UConn SOS soars

[FanFromMaine]

Both Cal and Vandy won today.

 

[heavyhusky]

So far today (3/1) 6 ranked teams (#'s 13,15, 16, 18, 19, 25) have lost to unranked teams. I would think that this is rare this late in the season. Perhaps we are seeing more parity, at least in the 10 – 40 range.

 

[bballnut90]

Both Cal and Vandy won today.

On the flipside, DePaul lost which may end up being more impactful depending on how far they drop in RPI.

 

[MSGRET]

Arizona loses to Cal, the last place team in the PAC-12, while Kentucky loses to Vandy, the 12th place in the SEC. UConn beat both teams by double digits.

 

[MSGRET]

On the flipside, DePaul lost which may end up being more impactful depending on how far they drop in RPI.

Not really, DePaul lost on Marquette's home court and the Golden Eagles are the #2 team in the Big East. Much different then Cal and Vandy.

 

[bballnut90]

So far today (3/1) 6 ranked teams (#'s 13,15, 16, 18, 19, 25) have lost to unranked teams. I would think that this is rare this late in the season. Perhaps we are seeing more parity, at least in the 10 – 40 range.

It's been somewhat of a strange season. I think across WCBB, teams are feeling the impact of graduating really good 2018 and 2019 classes, lots of injuries, and a lot of kids sitting out due to transfer. As a result, most teams just aren't as good as they were a year ago besides the projected #1 seeds. So we're seeing a lot of teams lose to teams they theorertically shouldn't lose to based on rankings/record. Just from last Sunday until today, you have the following upsets:

Washington over #8 UCLA
Alabama over #9 Mississippi State
Colorado over #11 Arizona
Villanova over #12 DePaul
Georgia Tech over #17 Florida State
Duke over #8 NC State
Alabama over #12 Texas A&M
Cal over #13 Arizona
Marquette over #16 DePaul
Rutgers over #18 Iowa
Notre Dame over #19 Florida State



Compare that to the same stretch from last year (last Sunday in Feb to first Sunday in March) and there was only 1 top 20 team that lost to an unranked foe.

 

[bballnut90]

Not really, DePaul lost on Marquette's home court and the Golden Eagles are the #2 team in the Big East. Much different then Cal and Vandy.

DePaul is #21 RPI before the loss to #34 RPI Marquette. If they drop down to #26, UCONN loses one of their two top 25 RPI wins on the year which is a stat looked at by the committee. Their other one, Ohio State, is right on the edge at 23.

Vandy/Cal winning today should bump their RPI which in turn helps UCONN, but they'll still be in the 100-150 RPI range which isn't going to make a big difference.

 

[MSGRET]

DePaul is #21 RPI before the loss to #34 RPI Marquette. If they drop down to #26, UCONN loses one of their two top 25 RPI wins on the year which is a stat looked at by the committee. Their other one, Ohio State, is right on the edge at 23.

Vandy/Cal winning today should bump their RPI which in turn helps UCONN, but they'll still be in the 100-150 RPI range which isn't going to make a big difference.

I believe that they will stay in the Top 25 in RPI, considering all of the losses this weekend.

 

[UcMiami]

The losses are typical for teams not named Uconn. We may 'struggle' occasionally against unranked teams but we very very rarely lose to one. Can't remember the last time we lost to a team outside the top 10 where other teams throw clunkers quite often. This year alone only Baylor and Uconn in the top 10 haven't lost to teams outside the top 10 and most lost to unranked teams.

That is what truly separates Geno and Co. from the rest of the pack - they may lose a few games, but only to really good teams.

 

[ballhawk]

The last time we lost to an unranked team was in Feb. 2012 when St John's hit a three point shot to win 57-56 breaking UConn's 99 game home winning streak.

 

[msf22b]

The last time we lost to an unranked team was in Feb. 2012 when St John's hit a three point shot to win 57-56 breaking UConn's 99 game home winning streak.

I remember that game well...
UConn (like Liverpool yesterday) was a-geared for a plucking.
And it happened.

 

[Plebe]

Lol @ "SOS soars"

It literally "soared" from #18 to #17 in the past week.

 

[Watchdog]

I think Geno would say "who cares"? We get placed where we get placed and play the games.

 

[Carnac]

So far today (3/1) 6 ranked teams (#'s 13,15, 16, 18, 19, 25) have lost to unranked teams. I would think that this is rare this late in the season. Perhaps we are seeing more parity, at least in the 10 – 40 range.

