I know, I know - “rankings don’t matter”

[triaddukefan]

Chicken fans are something else I tell ya.

 

[GCKSFN4L]

It's not "disrespect of the SEC" if it's the truth for this year. If I recall there are only two SEC teams on the AP/Coaches Polls and two others deep into the "others receiving votes", unlike past years.

By all Rankings available out there the SEC is:

#3 best conference in the NET Ranking (WarrenNolan)
#3 Massey Power ranking
#4 in RPI (WarrenNolan)
#4 in ELO ranking (WarrenNolan)
#5 in SOS. (Massey), (probably owe this ranking to LSU's OOC schedule)

This is what I was trying to say earlier . Comparing the SEC to the Big 10 here are the ranking results..

NET Big 10- 5 < SEC- 3
Massey Power Ranking Big10 - 5 < SEC -3
RPI- Big 10 -5 < SEC - 4
ELO Big 10 5 < SEC -4
SOS Big 10 -3 > SEC - 5

In all but one category the SEC holds a edge and in the one category they aren't they are still relatively close. I do think the SEC is getting a bad rap for not being at their usual standard. While we don't have many top 25 teams we do have some decent top 40-50 teams.

 

[GCKSFN4L]

Chicken fans are something else I tell ya.

I don't agree at all with any of the personal takes or heated arguments directed towards him but I do agree that he was looking for attention. He has since deleted it, but he was initially promoting his book under the tweet discussing his reasoning. Along with anticipating the "backlash" before anything ever occurred.

 

[GamecockFam]

This is what I was trying to say earlier . Comparing the SEC to the Big 10 here are the ranking results..

NET Big 10- 5 < SEC- 3
Massey Power Ranking Big10 - 5 < SEC -3
RPI- Big 10 -5 < SEC - 4
ELO Big 10 5 < SEC -4
SOS Big 10 -3 > SEC - 5

In all but one category the SEC holds a edge and in the one category they aren't they are still relatively close. I do think the SEC is getting a bad rap for not being at their usual standard. While we don't have many top 25 teams we do have some decent top 40-50 teams.

I've been thinking a lot about this. There are a ton of good SEC teams right outside the top 25... Tennessee, Ole Miss, Alabama, Miss St, and UGA. All of those teams are tournament worthy. We won't have many top seeds like is per usual but we should have a ton in the 5+ seed range. This season the SEC is very middle heavy with a ton of decent teams that don't stand out from one another. We could even argue that Missouri and Arkansas are in the race for the tournament as well. So, the SEC has 9 teams still within their capacity to get some wins and make the tournament. Two of those teams will more than likely be in the top 16. That's a good but not great year for the conference.

 

[ThatCG1801]

That doesn’t bode well for the future. If you need to be in the underdog mindset to be great you’ll never really be top dog.

Kinda like blaming refs for a loss. Like that?

 

[visitingcock]

But it irks me they named and quoted the guy who voted Indiana #1 in the AP story on the latest poll. No disrespect to Indiana, but there’s no rational justification* for that. It’s the sort of “look at me! Imma contrarian over here!” nonsense that should be derided rather than promoting some otherwise anonymous local journalist across the country.

*Yes. The top of the big ten is better than the SEC this year, and Indiana’s having a great season. That’s why they have their highest ranking in program history. Their SOS is still worse than Carolina’s, they have a loss, and they aren’t the defending champion. They aren’t even second in most of the reputable rating systems.

South Carolina needed OT to beat a top 40 team on the road. Big deal. It’s not like we lost to Michigan State.

The only consolation is Dawn will seize on this in the locker room to tell the girls, “They still don’t believe in us! They don’t want us to win! They’d never do this to UConn!” And you know that last part is absolutely right.

Hate to think what will be said behind closed doors if they give POY to Clark too. (And by “hate”, I mean love.)

Do we really care what one maverick (attention whore) thinks? Actually, do we care about AP rankings at all? JstVisiting, I won't accuse you of whining, but this truly exemplifies "tempest in a teacup."One voter? Sheesh!

