Bonhomme
Master Don Juan
Anyone else here follow Big Ten hoops?
Right now there are 7 teams in the Sagarin computer rankings (http://www.usatoday.com/sports/sagarin.htm)* top 20 and the Bow Down To Entropy(http://mintaka.sdsu.edu/~dokter/sw/hr06) top 25*, and a bunch of 'em are tied with 5-2 conference records.
Strangely enough, even though they're in 7th place at 4-3 in conference play, I think Michigan State is in the best position to win the conference title, being the only team to win an away game against one of the other of the top 7. The bottom 4 teams are vastly inferior to the top 7, and can only factor in as spoilers.
There's a good chance there will be 7 top 5 seeds in the big dance, and not a single Big Ten team in the NIT.
* I pay attention to the Sagarin and Bow Down To Entropy rankings, because they don't have the bias of the AP or coaches' rankings (which tend to have inertia), and -- unlike some other computer-based methods -- they do take margin of victory into account.
Right now there are 7 teams in the Sagarin computer rankings (http://www.usatoday.com/sports/sagarin.htm)* top 20 and the Bow Down To Entropy(http://mintaka.sdsu.edu/~dokter/sw/hr06) top 25*, and a bunch of 'em are tied with 5-2 conference records.
Strangely enough, even though they're in 7th place at 4-3 in conference play, I think Michigan State is in the best position to win the conference title, being the only team to win an away game against one of the other of the top 7. The bottom 4 teams are vastly inferior to the top 7, and can only factor in as spoilers.
There's a good chance there will be 7 top 5 seeds in the big dance, and not a single Big Ten team in the NIT.
* I pay attention to the Sagarin and Bow Down To Entropy rankings, because they don't have the bias of the AP or coaches' rankings (which tend to have inertia), and -- unlike some other computer-based methods -- they do take margin of victory into account.