A credit to UConn. They won all of the games they were expected/supposed to. No upsets, no losses to unranked teams. I was surprised to see ranked teams lose to unranked teams this late in the season.

 

[Fairfield Fan]

The last time we lost to an unranked team was in Feb. 2012 when St John's hit a three point shot to win 57-56 breaking UConn's 99 game home winning streak.

But St John's was quickly named to the Top 25 after that game.

 

[hoopsfan22]

The last time we lost to an unranked team was in Feb. 2012 when St John's hit a three point shot to win 57-56 breaking UConn's 99 game home winning streak.

So UConn has had two home winning streaks broken at 99 in the last seven years (St. John's in 2012, Baylor this year)?

 

[Carnac]

So UConn has had two home winning streaks broken at 99 in the last seven years (St. John's in 2012, Baylor this year)?

Yep. It looks like (as hard as we try) we can’t break that 100 consecutive wins barrier.

 

[stamfordhusky]

Lol @ "SOS soars"

It literally "soared" from #18 to #17 in the past week.

Yeah, I don't think many expected it to change much. The two UConn opponents who achieved upset wins this week are but two of about 784 games played by UConn opponents this year, i.e. about 0.2% of the sample.

 

[j66kicker]

Yep. It looks like (as hard as we try) we can’t break that 100 consecutive wins barrier.

Isn’t 111 > 100?

 

[JoePgh]

But St John's was quickly named to the Top 25 after that game.

Not to mention that the St. John's coach got a job offer from the University of Michigan for the next year, and it appeared that this one win was a key credential on her resume. I believe she is still at Michigan -- true?

 

[MSGRET]

Isn’t 111 > 100?

This is about 100 straight HOME wins not straight wins.

 

[KnightBridgeAZ]

I believe that they will stay in the Top 25 in RPI, considering all of the losses this weekend.

Has nothing directly to do with it. Indirectly, sure, your win-loss record is 25% of the rpi, so when you lose that factor goes down by a couple percentage points (at this point in the season). Your opponents records is north of 600 games, so that's a small hit to the factor, and your opponents opponents games, well, that's a small affect per game.

That's the motivation for less illustrious teams to play some better competition, because they will presumably see long term benefits in factors 2 and 3, which are your SOS, anyhow.

And in-conference is only a factor because of un-balanced schedules and OOC schedules, because (on average) your in-conference games affect on SOS tends to move toward 50% - as if you play everyone once and discounting your own games, wins and losses will be equal across the conference.

 

[UcMiami]

Has nothing directly to do with it. Indirectly, sure, your win-loss record is 25% of the rpi, so when you lose that factor goes down by a couple percentage points (at this point in the season). Your opponents records is north of 600 games, so that's a small hit to the factor, and your opponents opponents games, well, that's a small affect per game.

That's the motivation for less illustrious teams to play some better competition, because they will presumably see long term benefits in factors 2 and 3, which are your SOS, anyhow.

And in-conference is only a factor because of un-balanced schedules and OOC schedules, because (on average) your in-conference games affect on SOS tends to move toward 50% - as if you play everyone once and discounting your own games, wins and losses will be equal across the conference.

Yeah, this late in the season the RPI on any single game doesn't move much at all as there is so much previous data already in place. But conference games do have some significance to RPI based on the OOC results of each team as that affects both the conference opponents 50% and the conference opponents opponents 25%. Choosing an OOC with strong mid-major teams you can beat helps your conference as they will have winning records by the end of the year - playing hopeless dogs will hurt the whole conference.

 

[Plebe]

Yeah, this late in the season the RPI on any single game doesn't move much at all as there is so much previous data already in place. But conference games do have some significance to RPI based on the OOC results of each team as that affects both the conference opponents 50% and the conference opponents opponents 25%. Choosing an OOC with strong mid-major teams you can beat helps your conference as they will have winning records by the end of the year - playing hopeless dogs will hurt the whole conference.

This is really the key to gaming the RPI -- playing the best teams from weak conferences in the OOC. This is exactly how Coach Abe has gotten UCF so high in the RPI in the last two seasons. When you see a schedule with SFA, Belmont, Central Michigan, James Madison and FGCU, you know that's a coach who knows how to play the RPI game.

 

[FanFromMaine]

Cal won again today versus ASU...