ND still #2?

[cabbie191]

All of ND's upcoming games against ranked teams in the next few weeks are on the road, so you definitely can't just say they'll breeze into the battle with the Blue Devils at Cameron. UTenn may be sliding a bit lately, but you gotta expect they'll get up for ND at TBA, so it could be quite a game. MD has just the one loss (at home) to UConn, so that's another big tester for the Irish.

Vanderbilt, as an in-state rival, is one of Tennessee's bêtes noires - they didn't seem to get up for yesterday's game as much as I would have expected.

 

[DobbsRover2]

Please - MD has played only one other ranked team, the rest were cupcakes.

Yeah, it's just getting hard to keep up with everyone's own definition of the credentials that teams need to prove themselves. MD has played two Top 10 teams and come away with one T10 road win, though the rest of their schedule is pretty cupcakish. But they beat a T10 team unlike ND which has had a decent schedule and beaten a bunch of Top-50 teams, but is not worthy because they don't have that T10 win. And then there's UTenn which has won three games against T25 teams but is looking now like a pretender. It's all very confusing.

 

[Phil]

It appears that the pollsters did put ND at # 2 though for Week 11.

But not close to unanimously. If unanimous, they would have 864 points.

Which means 23 writers picked them lower than second, or some subset ranked them even lower.

 

[Icebear]

With the news about Chelsey Gray I expect both ND and Maryland to finish ahead of Duke. Maybe even the dreaded UNC.

 

[DobbsRover2]

Ranked teams that fell out of the rankings simply have proven not worthy of being ranked and should never have been ranked in the first place. And quite frankly, in women's basketball, top 50 might as well be top 500.

Yeah completely agree. It's just those idiot pollsters that go ranking a team like Texas A&M and then dumping them down and then put them right back in again. Clearly they were unworthy before and must be unworthy now. Last year the pollsters did the same thing by shuttling a bunch of the B12 teams in and out of the rankings and having Delaware in at first and then not and then somehow giving them a final ranking of #13.

Jeesh, just what are the pollsters thinking? They should get everything right at the beginning of the season and stop kidding poor teams like PSU that they might have been worthy of being a chosen one at one point or can ever be that way again. Heck, at the #28 spot in Sagarin and #25 spot in Massey, PSU is clearly unworthy compared to the unmentionable teams of hallowed rankings.

 

[Zorro]

Losing Gray is certainly going to hurt Duke.

 

[easttexastrash]

Only thing you've been missing is the Sagarin factoids thread about it and maybe a few more threads that might have sprung up in the last few minutes about ND's clearly abysmal schedule. Still, their SOS is rated 224 spots better than Baylor's, and the Irish have 4 wins against to 50 teams, while Baylor has just 1, which is less than even George Washington. As noted elsewhere, PSU was ranked #13 when they played ND but then fell a bit out of the ratings. The Irish also played two other ranked teams who later fell out of the rankings.

Would you like to make further comment? Can we now quit harping on the SOS and how pitiful it is? It was, but Baylor just proved to be the only team that UCONN has faced who can compete with them. Mulkey had these gals ready to go.

Baylor should jump past Stanford, Maryland and Duke after that perfromance.

 

[Suebird10fan]

All of ND's upcoming games against ranked teams in the next few weeks are on the road, so you definitely can't just say they'll breeze into the battle with the Blue Devils at Cameron. UTenn may be sliding a bit lately, but you gotta expect they'll get up for ND at TBA, so it could be quite a game. MD has just the one loss (at home) to UConn, so that's another big tester for the Irish.

Especially considering how much they struggled against Penn St, Or St and Va on the road.

 

[Suebird10fan]

It appears that the pollsters did put ND at # 2 though for Week 11. And MSU who beat #16 Nebraska last week is now considered ND's highest rated opponent so far. And just palying top 10 opponents is not enough, you have to beat some.

Dobbs, ETT is not arguing that Baylor is better than ND.

 

[Suebird10fan]

With the news about Chelsey Gray I expect both ND and Maryland to finish ahead of Duke. Maybe even the dreaded UNC.[/quote

I think Duke may surprise people with how well they play without Gray. Chloe Wells is pretty good. My guess is they end up no worse than #4 (in the country, not ACC).

 

[triaddukefan]

With the news about Chelsey Gray I expect both ND and Maryland to finish ahead of Duke. Maybe even the dreaded UNC.

Alexis Jones was last year's ACC Tournament MVP. She's a pretty good PG. Dont count Duke out just yet.

 

[DobbsRover2]

Would you like to make further comment? Can we now quit harping on the SOS and how pitiful it is? It was, but Baylor just proved to be the only team that UCONN has faced who can compete with them. Mulkey had these gals ready to go.

