Week 6 College Hoops Report

The Gophers are the only Big Ten team with two RPI top-50 wins (see below). Wofford has moved inside the century mark to give the Gophers four RPI top-100 wins (West Virginia, North Carolina, Akron & Wofford). The RPI clearly is starting to take legitimate shape, as the top 16 for the most part looks like a who's who of college hoops.

All RPI references are courtesy of Jerry Palm @ CollegeRPI.com. Please note, the CHR will likely take a week off next week, returning Jan. 3, followed by the next "Field of 68" projection on Monday, Jan. 10. It's safe to say if the Gophers are 2-2 (or better) in the Big Ten on the 10th of January, they should be considered a legitimate Big Ten championship contender.

RPI Sweet 16
1. Georgetown (10-1)
2. Kansas (10-0)
3. Florida (8-2)
4. Duke (10-0)
5. West Virginia (8-2)
6. UConn (8-0)
7. Kentucky (8-2)
8. BYU (10-1)
9. Syracuse (11-0)
10. Ohio State (10-0)
11. Kansas State (8-2)
12. Old Dominion (8-2)
13. Tennessee (7-2)
14. Cleveland State (10-1)
15. Boston College (9-2)
16. Vanderbilt (8-2)

Big Ten in the RPI
10. Ohio State (10-0)
23. Minnesota (10-1)
39. Illinois (10-2)
40. Northwestern (7-0)
48. Wisconsin (9-2)
49. Purdue (10-1)
60. Michigan (8-2)
61. Michigan State (7-3)
73. Penn State (7-3)
121. Indiana (9-2)
211. Iowa (6-5)

Week 6 Non-BCS Wins over BCS
Butler 83, Stanford 50
Central Florida 84, Miami-Florida 78
Charlotte 49, Tennessee 48
Drexel 52, Louisville 46
George Washington 87, Oregon State 79
Gonzaga 68, Baylor 64
Illinois-Chicago 57, Illinois 54
James Madison 66, South Florida 61
Montana 71, Oregon State 66
Oakland 89, Tennessee 82
Presbyterian 62, Auburn 59
UTEP 82, Texas Tech 71
Wichita State 70, LSU 69
Xavier 83, Wake Forest 75

Non-BCS Wins over BCS by School (cumulative)
4: Temple

3: Central Florida, Xavier

2: BYU, Florida Atlantic, Gonzaga, Memphis, Montana, Richmond, St. Mary's, Southern Miss, TCU, UNLV, UTEP, VCU, Wichita State

1: Ball State, Bradley, Butler, Cal State-Northridge, Campbell, Charlotte, Coastal Carolina, Davidson, Dayton, Drexel, East Tennessee State, George Washington, Harvard, Illinois-Chicago, Indiana State, Jacksonville, James Madison, Kennesaw State, Kent State, LaSalle, Long Beach State, Murray State, New Mexico, Nicholls State, North Carolina-Asheville, North Carolina-Wilmington, North Texas, Northern Iowa, Oakland, Old Dominion, Presbyterian, Princeton, Rider, St. Bonaventure, Saint Joseph's, St. Peter's, Samford, San Diego State, San Francisco, San Jose State, Seattle, South Dakota State, Stetson, Texas Southern, Tulsa, UAB, Utah Valley State, Western Carolina, Winthrop, Yale

Non-BCS Wins over BCS by Conference -- 86 (cumulative)
15: Atlantic 10
11: Conference USA
8: Mountain West
6: Colonial
5: Atlantic Sun, Missouri Valley, WCC
4: Big South
3: Ivy, Southern, Sun Belt
2: Big Sky, Big West, Horizon, Metro Atlantic, MAC, Summit
1: Great West, Independents, Ohio Valley, Southland, SWAC, WAC

Week 6 BCS vs. BCS Results
Arizona 72, NC State 62
Cincinnati 66, Oklahoma 56
Florida 57, Kansas State 44
Kansas 70, USC 68
Ohio State 79, South Carolina 57
Oklahoma State 68, Alabama 60
South Florida 61, Auburn 49
Texas 78, North Carolina 76
Texas A&M 71, Arkansas 62
Virginia 63, Oregon 48
Virginia Tech 88, Mississippi State 57

BCS Conferences Head-to-Head (100 games played)
1. Big East (23-12, 65.7%) -- averaging 2.187 games played (per Big East member) vs. BCS
2. Big Ten (17-14, 54.8%) -- averaging 2.818 per Big Ten member
3. Big 12 (16-17, 48.5%) -- averaging 2.75 per Big 12 member
4. SEC (16-18, 47.1%) -- averaging 2.833 per SEC member
5. ACC (20-23, 46.5%) -- averaging 3.583 per ACC member
6. Pac 10 (8-16, 33.3) -- averaging 2.4 per Pac 10 member

The Undefeateds (9)
Central Florida, Cincinnati, Duke, Kansas, Northwestern, Ohio State, San Diego State, Syracuse, UConn

