2017-18 National Poll Rankings

[WuShock Reaper]

College hoops Power Rankings: After Virginia, lots of questions - ESPN

By Jeff Borzello, ESPN Staff Writer
Posted: 02/26/18

http://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/22579982/college-basketball-power-rankings-virginia-cavaliers-only-sure-thing-season

10. Cincinnati Bearcats (Record: 25-4, Last week: 11)
After allowing just three of their first 25 opponents to score one point per possession, the Bearcats have now given up at least one point per possession in three of their past four games -- including a season-high 122.7 per 100 possessions against Tulsa on Sunday.

13. Wichita State Shockers (Record: 23-5, Last week: 15)
Welcome to the season, Markis McDuffie. One of the best players in the Missouri Valley last season, McDuffie was inconsistent after missing the first month and a half of this season. But he totaled 41 points in two games last week, which is great news for the Shockers.

25. Houston Cougars (Record: 22-6, Last week: 25)
Houston remains in the rankings despite losing to Memphis earlier in the week because they stomped East Carolina by 51 on Sunday. The Cougars are 6-2 against Quadrant 1 teams and 7-4 against Quadrant 1 and 2 teams, winning percentages that stand out when compared to the likes of Texas A&M, Oklahoma, Arkansas and other potential teams trying to climb into the rankings.

[AZ Shocker]

Those 3 teams you mentioned are all ranked top 4 in SOS. It kind of makes sense that if you played the toughest schedule in the country, nobody with an equal number of losses is going to be ranked ahead of you.

The whining over straightforward, completely logical stuff is just so lame.

I'm aware of that. I just enjoy making fun of the probable top 3 cheating universities out there.

Then I wonder if our Shockers had a Top-4 SOS and had 9 losses or lost a game to Wofford and 3 games in a row in late January...or lost back to back HOME games to currently the 6th and 9th place teams in the Pac-12......would we be ranked in the Top-10 or even Top-25 this week?

[CBB_Fan]

AP #11
Somehow, I recall hearing that WSU was more likely to be in the NIT than a 4 seed. Hmmmm....

You need to check your reading comprehension. You read what you wanted to read, the worst possible reading of my post so you could maximize your outrage.

I focused on then-current level of play for a reason. If we continued to play like we did @Houston, we WOULD be looking at something between an 9 seed and an NIT berth. You don't get to back after we improved and beat Cincinnati to say that on January 20th that game was 100% a win in the books.

At the time I made that statement, we didn't have a single high quality win locked up. Marquette was teetering around a T1 win and Baylor and Oklahoma State looked like the worst in the B12 (well, worse than now). The entire strength of our prospective schedule was in front of us and we had two potential T1 losses in the previous week. At that level of play, we were more likely to accumulate a lot of losses against the much tougher SoS ahead than to win out except a loss @ Temple.

Which is to say, our most likely scenario at that level of play was a 10 seed. Which is closer to an NIT berth than wearing white. Somehow we went from that to "Yeah, we are on the NIT train, choo-choo!" But that isn't what I simply isn't what I said. Yeah, winning @ Cincinnati, vs Temple, and @ SMU will raise your seed. Did I ever imply doing that wouldn't be a good thing or help us out? I just said we needed to play better, and we did.

Forgot a run in March, the team needs to improve dramatically to even start thinking in that direction. ...

That is 2017-2018 Wichita State unless they improve significantly.

We improved significantly. That's a good thing! I never said it was impossible, in fact I always hoped it would happen. But it factually inaccurate to act like the odds today are the same as the odds on January 20th, before McDuffie was hitting his career highs again, before Reeves emerged as a starter, before Conner Frankamp got his shot back, before Shaq started playing like the arguable AAC PoY. We have 13-4 vs T1 and T2. 9 games ago, we were 6-4 (SMU dropped to T3).

That's a great improvement, particularly because it was unlikely. If anything, it takes away from the accomplishment to act like it was predestined from the start. It wasn't. If we were the same team as during December-January, we'd be sitting at 9-7 or worse in the AAC and probably looking exactly at that 10 seed (with a chance to climb significantly with wins @UCF, vs Cincinnati, and in the AAC Tournament).

