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ArtBest23
Joined: 02 Jul 2013
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 Posted: 12/28/14 8:48 pm ::: So who is flying under the radar |
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and being underappreciated while playing good ball so far this year.
I'd start with Seton Hall, Dayton and George Washington.
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FS02
Joined: 19 Jul 2006
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| Posted: 12/28/14 9:16 pm ::: |
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| Northwestern.
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Shades
Joined: 10 Jul 2006
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| Posted: 12/28/14 9:57 pm ::: Re: So who is flying under the radar |
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| ArtBest23 wrote: |
and being underappreciated while playing good ball so far this year.
I'd start with Seton Hall, Dayton and George Washington. |
All the flavors of the day?
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FollowtheCardinalRule
Joined: 12 Oct 2011
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| Posted: 12/28/14 10:02 pm ::: |
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Princeton might be the most dangerous mid-major out there.
If people are saying that Northwestern is flying under the radar, than Arizona State deserves a mention. The talk of the Pac-12 thus far has been all about Stanford, Oregon State, Washington, and heck, even Washington State (see, Maryland). Arizona State has seemingly been flying under the radar while beating Northwestern, Vandy, Miami, and Middle Tennessee.
I'm intrigued by an 10-2 Western Kentucky. This might be a team that people don't want to see lose in their conference tourney if they can run through the conference or escape with a split against Middle Tennessee.
The Sycamores of Indiana State have perhaps emerged as the favorite to win the Valley--but the questionable loss to Stetson probably sinks their at-large decisions--but they go into the Valley prepared to do battle with Wichita State after good (?) wins against St. John's and Indiana.
I'm sure there are plenty of others.
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Shades
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| Posted: 12/28/14 10:08 pm ::: |
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| Northwestern was on their 4th game in 7 days when they fell to ASU at ASU's house. Something to consider. And that's been Northwestern's only loss. For that they get scant votes in the AP poll.
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summertime blues
Joined: 16 Apr 2013
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| Posted: 12/28/14 10:48 pm ::: |
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| JMU, of course.
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SpaceJunkie
Joined: 10 Sep 2012
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| Posted: 12/28/14 10:52 pm ::: |
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| UConn
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FS02
Joined: 19 Jul 2006
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| Posted: 12/28/14 10:52 pm ::: |
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| Another team I've developed an affinity for: Long Beach State. Maybe the best mid-major out west. 12-1, beat Cal and LSU, only loss was in OT to USC.
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beknighted
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| Posted: 12/28/14 11:57 pm ::: |
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Northwestern, definitely, particularly after today.
Seton Hall's win over Georgia is probably the best win the program has had in years, so they bear watching.
GWU has a good record, but I don't see any wins that really caught my eye.
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IM in OC
Joined: 25 Mar 2009
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| Posted: 12/29/14 9:39 am ::: |
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| FS02 wrote: |
| Another team I've developed an affinity for: Long Beach State. Maybe the best mid-major out west. 12-1, beat Cal and LSU, only loss was in OT to USC. |
+1
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bekcat1
Joined: 24 Feb 2011
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| Posted: 12/29/14 11:52 am ::: |
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| UT Chattanooga.
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PickledGinger
Joined: 04 Oct 2013
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| Posted: 12/29/14 2:10 pm ::: |
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| FollowtheCardinalRule wrote: |
| The talk of the Pac-12 thus far has been all about Stanford, Oregon State, Washington, and heck, even Washington State (see, Maryland). Arizona State has seemingly been flying under the radar while beating Northwestern... |
Considering ASU is ranked 22nd and Washington and WSU are the 9th and 10th teams out tells me that they are farther under the radar than the Sun Devils. But when the Huskies beat Texas A&M tonight in Seattle I expect them to bunny hop right into the top 25. 😏
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Phil
Joined: 22 Oct 2011
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| Posted: 12/29/14 3:29 pm ::: |
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| SHU is ranked so no longer under the radar.
