Tough weekend for the SEC

[Phil]

Ten games, five wins and five losses. Which doesn't sound terrible, except not a single one of the five wins was against a team with a winning record.

One of the losses was by previously unbeaten and 16th ranked Georgia, who fell to unranked Rutgers. While RU has a decent record Sagarin is looking at them as a bubble team. Ranked teams shouldn't be losing to teams hoping to make the tournament.

Another loss was by the LVs to Stanford. While losing to a sixth ranked team is not a major upset, if you have your sights set on earning a number one seed to the tournament and vying for an NC, you need to beat a team ranked sixth.

Another loss was by Texas A&M to St. John's. TAMU was ranked a week ago and should not be losing to a team who is only dreaming they might catch fire and squeak in to the tournament.

Auburn played Minnesota in a battle of 9–3 teams. No great surprise that Minnesota won, but yet another loss by an SEC game in a game that had the potential to go either way.

Finally, the pearl of the SEC, the only team in the conference that had actually played and beaten more than one ranked team lost to Duke. Again, when you play a team ranked ahead of you, no great surprise, but you played at home against a team that was taken apart by UConn, and might be vulnerable. Or maybe not.

Which means the best game by the SEC this weekend was Auburn beating UCLA by six points, and dropping the Bruins to a 5–6 record.

 

[HuskyNan]

And in the AAC:

#1 UConn over #20 Cal
#7 Louisville over #11 Colorado
Rutgers over #15 Georgia
Cincinnati beat Xavier
Houston defeated Rice
Memphis beat Arkansa-Pine Bluff
SMU over north Texas
Villanova squeaked by Temple
College of Charleston downed USF
UCF lost to Iona

That's 7-3 with three wins over ranked teams since Dec 20.

 

[Phil]

So the AAC has three wins over ranked teams since Friday, and the SEC has three wins over ranked teams since...checking...checking... since the season started.

 

[DobbsRover2]

And in the AAC:

#1 UConn over #20 Cal
#7 Louisville over #11 Colorado
Rutgers over #15 Georgia
Cincinnati beat Xavier
Houston defeated Rice
Memphis beat Arkansa-Pine Bluff
SMU over north Texas
Villanova squeaked by Temple
College of Charleston downed USF
UCF lost to Iona

That's 7-3 with three wins over ranked teams since Dec 20.

Mixed showing, but the AAC is hanging in there with a rating that's ahead of the PAC in one Sagarin listing and its top four teams stack up better than the B10's. Interesting that Iowa teams are top rated in Sagarin for the B10 and B12.

 

[NickyNewark]

Ten games, five wins and five losses. Which doesn't sound terrible, except not a single one of the five wins was against a team with a winning record.

One of the losses was by previously unbeaten and 16th ranked Georgia, who fell to unranked Rutgers. While RU has a decent record Sagarin is looking at them as a bubble team. Ranked teams shouldn't be losing to teams hoping to make the tournament.

Another loss was by the LVs to Stanford. While losing to a sixth ranked team is not a major upset, if you have your sights set on earning a number one seed to the tournament and vying for an NC, you need to beat a team ranked sixth.

Another loss was by Texas A&M to St. John's. TAMU was ranked a week ago and should not be losing to a team who is only dreaming they might catch fire and squeak in to the tournament.

Auburn played Minnesota in a battle of 9–3 teams. No great surprise that Minnesota won, but yet another loss by an SEC game in a game that had the potential to go either way.

Finally, the pearl of the SEC, the only team in the conference that had actually played and beaten more than one ranked team lost to Duke. Again, when you play a team ranked ahead of you, no great surprise, but you played at home against a team that was taken apart by UConn, and might be vulnerable. Or maybe not.

Which means the best game by the SEC this weekend was Auburn beating UCLA by six points, and dropping the Bruins to a 5–6 record.

I see RU as much more than a "bubble" team but I'm really just a FB guy!If you really follow WBB and the recruiting it should be obvious their back where they generally fit.....a top 15 type team with a VERY young nucleus and the "missing ingrediant" PG/Tyler Scyfe(?) the next Cappie P to orchestrate.@Phil, I hope I did'nt come off as testy? Just an RU WBB fan whose wondered where they've been the last couple of yrs?