Improvement of this level is exactly why Marshall gets paid the big dollars and we lurk forums; it is a remarkable thing that we should take pride in, not something we should diminish as ordinary or expected.

[Jamar Howard 4 President]

Have you seen how little the KenPom rating has improved over the recent winning streak?

WSU wasn't playing as bad as you claimed then, and they aren't playing soooooo much better now. You overreacted. Period.

[Jhook89]

I’d say they played better against Cincinnati and about the same as they have all year against everyone else during the win streak.

[BOBB]

Where is lawmaker ?

[AndShock]

Banned.

[WSUwatcher]

He now votes in the AP poll under the name of Seth Davis.

[ShockerFever]

You need to check your reading comprehension. You read what you wanted to read, the worst possible reading of my post so you could maximize your outrage.

I focused on then-current level of play for a reason. If we continued to play like we did @Houston, we WOULD be looking at something between an 9 seed and an NIT berth. You don't get to back after we improved and beat Cincinnati to say that on January 20th that game was 100% a win in the books.

At the time I made that statement, we didn't have a single high quality win locked up. Marquette was teetering around a T1 win and Baylor and Oklahoma State looked like the worst in the B12 (well, worse than now). The entire strength of our prospective schedule was in front of us and we had two potential T1 losses in the previous week. At that level of play, we were more likely to accumulate a lot of losses against the much tougher SoS ahead than to win out except a loss @ Temple.

Which is to say, our most likely scenario at that level of play was a 10 seed. Which is closer to an NIT berth than wearing white. Somehow we went from that to "Yeah, we are on the NIT train, choo-choo!" But that isn't what I simply isn't what I said. Yeah, winning @ Cincinnati, vs Temple, and @ SMU will raise your seed. Did I ever imply doing that wouldn't be a good thing or help us out? I just said we needed to play better, and we did.



We improved significantly. That's a good thing! I never said it was impossible, in fact I always hoped it would happen. But it factually inaccurate to act like the odds today are the same as the odds on January 20th, before McDuffie was hitting his career highs again, before Reeves emerged as a starter, before Conner Frankamp got his shot back, before Shaq started playing like the arguable AAC PoY. We have 13-4 vs T1 and T2. 9 games ago, we were 6-4 (SMU dropped to T3).

That's a great improvement, particularly because it was unlikely. If anything, it takes away from the accomplishment to act like it was predestined from the start. It wasn't. If we were the same team as during December-January, we'd be sitting at 9-7 or worse in the AAC and probably looking exactly at that 10 seed (with a chance to climb significantly with wins @UCF, vs Cincinnati, and in the AAC Tournament).

Improvement of this level is exactly why Marshall gets paid the big dollars and we lurk forums; it is a remarkable thing that we should take pride in, not something we should diminish as ordinary or expected.

Man up and take your deserved beatings. You were (and are) a manic depressant who overreacts to EVERYTHING. This is the first time I can remember that you've shown up during a run of wins. Of course, you aren't posting about the winning, but instead are more concerned with your shaky credibility and defending it til the better end.

Signed,

Waiting for you to come unhinged when the next loss comes.

[FadedCrown]

Next loss? That is not till November!

[ShockerFever]

Where is lawmaker ?

He and Uncle Mike are playing a game of tickle monster in the playpen.

[im4wsu]

Jamar Howard 4 President[/URL] commented
Have you seen how little the KenPom rating has improved over the recent winning streak?

WSU wasn't playing as bad as you claimed then, and they aren't playing soooooo much better now. You overreacted. Period.

Here are the Ken Pom ratings for the morning after each game (I didn't get the first game, sorry)

