Jan. 25-31, 2021
Only 1 feature game this week, and it's in the Pac 12. Let's get to it:
1/28/21-
Stanford (Benito Sanchez) @
Colorado (Rob Nielsen) -- A low scoring, defensive struggle, as Stanford only scored 14 first half points and shot 21.8% for the game. Colorado didn't shoot much better, only 31.5%, but it was more than enough to get the home victory.
Final Score: Colorado- 45, Stanford- 36
Now for the rest of the weekly recap:
Hartford (David Ginsberg) -- 16-5, 7-3 America East.
1/27/21 vs. Maine (W 88-83, OT).
1/31/21 vs. Binghamton (W 82-51).
2 wins for the Hawks this week, and they came in completely different fashion. An OT win, and a blowout. they'll take em how they can get em though.
UConn (Randolph Childress) -- 10-11, 5-4 American.
1/30/21 at SMU (L 90-76).
Just 1 game this week for the Huskies, and it wasn't pretty, as they go to SMU and get smoked. The score doesn't indicate how much of a blowout this game really was.
ECU (Al Hutt) -- 11-9, 5-4 American.
1/30/21 at #11 Memphis (W 84-80).
Just 1 game this week for the Pirates, but it was an absolute stunner as they go into Memphis and pull the upset of the century. That is win #11 on the season for ECU, a season high in the coaching career of Al Hutt, and they have plenty more chances to pile them on.
Tulsa (Will Brown) -- 9-9, 3-5 American.
1/30/21 vs. South Florida (W 81-69).
1 game for the Golden Hurricane also this week, and they get a much needed win to get back to .500 on the season.
Duke (Dean Hoo) -- 14-6, 5-3 ACC.
1/27/21 vs. Boston College (W 70-58).
1/30/21 vs. North Carolina (W 76-59).
Sweet revenge for the Blue Devils, who win the rematch with North Carolina, winning at home this time. They have a chance to go on a nice little winning streak.
#20 TCU (Bee Mighty) -- 17-4, 8-1 Big 12.
1/25/21 at #18 Oklahoma (W 54-46).
1/30/21 at Oklahoma State (W 79-74).
The Horned Frogs continue to shock the world this season, as they go through Oklahoma this week and sweep the 2 Big 12 Oklahoma teams. Amazing.
Michigan State (Al Mighty) -- 12-8, 4-4 Big Ten.
1/27/21 vs. Iowa (W 94-54).
1/30/21 at Nebraska (W 74-44).
2 much needed blowout wins for the Spartans this week, as they continue to find some consistency.
Northwestern (Ess Vee) -- 7-13, 3-5 Big Ten.
1/27/21 at Minnesota (L 79-71).
1/30/21 vs. #12 Illinois (L 57-47).
Not bad efforts for the Wildcats this week, but not good enough as they drop their 2nd and 3rd games in a row.
Hawaii (B.B. Gunn) -- 10-10, 4-3 Big West.
1/28/21 vs. UC Santa Barbara (L 64-57).
1/30/21 at UC Irvine (L 71-63).
Coach Gunn hinted that he felt things going South again after that loss at Cal State Northridge. To be fair though, the 3 game losing streak the Warriors are on, are probably to the top 3 teams in the conference this season. Nothing to be alarmed about.. yet.
Rice (Charlie Shocker) -- 10-9, 3-5 Conference USA.
1/28/21 at Western Kentucky (W 79-70).
1/30/21 at UTEP (L 99-90, OT).
A road split for the Owls this season, who stay above .500 overall, but are still well below in conference.
Colorado (Rob Nielsen) -- 9-11, 3-5 Pac 12.
1/28/21 vs. Stanford- feature game, highlighted above.
1/30/21 at California (W 80-56).
A rare good week for the Buffaloes, as they get 2 wins in a row. Their win over a good Cal team was very convincing, so hopefully they can build on that.
Stanford (Benito Sanchez) -- 11-9, 5-3 Pac 12.
1/28/21 at Colorado- feature game, highlighted above.
1/30/21 vs. Gonzaga (W 70-54).
A split for the Cardinal, who give a rude welcome to new conference member Gonzaga, but couldn't find offense against Colorado.
UCLA (Tim Shepard) -- 14-6, 5-3 Pac 12.
1/28/21 at Oregon State (W 69-51).
1/30/21 vs. Oregon (L 83-69).
A split for the Bruins this week, as they switch it up a bit, winning on the road and losing at home.
Washington State (DeShawn St. John) -- 13-7, 4-4 Pac 12.
1/28/21 at California (L 69-53).
1/30/21 at Arizona (W 64-50).
The Cougars split 2 road games this week, including a big win, some might even consider it an upset, over Arizona.
Alabama (Roy Rogers) -- 9-11, 2-6 SEC.
