Josh Hinkle
Coverage has sucked. I was going to get Full Court, but they didn't offer enough WVU games to be worth the $$$ for me. Hardly any of the non-conference games, and not even all of the Big East ones.

Does the Big East have as comprehensive a syndicated package as the ACC? That may explain why you see few of them - how many WVU games are actually televised somewhere? The great thing about the ACC is that every single conference game is televised somewhere, so if you have the PPV package, you should be able to get every game no matter where you live. I hope the jump to 11/12 teams does not change this.

[Josh H]

Yeah, it's mainly a problem with all of WVU's games (especially non-conference ones) not being televised at all.

But still, there have been a few BE games here and there that were on TV back home, but weren't on the PPV package list.

Hopefully it will improve in 2005 win the BE becomes THE dominant conference. Surely that will get a better TV package.

[Red Dog]

The BE should pick up another mid-week ESPN slot and another weekend ESPN slot at the expense of CUSA. The problem you may see is that you will probably see less WVU games in the syndicated package because the conference will be too big.

[Josh H]

Originally posted by Red Dog
The problem you may see is that you will probably see less WVU games in the syndicated package because the conference will be too big.

Definitely true. The fact that we've been mediocre (and that's being generous) since 1998 doesn't help either.

[Red Dog]

BRACKETOLOGY - 2/9 EDITION:
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/bracketology#

Cleaning up those RPI Numbers

By Joe Lunardi
Special to ESPN.com

I've been working up to this article for a long, long time. It just took an astute reader named Brian Kasbar to provide the perfect lead-in:

"I get sick of hearing ACC or SEC fans saying that Ole Miss, Georgia, Maryland or other middle-of-the-road teams (in those leagues) could clean up in the WCC and, therefore, Gonzaga's undefeated record in its conference is no big deal. Have they stopped to look at what happens to TOP teams in their conference that try WCC road games?

"Mississippi State (No. 7, ESPN/USA Today) tried going to Santa Clara and won by only FIVE points; Gonzaga won by SIXTEEN. Arizona tried playing at St. Mary's and won by SIX; Gonzaga won by FOURTEEN. Oklahoma State had Pepperdine at home and won by TWO POINTS! Gonzaga ripped them at home by TWENTY.

"Gonzaga played a partial Pac-10 schedule and beat Washington State by 42 points at home. Stanford (beat WSU) at home by only 24. Gonzaga beat Washington by 20 AT Washington, whereas Arizona LOST at Washington.

"In their only ACC away game (played at a semi-neutral site in D.C., actually), Gonzaga beat Maryland by 14 points, which is better than any of the top 25 have done. Wake won by 12 (at Maryland), Duke won by eight, and UNC, Florida and Wisconsin all LOST.

"Can I say this to all the self-righteous major conference fans? If your top 25 teams struggle with away games in the WCC, you can bet your lower-tier teams couldn't run the table. It isn't coincidence that most major conference teams don't have the [guts] to schedule away games with mid-majors! Have Virginia schedule a game at Creighton or Utah State or Southern Illinois. You might just leave with your tail between your legs, like WSU did playing at Gonzaga. They got pasted."

The point here isn't to argue whether or not Gonzaga is a very good team; it is. The point isn't to argue whether or not the six BCS conferences are the best in the country; they are. The point isn't even to argue whether or not one or two or three mid-majors deserve at-large bids to the tournament this year (they do, but that's another story).

The point is this: The deck is so permanently stacked against quality mid-majors that it harkens back to a time when the loser of that epic NC State-Maryland ACC title game did not make the NCAA Tournament. As uneven as that system was 30 years ago, we have now gone so far in the other direction as to be almost ludicrous.

As long as BCS-member schools are permitted to use football revenue to "buy" home basketball games against low majors, we'll have a virtual caste system in the sport. Given the extraordinarily deep talent pool across the country, you can't tell me that 20 percent of Division I basketball schools deserve 90 percent of the NCAA Tournament at-large bids.

"But your teams never make the Final Four, anyway," say the good ol' boys at the NCAA Convention.

"Of course not," I say to those overstuffed blowhards (well, they're not all blowhards). "It's pretty hard to belly up to the bar when you're never invited to the party."

People say the problem starts with scheduling, that the haves are always going to snack on the have-nots. And that those in the middle are going to get the crumbs. I say the deeper problem is a poorly weighted RPI. It's not margin of victory (as most critics suggests) which needs to be part of the formula, but counting home games -- at least non-conference home games -- differently from every other game.