Game	Rank	Team	W-L	AdjEM	AdjO	Rk	AdjD	Rk	AdjT	Rk	Luck	Rk	AdjEM	Rk	OppO	Rk	OppD	Rk	AdjEM	Rk	Rec	Conf
1
2	2	WSU	2-0	26	115.9	4	89.9	4	73	198	0.048	35	-7.35	221	97.2	237	104.5	213	-7.35		24-4	15-3
3	4	WSU	3-0	25.45	116.8	4	91.4	12	72.8	113	0.101	54	-2.71	228	99.6	266	102.3	179	-2.71	228	24-5	15-3
4	4	WSU	4-0	25.89	117.4	5	91.5	10	72	141	0.091	60	1.24	158	103.4	167	102.1	146	1.24	158	25-5	15-3
5	3	WSU	4-1	25.53	117.4	5	91.9	12	70.7	212	-0.038	246	5.1	98	106.2	85	101.1	104	5.1	98	24-6	14-4
6	4	WSU	5-1	25.6	117.9	6	92.3	13	70.1	181	-0.045	253	0.58	169	104.3	162	103.7	187	0.58	169	24-6	15-3
7	5	WSU	6-1	26.02	118.1	6	92.1	11	70.2	182	-0.011	202	3.36	94	105.6	92	102.2	98	3.36	93	25-5	15-3
8	6	WSU	7-1	25.13	118.1	5	92.9	15	70.4	155	0.009	162	2.55	126	105.1	97	102.6	146	2.55	123	25-5	14-4
9	4	WSU	8-1	25.93	118.7	6	92.8	13	70	178	0.017	150	4.8	71	106.9	51	102.1	97	4.8	70	25-5	15-3
10	7	WSU	9-1	24.43	117.8	7	93.4	19	70.3	151	-0.019	215	6.14	39	107.6	28	101.5	68	6.14	39	24-6	14-4
11	9	WSU	9-2	23.08	118.7	6	95.6	32	69.6	186	-0.004	189	4.18	71	107.1	45	102.9	105	4.18	69	24-6	14-4
12	9	WSU	10-2	22.38	117.3	9	94.9	26	69.6	190	0.006	167	3.51	83	106.6	44	103.1	151	3.51	80	24-6	14-4
13	12	WSU	10-2	22.02	116.5	13	94.5	26	69.9	172	0.014	148	3.96	60	106.6	39	102.6	117	3.38	78	24-6	14-4
14	10	WSU	11-2	22.87	116.6	14	93.7	19	69.4	190	0.01	157	4.71	45	107.3	22	102.6	115	3.55	73	24-6	14-4
15	11	WSU	13-2	22.95	116.9	15	94	20	69.6	171	0.009	164	2.99	80	106.6	50	103.6	159	3.48	77	24-6	14-4
16	9	WSU	14-2	23.68	117.7	13	94	19	69.4	163	0.005	167	2.33	102	105.9	67	103.5	152	3.74	72	25-5	15-3
17	12	WSU	15-2	22.58	117.3	15	94.7	23	69.4	163	0.022	127	2.54	96	106.5	62	103.9	151	3.35	85	25-5	15-3
18	15	WSU	15-3	20.61	118.4	12	97.8	60	68.8	179	0	176	2.59	97	106.2	70	103.6	144	2.85	94	23-7	13-5
19	21	WSU	15-4	19.29	116.7	16	97.4	55	68.9	164	-0.003	185	3.7	72	106.6	54	102.9	101	2.8	94	23-7	13-5
20	21	WSU	16-4	19.55	117.6	15	98.1	66	68.7	154	-0.004	189	3.35	86	105.8	86	102.5	78	2.54	98	23-7	13-5
21	19	WSU	17-4	19.42	118.2	15	98.8	75	68.8	145	-0.004	192	2.68	93	105.7	107	103	87	2.15	109	23-7	13-5
22	22	WSU	17-5	18.91	117.1	18	98.2	62	69.2	125	-0.029	241	3.32	85	106.4	82	103	84	2.12	108	22-8	12-6
23	19	WSU	18-5	19.66	117.9	16	98.3	51	69.4	116	-0.029	241	3.52	82	107.3	85	103.8	82	2.24	103	23-7	13-5
24	18	WSU	19-5	20.11	119.3	13	99.2	62	69.1	118	-0.03	251	3.24	87	107.4	88	104.2	89	2.59	100	23-7	13-5
25	18	WSU	20-5	19.88	119.9	11	100	78	69.5	119	-0.021	230	3.22	88	107.4	83	104.2	102	2.27	105	23-7	13-5
26	14	WSU	21-5	20.92	121.4	8	100.5	75	69.4	124	-0.01	202	4.22	78	108.2	82	103.9	77	2.31	101	24-6	14-4
27	16	WSU	22-5	20.19	121.8	8	101.6	90	69.4	119	-0.003	184	3.7	85	108.2	86	104.5	87	2.11	109	24-6	14-4
28	17	WSU	23-5	20.44	122.9	6	102.5	96	69.3	117	0.005	163	4.32	79	109.1	77	104.8	87	2.31	107	24-6	14-4

[proshox]

The trend line was concerning.... the offense reverted back to elite, the defense has stayed below WSU’s standard.

