Even more upsets tonight!

[Vowelguy]

And most by unranked teams!

Miami over #5 Duke 69-65
Minnesota over #7 Penn St 89-81
#24 Fla St over #9 Maryland 72-71
Miss St over #11 Georgia 50-38 (38 pts? gadzooks)
Mizzou over #14 So Car 65-58
Mich St over #25 Purdue 68-61 (Boilers have been in free fall)

When is the last time 5 of the top 15 lost in one night? Or that 4 of the top 15 lost to unranked teams?

 

[Vowelguy]

Miami probably played themselves off the bubble with the win.
Duke's shot at a #1 just got much smaller.
Purdue is 2-5 in last 7 games.

 

[John Glass]

FSU missed 5 FTs in the last minute, and won. They had lost 3 of their last 4, powerhouses VA Tech 4-13 and NC State 6-11 were two of the teams that beat them.

FSU has no business in the top 25

 

[Fightin Choke]

When is the last time 5 of the top 15 lost in one night? Or that 4 of the top 15 lost to unranked teams?

It's worse than that, you crazy dancing puppy, as A&M lost as well. Granted, they lost on the road to a team (that shall not be named) ranked above them, but that's another top 15 team that lost tonight.

 

[baylorprof]

And it's that team that you guys shall not mention by name that just clenched an SEC title by beating TAM and with #5 and #7 going down, would the sentimental vote for that team and its new head coach move them all the way up to #5?

Having seen them up close, I don't think Tennessee (see, I can say it and hopefully it not be offensive since I'm from a far away land) is that good, but then who else is beside the top 4 now that Duke is a huge question mark.

Let's just say UT is #6 or #7 going into conferernce tourney week and if any one of us guys (1-4) hiccups in our post season tourney, UT all of a sudden, though not bona fide since SEC is down, is looking at a national seed and one of us previous top 4 guys has to travel in the regional round.

I think it is highly unlikely, but the ESPN poll just out has Warlick running away with COY (Muffett is 3rd drawing less than 20% of the vote) so before you know it UT is a pretender national seed. Don't think it will happen, but tonight gave UT a HUGE goal to play for--a top four seed.

And that would be a shame when we've all felt pretty secure with 4 solid top seeds with Duke/Kentucky looking in.

 

[Sakibomb25]

And it's that team that you guys shall not mention by name that just clenched an SEC title by beating TAM and with #5 and #7 going down, would the sentimental vote for that team and its new head coach move them all the way up to #5?

Having seen them up close, I don't think Tennessee (see, I can say it and hopefully it not be offensive since I'm from a far away land) is that good, but then who else is beside the top 4 now that Duke is a huge question mark.

Let's just say UT is #6 or #7 going into conferernce tourney week and if any one of us guys (1-4) hiccups in our post season tourney, UT all of a sudden, though not bona fide since SEC is down, is looking at a national seed and one of us previous top 4 guys has to travel in the regional round.

I think it is highly unlikely, but the ESPN poll just out has Warlick running away with COY (Muffett is 3rd drawing less than 20% of the vote) so before you know it UT is a pretender national seed. Don't think it will happen, but tonight gave UT a HUGE goal to play for--a top four seed.

And that would be a shame when we've all felt pretty secure with 4 solid top seeds with Duke/Kentucky looking in.

If both Stanford and Tennessee win the rest of their remaining games, the Cardinal have more of a claim to the No. 1 seed than does the Lady Vols.

 

[Wbbfan1]

IMHO with the losses tonight and if Tenn goes undefeated the rest of the year, they're looking at a #2 seed. They have two bad losses, but they will be playing well (by Winning) and the committee will take that into consideration.

 

[triaddukefan]

Lets see Duke, Maryland, UGA. South Carolina, Penn State.... all got upset on their opponents Senior Night. You can never underestimate the emotions involved in those games.

 

[JS]

It's worse than that, you crazy dancing puppy

Spoken like a deranged, galloping vegetable.

 

[Fightin Choke]

And it's that team that you guys shall not mention by name that just clenched an SEC title by beating TAM and with #5 and #7 going down, would the sentimental vote for that team and its new head coach move them all the way up to #5?

Having seen them up close, I don't think Tennessee (see, I can say it and hopefully it not be offensive since I'm from a far away land) is that good, but then who else is beside the top 4 now that Duke is a huge question mark.

Let's just say UT is #6 or #7 going into conferernce tourney week and if any one of us guys (1-4) hiccups in our post season tourney, UT all of a sudden, though not bona fide since SEC is down, is looking at a national seed and one of us previous top 4 guys has to travel in the regional round.

I think it is highly unlikely, but the ESPN poll just out has Warlick running away with COY (Muffett is 3rd drawing less than 20% of the vote) so before you know it UT is a pretender national seed. Don't think it will happen, but tonight gave UT a HUGE goal to play for--a top four seed.

