2017-18 National Rankings

[Dan]

Looking at the AP Top 25 schedules for the next two weeks, there won't be a lot of opportunities for the Shockers to move. Not as many Top 25 Match ups and not as many games on the road for Top 25 teams,

2 top 25 teams fall to unranked teams Monday. It’s not the ranked teams you have worry about losing to.

[WichitaHawk]

Looking at the AP Top 25 schedules for the next two weeks, there won't be a lot of opportunities for the Shockers to move. Not as many Top 25 Match ups and not as many games on the road for Top 25 teams,

Its not top 25 Match ups you have to worry about! Its those unranked teams with a fire lit up their a$$es. Like today with TCU (15-5) taking down #7 WVU and V-Tech (14-6) taking down #10 UNC. College basketball has had so much parity this season I expect at least 2-3 ranked teams getting beat every week. As long as that keeps happening while we keep winning and only drop a loss at Cincy and SMU we will move up. Shoot even losing both games to Cincy then winning the rest we would be 24-6 ending conference play. Going off last years rankings towards early March a 24-6 team would be top 10. As long as we keep winning and only drop 2 or at worst 3 we can still move back into the top 10 especially with the love the pollsters have been giving us this year. Last year in the Valley if we were ranked #7 and lose two games to unranked teams we would have been tossed out of the polls. These next two weeks are gut check time for the shockers!

[Jamar Howard 4 President]

I don’t think the Shox schedule is comparable to North Carolina’s last year. Better than WSU’s last season, sure, but still not elite.

24-6 would probably land the Shox around 10-12 in the polls.

[ShockingButTrue]

I don’t think the Shox schedule is comparable to North Carolina’s last year. Better than WSU’s last season, sure, but still not elite.

24-6 would probably land the Shox around 10-12 in the polls.

It's absolutely comparable, at the same point in the season. Although they did play the Hoosiers on campus. Give 'em a little credit for that. No?

[Jamar Howard 4 President]

What part of March polls, March SOS, and a 24-6 record did you not understand?

[ShockingButTrue]

Caveat anyone?

Where'd I reference March?

[WuShock Reaper]

"Power Rankings: Top Four Hold Firm While Three New Squads Join" - Sports illustrated

By MOLLY GEARY
January 24, 2018

https://www.si.com/college-basketball/2018/01/24/power-rankings-villanova-purdue-virginia-michigan-state-saint-marys

"7. OKLAHOMA (15–4)

10. CINCINNATI (17–2)
Last Week (13): beat East Carolina
Next Week: vs. Temple, at Memphis

Of the top 10 teams people are most skeptical about, the Bearcats are probably at the top of the list. There’s reason for it—of the top 50 teams on kenpom.com, Cincy has the weakest strength of schedule at a rank of 257, and it lost both games against its toughest opponents so far (Xavier and Florida). Despite that though, the Bearcats and their stingy defense sit at No. 6 overall on kenpom, 10 points higher than they ever got last year amidst a 22–2 start. Cincinnati has the feeling of a team that will be very polarizing among bracket pickers in March, even if it were to sweep its games against Wichita State. For now though, it’s in the driver’s seat in the AAC after the Shockers dropped back-to-back games.

14. WICHITA STATE (15–4)
Last Week (5): lost to SMU, lost to Houston
Next Week: vs. UCF, vs. Tulsa

The Shockers got their “welcome to the AAC” moment—twice—in the last week in dropping games to SMU and Houston. Both of those teams are in the American’s upper tier, but they were the kind of games that seemed more likely to serve as résumé builders for Wichita State rather than losses. It’s easy to pinpoint the Shockers’ biggest issue right now, and that’s their defense. Despite ranking sixth in the nation in minutes continuity from last season and being one of its most experienced teams, the Shockers’ D has dropped from the No. 13 ranking in adjusted efficiency on kenpom.com to No. 59. The Mustangs, which have a top-30 offense, recently scorched them for 1.38 PPP, after scoring only 0.82 against AAC leader Cincinnati. We know Wichita State has the pieces to defend much better, and maybe it’s still partly a matter of not having Markis McDuffie operating at his 2016–17 level. But for now, the Shockers have lost their edge...."

[WuShock Reaper]

"Week 12 College Basketball Power Rankings" - Fansided

by Matt Kobold
Posted: 01/24/18, 10:30am CST

https://fantasycpr.com/2018/01/24/we...ower-rankings/

"14.) Wichita State Shockers 15-4 (5-2) PR: 7

It was shocking to see the Shockers drop two conference games this week. They lost to SMU at home before losing by 14 at Houston. They allowed SMU to shoot a blistering 64% from the field and 50% from deep. The latter game saw Wichita State shoot 33% from the field, 20% from deep, and commit 18 turnovers. They continue to share the ball though, averaging 18.8 assists per game (5th nationally). Wichita State will look to get back on track with two conference home games this week.

