Ranked 22 in the AP

[Jerry1714]

William Paxton ‏@wspaxton1m
#UConn back in AP top 25 at No. 22 ... Syracuse moves to No. 1

 

[Jerry1714]

AAC with 4 ranked teams: No. 7 Cincy, No. 14 Louisville, No. 22 #UConn and No. 24 Memphis

 

[metsfan2323]

AAC with 4 ranked teams: No. 7 Cincy, No. 14 Louisville, No. 22 #UConn and No. 24 Memphis

Amazing.

The AAC tournament should be well attended. Cincy, Louisville, and SMU are all easy road trips to Memphis.

A dream season out of the gate for AAC basketball combined with a solid football season. To steal from Lieutenant Dan:

"You will never sink this conference!!"

 

[Kitaman]

Wow a polished turd!

It may just work out for the time being.

 

[CL82]

Wow a polished turd!

It may just work out for the time being.

Well see. We lose 'ville (and Rutgers but that is addition by subtraction for basketball) and add Tulane, Tulsa and EC. On the other hand Temple was uncharacteristically bad this year.

Agree, the sooner we're out of here the better.

 

[Deleted member 3149]

the coach's poll is such a joke

 

[Uconn93]

How do you lose a game....and move up six spots?!?!?! duck fuke

I realize Wichita State is unbeaten, but who have they beaten that justifies a #2 ranking. If I'm an 8/9 seed, I want the Shockers as the #1 seed in my region!

 

[TheRogers]

AAC with 4 ranked teams: No. 7 Cincy, No. 14 Louisville, No. 22 #UConn and No. 24 Memphis

...Tied with the ACC.......and this was after the ACC went on its shopping spree for rankings......

 

[tzznandrew]

Well see. We lose 'ville (and Rutgers but that is addition by subtraction for basketball) and add Tulane, Tulsa and EC. On the other hand Temple was uncharacteristically bad this year.

Agree, the sooner we're out of here the better.

I think Temple will certainly be better going forward. They are a solid program historically (not great, but solid).

While they will improve, we also lose Rutgers, who is terrible right now. But the teams we're bringing in? RPI:

120 (Tulsa)
197 (East Carolina)
231 (Tulane)

Now, those will go up a little more, since they'll have to play UConn/Memphis/Cincy and SMU/Temple (who should both be good next year). Those five schools will replace some of the dreck that is dragging down their RPI. But the remaining 3 schools look like this:

144 (USF)
177 (Houston)
193 (UCF)

You have a toxic brew. That will be a solid six teams you cannot afford to lose to. In an 11 team conference. Assuming Temple (173) recovers, and that Larry Brown stays at SMU.

 

[Inyatkin]

You have a toxic brew. That will be a solid six teams you cannot afford to lose to. In an 11 team conference. Assuming Temple (173) recovers, and that Larry Brown stays at SMU.

Exactly, and you will see some losses to them. Bad or not, you can't expect to go 12-0 through that every year.

 

[DogMania]

So which one does ESPN go by? I thought it was the Coaches Poll.

I was thinking if that's the case, we'll miss out on some national exposure, but since we only have one game this week, which happens to be against #7 Cinci, we'll get that exposure anyways. From a ranking and perception standpoint this upcoming game is extremely important. Too bad it's not at home where a W would be much easier to achieve. A win against them will not only give us a huge push in the AP rankings, but would clearly launch us into the Coaches Poll next week, and hopefully well into it. But then again, those numnuts who vote in that poll slotted us 27th, 11 points behind Memphis who we just beat recently and on their home court. Whaaaat a bunch of nimrods!!!!

As some have pointed out, the Houston loss really hurt us. You would have thought that beating them last week by 40 would have made enough of a statement that the prior loss to them was an anomaly, and that the big wins against teams like Florida, Memphis, Indiana, and Washington, along with relatively competitive losses against UL, Stanford and SMU would have more than offset the bad Houston loss. Of those losses, if the team played like it is capable, we would not have lost the Stanford or first Houston game and would have a 19-2 record and be ranked pretty high in all both 25 polls.