And that would be a shame when we've all felt pretty secure with 4 solid top seeds with Duke/Kentucky looking in.

Tennessee is not nearly as close to a 1-seed as you fear. They have 5 losses, and lost to Baylor, ND, and Stanford already. Baylor is safe as a 1-seed. Stanford and ND will finish with no more than 3 losses, so they are definitely above the Vols, especially considering head-to-head victories @Tenn. UConn will finish with no more than 4 losses, but their losses would be to Baylor once and ND 3 times. Obviously those are much better losses than Tennessee's (Baylor, ND, Stanford, Missouri, and Chattanooga).

And even without worrying about Duke, Tennessee is a 2-seed.

 

[meyers7]

And most by unranked teams!

Miami over #5 Duke 69-65
Minnesota over #7 Penn St 89-81
#24 Fla St over #9 Maryland 72-71
Miss St over #11 Georgia 50-38 (38 pts? gadzooks)
Mizzou over #14 So Car 65-58
Mich St over #25 Purdue 68-61 (Boilers have been in free fall)

When is the last time 5 of the top 15 lost in one night? Or that 4 of the top 15 lost to unranked teams?

Those are some good upsets.

 

[doggydaddy]

Looks to me that WCBB is getting closer to parity within the top 30-40 outside of Baylor, UConn, ND and maybe Stanford. Duke before Gray's injury.

You would think that Baylor will come back to the pack next year as will ND when Diggins graduates. UConn should still be in the group (maybe alone) where only a top 4 team has a shot at them. Duke might jump into that group as well.

All these upsets remind me of men's hoops in that regard. And it's fun to see.

 

[Fightin Choke]

Looks to me that WCBB is getting closer to parity within the top 30-40 outside of Baylor, UConn, ND and maybe Stanford. Duke before Gray's injury.

You would think that Baylor will come back to the pack next year as will ND when Diggins graduates. UConn should still be in the group (maybe alone) where only a top 4 team has a shot at them. Duke might jump into that group as well.

You may want to add Cal to that group, based on losses:

#1 Baylor has only lost to #4/5 Stanford (and Sims was injured).
#2 Notre Dame has only lost to #1 Baylor.
#3 UConn has only lost to #1 Baylor and #2 Notre Dame.
#4/5 Stanford has only lost to #3 UConn and #6 Cal.
#4/5 Duke has only lost to #3 UConn and unranked Miami (but Gray was injured).
#6 Cal has only lost to #4/5 Stanford and #4/5 Duke.

On the bright side, at least these top teams play each other, or else there would be MANY undefeated teams.

As for Notre Dame dropping back a bit after losing Diggins, that certainly seems reasonable considering how important she has been to ND's success. But didn't most people think that ND would fall back this year due to the loss of 3 starters? While it's true I'm an Irish fan, I wouldn't bet against Muffet keeping ND in the top 5 next year, as she has never had this much talent at her disposal. This year she replaced 3 starters without a hiccup and next year only Skylar and a non-starter graduates.

 

[MilfordHusky]

Lets see Duke, Maryland, UGA. South Carolina, Penn State.... all got upset on their opponents Senior Night. You can never underestimate the emotions involved in those games.

Interesting. We play at ND's Senior Night. Do we also have USF's Senior Night?

 

[MilfordHusky]

I think PSU had already clinched, so their focus and effort may have been subpar.

Duke, after beating Maryland, had a chance to claim the # 5 overall seed and maybe #4. Instead, Stanford and Cal are looking good.

Maryland is slipping. They lost by 1 as Alyssa Thomas shot 6-17 and 5-12 on FTs. Ouch!

Tenn is playing pretty good ball. They look like a team that could go to the Elite 8. But not likely any farther.

 

[GoUconn7961]

Interesting. We play at ND's Senior Night. Do we also have USF's Senior Night?

Sorry - ND already had their Senior Night against Syracuse - probably for this exact reason. Muffet ain't no dummy!

 

[MilfordHusky]

Sorry - ND already had their Senior Night against Syracuse - probably for this exact reason. Muffet ain't no dummy!

Hmm. I thought there were several posts on this. Maybe we assumed it was Senior Night because it was the last home game.

 

[Fightin Choke]

I think PSU had already clinched, so their focus and effort may have been subpar.

PSU has not clinched. If they lose their last game @Nebraska, they share the regular season title with the Huskers. Incidently, Minnesota shot 67% against Penn St., and Lucas was 2/11 from 3-point land. If they lacked focus, it may have been because the Gophers are not good (6-9 in the B1G).

 

[GoUconn7961]

Hmm. I thought there were several posts on this. Maybe we assumed it was Senior Night because it was the last home game.