 

[DobbsRover2]

I see RU as much more than a "bubble" team but I'm really just a FB guy!If you really follow WBB and the recruiting it should be obvious their back where they generally fit.....a top 15 type team with a VERY young nucleus and the "missing ingrediant" PG/Tyler Scyfe(?) the next Cappie P to orchestrate.@Phil, I hope I did'nt come off as testy? Just an RU WBB fan whose wondered where they've been the last couple of yrs?

With today's win, Sagarin has Rutgers rated at #51, just behind #50 Temple with those two as the third and fourth best teams in the AAC. Generally you want to be rated in the 40s to be even semi-comfortable about getting a tourney berth. But there's two and a half months of games ahead before the selections, so Rutgers has a lot of time to move up. The games against Temple, SMU, USF, and Cinci will be ones where the Knights will need to pick up some decent wins.

 

[NickyNewark]

With today's win, Sagarin has Rutgers rated at #51, just behind #50 Temple with those two as the third and fourth best teams in the AAC. Generally you want to be rated in the 40s to be even semi-comfortable about getting a tourney berth. But there's two and a half months of games ahead before the selections, so Rutgers has a lot of time to move up. The games against Temple, SMU, USF, and Cinci will be ones where the Knights will need to pick up some decent wins.

I've been exasperated and depressed recently with CVS handling of RU's team the last couple of yrs? I would think you'd find them back in the Top 25 this week though after the close road loss to LSU and the road win over Ga? I think RU finishes 3rd this yr in the AAC! Geez I know there not UConn but should be on par at least with L'ville or I'm dissapointed!

 

[Phil]

I see RU as much more than a "bubble" team but I'm really just a FB guy!If you really follow WBB and the recruiting it should be obvious their back where they generally fit.....a top 15 type team with a VERY young nucleus and the "missing ingrediant" PG/Tyler Scyfe(?) the next Cappie P to orchestrate.@Phil, I hope I did'nt come off as testy? Just an RU WBB fan whose wondered where they've been the last couple of yrs?

No, that's a fine response, but DobbsRover2 beat me to my planned response. Sagarin ratings, like any, are imperfect, but his are usually a good indication. A ranking on 51 in December is not a death sentence, there's plenty of time to improve, but a good bit of improvement is needed to earn a tournament bid. That may happen, but if so, it will mean the improved RU team earned a bid and won't change that a team ranked #51 took down. Obviously, through RU glasses I would emphasize the won over an undefeated team ranked #15 form one of the power conferences, but in SEC bashing accurate positioning mode, I'm emphasizing that than over-rated SEC team lost a game to a team that they should have beat.

 

[Phil]

I just did a quick inventory of the Losses by Top 25 teams. If my count is right there are a total of 32 losses combined.

Three of these are at the hands of the SEC.

In contrast, the Pac-12, often viewed as the weakest of the big six, has seven wins. More than twice as many.

The ACC has even more, eight wins over top 25 teams.

And the AAC, who some are trying to position as a mid-major, has eight wins over top 25 teams.

It isn't just due to UConn, although the Huskies are mroe than pulling their weight. Three different teams have at least won win over a top 25 team. The AAC has as many different teams with a win as the SEC has in total wins.

This is mastery of the rest of the world?

 

[DobbsRover2]

I just did a quick inventory of the Losses by Top 25 teams. If my count is right there are a total of 32 losses combined.

Three of these are at the hands of the SEC.

In contrast, the Pac-12, often viewed as the weakest of the big six, has seven wins. More than twice as many.

The ACC has even more, eight wins over top 25 teams.

And the AAC, who some are trying to position as a mid-major, has eight wins over top 25 teams.

It isn't just due to UConn, although the Huskies are mroe than pulling their weight. Three different teams have at least won win over a top 25 team. The AAC has as many different teams with a win as the SEC has in total wins.

This is mastery of the rest of the world?

But Phil, you know that once conference play begins those SEC teams are going to take turns knocking each other off and get a ton of T25 wins while the AAC will just get a small handful more, mainly by UConn. If they can be a T25 team with the #339 and #222 schedules, you know Arkansas and South Carolina will zoom way up once a few vaunted SEC wins come their way, and other conference mates with #320, #322, #204 worst schedules will also be leaping upward from 30-40 ratings. Sadly, it won't be until mid-tourney time that anyone knows any better.