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ArtBest23
Joined: 02 Jul 2013
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| Posted: 12/29/14 3:46 pm ::: |
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| Phil wrote: |
| SHU is ranked so no longer under the radar. |
On the other hand, Dayton got a whopping one vote and GW got zero, do they are still in steath mode.
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purduefanatic
Joined: 10 Aug 2011
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| Posted: 12/29/14 4:58 pm ::: |
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Not sure I would put Chattanooga on this list as they have clearly been recognized for beating 2 Top-10 teams with articles and such.
Some teams that are under the radar:
1. Florida Gulf Coast (11-2) - wins vs GW, Wichita State, Clemson, Providence, Ark State...only losses are by 3 at Auburn and in OT to Ohio State. Smesko does a great job and they seem to be a team capable of a win or 2 in the NCAA's.
2. Middle Tennessee State (6-4) - including them as not much has been said about them but when you look at their schedule, they are preparing for March. Their 4 losses are to Arizona State, Arkansas, Kentucky and South Dakota State while they have wins over Miami, Ole Miss, Clemson, Xavier and Central Florida. They will be a factor later, along with the aforementioned 10-2 Western Kentucky squad.
3. Quinnipiac (10-2) - They will pose the biggest threat to Marist in the MAAC, but their biggest win to date is probably over Alabama, though they have beaten America East stalwarts Albany and Hartford as well as St. Joe's and Drexel. 2 losses are in OT to Harvard (solid team as well) and a blow-out at Notre Dame.
4. Akron (10-0) - They have played a pretty weak schedule but they are still undefeated and I bet no one knows...so I guess that is under the radar. They have beaten Central Florida and Northern Iowa to name just a couple. It will be interesting to see how they do in the MAC.
5. Wichita State (9-3) - This team could make noise...have already beaten Creighton, Ohio State, Clemson and Kansas State. Their losses have been to Eastern Washington (?), Florida Gulf Coast and 3 points at Tennessee. Could be a team that makes a Sweet Sixteen run.
6. Arkansas-Little Rock (7-2) - Have beaten LSU, Oklahoma, Memphis and Tulsa while their 2 losses are to Tulane and South Dakota State. They have a battle coming up vs 8-1 Louisiana-Lafayette, the top 2 teams in the Sun Belt.
I'm sure there are many others but thought these 6 mid-majors deserved some mention.
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beknighted
Joined: 11 Nov 2004
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| Posted: 12/29/14 5:31 pm ::: |
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| Phil wrote: |
| SHU is ranked so no longer under the radar. |
The first ranking in almost 20 years, by the way - the last time the Pirates were in the top 25 was in January, 1995.
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Phil
Joined: 22 Oct 2011
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| Posted: 12/29/14 5:55 pm ::: |
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| Princeton beat Hartford, not unlikely, but who can beat Princeton? Could they be undefeated going into Tourney?
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Phil
Joined: 22 Oct 2011
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| Posted: 12/29/14 6:00 pm ::: |
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FGCU playing Quinnipiac right now up 58-53 with just under 4 minutes to go
Edit up 69-65 with 3 seconds to go.
Final 71-65, nice win for FGCU.
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FollowtheCardinalRule
Joined: 12 Oct 2011
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| Posted: 12/29/14 6:33 pm ::: |
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| Phil wrote: |
FGCU playing Quinnipiac right now up 58-53 with just under 4 minutes to go
Edit up 69-65 with 3 seconds to go.
Final 71-65, nice win for FGCU. |
I mentioned it in the headscratcher thread--but FGCU won despite shooting 21% from three. Do they normally win even if they are shooting poorly from a distance? I remember FGCU living or dying by the three in the past.
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Phil
Joined: 22 Oct 2011
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| Posted: 12/29/14 7:10 pm ::: |
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| FollowtheCardinalRule wrote: |
| Phil wrote: |
FGCU playing Quinnipiac right now up 58-53 with just under 4 minutes to go
Edit up 69-65 with 3 seconds to go.