1/27/21 at Vanderbilt (L 87-79).
1/30/21 vs. Auburn (L 93-89).
2 more losses for the Crimson Tide, who certainly don't look anything like the team we've seen the past 2 seasons. They are definitely having a down season.
#22 Kentucky (Patrick Hutt) -- 13-6, 6-2 SEC.
1/27/21 vs. Arkansas (W 90-71).
1/30/21 at Georgia (L 99-88).
A split for the Wildcats, as them losing to Georgia has to be considered a bit of an upset, even though it was on the road.
Troy (Brett Hawkins) -- 10-11, 6-7 Sun Belt.
1/28/21 vs. South Alabama (L 77-65).
1/30/21 at South Alabama (L 94-62).
One of those stupid home and away same week splits against the same team for the Trojans this week, and they lost both. To be fair, South Alabama is 1 of only 3 Sun Belt teams that have a winning conference record right now, so the key for Coach Hawkins is to have his team up for those teams with losing records, and there are a lot left on the schedule.
Here's a look at the national top 25 for the week of Feb. 1-7:
Code:
# Team FPV Record Points Prv Conference test test test test
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1. Louisville (66) 19-3 1794 2 Atlantic Coast Conference
2. Wisconsin (6) 18-2 1733 1 Big Ten Conference
3. Baylor 18-3 1643 3 Big 12 Conference
4. Boise State 17-3 1521 6 Mountain West Conference
5. San Diego State 18-2 1518 4 Mountain West Conference
6. Villanova 17-4 1479 8 Big East Conference
7. Wichita State 19-4 1341 9 Missouri Valley Conference
8. Florida State 16-4 1284 10 Atlantic Coast Conference
9. Syracuse 16-3 1265 5 Atlantic Coast Conference
10. Illinois 17-3 1117 12 Big Ten Conference
11. Penn State 16-5 1070 13 Big Ten Conference
12. Florida 14-6 920 16 Southeastern Conference
13. Providence 16-5 907 7 Big East Conference
14. TCU 17-4 856 20 Big 12 Conference
15. Rhode Island 17-3 743 14 Atlantic 10 Conference
16. Fresno State 18-3 685 15 Mountain West Conference
17. Memphis 15-4 535 11 American Athletic Conference
18. Oklahoma 13-6 509 18 Big 12 Conference
19. Tennessee 15-5 384 NR Southeastern Conference
20. Texas A&M 15-5 306 NR Southeastern Conference
21. Minnesota 14-6 244 NR Big Ten Conference
22. UAB 16-4 231 NR Conference USA
23. UCLA 14-6 225 NR Pacific-12 Conference
24. Georgetown 14-7 210 25 Big East Conference
25. Virginia 13-7 191 NR Atlantic Coast Conference
Others Receiving Votes:
Kent State 16-4 173 Mid-American Conference
Harvard 17-4 100 Ivy League
UC Irvine 16-4 68 Big West Conference
Kentucky 13-6 62 Southeastern Conference
Lehigh 17-4 56 Patriot League
Middle Tennessee 16-4 50 Conference USA
Davidson 15-5 46 Atlantic 10 Conference
Rutgers 15-5 38 Big Ten Conference
Western Michigan 16-5 36 Mid-American Conference
Quinnipiac 17-4 16 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference
Buffalo 14-6 14 Mid-American Conference
Illinois State 16-6 9 Missouri Valley Conference
Missouri 14-6 7 Southeastern Conference
William & Mary 16-5 7 Colonial Athletic Association
Vanderbilt 14-6 6 Southeastern Conference
Georgia State 17-6 1 Horizon League
Some interesting happenings with the national top 25. TCU moves up 6 spots, to the surprise of nobody. But we have 2 teams that split this week. UCLA was receiving votes this week, and even though they split, they still jumped into next weeks top 25. Meanwhile, just the opposite for Kentucky, who is out of the top 25 after their split, but still receiving votes.
Coach Childress might be kicking himself just a bit for moving to UConn, as things haven't gone as expected. Davidson is having a stellar season so far and is also receiving votes in the national top 25.