As C.M. Newton, one of the best chairmen the NCAA men's basketball committee ever had, used to say: "You don't play any tournament games on your own floor." That never stopped him from putting six SEC teams in the NCAA field, but I digress ...

If the BCS schools want to buy home wins against the SWAC and MEAC and whomever, fine. But don't count that win the same as road/neutral games against quality opposition. The big boys can still make all the money they want, but they can't have that cake and more than half of their league in the NCAAs, too.

This year, as part of the debut of InsideRPI on ESPN.com's Insider, we introduce a column called "LunaRPI" (pardon the self-serving label). It's not a perfect measure, to be sure, but it's a step in the right direction. LunaRPI counts only a team's road and neutral games, and excludes all home court contests. This is not meant to replace the existing RPI, but to supplement it with another data set that addresses some of its flaws. Better still would be a single measurement that weighs the entire calculus of factors in a more equitable manner.

The NCAA, as it turns out, is already working on such an idea. I hear they've hired a couple of the top mathematicians in the country. Give me a week or two after this season, and my guys will beat them to the punch.

In the meantime, check out these two lists and decide for yourself if we're on the right track. My data czar Jim "JRod" Rodrigues crunched the numbers to prove my point.


First the "under" valued:

Under Valued Teams
Team RPI LunaRPI Diff.
Boise State No. 103 No. 62 +41
Boston U. No. 104 No. 71 +33
Wichita State No. 78 No. 47 +31
La.-Lafayette No. 80 No. 49 +31
Charlotte No. 33 No. 11 +23
Saint Louis No. 98 No. 76 +22
Troy State No. 80 No. 64 +16
Central Florida No. 84 No. 68 +16
Pacific No. 95 No. 80 +15
W. Michigan No. 54 No. 40 +14
So. Illinois No. 23 No. 10 +13
Murray State No. 75 No. 63 +12


Even better are the "over" valued (in other words, teams that either don't belong in the NCAAs or likely won't be staying very long):

BCS's Dirty Dozen
Team RPI LunaRPI Diff.
Iowa State No. 57 No. 209 -152
Auburn No. 51 No. 163 -112
Clemson No. 50 No. 136 -86
Clemson No. 50 No. 136 -86
Wisconsin No. 20 No. 98 -78
Mississippi No. 62 No. 133 -71
Michigan State No. 42 No. 72 -30
Alabama No. 26 No. 55 -29
North Carolina No. 16 No. 42 -26
Vanderbilt No. 28 No. 54 -26
Rutgers No. 31 No. 52 -21
Texas Tech No. 17 No. 35 -18
Arizona No. 27 No. 39 -12


Major conferences teams can't hide their "dirty dozen" (and more) forever. Because, if they do, the NCAA men's basketball championship will become as marginalized as the BCS football postseason. The difference, in college basketball, is that people will stop watching.

[Red Dog]

Andy Katz's article on the committee first meeting last week:

By Andy Katz
ESPN.com

Sure, a perfect record would all but lock up a No. 1 seed. But neither Saint Joseph's and Stanford should feel pressured to be undefeated on Selection Sunday in order to be a top seed in the NCAA Tournament.

Nobody -- and that includes the NCAA Tournament selection committee -- said going 30-0 was a requirement for a No. 1 seed.

"If Stanford and Saint Joseph's both go undefeated it would be hard for them not to be on the top line," said Iowa athletic director Bob Bowlsby, the NCAA Tournament selection committee chair.

"But nothing is a guarantee," added Bowlsby, trying not to show his committee's cards too soon.

Still, Stanford would likely have to fall apart over the next three weeks to see anything but the West's top seed next to its name on March 14. Sure, the Cardinal could still stumble at Cal, or at either stops in Los Angeles (USC or UCLA). There's even a chance one of the final two games of the regular season at Washington State and Washington would ruin its perfection.

But after Stanford's thrilling last-second win over Arizona on Saturday, it's getting more difficult with each victory to believe the Cardinal isn't blessed this season with good fortune. Whether it lasts the rest of the season and through the Pac-10 postseason tournament -- where the Cardinal could match up with the Wildcats again -- remains to be seen.

Saint Joseph's, meanwhile, has more competition for a top seed in the East Rutherford, N.J. region. It also has a few trouble spots, starting Wednesday night when fellow Atlantic-10 unbeaten Dayton (19-3, 9-0) comes to Philly. The Hawks also could stumble at Rhode Island or at home to Temple. A loss to any of these teams could certainly knock the Hawks out of the top spot and pave the way for another team to earn a No. 1 seed.