Final 71-65, nice win for FGCU. |
I mentioned it in the headscratcher thread--but FGCU won despite shooting 21% from three. Do they normally win even if they are shooting poorly from a distance? I remember FGCU living or dying by the three in the past. |
I noticed that. Not just threes, they couldn't hit 2s either but yes, they are often dependent on 3s, so it is a bit surprising they survived.
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bekcat1
Joined: 24 Feb 2011
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| Posted: 12/29/14 8:13 pm ::: |
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| Phil wrote: |
| FollowtheCardinalRule wrote: |
| Phil wrote: |
FGCU playing Quinnipiac right now up 58-53 with just under 4 minutes to go
Edit up 69-65 with 3 seconds to go.
Final 71-65, nice win for FGCU. |
I mentioned it in the headscratcher thread--but FGCU won despite shooting 21% from three. Do they normally win even if they are shooting poorly from a distance? I remember FGCU living or dying by the three in the past. |
I noticed that. Not just threes, they couldn't hit 2s either but yes, they are often dependent on 3s, so it is a bit surprising they survived. |
From what little I remember about FGSU is they were pretty good on defense. They are well coached and pretty disciplined and if I were a #1 or #2 or #3 seed in the NCAAT and I saw FGSU, I would be a bit nervous.
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FS02
Joined: 19 Jul 2006
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| Posted: 12/30/14 12:40 am ::: |
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FGCU is sort of limited by the league they play in. It is hard for them to get power-5 teams to play them, and this year they had 2 big chances: against Auburn and against OSU. They are competitive with those teams. They could have won either game, but they didn't, and unfortunately that hurts their chance of getting a decent seed.
(They did beat Clemson though, for what its worth, but I don't think Clemson is very good..)
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Happycappie25
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| Posted: 12/30/14 2:21 pm ::: |
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| Phil wrote: |
| Princeton beat Hartford, not unlikely, but who can beat Princeton? Could they be undefeated going into Tourney? |
Not a stretch to say that the biggest threat to Princeton is this afternoon at Fordham.
The ivy league is all rivalries all the time so wont rule an upset but even penn and Harvard wpuld be upsets it is not implausible to say that their last true test is tipping off in an hour
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ArtBest23
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| Posted: 12/30/14 2:25 pm ::: |
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| Happycappie25 wrote: |
| Phil wrote: |
| Princeton beat Hartford, not unlikely, but who can beat Princeton? Could they be undefeated going into Tourney? |
Not a stretch to say that the biggest threat to Princeton is this afternoon at Fordham.
The ivy league is all rivalries all the time so wont rule an upset but even penn and Harvard wpuld be upsets it is not implausible to say that their last true test is tipping off in an hour |
So where would folks expect Princeton to end up in the polls and what seed in the tournament if they happen to go undefeated for the entire year?
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beknighted
Joined: 11 Nov 2004
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| Posted: 12/30/14 3:17 pm ::: |
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| ArtBest23 wrote: |
| Happycappie25 wrote: |
| Phil wrote: |
| Princeton beat Hartford, not unlikely, but who can beat Princeton? Could they be undefeated going into Tourney? |
Not a stretch to say that the biggest threat to Princeton is this afternoon at Fordham.
The ivy league is all rivalries all the time so wont rule an upset but even penn and Harvard wpuld be upsets it is not implausible to say that their last true test is tipping off in an hour |
So where would folks expect Princeton to end up in the polls and what seed in the tournament if they happen to go undefeated for the entire year? |
Maybe 15 or 16 in the polls and a 6 or 7 seed if the committee is feeling generous, but possibly as low as a 9 or 10. The committee has a history of ignoring the rankings for teams in weak conferences, and this would be a textbook example. The Tigers might have a better chance at a decent seed if a couple of their OOC opponents turn out to be tournament teams, although I'm not sure what the prospects are for that. (I'd guess Michigan and Pitt have the best odds, and it drops off pretty fast after that.)
Also, Princeton's RPI is going to go down the rest of the season, and with the weakness of the rest of the conference, the Tigers most likely end up outside of the RPI top 25. (They can't actually improve their RPI by winning out, since the W/L component already is maxed out with an undefeated record.)
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