Boneyard Top 25: next ballots due Mon. morning

[Lorcan]

I'm not sure that's a completely fair statement.

I can't speak for others, but I watch a lot of women's basketball (read: I half watch a lot of women's basketball while I'm cross stitching and sewing), and for teams in the MVC, Summit League, Big Sky, etc., it's just not as easy to watch them play. I think it's hard rank a mid-major that you haven't seen play, especially when you're trying to compare them to P5 teams.

I think it’s interesting, because access to some leagues is easier than others. I subscribe to ESPN+ and have a TV Login, so I can get access to the Summit, Ivy, Missouri Valley, ACC, and SEC right off the bat. The South Dakota vs. Drake game was and is one of the highest quality games that I’ve seen this year between two teams. I have a harder time getting access to BiG games or PAC-12 which are 2 of the so called Power Conferences. I guess it does depend on your tv subscriber and how much you might shell out to have access to more.

Missouri State has impressive wins over Oklahoma, Minnesota, and fellow mid-major Boise State. How a Sweet 16 team from last year, with these sorts of wins doesn’t get ranked is mind boggling to me.

Western Kentucky hammered a solid Belmont team that crushed UCF to the delight of fans here. They’ve also scheduled traditional mid powers in Central Michigan, Mercer, and made the short trip to play mighty Louisville.

It’s easy to say that it’s hard to judge mid-majors, but there are plenty of majors with huge question marks. Michigan after the departure of Thome. Tennessee beat a severely weakened Notre Dame that almost lost to Fordham, but also nearly lost to East Tennessee State.

I think it’s hard, because everyone has their own justifications for how they rank teams, and how they gauge the strength of the team. My processes often rely on fact instead of conjecture where possible. As someone pointed out, we can’t really rank Baylor on anything apart from past history, so some opinion has to come into play. I find it easier to use facts to distinguish teams in the 15-30 range. Then again, maybe I stan too much for the mid-major as evidenced by Drake AND South Dakota in the top 20.

 

[Plebe]

I think it’s interesting, because access to some leagues is easier than others. I subscribe to ESPN+ and have a TV Login, so I can get access to the Summit, Ivy, Missouri Valley, ACC, and SEC right off the bat. The South Dakota vs. Drake game was and is one of the highest quality games that I’ve seen this year between two teams. I have a harder time getting access to BiG games or PAC-12 which are 2 of the so called Power Conferences. I guess it does depend on your tv subscriber and how much you might shell out to have access to more.

Missouri State has impressive wins over Oklahoma, Minnesota, and fellow mid-major Boise State. How a Sweet 16 team from last year, with these sorts of wins doesn’t get ranked is mind boggling to me.

Western Kentucky hammered a solid Belmont team that crushed UCF to the delight of fans here. They’ve also scheduled traditional mid powers in Central Michigan, Mercer, and made the short trip to play mighty Louisville.

It’s easy to say that it’s hard to judge mid-majors, but there are plenty of majors with huge question marks. Michigan after the departure of Thome. Tennessee beat a severely weakened Notre Dame that almost lost to Fordham, but also nearly lost to East Tennessee State.

I think it’s hard, because everyone has their own justifications for how they rank teams, and how they gauge the strength of the team. My processes often rely on fact instead of conjecture where possible. As someone pointed out, we can’t really rank Baylor on anything apart from past history, so some opinion has to come into play. I find it easier to use facts to distinguish teams in the 15-30 range. Then again, maybe I stan too much for the mid-major as evidenced by Drake AND South Dakota in the top 20.

I'd go a step further: Drake-South Dakota was the best game of the young season so far. Frankly much higher quality than the Maryland-South Carolina game, which was extremely sloppy at times. I highly recommend that anyone who missed it treat themselves to the replay.

With such limited data available after only 2 weeks of play, each of us invariably relies to some degree on personal assumptions and biases to compare and rank teams, even when we make every effort to focus on "facts." The worth of Oklahoma, Minnesota and Boise State is open to debate. At this early stage, those wins only hold as much value as our assumptions and educated guesses will support. How do we know Oklahoma won't have another disastrous season? Or that Boise State will in fact be any better than last year?