Baylor should jump past Stanford, Maryland and Duke after that perfromance.

Yep, you gotta put Baylor at #2, now. The Bears now have one win over a top 50 team, and that should be enough to get them the #2 spot in the polls. As to all the other wins that Baylor does not have over any top teams, well it's the thought that counts since they really did mean to win some.

Seriously? There are a tough bunch riding ND out on a rail because its only managed those measly 4 top 50 wins and no top 25 wins unless you look at Massey or the AP polls. But Baylor should get the #2 spot because it played UConn hard even though it has a solo semi-major win over WV and still has a slack SOS. I'll buy that.

 

[easttexastrash]

Yep, you gotta put Baylor at #2, now. The Bears now have one win over a top 50 team, and that should be enough to get them the #2 spot in the polls. As to all the other wins that Baylor does not have over any top teams, well it's the thought that counts since they really did mean to win some.

Seriously? There are a tough bunch riding ND out on a rail because its only managed those measly 4 top 50 wins and no top 25 wins unless you look at Massey or the AP polls. But Baylor should get the #2 spot because it played UConn hard even though it has a solo semi-major win over WV and still has a slack SOS. I'll buy that.

See, the problem is that you are more focused on SOS than what you see on the basketball court. You have played three of the top 5 teams and NONE of them played you closer than Baylor. I put Baylor right up there with everyone but UCONN.

 

[doggydaddy]

See, the problem is that you are more focused on SOS than what you see on the basketball court. You have played three of the top 5 teams and NONE of them played you closer than Baylor. I put Baylor right up there with everyone but UCONN.

What a bunch of bull.

While Baylor gets some credit for Uconn's poor offensive performance, most of that was just an off night, both mentally and physically on the offensive end.

Defensively, Uconn treated Baylor just like everyone else.

 

[DobbsRover2]

See, the problem is that you are more focused on SOS than what you see on the basketball court. You have played three of the top 5 teams and NONE of them played you closer than Baylor. I put Baylor right up there with everyone but UCONN.

Well sure, any time a team goes for 55 points and shoots 30.5% against UConn you do gotta pop them into the #2 spot in the land because it's one 3pt shot and 0.4% better than the rest of the Husky opponents have been doing. That point is obvious to everyone. But then again, Memphis shot 30.8% against UConn, so maybe they should be the #2 team. Hard to say. But really, you gotta console a team when their 69 game home streak goes kaput, so give the Bears that #2 spot as a consolation prize.

Baylor has not been able to beat any of the elite teams this season but at least has four upcoming games in regular season against #10-#15 type OK St. and Iowa St. teams that could help them look like a top 6 team if they can sweep through them. But though almosts and good-losses may be legal tender down in Waco, most WCBB fans still have that old-fashioned belief that you still need to win a few quality games to go with the losses if you want to move to the top.

 

[easttexastrash]

Well sure, any time a team goes for 55 points and shoots 30.5% against UConn you do gotta pop them into the #2 spot in the land because it's one 3pt shot and 0.4% better than the rest of the Husky opponents have been doing. That point is obvious to everyone. But then again, Memphis shot 30.8% against UConn, so maybe they should be the #2 team. Hard to say. But really, you gotta console a team when their 69 game home streak goes kaput, so give the Bears that #2 spot as a consolation prize.

Baylor has not been able to beat any of the elite teams this season but at least has four upcoming games in regular season against #10-#15 type OK St. and Iowa St. teams that could help them look like a top 6 team if they can sweep through them. But though almosts and good-losses may be legal tender down in Waco, most WCBB fans still have that old-fashioned belief that you still need to win a few quality games to go with the losses if you want to move to the top.

It just kills you that Baylor played you so well, doesn't it.

A team's schedule is built to prepare them for the future. After Baylor's performance tonight, I would say that the schedule that Baylor played was perfect for preparing Baylor to compete with the best in the county.

 

[Suebird10fan]

It just kills you that Baylor played you so well, doesn't it.

A team's schedule is built to prepare them for the future. After Baylor's performance tonight, I would say that the schedule that Baylor played was perfect for preparing Baylor to compete with the best in the county.

ETT my friend you deserve to be very proud of the Bears. But I think you are reading too much into one game. Baylor may have had a great game vs UConn but they also had a horrible game vs Miss, beating a really poor team by 7 at home.

I do agree that Baylor shd jump in the polls and I expect they will. Personally I have them at #5.

 

[sawxfan23]

It just kills you that Baylor played you so well, doesn't it.

A team's schedule is built to prepare them for the future. After Baylor's performance tonight, I would say that the schedule that Baylor played was perfect for preparing Baylor to compete with the best in the county.