11.) Oklahoma Sooners 14-4 (4-3) PR: 8..."

[WSUwatcher]

Those #14s seem reasonable at this point; the Shocks are capable of playing better and being better, especially as McDuffie regains his form, which eventually he will. But until it happens, there's no good reason to rank them any higher than that, and if anything there still may be a little benefit of the doubt in placing them that high rather than down a couple of notches as in the polls.

[Dan]

2 more Top 25 losses last night to unranked teams, #20 Florida falls to South Carolina and #23 Nevada fallls to Wyoming

a lot of good games tonight and more chances for upsets

[Jamar Howard 4 President]

Shox had 1 pollster leave them off his ballot, and a handful of votes in the 20s, so even though WSU's cumulative ranking was #17, teams like #20 and #23 losing should help give WSU some additional points next week.

(Insert caveat about you know what here)

[Jamar Howard 4 President]

My eyeballs don’t lie.

As Play Angry stated, they started extremely low and are stil victim to preseason stuff.

Top 25 huh?

UT Arlington. Currently 13-9, 4-5, 6th place in the Sunbelt. Peaked at KenPom 72, now 119.

Yes, your eyeballs lie. Search your feelings. I can feel the conflict within you. Let go of your hate (for beautiful wonderful formulas).

[ShockerFever]

Wow that was pinching your sphincter for a good 2 months.

I hope you can sleep better tonight now.


Btw, it’s easy to call out people when one never makes a prediction or observation like ever.

[Jamar Howard 4 President]

"Not a prediction"

https://shockernet.net/forum/wichita-state-athletics/wichita-state-men-s-basketball/23569-2017-18-national-poll-rankings?p=1099753#post1099753

[ShockerFever]

You were not proven right. UTA played like a Top 25 team in November. Go ahead and try to prove that wrong. All of your geeked out numbers from January won’t help you win this one.

I’ll go ahead and refrain from patting myself of the back by going back and looking back on all the things that I’ve called correctly.

Chin up. You got your whole life ahead of you now that you’ve got rid of all that weight you were carrying around with you the past 2 months.

[Jamar Howard 4 President]

Yeah, Nov 11 & 25 never happened.

[Jamar Howard 4 President]

I understand perfectly how poll mechanics work. I know exactly why ASU is only ranked #5. But there is now enough sample size that some voters need to believe their eyes and vote based on results and not preconceived ideas from the preseason. One voter still has ASU ranked 18th, Kansas 6th and Xavier 10th. You can call that poll mechanics if you want. I call it stupid.
Actually, Xavier at 10 seems about right, but you can't have them six spots above an undefeated team with 4 top 50 KenPom wins that absolutely destroyed them on a neutral court. Now, Kansas at 6?!?!? Let's talk "poll mechanics".

KU as a top 10 team, but not ASU, sure doesn’t look so silly anymore now that it is late January.

I think it is wise to use some preseason expectations when generating rankings in December. No, there isn’t enough sample size at that time to rely solely on games played to date.

[Rlh04d]

Eh, I have a difference in perspective -- I prefer the rankings to be used as a snapshot of quality and resume. You're looking at it as a projection. It's wise to use preseason expectations in December if your goal is to make the December poll as close as possible to what the March poll would look like. It's not wise if you want the December poll to look as close as possible to what teams have done by December. I see no need to reward teams like Kansas for playing cupcake schedules in the noncon before they've done anything worth rewarding.

I know Kansas is good, and I know they'll be a top team by March. But if they want to schedule the way they do, they deserve the slight punishment of lower AP rankings, IMO. I have KenPom to tell me who is actually the best(-ish) -- I don't need the polls for that.

[Dan]

9 Top 25 losses this week so far, expect another handful this weekend. Just keep winning.

[Jamar Howard 4 President]

With a win Sunday, WSU gains a solid number of points, but despite tons of top 25 losses all around, stays at #17.

#NotAPrediction

[MadaboutWu]

With a win Sunday, WSU gains a solid number of points, but despite tons of top 25 losses all around, stays at #17.

#NotAPrediction

Texas Tech might lose at South Carolina and it might be close with us passing Ohio State but I also think probably not.

[Jamar Howard 4 President]

Yes, several possibilities, but I think #17 is far and away the most likely.

[Dan]

West Va, UNC and OU losses should send each of them tumbling quite a bit. Their losses are all starting to add up. I could see OU or UNC falling behind us this week if we win today.