 

[tigers4ever]

It's not "disrespect of the SEC" if it's the truth for this year. If I recall there are only two SEC teams on the AP/Coaches Polls and two others deep into the "others receiving votes", unlike past years.

By all Rankings available out there the SEC is:

#3 best conference in the NET Ranking (WarrenNolan)
#3 Massey Power ranking
#4 in RPI (WarrenNolan)
#4 in ELO ranking (WarrenNolan)
#5 in SOS. (Massey), (probably owe this ranking to LSU's

I've been thinking a lot about this. There are a ton of good SEC teams right outside the top 25... Tennessee, Ole Miss, Alabama, Miss St, and UGA. All of those teams are tournament worthy. We won't have many top seeds like is per usual but we should have a ton in the 5+ seed range. This season the SEC is very middle heavy with a ton of decent teams that don't stand out from one another. We could even argue that Missouri and Arkansas are in the race for the tournament as well. So, the SEC has 9 teams still within their capacity to get some wins and make the tournament. Two of those teams will more than likely be in the top 16. That's a good but not great year for the conference.

Agree with all of this but many SCar( not saying you) fans have engaged in who has LSU played in their effort to promote Boston over Reese for player of the year. However in doing so that has diminished the SEC. Now that SCar loses a vote for first place bec they played a 4-5 place SEC team close, SCar fans are starting to defend the SEC. This should have been happening all season long for the reasons stated in your post.,

 

[TC22]

Agree with all of this but many SCar( not saying you) fans have engaged in who has LSU played in their effort to promote Boston over Reese for player of the year. However in doing so that has diminished the SEC. Now that SCar loses a vote for first place bec they played a 4-5 place SEC team close, SCar fans are starting to defend the SEC. This should have been happening all season long for the reasons stated in your post.,

Honestly though the reason LSU has been dogged is because of their out of conference schedule. It has nothing to do with the conference schedule.

I really could care less about what that voter did. The problem though is that when you are #1 you can't get a "bump" for beating the crap out of the #3 team. Think about that. But then we played and won a close game against a different team but get a "demerit". It's kind of stupid TBH. In a couple of weeks all this won't matter. Teams will have to do all their talking on the court. This is anybody's tournament. There's elite talent on about 10 teams who on any given day could win. I just want to beat Tennessee Thursday.

 

[visitingcock]

and Indiana gets a vote in the coaches poll too.

 

[bballnut90]

Call me crazy, I don't think it's unreasonable for voters to think of Indiana as the #1 team in the country right now. They are 26-1, have lost 1 game when they were missing one of their top 2 players, and have been handily beating everyone in the Big Ten. They beat 3 top 15 teams all in a row by an average of 16.3 per game the past couple of weeks. They're undefeated with Berger in the lineup and she's playing at a high level. Contrarily, SC almost lost to an unranked team in their last game. That alone provides an argument that their death grip on #1 is debatable. Just because a #1 team wins games doesn't mean they should automatically hold the #1 spot IMO. How you win matters.

 

[tigers4ever]

Honestly though the reason LSU has been dogged is because of their out of conference schedule. It has nothing to do with the conference schedule.

I really could care less about what that voter did. The problem though is that when you are #1 you can't get a "bump" for beating the crap out of the #3 team. Think about that. But then we played and won a close game against a different team but get a "demerit". It's kind of stupid TBH. In a couple of weeks all this won't matter. Teams will have to do all their talking on the court. This is anybody's tournament. There's elite talent on about 10 teams who on any given day could win. I just want to beat Tennessee Thursday.

I definitely think scar should be unanimous #1. They are undefeated with a close game against ole miss versus Indiana losing to mich st. and ole miss by any metric is better than mich state. However, the fact that LSU is still being dogged despite being 13-1 in conference now becomes as much about the conference as it does about the OOC schedule, which was atrocious.

