Obviously, today’s games are still going on, those that have started, but too much from last night to let go.
First of all, what should we make of Illinois Wesleyan’s struggles? This is an uber-talented team with seemingly so many weapons on the floor that it ought to be immune to having to survive a buzzer-beater attempt at Carthage. Even though Carthage is a deceiving 4-8 (check their schedule), a No. 1 team should be in a better position at the end of the game than breathing a sigh of relief.
I wonder if any voters still planning to vote IWU No. 1 after Wednesday’s home loss to North Central were affected. I was pretty sure after Wednesday there would probably be some who would vote for IWU (myself possibly among them) but now I have no idea. They just don’t seem to be playing well.
Question is, if not IWU, then who? This is one of the first times that I’ll be going into Monday with no idea who I’ll be voting No. 1.
On the women’s side, my No. 1 team survived the week but 13 other people had their No. 1 team lose (nine on Wash U and four on George Fox). Brandeis, which has five first-place votes, has no easy game today in facing Rochester. Randolph-Macon, which might have been a candidate, lost at Bridgewater in double overtime on Tuesday night, so they’re out of consideration for this week.
WPI losing isn’t necessarily a surprise, although it should be somewhat surprising that they lost at home. First home loss since March 2004. Losing at Springfield or Wheaton (Mass.) or crosstown rival Clark would have been more expected.
Wilmington’s men winning both games this week is a surprise — when the week started I was asked a couple of times about Wilmington and I told people I would feel comfortable voting for them if they won one of the two games this week (at Ohio Northern and at Baldwin-Walace), so gotta find room for them. And North Central. (Occidental was already on my ballot.) Before this week Wilmington had lost to the only OAC contender it had played, at John Carroll, so the jury was definitely still out.
As I write this, the men’s game on Sunday between Carnegie Mellon and NYU is going to overtime. That’s another team (NYU) that we might need to make room for.
Why didn’t York (Pa.) and Lincoln play at York’s tournament this past weekend? Because Messiah and Lebanon Valley couldn’t play each other, since they will play each other twice in MAC Commonwealth action. This brings up something that I have noticed more and more lately: There are too many tournaments and not enough teams to fill them. Too many schools want to guarantee themselves two extra home games. At any rate, ended up in a good win for a struggling Lebanon Valley squad yesterday afternoon. But don’t worry too much about Lincoln — the Lions have four losses but don’t forget they have 14 wins too, having played nearly three-quarters of their schedule already.
Oof, double overtime now for NYU/Carnegie Mellon men.
No. 13 Augustana seems to be holding serve as the second- … or third-best team in the CCIW after beating No. 16 Elmhurst at home. Since the CCIW has a tournament this year for the first time to determine its automatic bid, a lot of things can still happen, but with 18 Pool C bids to the NCAA Tournament this year, the CCIW figures to get at least one.
Friday night was the more interesting night for women’s games, with Rochester taking it to NYU. As usual, NYU ranked significantly higher in the coaches’ poll than in our poll, but even at No. 15, perhaps a little high considering who they had played so far:
Nov 18 New York University Brockport State (4-4) 73-53
Nov 19 New York University SUNY-Farmingdale (5-5) 64-60
Nov 26 New York University SUNY-Farmingdale (5-5) 82-52
Nov 27 New York University Alvernia (1-8) 82-52
Nov 30 Manhattanville (0-9) New York University 45-65
Dec 6 Mount St. Mary (8-2) New York University 49-55
Dec 9 New York University St. Joseph’s (L.I.) (9-4) 67-31
Dec 17 New York University Kings Point (6-3) 76-43
Jan 2 New York University Montclair State (6-5) 72-64
Above .500 Skyline teams might look good in the Quality of Wins rating but not to a national eye. If you’re trying to game the system I can see why you would choose this kind of schedule but not if you’re trying to prepare yourself for a tough conference or the NCAA Tournament.
Carnegie Mellon, with its top two scorers fouled out, pulls it out on the road on Sunday in the UAA, 89-85 in double overtime. That’s pretty good for a day when there are usually lots of upsets — the team that has to fly twice over the weekend and come back and play an early-afternoon game on Sunday has traditionally struggled in that league.
I throw the floor open for your observations from the weekend.