RE: Basketball Rankings
Ranking the teams this year is next to impossible because you have to grasp at straws to find anything that is worth touting for anybody, but I'll give it a shot.
The contenders:
Akron: Has the most top 200 Kenpom wins with four and has two non-embarrassing losses on the road to top 25 ranked teams. But the Zips also have a horrible loss at Youngstown State (276). It just shows how weak all the resumes are that you have to tout top 200 wins. Last year at this time, Akron had 3 top 100ish wins (@Arkansas, Iona, UC-Santa Barbara) and another top 120ish (@Marshall). This year, the best win is No. 141 Marshall at home (which sadly is the No. 3 ranked win for the league).
Ohio: The Bobcats' 67-65 OT win against No. 118 Georgia Tech is the second highest for the league. But the Bobcats have just one other top 200 win (No. 172 Sam Houston State). Ohio doesn't have a unthinkable loss like Akron, but the two losses were against teams ranked 100 or below (No. 100 Iona and No. 141 Marshall).
Buffalo: With five games against top 75 ranked teams, the Bulls have played, pretty easily, the strongest schedule. No shame in those losses, and three were close games. But the Canisius loss (No. 183) was bad. The Bulls have just three D1 wins and the best was No. 176 Weber State. After that, it's 269 Niagara and 346 Coppin State.
Central Michigan: The second most top 200 wins with three (143 William & Mary and No. 157 Green Bay (twice)). No horrible losses. Maybe resume wise, you could make a case they should be No. 1, slightly, but again I'm comparing the best of the mediocre. I'm mainly keeping CMU here because I thought Akron/Buffalo/Ohio were the top three teams coming in and nobody has done anything to definitely say they still shouldn't be the top three.
Eastern Michigan: Only three D1 wins with the best, and only in the top 200, being No. 156 Omaha. The OT loss to No. 58 Pittsburgh is the best thing on the resume so far. Loss to No. 155 IUPUI isn't horrible. Too hard to judge them.
The middle:
Toledo: The Rockets are also hard to gauge and maybe could be in the above group. They have the highest ranked win against No. 116 Evansville in OT. Speaking of OT, have played four OT games already and a one-point game against St. Joseph's. Outside of the Evansville win, no others in the top 200. But they don't have any bad losses, No. 157 Green Bay being the worst. They've played No. 59 Middle Tennessee twice in the state of Tennessee. Both games were close (one in OT).
Ball State: Best win is No. 196 Eastern Kentucky in OT. No horrible losses (No. 163 Indiana State the worst). This is about as meh as it gets as, though, because outside No. 75 Valpo or No. 79 Alabama, haven't played anybody.
Kent State: Has beaten (or played) absolutely nobody. Best win is No. 208 NJIT. They also have a horrible loss to No. 205 South Dakota and bad loss to No. 171 Northeastern. I guess that's how you out "meh" Ball State.
The bad:
Bowling Green: Two sub 200 losses (South Dakota and UMKC). The other losses aren't horrible, though. BG's best win is against No. 159 Murray State.
Northern Illinois: Two sub 200 losses (Northridge and Cal Poly). Best win is No. 163 Indiana State in OT (which they also turned around and lost to). There is really nothing you could sort of brag about.
Western Michigan: Only two D1 wins and the best being No. 227 James Madison. On the bright side, four of the losses have been to teams 100 or better (Villanova, Wilmington, Oakland, Boise). On the downside, a 23-point loss to No. 226 Cleveland State and a 10-point loss to No. 287 UTEP look horrible.
Miami: Two sub 200 losses (Wright State, Delaware); two more bad losses (No. 193 Northern Kentucky and No. 168 Missouri). Three of the four wins are to teams ranked sub 300. On the bright side, they do have a win over No. 155 IUPUI, which actually is one of the better ones for the league.
|
