KeaneyBlue - The URI Basketball Forum

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Massachusetts moved into the rankings for the first time since the first regular-season poll of 1998-99, three years after the school's only Final Four appearance when John Calipari was the coach and Marcus Camby was the All-America center. One of the guards on that team was current UMass coach Derek Kellogg.
UMass (6-0) won the Charleston Classic on Sunday night by beating Nebraska, then-No. 19 New Mexico and Clemson. The Minutemen continued their best start since the 2010-11 team opened 7-0.

This is UMass's best chance in a long time. They have that great PG that they need to have. He's a senior though, so it's time. They have more than just Chaz, of course.

Our day is coming.......

how are they (UMASS) not in the coaches poll and how is VCU still in the coaches poll?

Ignorance among coaches.

UMASS got 69 votes which made them #26 just behind #25 Indiana. UMASS has no games this week so they should find themselves in the top 25 USA today coaches poll next Monday.
Agree that VCU should have been dropped out

UMass is now ranked #21 in the AP and #22 in the Coaches' Poll

ALSO

Dayton grabs the #25 spot in the AP Poll and is unranked (#31) in the Coaches' Poll.

As expected, Villanova (14 AP ; 19 Coaches) is the ONLY Big East team ranked this week.

ATPTourFan wrote:UMass is now ranked #21 in the AP and #22 in the Coaches' Poll

ALSO

Dayton grabs the #25 spot in the AP Poll and is unranked (#31) in the Coaches' Poll.

As expected, Villanova (14 AP ; 19 Coaches) is the ONLY Big East team ranked this week.

The A10 had UMASS and Dayton
and the BE has only Villanova?

This calls for an investigation - or at least a lively continuation of this thread from some of our friends

Does FOX know about this?!

ATPTourFan wrote:Does FOX know about this?!

ATP are you trying to start something?
But seriously, when, if ever, has the A10 had more teams in the AP Top 25 than the BE?

Told you so !!!!! What about Creighton ? Oh , my bad they lost to GW yesterday but I am sure that Georgetown will be back in the rankings after they beat Linscomb tonight. Who???

What does the fox say? I think he says my product is weak an I am overpaying for it.

Doesn't really matter this time if year but UMass is a little disrespected at 21, I know they didn't play this week which contributes to that but they are a top 15 team right now. Hope they can keep it up. UMass being back would be good for the league.

UMASS plays eastern Michigan tonight and then BYU at home Saturday
Below the Top 25 VCU had 30 points and GW 2 points.
BE had only Creighton with 17 points.

Syracuse was #4, Louisville #7 and UCONN #12

What does the FOX say?

Long season boys...LONG season.

Just remember how you crowed during the opening weekend of the NCAAs...
How'd that work out?

only difference is that the BE lost all the teams that would have us eating crow at the end of the year. I dont see Marquette, Gtown or Creighton turning into national title contenders any time soon. Seton Hall and Depaul are their usual pathetic selfs. PC is over achieving. Butler and X are in down cycle this year. Only team that should rise higher than their current stature is St Johns. Our conferences are fairly even right now, and should remain that way throughout the season.

The Top of the A-10 has been impressive, no doubt. However, it's amazing in all of these comparisons how often the bottom of the A-10 is simply discarded, like they don't exist, yet the bottom of the Big East is always flaunted. There are significantly more bad teams in the A-10 than the Big East, fact not opinion. That's where the difference in the conferences remains.

Even with the disparity between the bottom halves of these two pre-eminent mid major conferences...the gap is not as large as the big east fans believe it is...


This ain't your daddy's big east anymore.....

bigappleram wrote:only difference is that the BE lost all the teams that would have us eating crow at the end of the year. I dont see Marquette, Gtown or Creighton turning into national title contenders any time soon. Seton Hall and Depaul are their usual pathetic selfs. PC is over achieving. Butler and X are in down cycle this year. Only team that should rise higher than their current stature is St Johns. Our conferences are fairly even right now, and should remain that way throughout the season.

Possibly the most ridiculous statement you've ever made...which would be saying something.

It can be reasonably argued that with a diminished and injured Dunn, and with Austin and Bullock suspended....PC is over-achieving. Since that is what you added emphasis to....not the whole statement.

To deny the logic of this argument could be considered ridiculous.

PC has yet to win a game that I thought they wouldn't win at the outset of the season.

There will be years when the A10 is better and there will be years when the BE is better that is the truth. Over the last 15 years we could not say that. UConn, Syracuse, Louisville, Pitt are programs that cannot be replaced.

As for PC overachieving - they are playing through a lot of issues and that is impressive - but they are a good team. I don't think of them as overachieving. PC will be the program that benefits the most from this new BE.

Couldn't agree more. PC could not compete with the top of the old BE on a regular basis. Now we have a punchers chance

Ramulous wrote:Even with the disparity between the bottom halves of these two pre-eminent mid major conferences...the gap is not as large as the big east fans believe it is...


This ain't your daddy's big east anymore.....

The Big East has 8 out of 10 teams competing for NCAA or NIT bids. The A10 presently has about 5, stretch it to 6 out of 13 teams competing for NCAA or NIT bids. Things can change obviously, but I'd say the gap, top to bottom, is much greater than you give it credit for. Both conferences seem to promote very similar Top 4s, but the drop for the A10 after that is significantly greater than the BE.

rjsuperfly66 wrote:The Big East has 8 out of 10 teams competing for NCAA or NIT bids.

WHAT?? I can't wait to see how this really turns out at the end of the season.

Explain what "competing for..." means.