[DJShocker10]

One can’t help but notice that with the way the rankings have played out, our game against Cincy could shape out to be about like our gameday experience against UNI a couple years ago (only with significantly less flopping). Here’s hoping for another breakaway windmill jam to solidify another tally in the W column!

[Rocky Mountain Shock]

One can’t help but notice that with the way the rankings have played out, our game against Cincy could shape out to be about like our gameday experience against UNI a couple years ago (only with significantly less flopping). Here’s hoping for another breakaway windmill jam to solidify another tally in the W column!

I believe the rankings are exactly the same as well. IIRC, UNI was 10 and we were 11.

Edit: After I reread your post, I think that was actually your point. My bad for being dumb.

[WuShock Reaper]

"Power Rankings: Drama-Filled Week Leads to Movement All Around" - Sports Illustrated

By MOLLY GEARY
February 28, 2018

https://www.si.com/college-basketball/2018/02/28/ncaa-basketball-power-rankings-kansas-arizona-duke-tennessee-texas-tech-michigan

"College basketball made more headlines off the court than on it in the last week, but we’ll focus on the latter for our penultimate Power Rankings. It’s already conference tournament time for some leagues, like the Big Ten and WCC, while most teams are gearing up for the final week of the regular season. As always, the week didn’t go without drama on the court, including two Tobacco Road teams being upset heading into their eagerly anticipated second showdown. Here’s the new top 25...

9. WICHITA STATE
Last Week (12): beat Tulane, beat SMU
Next Week: at UCF, vs. Cincinnati

The Shockers are back in the top 10 here because they’ve won six in a row and have risen as others have faltered, but they’re kind of like the anti-Duke right now. While the Blue Devils seemed to have fixed their defensive woes as the season has gone, Wichita State has been slipping from an already shaky perch and now ranks 94th in adjusted defensive efficiency. It hasn’t finished a season ranked that low on defense under Gregg Marshall since 2008–09, a year it went 17–17. Unlike that season though, this year’s Shockers have an elite offense—in fact, it’s currently their highest-ranked offense (No. 5) in the kenpom.com era. Unbalanced teams seem to be the trend this year, but that level of disparity seems awfully unlikely to sustain a long March run without any (also unlikely) abrupt and significant changes on defense.

10. CINCINNATI
Last Week (14): beat UConn, beat Tulsa
Next Week: at Tulane, at Wichita State

Another unbalanced AAC team, the Bearcats at least are top 50 on offense to go along with their second-ranked defense. While the postseason is approaching, they’ve likely got their regular-season finale circled on their calendar, when they’ll look to force a split with Wichita State and secure the American title. No matter how the seeding shakes out, the conference tournament feels very likely to draw from two of Cincinnati, Wichita State and Houston....

NEXT FIVE OUT: Clemson, Saint Mary’s, Houston, Butler, Miami"

[RussDaBus]

Up 2 spots on Seth Davis ballot. 13th

[ShockerFever]

Win 7 in a row and don't move up his ballot. Lose a game and move up 2. Seth is amazing.

[AndShock]

What a clown.

[shocker3]

I guess he values "good losses" more than wins.

[WuShock Reaper]

I'll predict the Shockers drop to #14 (+/-1) in the AP Week 18 Poll.

Go Shockers!!!

:poster_shocks:

[Jamar Howard 4 President]

Won't drop that far.

[WuShock Reaper]

"College Basketball Power Rankings:..." - NBC Sports

By Rob Dauster
Mar 4, 2018, 9:23 PM EST

http://collegebasketball.nbcsports.com/2018/03/04/college-basketball-power-rankings-michigan-up-to-no-6-with-big-ten-tourney-title/

5. Cincinnati, 27-4 (Last Week:9)

13. Wichita State, 24-6 (12)

20. Houston, 24-6 (25)