This was widely bantered about on the ESPN boards too. The speculation there being that Muffet knew that emotions run high during senior night. But, the ND posters stated that the scheduling was done a certain way to accomodate attendance & mid-term exams. But, reality is, they had their night already and had to come up big in the second half to beat 'Cuse.

 

[Fightin Choke]

Hmm. I thought there were several posts on this. Maybe we assumed it was Senior Night because it was the last home game.

I thought Muffet moved senior night because she didn't want the distraction/emotion to affect the game Monday. And considering how poorly Notre Dame came out against 'Cuse (ND's senior night), that was probably a smart move.

 

[doggydaddy]

You may want to add Cal to that group, based on losses:

#1 Baylor has only lost to #4/5 Stanford (and Sims was injured).
#2 Notre Dame has only lost to #1 Baylor.
#3 UConn has only lost to #1 Baylor and #2 Notre Dame.
#4/5 Stanford has only lost to #3 UConn and #6 Cal.
#4/5 Duke has only lost to #3 UConn and unranked Miami (but Gray was injured).
#6 Cal has only lost to #4/5 Stanford and #4/5 Duke.

On the bright side, at least these top teams play each other, or else there would be MANY undefeated teams.

As for Notre Dame dropping back a bit after losing Diggins, that certainly seems reasonable considering how important she has been to ND's success. But didn't most people think that ND would fall back this year due to the loss of 3 starters? While it's true I'm an Irish fan, I wouldn't bet against Muffet keeping ND in the top 5 next year, as she has never had this much talent at her disposal. This year she replaced 3 starters without a hiccup and next year only Skylar and a non-starter graduates.

I just looked at Cal's schedule and results, and sorry, they don't belong with those other teams. Not sure who they lose next year and how good their recruiting class is to put them in the top teams that only top teams have a chance to win. #20 Colorado could have beaten them either time. UConn, Bayor and ND would have beaten them easily.

Only Skylar? That is pretty close to a UConn fan saying that a few years ago, it was only Moore...lol.

They could every well be top 5. That was not what I was saying. I was saying that they would no longer be a team that other teams have no chance against, like UConn, Baylor and ND this year.

 

[baylorprof]

Further explanation.
I'm assuming Duke is doomed to slide, regardless of previous losses but because of future losses. Enough to be jumped by "that team"? Maybe not. But ESPN is not above shuffling its opinions on what's good for the game, not what's legit in the loss column.

Only 4 teams between the assumed top 4 and UT. Two lost last night and can be justifiably dropped if ESPN wants them justifiably dropped. UT won last night and can justifiably be pushed up. if ESPN wants them pushed.

Two drop/two rise. Looks like ESPN can have UT as high as 6 going into tourney week (I know your argument about who loss to whom, but we got the raw end of Tennessee's might when Kim was first trying to get us to the sweet 16 so we know what the weight of Knoxvilled can do--and my cynical side says in a year with few really strong teams to promote, ESPN would love to raise Tennessee out of the ashes in the first year of transition.

You guys beat ND, a Stanford hiccup, an impressive tourney for Tennessee---I dont fear for you or us, but I'm not sold on ND and Stanford. One of those two could hiccup themselves right in to a #2. And who takes their place? I'm certainly not sold on the oncourt team of Tennessee, but I AM convinved (not sold) of ESPN's power to make things happen a line or two out of logic.

That's my point. The black helicopter thing.

(I'm also at home, recouping from surgery, and on Vicodin--it's a good life, but probably just too illogical for you guys. But I DID read IceBear's Saints/Sinners blog last night and that was fun).

 

[Vowelguy]

I've been saying for a while that the Pac-12 champ gets the last #1. Duke had a shot if they swept their games, but last night's loss pretty much kills that. Tennessee's problem is that it lost to Stanford. A win over Kentucky and the SEC title would be a strong late run, but they'd still probably need Stan to lose to Cal.

 

[Vowelguy]

. But ESPN is not above shuffling its opinions on what's good for the game, not what's legit in the loss column.

Only 4 teams between the assumed top 4 and UT. Two lost last night and can be justifiably dropped if ESPN wants them justifiably dropped. UT won last night and can justifiably be pushed up. if ESPN wants them pushed.

ESPN does not do the the AP poll. ESPN is not in the NCAA committee room.
These are merely conspiracy theories which I place no stock in.

 

[GoUconn7961]

I thought Muffet moved senior night because she didn't want the distraction/emotion to affect the game Monday. And considering how poorly Notre Dame came out against 'Cuse (ND's senior night), that was probably a smart move.

Most people thought that - except the ND posters on the ESPN boards insisted (and heartily insisted) it was because of mid-terms and I quote "Why do we even care."