This is what Baylor Women's Basketball has come to? Now you are you happy to get beat by double digits, on your home floor, to a UCONN team that was in foul trouble from the time they got off the bus and couldn't make a jump shot all night? Bottom line is that UCONN played a sub standard game, on the road, against a top 10 team and still won by double digits.

 

[johnnyc]

This is what Baylor Women's Basketball has come to? Now you are you happy to get beat by double digits, on your home floor, to a UCONN team that was in foul trouble from the time they got off the bus and couldn't make a jump shot all night? Bottom line is that UCONN played a sub standard game, on the road, against a top 10 team and still won by double digits.

Well the losers have to make up their own headline. I'll take the actual one.....

UConn snaps Baylor's home streak

 

[DobbsRover2]

It just kills you that Baylor played you so well, doesn't it.

A team's schedule is built to prepare them for the future. After Baylor's performance tonight, I would say that the schedule that Baylor played was perfect for preparing Baylor to compete with the best in the county.

Actually, I've always liked Baylor and have rooted for them against many teams (not just UTenn). What amuses me are certain delusional blowhard fans whose grasp on reality seems to leap up and down in very odd ways. Just to nail down a few wisps of the real world for you:

• Pollsters don't give teams big rewards for those wonderful "good losses" and morale-building efforts. Last year for instance at around this time, a gritty Iowa State team that was ranked #24 kept within 15 points of all-universe-and-everything-beyond Baylor with a tremendous effort that was far better than what teams like KY and Tenn had been able to do against the Bears. So the pollsters immediately jumped the Cyclones to #2 in the polls behind Baylor because they were good and tough and deserved it for their mighty effort. Uh, no sorry ETT, that was just some weird crackbrained fantasy gibberish that got in there somehow. Iowa State moved up one place to #23 because the Michigan team ahead of them previously bombed out that week.
• As you state most presciently, "I would say that the schedule that Baylor played was perfect for preparing Baylor to compete with the best in the county." The problem is, beating McClellan Community College down there in that county for Waco is not enough. I have no idea whether a tough put-up-your-Dukes style schedule or a Bearly adequate early season lard chomp like Baylor's SOS makes a team ready for the B12 and the NCAA tourney, and only Summitt fans know the secret SOS password for making a winner. But after last year's perfect prep, Iowa State went on a tournament rampage that carried them to the NC game where ..... Oops, bad delusion creeping in there again. The Cyclones beat #12 seed Gonzaga as expected and then got dumped in the next round by Georgia. But dadgummit, they were prepared. But Baylor this year is def on its way to sweep up all of their remaining games because they set up the perfect schedule.
  
• Some fans have these odd superstitions. If I do a delusional freak out on the forum of some other team, my team will go on to greatness because I have sacrificed for them. Dang, there comes that weird psychosis stuff again. No, I tried that trick over on the Summitt back in 2007 and it did absolutely no good. Even my most insane rants on the Summitt were ignored by both the Huskies and the gods of basketball fortune.

But I do hope the Bears battle well the rest of the year against frogs and longhorns and cyclones and cowboys because they're a very decent team and every win will help UConn's SOS, which is what this season is all about.

 

[Phil]

It just kills you that Baylor played you so well, doesn't it.

A team's schedule is built to prepare them for the future. After Baylor's performance tonight, I would say that the schedule that Baylor played was perfect for preparing Baylor to compete with the best in the county.

We'll never know, but I'd guess the opposite. Had Baylor actually played some teams who could challenge Sims, maybe she would have been better prepared. No question that Baylor played a great game, but could it have been better? It is not inconceviable that a better schedule would have resulted in a Baylor win.

 

[Adesmar123]

It just kills you that Baylor played you so well, doesn't it.

A team's schedule is built to prepare them for the future. After Baylor's performance tonight, I would say that the schedule that Baylor played was perfect for preparing Baylor to compete with the best in the county.

Baylor lost...it lost at home...

Baylor's future is in the past. If it has a somewhat successful year this year, remember it well. Remember the Griner years....

 

[Adesmar123]

According to the old saying. even the blind squirrel finds a nut. Does that make the blind squirrel a better hunter than the others?

 

[easttexastrash]

But I do hope the Bears battle well the rest of the year against frogs and longhorns and cyclones and cowboys because they're a very decent team and every win will help UConn's SOS, which is what this season is all about.

This season is all about SOS? I thought it was about advancing in the NCAA tournament and winning the national championship. There will be some teams crying into the schedules when their SOS didn't advance them in the tournament.

 

[Icebear]

This season is all about SOS? I thought it was about advancing in the NCAA tournament and winning the national championship. There will be some teams crying into the schedules when their SOS didn't advance them in the tournament.

The season is not the rankings.