Mid Tenn leads Kentucky 37-22 @ halftime

[Phil]

That's not true. MT had a double digit lead over Penn St. at Penn St. midway through the second half before being held scoreless in the last 8 minutes. They got killed by Tennessee but they played close with Ga. Tech and Arkansas as well (though I know they're not ranked). Their best player (Rowe) is a sophomore and they start a freshman point guard. They've had some lapses but this is a talented and athletic MT team who will only benefit from playing this tough schedule.

Sometimes teams have trouble showing up at the beginning of the game, and have to get a wakeup call at halftime to play like they are able to play. PSU beat MTSU by 16 points. That is not a close game.

Losing to an unranked team (AR) does not count as beating a ranked team. Nor does losing to another unranked team GT).

Kentucky's RPI is 58 (probably will drop, because that doesn't include the loss). I think they are far better than that; their RPI suffers because they play a barbell schedule - a couple good teams and many truly awful teams, but Middle Tennessee's RPI is 92 (before the win). This is not the RPI of a very good team.

And what is this about a "tough schedule" Since when does an SOS of 96 qualify as tough? And it will get worse; every remaining opponent has a triple digit R{I except for Denver, with a lofty 91. They should not lose another game this year, but it won't make them a very good team. Decent, at best.

 

[Vowelguy]

How do you explain KY's strong performance @ND?

Or their win over Louisville?

 

[Icebear]

Bad night for ND.

 

[Phil]

Depends on what you are trying to argue. If you think deserves to be ranked, then the win over Louisville supports that position. But I think they deserve to be ranked. I'm questioning the views of some who think they are among the elite. The win over Duke helps in that argument, but that's more than countered by a bad loss against MTSU.

I like coach Mitchell, but they aren't an elite team. Nor will they have much of a chance to prove it, as the remainder of their games are SEC. Unless they beat TN, which is extremely unlikely, they won't have a quality win on the resume outside of Duke. Maybe if Georgia manages to run the table (unlikely and lose to KY) but other than that, they will have a solid claim to top 25, but no decent argument for top 10.

 

[Vowelguy]

I like coach Mitchell, but they aren't an elite team.

I don't know what your definition of an 'elite' team is. They beat Duke. They crushed Louisville. They played ND very close on the road. Yes, they have a WTF loss to MTSU, but that happens to a lot of teams. I would suggest you've been spoiled by UConn's tendency to almost never lose.

Was Baylor not elite last year because they lost to a mediocre TexTech team?
Or TAMU when it lost to a similarly mediocre K St?
Or UConn when it lost to a terrible Syracuse team in 1996?

 

[EricLA]

Samarie has worked her way into the starting lineup. good for her. she was a top 10 talent coming out of HS. i was sorry to see her go but wish her the very best...

i don't think you can draw a LOT of conclusions from this game. Tennessee was horrid in their loss to UVA and UVA played out of their minds. i'd say the Kentucky result is similar. i'd feel differently if ND blew them out, or if they lost to Duke, but that did not happen.

KEntucky will get to play tennessee, vandy, lsu in the sec. i think the league as a whole is fairly weak, but i don't see kentucky dropping out of the top 10 (after all tennessee only dropped 3 spots after losing to UVA).

 

[willtalk]

When using comparative scores in determining team strength, matchups and timing are also factors to consider in the evaluation of relative team strength.

 

[Phil]

KEntucky will get to play tennessee, vandy, lsu in the sec. i think the league as a whole is fairly weak, but i don't see kentucky dropping out of the top 10 (after all tennessee only dropped 3 spots after losing to UVA).

They probably ought to, but they might not. After all, Duke is just behind them in the polls, and it will be hard to move them below Duke. Which could mean they suffered an embarrassing loss to a mediocre team, and not drop at all.

 

[MilfordHusky]

MTSU had leads against Penn State (at the 31 minute mark), Arkansas (at about the 36 minute mark), and Georgia Tech (at the half, and were only 2 down very late), but couldn't finish the job. They may be better than we thought.

 

[HuskyMJ]

Doesn't Middle Tennessee's coach have a son who is an assistant coach at UK? A little family feud within the upset.

 

[tnvolfan65]

Yes Milford and yes MJ.

And MT's SOS will naturally be lower playing in the SBC, but their OOC schedule included PSU, Xavier, Ga Tech, Ark, Tenn, and Kentucky, all bigger schools in bigger conferences.

 

[speedoo]

Yes Milford and yes MJ.

And MT's SOS will naturally be lower playing in the SBC, but their OOC schedule included PSU, Xavier, Ga Tech, Ark, Tenn, and Kentucky, all bigger schools in bigger conferences.

Bigger schools in bigger conferences means nothing, if they don't have the coaches, players and other ingredients that make a successful program. What makes you think Arkansas and Xavier are any good this year?

 

[Icebear]

MTSU had leads against Penn State (at the 31 minute mark), Arkansas (at about the 36 minute mark), and Georgia Tech (at the half, and were only 2 down very late), but couldn't finish the job. They may be better than we thought.

Not from what I saw in the PSU game. PSU outscored them by 24 points in the last 8 minutes after playing uninspired until then. For two seasons PSU has had a bad habit of playing lackadaisical and playing from behind.

 

[HuskyNan]

Bigger schools in bigger conferences means nothing, if they don't have the coaches, players and other ingredients that make a successful program. What makes you think Arkansas and Xavier are any good this year?

Xavier is 3-8 with losses to teams like Ohio and Syracuse. Arkansas is 11-1 but has been feasting on a selection of cupcakes - Grambling State, Oral Roberts, Texas Southern, etc. A 7-5 South Florida team took them to overtime.

 

[msf22b]

Alex: my gut tells me you are wrong about Notre Dame, they scare me

 

[Wonkster]

.

Note to Kentucky for future reference: when your high scorer for a game racks up a fabulous 12 points, you may have a problem winning.