Top-50 Wins by the Big Ten (7)
Minnesota (2): vs. West Virginia (5), vs. North Carolina (18)
Ohio State (1): @ Florida (3)
Wisconsin (1): vs. Boston College (15)
Illinois (1): NORTH CAROLINA (18)
Michigan State (1): vs. Washington (46)
Purdue (1): @ Virginia Tech (50)

Gopher Nonconference Opponents in the RPI
5. West Virginia (8-2)
18. North Carolina (7-4)
56. Virginia (7-3, 1-0)
64. Akron (4-4)
98. Wofford (5-6, 2-0)
106. Saint Joseph's (3-7)
125. Western Kentucky (5-6)
136. Siena (3-6, 1-1)
140. North Dakota State (5-4, 1-0)
186. Cornell (2-7)
226. South Dakota State (5-3, 0-1)
307. Eastern Kentucky (3-6, 1-2)

Week 6 Team of the Week: Central Florida -- UCF was 2-0 last week, including an 84-78 neutral-site win over Miami-Florida. The Golden Knights now own wins over three BCS programs, all from the state of Florida (South Florida, Florida & Miami). I have little doubt we'll be seeing UCF in the Big East sometime in the very near future.

Week 6 Team of the Weak: Tennessee -- Come on, you gotta' admit it, wasn't it kinda' nice to see snarky, slippery Bruce Pearl lose a couple games last week? Losing to Oakland, that one doesn't shock me so much, but following it up with a loss to a really bad Charlotte team is inexcusable. Will be interesting to see which way the Vols go from here. Next up is a Tuesday home date with improved USC, which now has the services of Fordham transfer Jio Fontan.

Don't forget, Tennessee also lost an exhibition game to a D2 team this year as well. They did beat Pitt I guess but 3 bad losses more than erases that. I'm sure they'll still be in the top 25 this week though with the clueless voters.

Tennessee beat Villanova in addition to Pitt. I suspect their wins over VCU & Belmont will look pretty good at the end of the year, too.

Bad losses are tolerable as long as there are couple significant wins to wipe them out. The Vols certainly have those with Villanova & Pitt.

The loss to UVa isn't looking quite as terrible as we all thought at the time. I noticed the Wahoos have kept on improving their RPI number as the season has progressed.

SS - How good do you think SDSU is? Are they a 2 or 3 seed as you see it right now? I just don't get all the buzz about them. They beat a terrible Gonzaga team and I think their only other win against a BCS school was Cal. Also, as far as their remaining schedule goes, who do they play that's a legitimate Top 25 team?

San Diego State

I haven't seen San Diego State on the tube this season, but for what it's worth when I saw them in person last year at the NCAA's in Providence I wasn't that impressed. ... but that was last season.

I do think their resume (to this point) is better than you're giving them credit for, though I understand your point. I certainly don't see them as a 2 or 3 seed, but in my mind a win @ Gonzaga is impressive (Zags are much better than their record, their schedule has been positively brutal), and double-digit wins over St. Mary's and Wichita State will look better as the season goes on.

In all likelihood they're going to be unbeaten heading into the Mountain West season, but there are plenty of potential roadblocks with BYU, New Mexico & UNLV on the docket twice, and their game @ Colorado State could be tricky. Not sure if you'd consider any of those legitimate top-25 teams, but I do believe the Mountain West is the best non-BCS league this season, especially at the top.

I'm curious about SDSU too. Haven't been able to catch any games on TV yet, I'll have to grab an online link one of these nights.

It's always good for teams like Gonzaga to schedule a tough NC schedule, but SDUS/KSU/Ill/ND/Baylor already? Crazy.

SS, is the Mountain West better then the Pac 10? I might say yes.

Pretty similar, though I'd still give the edge to the Pac 10. They're pretty similar at the top. .... Washington, Arizona, Washington State & Cal vs. SDSU, BYU, UNLV & New Mexico (in that order) there's not a whole lotta' difference, but I think the Pac 10 is much stronger in the middle with Arizona State, UCLA and especially USC. I think USC is going to be pretty good by the end of the season.

SelectionSunday said:

Pretty similar, though I'd still give the edge to the Pac 10. They're pretty similar at the top. .... Washington, Arizona, Washington State & Cal vs. SDSU, BYU, UNLV & New Mexico (in that order) there's not a whole lotta' difference, but I think the Pac 10 is much stronger in the middle with Arizona State, UCLA and especially USC. I think USC is going to be pretty good by the end of the season.

Click to expand...

Probably true. Though Colorado State is not chopped liver. And if you count Utah in the Pac 10, you could argue it would make them weaker and the Mountain West stronger. Talk about a program that's fallen from grace. I guess that really was just Majerus working his magic.

SDSU

I had the opportunity to see SDSU play live this year and came away lukewarm and I would echo a lot of what SS said. They have an athletic team and a fair amount of depth, especially at the 3/4 positions, I just wonder if they'll find enough scoring against their better opponents in half court games.