Anyhow, it is what it is. Good to see us back in the AP at #22. A road win against Cinci would be huge on so many levels, but even if we lose, we still have some solid opportunities to build up our resume if we can get home wins against Memphis, SMU and Cinci and make sure they take care of business against the lesser teams. I'd like to see up at least get one of the road games against Cinci or UL. A split with both casts a perception that we're just as good as both teams, and a sweep of Cinci but 2 losses against UL can paint a similar picture in that we just don't match up well with one of the two, and of course a sweep of Cinci and a split with UL, especially a road win against them, can really vault us into a high seed, especially if we go deep in the AAC tourney. On the flip side if we go 0-2 against both of them, it will further cast a shadow that UConn is just a team good enough to get into the tourney but not worthy of a very good seed. I would not be shocked if that were to happen, but think we'll at least split with Cinci and end up 1-3 against that pair. The teams seems to be playing well and on the up-tic so how does this sound:

L- at Cinci
W - at UCF
W - USF
W - Memphis
W - at Temple
W - SMU
W - at USF
W - Cinci
W - RU
L - at UL

That would put us at 25-6, not bad. I'm not predicting that any of the above will happen or that we're not capable of beating Cinci or UL on the road. The important thing is they need to beat the lesser teams and get at least 2, preferably 3 Ws from the ranked/almost-ranked teams (Cinci, Memphis, SMU and UL) to solidify a solid NCAA seed.

NCAA Tourney Seeding is a huge thing. You want to avoid having to play a 1 or 2 seed in the first two rounds to at least get to the S-16. That means getting a 6 seed or higher, and to get on the 6 seed line that means you have to be considered one of the top 24 teams in the nation, which I think is achievable for this team. If we want a less resistant path to the E-8 where you would want to avoid a 1 seed, UConn needs to find its way on the 3 line which is top 12 team. There's not a lot of different between 2s & 3s, except a 3 is prone to be placed in an unfavorable region with potential road game implications, though the 4 seed tends to have a worse fate in that regard. For UConn land on that 3 line, they would probably have to do the following: take care of business with the teams they should beat, go at least 3-2 against those ranked/almost-ranked teams with at least one W against Cinci and UL, and make it to the AAC Conference Championship, beating at least one to two of those same ranked/almost-ranked teams.

I find this fascinating in that a team could really elevate its seed line by winning 2 or even 3 Big East Tourney games in the old BE since you'd face some high RPI ranked teams along the way. In the AAC, if you're one of the higher seeds you might not face a team that can give you an RPI bump until you get to the 3rd round (i.e 2nd tourney game played), and if you do, you'll need to win that game giving you one more against another one in the Finals. Since we are a 10 team conference, the bottom 4 will play in the first round with the winners facing the #1 and 2 seeds. Right now UConn is 5th which actually would give them a nice chance to build their resume if they advanced to the final. The path would be against #4 Memphis...hum...in Memphis though we did beat them there already, then the winner of the 1-8/9 in the 3rd round, which would likely get us Cinci and if we get past them, a likely match up with UL or SMU in the finals. Note that a lot of changes could happen between now and then, with both us and Memphis jumping over SMU. Also note, that in the old BE you wouldn't mind some early upsets and an easier path to the later conference tourney rounds, but in the case with the AAC, you want to get some RPI bump out of the conference tourney so you don't want any upsets in that 2nd round so that you can get a quality wins in the 3rd round (semis). Of course we want UConn to finish as high as possible at the end of conference play, which would mean that they had beaten a bunch of ranked teams and put in a position where tourney wins would not be as important, but if they do happen to finish 4th or 5th, they'll be in the best position to improve their situation with the potential of getting wins against 3 of the top 5 teams (Cinci, UL, Memphis or SMU) in the conference that will either all be ranked or knocking at the door.

Boy do I miss the old Big East. That 5Ws in 5 days was unprecedented and may never be witnessed again. Does anyone remember how far a seeding bump we got as a result of that run? You just can't make up that kind of ground in the AAC and it's only going to get worse next season with UL moving on and 3 worse teams moving in.

 

[maineuconnfan]

How do you lose a game....and move up six spots?!?!?! duck fuke

I realize Wichita State is unbeaten, but who have they beaten that justifies a #2 ranking. If I'm an 8/9 seed, I want the Shockers as the #1 seed in my region!

As much as I normally would agree with this statement normally, when a team is that high under circumstances, but that is the last #1 seed I would want to see, I would rather play the cuse.... Wichita State is experienced, coming off a final four, and I have watched them play and they look really good.

 

[mcs333]

We went into the BE tour. 21-9 having lost 4 of our last 5 games. We were looking at an 8 or 9 seed. We jump to a 3 seed after the 5 wins in NYC. Today J Palm of CBS sports has us as a 5 seed.

 

[kobe]

So which one does ESPN go by? I thought it was the Coaches Poll.