I think you mean "used to have"

That they at the very least look to be somewhere around the bubble, so of they miss (which a good chunk of them obviously will), they will likely place In the NIT. If I'm comparing the entire comference, I like to see what every member does, not just pick and choose.

In the big scheme of things two things count:
How many temas does a conference have in the Top 25 throughout the year and at the end of the year
How many teams make the NCAA Tournament

Who is at the bottom grouping of teams from the A10, BE, SEC, ACC, etc etc who cares. Funny how overall quality of the teams has become a topic these days.

Top 25
NCAA

If that's all you care about than you can't argue "who has the better conference." You can argue who will have the more successful year, but better conference implies some measurement of depth. I'd rather the deeper conference than the top heavy one. I'll take the conference with 80% of teams in solid postseason position (barring strange events) over the conference with ~50%.

rjsuperfly66 wrote:If that's all you care about than you can't argue "who has the better conference." You can argue who will have the more successful year, but better conference implies some measurement of depth. I'd rather the deeper conference than the top heavy one. I'll take the conference with 80% of teams in solid postseason position (barring strange events) over the conference with ~50%.

not me

So that would mean think the old CUSA because Memphis was strong (the Calipari years)? Even though they often had maybe 2 teams in the NCAA and 1 other in the NIT? And had all those creampuffs at the bottom? But because Memphis was a Sweet 16/Elite 8 team each year, you think they were stronger than a conference that might have gotten 7 out of their 10 teams into the NCAA or NIT, but had no significant deep runs? I know your better than that Ramster.

And that's not to say I don't value the rankings or postseason records, but I think they should be weighted accordingly. Wins matter, teams in matter. To me, having 3 teams in with only 1 winning games (even if it's the Elite 8) is the same as having 3 teams in and getting them all to the Round of 32. And likewise, it's also important to me to have a deep conference without many cupcakes, so measuring bubble/NIT teams is also important to me.

rj,
I think it is significant that the A10 has two teams in the Top 25 and the BE has only 1 - guess I am basking in my glory and taking a little chance to "rub it in a little"

It will be even more interesting to see how many each league has in the Top 25 come February.

ramster wrote:rj,
I think it is significant that the A10 has two teams in the Top 25 and the BE has only 1 - guess I am basking in my glory and taking a little chance to "rub it in a little"

I agree, I think it's important. I think the A-10 has took advantage of underachieving Big East teams and has made great strides. The top of the A-10 (not surprising) has proven to be extremely tough this year. I always said that until Big East expansion occurs again, I think the top of the BE and A10 would likely remain competitive, but the difference would be in the depth of each conference. Anyways, this is how I see the conference breakdown right now, from every unbiased bone in my body. Obviously, everything is subject to change as games play out.

RJ's NCAA Locks -
Big East: Villanova, Georgetown, Creighton
A10: UMASS, VCU (potential BE target), St. Louis (potential BE target), Dayton (potential BE target)

RJ's Bubble (more than a puncher's chance at the NCAA)-
Big East: Marquette, Butler
A10: None

RJ's Likely NIT -
Big East: Providence, Xavier, St. John's
A10: George Washington, Richmond (potential BE target)

RJ's "On the Outs" (likely non-NCAA postseason tournament):
Big East: None
A10: St. Joseph's

RJ's "Likely Golfing in March":
Big East: Seton Hall, DePaul
A10: St. Bonaventure, George Mason, LaSalle, URI, Duquesne, Fordham, Davidson** (Davidson would definitely be golfing if they were in the A-10 - being in the conference they are in, they will likely pull out a good enough record to make a non-NCAA postseason tourney ... They certainly have played a tough schedule with Duke, Virginia, Clemson, New Mexico, and Georgia, still games against UNC and Witchita St., but have not really been competitive outside of their win vs. Georgia)

First of all let's compare the top ten teams of the A 10 to the ten teams of the new little east. To date this season the A 10 is superior!! As to expansion speculation it is just that and I am not sure that the A 10 would be interested in any of those teams. Stay tuned there is a long way to go this year.

Bracketology (although early) has 4 teams from both conferences in with 1 team for each conference in the first 12 out

UMASS 6 seed
Dayton 7 seed
VCU 7 seed
SLU 10 seed
George Washington 5th team out

Villanova 4 seed
Creighton 8 seed
Georgetown 9 seed
Marquette 12 seed
Butler 11th team out

Carl K Tortella wrote:First of all let's compare the top ten teams of the A 10 to the ten teams of the new little east. To date this season the A 10 is superior!! As to expansion speculation it is just that and I am not sure that the A 10 would be interested in any of those.

1 - Any a10 team would kill for an invite to the big east. Money talks.

2 - The idea that the a10 1-10 has been better than the big east 1-10 is incorrect. The a-10 1-10 is at least within striking distance of the BE (virtually even at the top, Big East gets some separation in the middle and at the bottom). The A10 13 is in another time zone all together though.

3 - The Big East has continued to show it's one of the deepest conferences, top to bottom. It will be important for someone (or two) to emerge as consistent powers over the next few years.

Money does talk....

...but the gap isn't as great as you believe....but I expect that of you, Sean and peeps......

....better to be blown out in the first round of the NCAA's than to win the NIT.....so you can save that shinola....

Who would disagree with that? You'd rather more teams winning in the NCAA than the NIT. But I'd rather have 4 in the NCAA and 4 in the NIT with 2 sitting at home, than 4 in the NCAA, 2 in the NIT, and 7 at home. Winning In the NCAA is much better than winning in the NIT, just like Winning in the NIT is better than golfing in March.