The unofficial online home for fans of the University of Cincinnati Bearcats. Part of Collegiate Sports Nation (CSN).

(12-10-2018 02:04 PM)bearcatfan Wrote:  

(12-10-2018 01:50 PM)BcatMatt13 Wrote:  Polls are so stupid. Houston is 8-0 with wins over Oregon, BYU, and Oklahoma State with the latter of the two being on the road. Ranked 24. Kentucky is 7-2 with a 40 point loss and a loss to an unranked seton hall team and their best win is at home against UNC Greensboro. But they're ranked 19.

Kansas State being ranked still is a joke as well.

The key is they started higher, as in they were in the preseason poll. Houston wasn't. The "so called P5" bias has fully carried over to basketball.

...which is why preseason polls are dumb. Seth Davis started his weekly recap in The Athletic summarizing why polls matter, which I didn't really disagree with but to keep Kentucky ranked because they were preseason is dumb. Basically Davis said:

They set the narrative.. Zaga played Tennessee on a neutral court. Without rankings on an NFL Sunday no one would tune in but seeing #1 vs #7 catches the casual fan.

They lend historical context more so than computers saying Kenpom has only been around since 2002.

They stir debate.. which he claims is healthy to the game.

They generate attention for teams that need it.. which is big for schools like us and Houston and much more for schools like Furman. Having your name on the bottom scroll of ESPN, seeing the score when sorting NCAA scores by 'Top 25' etc.

We're still in the receiving votes status at this point. Houston checks in at #24 in the AP Poll and #22 in the Coach's Poll.

I don't fret too much over basketball polls. No doubt it is great to be ranked, but 43 teams that aren't ranked get the opportunity to play for a national championship regardless so it's whatever. The NCAA Selection Committee certainly doesn't pay attention to polls, as evidenced by Wichita State getting hosed a few years back when they were like a 10-seed.

Only scores of games involving the top 25 show up on my CBS Sports app.

(12-10-2018 05:17 PM)Bruce Monnin Wrote:  Only scores of games involving the top 25 show up on my CBS Sports app.

There is a dropdown on mine - you can change to "all" or to any conference. Not always the most responsive app on my phone, but it seems to work better than the ESPN app for scores. Or at least good enough that I have not gone looking for something better.

Not quite sure how this post fits in this thread.

(12-10-2018 05:23 PM)ucbandguy Wrote:  

(12-10-2018 05:17 PM)Bruce Monnin Wrote:  Only scores of games involving the top 25 show up on my CBS Sports app.

There is a dropdown on mine - you can change to "all" or to any conference. Not always the most responsive app on my phone, but it seems to work better than the ESPN app for scores. Or at least good enough that I have not gone looking for something better.

Not quite sure how this post fits in this thread.

I can change the setting, but it is a pain. But that is the value of the polls. They determine who gets highlights on ESPN, they determine whose scores scroll across the bottom of screens, they determine whose results get seen on the CBS Sports app, etc.

rankings are obligated to happen all throughout the season

I took a quiet morning to look at how the rest of the AAC was faring in OOC play. Mixed results. Potentially important in seeding in March.

Overall - less than we hoped, but generally in line with my expectations.

Surprisingly good - USF 6-2 though against an rather unimpressive schedule. (loss to Georgetown)

WTF bad - Tulane 3 - 6 against a largely unimpressive schedule. I thought the narrative was that they were supposed to be on the rise.

ECU - 6-4. Another unimpressive schedule

Wichita 4-4. They lost almost everyone from last years team, so this one was expected.

UCF - 7 - 2 including an OT loss to Missouri

Temple - 7-2 Some good wins, and a loss to Villanova.

Memphis - 5-4 Losses to some good teams, but no impressive victories.

(12-11-2018 09:36 AM)ucbandguy Wrote:  I took a quiet morning to look at how the rest of the AAC was faring in OOC play. Mixed results. Potentially important in seeding in March.

Overall - less than we hoped, but generally in line with my expectations.

Surprisingly good - USF 6-2 though against an rather unimpressive schedule. (loss to Georgetown)

WTF bad - Tulane 3 - 6 against a largely unimpressive schedule. I thought the narrative was that they were supposed to be on the rise.

ECU - 6-4. Another unimpressive schedule

Wichita 4-4. They lost almost everyone from last years team, so this one was expected.

UCF - 7 - 2 including an OT loss to Missouri

Temple - 7-2 Some good wins, and a loss to Villanova.

Memphis - 5-4 Losses to some good teams, but no impressive victories.

