Shawn Siegel's Blog

Today’s recap is an MTV Rock & Jock style 15-pointer about Saturday’s Top 25 action.

1. #2 Memphis 65 – MTSU 41
Thoughts: The Tigers will be on national TV their next three games (Cincy, G’Town, Arizona), but luckily this one wasn’t televised. The Blue Raiders were absolutely shut down, held to 27% shooting, and no one scored more than 8 points.

2. #3 Kansas 81 – Ohio 51
Thoughts: The Bobcats came into this game in the Top 50 in RPI.. so you figure the game might have a chance to be decent, right? Not at all, Ohio leaves with their pride wounded.

Last year I unveiled the Siegel Quality Ranking. The concept is simple: College basketball scheduling is so amazingly uneven, that pure records mean nothing. The only wins that should count in determining a team's stature are "quality" wins against "quality" opponents, and losses should only hurt if they're against bad teams.

A "quality" game is one of three things: A home game against a Top 50 RPI team, a Neutral game against a Top 100 team, and a Road win against a Top 150 team. Such wins are hard to come by and only the real NCAA Tournament contenders are able to win many.

In Yesterday's Daily Dribble, I selected the NCAA Tournament field for the first time this season. Remember this was not a projection of the Tournament at season's end, but how it would look as of right now. Using that same field (though the win by UMASS at BC last would may have put them in the field) here is the seeded field (teams listed in ranked order within seed):

 

You wouldn’t know it during this quiet week of college basketball action, but there was 16 games on tap last night. A mix of some clunkers and bona fide good games.

Here is a review/ranking of last night’s games in order from good to bad with a mention of why the game matters or didn’t.

1. #19 Vanderbilt 91 – DePaul 85 (OT)
Matters: Vandy’s now perfect 10-0 record was on the line after a poor start
Who Cares: The Demons couldn’t even beat NC A&T at home..

2. UMASS 83 – BC 80
Matters: Two teams likely to end up on the Tournament Bubble

I usually leave Bracketology to others on CHN.. but I had some time on my hands today, and figured now was as good a time as ever to put together an NCAA Tournament Field. Note: This is NOT a projection of what the Tournament will look like in March, but what I feel would be a realistic representation of the field if it was selected today.

Back with my first daily recap in a couple days. There were 14 games last night, so here are 14 nuggets (1 from each game) to chew on.

1. Coming off a disappointing loss to Michigan State, Bradley rebounded for an important win at Wright State. In what was the game of the night, the Braves won in OT despite off-games from leaders Jeremy Crouch and Daniel Ruffin. Continuing their tour of the Horizon League, BU heads to #19 Butler next.

Following last week's High-Major & Mid-Major rankings, here is the complete 73 team BCS Power Ranking. Obviously a lot of potential NCAA Tournament teams in here, perhaps everyone in the Top 50 has a chance. The SEC is off to a very odd start, no one playing Top 10 basketball, yet its worst teams seem substantially better than the worst of the other leagues.

The begining of this week is a brutal time for college basketball fans, Finals.  Lousy tests getting in the way of what really counts in life.. basketball. No matter, some fine institutions still have a playful spirit and suit up Monday and Tuesday. 

 

Out of town Friday and Saturday, so I apologize for the lack of updates. Be back soon!

Following yesterday's "High-Major" ranking, today's "Mid-Major" list contains what I consider to be the usual 13th through 17th ranked conferences: Big West, Horizon, MAC, Sun Belt, and WCC. Of course, some years there are other leagues that squeak into the Top 17, but only once since 2000 (Ivy in 2002) has a league not included in my rankings finished in the top 16 RPI.

 

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