 

[visitingcock]

Call me crazy, I don't think it's unreasonable for voters to think of Indiana as the #1 team in the country right now. They are 26-1, have lost 1 game when they were missing one of their top 2 players, and have been handily beating everyone in the Big Ten. They beat 3 top 15 teams all in a row by an average of 16.3 per game the past couple of weeks. They're undefeated with Berger in the lineup and she's playing at a high level. Contrarily, SC almost lost to an unranked team in their last game. That alone provides an argument that their death grip on #1 is debatable. Just because a #1 team wins games doesn't mean they should automatically hold the #1 spot IMO. How you win matters.

I hate to participate in this thread, but the following would be the same for me if the roles were reversed:

I would agree with your statement above that: "just because a #1 team wins games doesn't mean they should automatically hold the #1 spot IMO.

However, the real issue in this case is: Should a One loss team challenger jump above a #1, undefeated, defending national champ who has beaten three other top five challengers after the #1 team ekes out a narrow win over a lower level QUAD ONE opponent?

IMO

 

[slepers]

Memories. Those were the days UConn won championships.

11 of them

 

[hoopsnloops32]

I hate to participate in this thread, but the following would be the same for me if the roles were reversed:

I would agree with your statement above that: "just because a #1 team wins games doesn't mean they should automatically hold the #1 spot IMO.

However, the real issue in this case is: Should a One loss team challenger jump above a #1, undefeated, defending national champ who has beaten three other top five challengers after a narrow win over a lower level QUAD ONE opponent?

IMO

Indiana has been playing better than South Carolina lately is really all their saying. I don't know that a 5 man UConn team nor LSU are either top 5 teams which really only makes Stanford the feather in South Carolina's cap. Indiana's resume and what they are doing to top teams right now is more impressive than South Carolina struggling against Ole Miss and a depleted UConn team. It's not so crazy to use the eye test, especially when Indiana's only lost came with their best player out hurt and she has already returned to form.

 

[bballnut90]

I hate to participate in this thread, but the following would be the same for me if the roles were reversed:

I would agree with your statement above that: "just because a #1 team wins games doesn't mean they should automatically hold the #1 spot IMO.

However, the real issue in this case is: Should a One loss team challenger jump above a #1, undefeated, defending national champ who has beaten three other top five challengers after the #1 team ekes out a narrow win over a lower level QUAD ONE opponent?

IMO

Being quad 1 means very little to me if I’m a voter. Ole Miss just isn’t a strong team no matter what label is applied to them.

You can’t just overlook Indiana as a 1 loss challenger. You have to consider their wins, play of late, and take injuries into account. This isn’t the same team they were when they lost to Michigan State. They were without Grace Berger who is one of the top players in the country when healthy. They’ve blitzed through a very top heavy B1G this year and are playing great basketball.

Rankings have an element of “what have you done for me lately” whereas NCAA tournament seedings are based on overall body of work. If I’m the NCAA committee, SC is still cut and dry #1 overall even if they lose to Ole Miss. When looking at rankings, Indiana has a case and is in the conversation. I don’t see how it’s outlandish that a single voter feels this way.

 

[Alydar]

I really didn't follow the thread of this post.

As far as I know Staley isn't insulted.

Not sure what UConn losing a gane in 2015 has to do with an undefeated SC team in 2023 or anything else in particular.

A fellow SCar fan brought it up when they referred to the old days when UConn won championships.

The difference is that UConn lost. If Dawn uses it to get her team’s attention she’s just doing what any good coach would do. We have 2 tough games this week. Getting past those will tell us a lot about this team. I know Tennessee has had its struggles but they are very, very talented. The Georgia game is Senior day and will be in front of a sold out CLA. I don’t think they have the talent to beat us, but it will be a very physical game.

Geno only complained about the officiating. He has done so for 20 years. Staley took it as a criticism of her program. It wasn't but that didn't stop her from complaining about what he DIDN'T say.