I was thinking if that's the case, we'll miss out on some national exposure, but since we only have one game this week, which happens to be against #7 Cinci, we'll get that exposure anyways. From a ranking and perception standpoint this upcoming game is extremely important. Too bad it's not at home where a W would be much easier to achieve. A win against them will not only give us a huge push in the AP rankings, but would clearly launch us into the Coaches Poll next week, and hopefully well into it. But then again, those numnuts who vote in that poll slotted us 27th, 11 points behind Memphis who we just beat recently and on their home court. Whaaaat a bunch of nimrods!!!!

As some have pointed out, the Houston loss really hurt us. You would have thought that beating them last week by 40 would have made enough of a statement that the prior loss to them was an anomaly, and that the big wins against teams like Florida, Memphis, Indiana, and Washington, along with relatively competitive losses against UL, Stanford and SMU would have more than offset the bad Houston loss. Of those losses, if the team played like it is capable, we would not have lost the Stanford or first Houston game and would have a 19-2 record and be ranked pretty high in all both 25 polls.

Anyhow, it is what it is. Good to see us back in the AP at #22. A road win against Cinci would be huge on so many levels, but even if we lose, we still have some solid opportunities to build up our resume if we can get home wins against Memphis, SMU and Cinci and make sure they take care of business against the lesser teams. I'd like to see up at least get one of the road games against Cinci or UL. A split with both casts a perception that we're just as good as both teams, and a sweep of Cinci but 2 losses against UL can paint a similar picture in that we just don't match up well with one of the two, and of course a sweep of Cinci and a split with UL, especially a road win against them, can really vault us into a high seed, especially if we go deep in the AAC tourney. On the flip side if we go 0-2 against both of them, it will further cast a shadow that UConn is just a team good enough to get into the tourney but not worthy of a very good seed. I would not be shocked if that were to happen, but think we'll at least split with Cinci and end up 1-3 against that pair. The teams seems to be playing well and on the up-tic so how does this sound:

L- at Cinci
W - at UCF
W - USF
W - Memphis
W - at Temple
W - SMU
W - at USF
W - Cinci
W - RU
L - at UL

That would put us at 25-6, not bad. I'm not predicting that any of the above will happen or that we're not capable of beating Cinci or UL on the road. The important thing is they need to beat the lesser teams and get at least 2, preferably 3 Ws from the ranked/almost-ranked teams (Cinci, Memphis, SMU and UL) to solidify a solid NCAA seed.

NCAA Tourney Seeding is a huge thing. You want to avoid having to play a 1 or 2 seed in the first two rounds to at least get to the S-16. That means getting a 6 seed or higher, and to get on the 6 seed line that means you have to be considered one of the top 24 teams in the nation, which I think is achievable for this team. If we want a less resistant path to the E-8 where you would want to avoid a 1 seed, UConn needs to find its way on the 3 line which is top 12 team. There's not a lot of different between 2s & 3s, except a 3 is prone to be placed in an unfavorable region with potential road game implications, though the 4 seed tends to have a worse fate in that regard. For UConn land on that 3 line, they would probably have to do the following: take care of business with the teams they should beat, go at least 3-2 against those ranked/almost-ranked teams with at least one W against Cinci and UL, and make it to the AAC Conference Championship, beating at least one to two of those same ranked/almost-ranked teams.

I find this fascinating in that a team could really elevate its seed line by winning 2 or even 3 Big East Tourney games in the old BE since you'd face some high RPI ranked teams along the way. In the AAC, if you're one of the higher seeds you might not face a team that can give you an RPI bump until you get to the 3rd round (i.e 2nd tourney game played), and if you do, you'll need to win that game giving you one more against another one in the Finals. Since we are a 10 team conference, the bottom 4 will play in the first round with the winners facing the #1 and 2 seeds. Right now UConn is 5th which actually would give them a nice chance to build their resume if they advanced to the final. The path would be against #4 Memphis...hum...in Memphis though we did beat them there already, then the winner of the 1-8/9 in the 3rd round, which would likely get us Cinci and if we get past them, a likely match up with UL or SMU in the finals. Note that a lot of changes could happen between now and then, with both us and Memphis jumping over SMU. Also note, that in the old BE you wouldn't mind some early upsets and an easier path to the later conference tourney rounds, but in the case with the AAC, you want to get some RPI bump out of the conference tourney so you don't want any upsets in that 2nd round so that you can get a quality wins in the 3rd round (semis). Of course we want UConn to finish as high as possible at the end of conference play, which would mean that they had beaten a bunch of ranked teams and put in a position where tourney wins would not be as important, but if they do happen to finish 4th or 5th, they'll be in the best position to improve their situation with the potential of getting wins against 3 of the top 5 teams (Cinci, UL, Memphis or SMU) in the conference that will either all be ranked or knocking at the door.