But, like the Cardinal, the Hawks show no signs of losing to anyone in their conference anytime soon.

Speculation will continue over the five weeks to Selection Sunday. But we caught a glimpse of what the committee is thinking when it met for three days last week (Feb. 3-5) in Indianapolis for its annual refresher course on how to fill out the NCAA Tournament bracket.

The meeting was designed mostly for the two new members of the 10-member committee. But, of the two new members, only John LeCrone of the Horizon League could make it. Texas Tech athletic director Gerald Myers had to deal with a little incident in Lubbock over a salad bar disagreement.

Before diving into the 65-team bracket, the NCAA staff poked fun at even the veteran committee members as they entered the room. Scrolled on the board in red was BYU ... "So we didn't miss them," Bowlsby said. It was a reminder of what happened last year when the committee put BYU in a region that fed into a Friday-Sunday regional semifinal and final. BYU does not play on Sundays. The committee would have had to make a switch had the Cougars advanced to the Sweet 16. But the Cougars lost in the first round to Connecticut to avoid the problem.

Once it clarified BYU's situation, the committee filled out a mock bracket as it does each year. And at the time of its meeting, the four No. 1s were Duke, Stanford, Saint Joseph's and Kentucky. Obviously, the bracket remains a fluid situation from the top four to 65th team. But, also keep in mind, the top four seeds will determine which regions meet in the Final Four semifinals.

Under the committee's mock scenario last week, Duke was the top team in Atlanta, Saint Joseph's was placed in East Rutherford, Stanford in Phoenix and Kentucky in St. Louis. The committee tabbed Duke as its overall No. 1 team, which meant the Atlanta regional was matched up with the fourth overall No. 1 seed in one semifinal -- Kentucky. The Phoenix region with the second overall No. 1 seed, Stanford, was paired with the St. Joe's region in the other semifinal.

The four teams pushing the No. 1s made for some real tough No. 2 seeds: Connecticut, Pittsburgh, Mississippi State and Gonzaga. Where's Gonzaga, you ask? Well, the real pressure not to lose again is on the Zags.

If Gonzaga wants to remain in the discussion as a No. 2 seed, it must run the table in the West Coast Conference. Even then, the strength of the WCC could bring the Zags down to a third or even fourth seed. The consensus was if Gonzaga wins out, it wouldn't be any worse than a No. 4, which would be the highest seed ever for the Zags. Still, if the Zags finish with just two losses, they'd have a great argument for a two seed, with their only two losses coming to likely No. 1 seeds -- Stanford and Saint Joseph's.

If Duke, Saint Joseph's and Stanford keep winning, settling on the fourth-best team could get dicey no matter who's involved. What belonged to Kentucky last week could easily belong to Connecticut, Pittsburgh or Mississippi State next week. And it could change the next week.

Over the next few weeks, however, the consensus among the selection committee was the Big Ten and the Pac-10 will need to do some real work to avoid getting a low of two to three teams in the Dance.

But, once again, what the committee did in Indianapolis last week was just an exercise. Where teams where last week will change in the coming weeks, and things will change again by the time the committee meets for the real thing in March.

[tofu]

It would be so great to see St. Joe's go unbeaten.

[zak52]

Gonzaga is a very good team, I don't think anyone will argue that, but Joe Lunardi needs to get his head out of his behind. Put Ole Miss, MD or Georgia in the WCC and they would clean up. I don't know what he's trying to argue. Put Gonzaga in the ACC or SEC and they will get their share of loses. Gonzaga does try to play a tough OOC schedule, but their schedule still doesn't compare to playing in the top conferences.

[MrX]

UConn loses to Notre Dame tonight. I think ND was without Torin Francis too.

[MrX]

Kansas getting blitzed by OK St in Stillwater early.

[B.A.]

Originally posted by MrX
Kansas getting blitzed by OK St in Stillwater early.

On a side note: Southern Illinois University cracked the top 25 for only the second time in the school's history, and the first since 1976. They are ranked #23 in both polls. Hell Yeah!

[Red Dog]

Originally posted by MrX
UConn loses to Notre Dame tonight. I think ND was without Torin Francis too.

UConn and Pitt both go down. It would appear that the biggest beneficiary of these losses is probably Miss State for now.

Kansas got crushed.