Now for the Mid-Major Top 25 for the week of Feb. 1-7:
Code:
# Team FPV Record Points Prv Conference test test test test
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1. Wichita State (19) 19-4 1737 3 Missouri Valley Conference
2. San Diego State (31) 18-2 1728 1 Mountain West Conference
3. Boise State (22) 17-3 1719 2 Mountain West Conference
4. Rhode Island 17-3 1540 5 Atlantic 10 Conference
5. Memphis 15-4 1512 4 American Athletic Conference
6. Fresno State 18-3 1393 7 Mountain West Conference
7. UAB 16-4 1326 11 Conference USA
8. Kent State 16-4 1241 13 Mid-American Conference
9. Western Michigan 16-5 1143 9 Mid-American Conference
10. UC Irvine 16-4 1039 16 Big West Conference
11. Davidson 15-5 1018 18 Atlantic 10 Conference
12. Illinois State 16-6 916 21 Missouri Valley Conference
13. Buffalo 14-6 884 NR Mid-American Conference
14. Georgia State 17-6 862 6 Horizon League
15. Harvard 17-4 814 15 Ivy League
16. Lehigh 17-4 807 17 Patriot League
17. SMU 14-6 724 23 American Athletic Conference
18. Middle Tennessee 16-4 667 8 Conference USA
19. William & Mary 16-5 596 12 Colonial Athletic Association
20. Detroit 17-7 409 20 Horizon League
21. Quinnipiac 17-4 361 14 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference
22. George Washington 13-6 230 19 Atlantic 10 Conference
23. Columbia 14-6 206 NR Ivy League
24. FIU 14-5 178 10 Conference USA
25. Mercer 16-5 177 NR Southern Conference
Others Receiving Votes:
Pepperdine 14-7 39 West Coast Conference
UTEP 12-6 36 Conference USA
Richmond 14-6 27 Atlantic 10 Conference
Massachusetts 14-6 24 Atlantic 10 Conference
Colorado State 13-6 15 Mountain West Conference
Northeastern 16-7 12 Colonial Athletic Association
Southern Illinois 14-7 10 Missouri Valley Conference
Northern Illinois 13-7 4 Mid-American Conference
Akron 13-8 2 Mid-American Conference
Stephen F. Austin 15-7 2 Summit League
Arkansas State 13-6 1 Sun Belt Conference
Cincinnati 13-8 1 American Athletic Conference
I'm absolutely mystified by this mid-major poll. First off, Hartford is 16-5 and can't even get a vote, while we have teams with 12-6, 13-8, 14-7 records that are getting votes, some even in the mid-major top 25. Crazy.
Also, look at the top 3 teams, all receiving votes. The team with the least FPV, by a wide margin, is #1. How does that work? Somebody please explain.
Moving on, the first edition of the Bubble Watch is out and we have 1 of our FOFC teams in the Overall Bubble Watch, so let's review.
Code:
Team Record RPI vs. 1-50 vs. 51-100 vs. 101-200 vs. 200+ SOS Projected
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Nebraska 13-7 .590 (20) 3-3 4-3 3-0 3-1 34 In
Oklahoma State 14-7 .578 (38) 0-4 4-2 6-1 4-0 42 In
William & Mary 16-5 .569 (49) 2-0 1-1 6-2 7-2 137 In
Fresno State 18-3 .554 (65) 2-1 3-0 3-1 10-1 288 In
Missouri 14-6 .553 (66) 3-3 4-0 1-3 6-0 145 In
Arkansas 13-7 .567 (53) 2-6 1-1 5-0 5-0 93 In
Washington State 13-7 .580 (34) 2-5 0-0 6-2 5-0 48 In
Illinois State 16-6 .550 (69) 2-4 3-2 3-0 8-0 168 In
Virginia 13-7 .550 (70) 3-2 4-2 4-3 2-0 73 Out
UTEP 12-6 .568 (50) 0-1 2-3 7-1 3-1 55 Out
Marshall 13-7 .557 (62) 2-3 1-0 5-0 5-4 154 Out
Duke 14-6 .549 (72) 1-3 2-1 6-1 5-1 128 Out
California 13-8 .585 (29) 2-5 3-2 6-1 2-0 16 Out
Akron 13-8 .556 (63) 1-4 3-2 4-2 5-0 76 Out
Harvard 17-4 .525 (118) 2-2 1-0 3-1 11-1 337 Out
Washington State, who is having their best season in years, is on the cusp of an NCAA tournament berth. They have to improve on that record against the RPI top 100, but still, their RPI of 34 is looking nice. I know it sounds simple, but they need to keep winning, especially against teams like Arizona and UCLA.
Now let's look at the rest of the Bubble Watch. Keep in mind this is only for the NCAA Tournament, and I will only list teams that are either locks, or projected in. All the other teams, you can figure are projected out.
Locks:
TCU,
UCLA,
Kentucky
The only surprise here is Duke being projected out. Let me also explain that there are a lot of conference where each team is projected out. It took me a while to really figure out the meaning behind this, but as someone explained it to me, it's basically, would any of those teams in the conference have a shot at an at-large berth if they didn't win their conference? In a lot of the small conferences, the answer is no.
For example, America East. Our very own Hartford, right now, has a 1 game lead in the conference. You would think they would be projected in based on that. But with an RPI of 260 and an SOS of 350, no way in heck would they qualify for an at-large berth if they lost in the A-East Tournament. Same for all the teams in the conference. Hope that clears that up.