Edit to add: And I'm saying this as someone who ranked South Dakota, Drake and Missouri State all in my top 20.

 

[triaddukefan]

I had Missouri State ranked, but edited it and removed them and replaced them with another school

 

[LoTrader]

It was very close in points. Both teams have shown vulnerability, in different ways. Perhaps one can debate whether going OT with Gonzaga is better or worse than limping to a 12 or 13 point win over Cal and Vanderbilt.

No debate in my mind. Gonzaga could beat half the teams in the top 10 on any given night. I don't think Cal could beat any team in the top 10 on any given night. If you watched the Gonzaga-Stanford game last night (I did), or, saw the Gonzaga-OSU game last year in NCAA Playoffs (I did), then you would have no question in your mind when comparing Gonzaga vs Cal.

 

[Plebe]

No debate in my mind. Gonzaga could beat half the teams in the top 10 on any given night. I don't think Cal could beat any team in the top 10 on any given night. If you watched the Gonzaga-Stanford game last night (I did), or, saw the Gonzaga-OSU game last year in NCAA Playoffs (I did), then you would have no question in your mind when comparing Gonzaga vs Cal.

Not a question of which team is better. More a question of how many points better is Gonzaga than Cal. Big difference.

 

[LoTrader]

Not a question of which team is better. More a question of how many points better is Gonzaga than Cal. Big difference.

Pick a number. It will probably be to low.

 

[Plebe]

Pick a number. It will probably be to low.

All too easy to say based on a sample size of one.

 

[Lorcan]

I'd go a step further: Drake-South Dakota was the best game of the young season so far. Frankly much higher quality than the Maryland-South Carolina game, which was extremely sloppy at times. I highly recommend that anyone who missed it treat themselves to the replay.

With such limited data available after only 2 weeks of play, each of us invariably relies to some degree on personal assumptions and biases to compare and rank teams, even when we make every effort to focus on "facts." The worth of Oklahoma, Minnesota and Boise State is open to debate. At this early stage, those wins only hold as much value as our assumptions and educated guesses will support. How do we know Oklahoma won't have another disastrous season? Or that Boise State will in fact be any better than last year?

Edit to add: And I'm saying this as someone who ranked South Dakota, Drake and Missouri State all in my top 20.

Hello, comrade. I like the way you think. I had the same. For others, my questions are more of trying to glean logic; however, I fully recognize that rankings are subjective to the eye of the beholder. As such, I intended to start some conversation surrounding it.

I absolutely agree that it is hard to judge some of the teams out there given the small sample size. I also demand that everyone’s crystal ball be fully working in order to vote. Geez, clearly we all know that Oklahoma is going to run the Big 12, shocking Baylor twice. I think that there’s absolutely intangibles at play and some people are definitely going to be impressed by scoring 110+ against Southwest East Indiana Tech than by a close win against a decent team. I don’t think there’s a right or wrong way to rank, I just enjoy hearing what people’s opinions are.

 

[Bigboote]

I make no apologies for singlehandedly making South Dakota ranked higher than Tennessee. It is concerning to me that there is a lack of appreciation for some pretty great non-P5 teams out there, but I guess since UConn is #4, everything is just fine and dandy.

I like South Dakota, too. I also have a few non-P5 teams on my ballot, including South Dakota higher than Tennessee.

I'm moderately surprised Stanford is still above UConn and Gonzaga not in the top 25 given yesterday's OT game between them.

 

[Bigboote]

I highly recommend that anyone who missed it treat themselves to the replay.

Anybody happen to have a link for a replay? I've tried youtube and ESPN and come up dry. TIA.

 

[Plebe]

Anybody happen to have a link for a replay? I've tried youtube and ESPN and come up dry. TIA.

Watch ESPN - Stream Live Sports & ESPN Originals

With Watch ESPN you can stream live sports and ESPN originals, watch the latest game replays and highlights, and access featured ESPN programming online.

www.espn.com

 

[Bigboote]

Watch ESPN - Stream Live Sports & ESPN Originals

With Watch ESPN you can stream live sports and ESPN originals, watch the latest game replays and highlights, and access featured ESPN programming online.

www.espn.com

Thanks, I just kept getting a soccer game that was no longer available.