At this point in the season I'd venture to say Houston and UC look like locks to make the tournament. It'd be great to see two more teams emerge but one is most likely. Looking like it'll come by way of:
UCF - 44th Kenpom
Temple - 73rd
UCONN - 79th

Would have been nice to see Temple beat Nova and UCONN beat Florida State. Both teams played well enough to win those.

(12-11-2018 09:36 AM)ucbandguy Wrote:  I took a quiet morning to look at how the rest of the AAC was faring in OOC play. Mixed results. Potentially important in seeding in March.

Overall - less than we hoped, but generally in line with my expectations.

Surprisingly good - USF 6-2 though against an rather unimpressive schedule. (loss to Georgetown)

WTF bad - Tulane 3 - 6 against a largely unimpressive schedule. I thought the narrative was that they were supposed to be on the rise.

ECU - 6-4. Another unimpressive schedule

Wichita 4-4. They lost almost everyone from last years team, so this one was expected.

UCF - 7 - 2 including an OT loss to Missouri

Temple - 7-2 Some good wins, and a loss to Villanova.

Memphis - 5-4 Losses to some good teams, but no impressive victories.

Good post, there is also Houston and UCONN. UCONN is 7-3 and beat a ranked Syracuse, but lost to Arizona, Iowa and Florida State. Houston has also beat a few teams with name recognition in BYU, Oregon and Oka St.

The AAC are piling up a lot of early losses. That can't happen. They need to get signature wins OOC to give this league some cred. They won't be getting any respect beating up on each other in conference.

(12-11-2018 09:54 AM)Cat-Man Wrote:  

(12-11-2018 09:36 AM)ucbandguy Wrote:  I took a quiet morning to look at how the rest of the AAC was faring in OOC play. Mixed results. Potentially important in seeding in March.

Overall - less than we hoped, but generally in line with my expectations.

Surprisingly good - USF 6-2 though against an rather unimpressive schedule. (loss to Georgetown)

WTF bad - Tulane 3 - 6 against a largely unimpressive schedule. I thought the narrative was that they were supposed to be on the rise.

ECU - 6-4. Another unimpressive schedule

Wichita 4-4. They lost almost everyone from last years team, so this one was expected.

UCF - 7 - 2 including an OT loss to Missouri

Temple - 7-2 Some good wins, and a loss to Villanova.

Memphis - 5-4 Losses to some good teams, but no impressive victories.

Good post, there is also Houston and UCONN. UCONN is 7-3 and beat a ranked Syracuse, but lost to Arizona, Iowa and Florida State. Houston has also beat a few teams with name recognition in BYU, Oregon and Oka St.

The AAC are piling up a lot of early losses. That can't happen. They need to get signature wins OOC to give this league some cred. They won't be getting any respect beating up on each other in conference.

It’s a five team show this year with maybe one more dark horse. UC, Houston, Temple, UCF, and UConn all have legit post season chances. Tulsa could enter the mix but everyone else needs to win the league.

With out of conference play winding down I was curious what the weakest teams in each conference looked like before conference play starts up and teams start beating up on each other. Depressing what the middle/bottom of the AAC look like compared to other 'respected' conferences.

Using a composite of all computer/statistician rankings, conferences worst teams as follows..

American: Tulane (218), ECU (234)

B12: Oklahoma State (80), Baylor (106)
ACC: Wake Forest (166)
B10: Rutgers (86), Illinois (111)
BE: DePaul (104)
P12: Washington St (165), Cal (174)
SEC: South Carolina (132)

A10: GWU (279), La Salle (294)
MAC: Bowling Green (206), WMU (214)
WCC: Portland (258), Santa Clara (291)
MWC: San Jose St (322)

because bracketology on Dec 11th is fun, although useless, and Im tired of talking about GORs....

http://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketb...acketology

UC 6 seed vs winner of play in game

Others of note:
4 Ohio State
5 Mississippi St
6 Kentucky
7 Houston
10 Louisville
11 UCF
11 UCLA
15 NKU

Good win for the American conference; SMU wins at Georgetown.

(12-15-2018 02:01 PM)cincybb51 Wrote:  Good win for the American conference; SMU wins at Georgetown.

Smu should be better than they've shown so far. They have some dudes.

As Minster's high school football coach occasionally states after a big win, "Our dudes were dudes!"

Syracuse lost to Old Dominion. Another case of being ranked based on their league. But they will drop out of the top 25 now.

western michigan almost beats michigan

Temple beats Davidson in overtime. Very good win over the best team in the A10.

Coupled with SMU's win over Georgetown, it's a pretty good day for the AAC. Hopefully, UC does its part tonight with a victory over a very good Mississippi State team.

Belmont giving UCLA all they can handle... 65-64 Bruins with 4:30 remaining