Boy do I miss the old Big East. That 5Ws in 5 days was unprecedented and may never be witnessed again. Does anyone remember how far a seeding bump we got as a result of that run? You just can't make up that kind of ground in the AAC and it's only going to get worse next season with UL moving on and 3 worse teams moving in.

ESPN uses the AP Poll for television.

 

[ecasadoSBU]

How do you lose a game....and move up six spots?!?!?! duck fuke

I realize Wichita State is unbeaten, but who have they beaten that justifies a #2 ranking. If I'm an 8/9 seed, I want the Shockers as the #1 seed in my region!

They've beaten 23 other teams including Western Kentucky, Bill and Mary, Ten. State, Tulsa, DePaul, BYU, St.L, ORU, Tenn, Alabama, NCCU, Davidson, Southern Illinois, Northern Iowa, Il. State, Mizzou St., Bradley, Indiana St., Drake, Loyola-IL, evansville.

Must they beat power 5 teams in order to qualify as #2? They look good enough for me

 

[Tenspro2002]

As much as I normally would agree with this statement normally, when a team is that high under circumstances, but that is the last #1 seed I would want to see, I would rather play the cuse.... Wichita State is experienced, coming off a final four, and I have watched them play and they look really good.

"experienced, coming off a final four, and I have watched them play and they look really good" could just as easily (and maybe more credibly) be said of Syracuse.

I don't think there's a single 1-seed I'd rather play than any other, even accounting for the fact that we've already beaten Florida.

 

[maineuconnfan]

I d

"experienced, coming off a final four, and I have watched them play and they look really good" could just as easily (and maybe more credibly) be said of Syracuse.

I don't think there's a single 1-seed I'd rather play than any other, even accounting for the fact that we've already beaten Florida.[/quote
I definitely agree about the same could be said of Syracuse, I think the familiarity of the Syracuse system makes me a little more apt to want to play them....My greater point is that Wichita St is legit, because they play some good d too. Not like Gonzaga last year, they could score, but defensively they were not very good even with olynk or whatever his name was.

 

[Jerry1714]

http://www.pollspeak.com/component/option,com_psreport/Itemid,3/lang,en/p,56/r,T/s,26/t1,23/v,/w,14/

How everyone voted, ranked as high as 16 by someone

 

[DogMania]

ESPN uses the AP Poll for television.

I wasn't sure. Thanks for letting me know. Ever wonder what is the purpose of the coaches poll? The only thing I can think of is it ever so slightly increases the odds of getting ranked. Other than that I don't see any purpose for it.

 

[DogMania]

We went into the BE tour. 21-9 having lost 4 of our last 5 games. We were looking at an 8 or 9 seed. We jump to a 3 seed after the 5 wins in NYC. Today J Palm of CBS sports has us as a 5 seed.

Thanks for answering that question. I'm betting that was an unprecedented seed bump in just 5 night's work. No run through the AAC will ever come close, though I doubt that type of run would ever happen again in any conference.

 

[Huskybass]

Interesting to note that UConn has a better record than nine teams ranked higher.

 

[NHUConnfan]

Interesting to note that UConn has a better record than nine teams ranked higher.

It's because of the B1G love-fest. Lunardi has 6 teams in right now from the B1G and I wouldn't be surprised if more than half were out by the first weekend.

 

[hyperthink]

thought memphis wouldn't be ranked this week. Pastner must be in the coaching illuminati...

 

[IMind]

"experienced, coming off a final four, and I have watched them play and they look really good" could just as easily (and maybe more credibly) be said of Syracuse.

I don't think there's a single 1-seed I'd rather play than any other, even accounting for the fact that we've already beaten Florida.

If I was choosing I'd rather play anyone but Florida. We hit them at the right time. Easily our best win of the year. I'm just not afraid of 'Cuse or Wichita State in quite the same way.

 

[tzznandrew]

If I was choosing I'd rather play anyone but Florida. We hit them at the right time. Easily our best win of the year. I'm just not afraid of 'Cuse or Wichita State in quite the same way.

That's right. With some injuries down low to Arizona, Florida may really be the best team. And, while we talk about the experience of Cuse and WSU (both coming off of Final Fours), Florida has been to three straight Elite 8s.