Big 10/National RPI Stuff (through Dec. 15)

[SelectionSunday]

Courtesy of CollegeRPI.com.

Big 10
7. Ohio State
11. Northwestern
17. Illinois
21. Michigan
23. Wisconsin
36. GOPHERS
49. Michigan State
58. Iowa
109. Purdue
117. Indiana
120. Penn State

Big 10 Wins over RPI Top 25 (4)
Ohio State 2 -- Butler (2), at Miami-Florida (20)
Michigan 1 -- Duke (8)
Northwestern 1 -- Florida State (12)

Top 25
1. Clemson
2. Butler
3. Xavier
4. Pitt
5. Gonzaga
6. Oklahoma
7. Ohio State
8. Duke
9. Connecticut
10. Temple
11. Northwestern
12. Florida State
13. Georgetown
14. Cal
15. North Carolina
16. Evansville
17. Illinois
18. Texas
19. UAB
20. Miami-Florida
21. Michigan
22. East Tennessee State
23. Wisconsin
24. Davidson
25. Miami-Ohio

[GVBadger]

North Carolina is going to be the toughest 4 seed in quite some time.

[SelectionSunday]

So it looks like Thursday's North Carolina-Evansville tussle could be a Sweet 16-type preview?

[GVBadger]

Of course it is early, but there MIGHT be one team in the country that would be less then a 10 point dog against Carolina on a neutral court. It is hard to put the numbers in context given that fact. I don't think anyone in the country believes NU is the 7th best team in the country, for example.

I do like that the Big 10 is getting rated by the RPI this year. Funny, I have not heard the talking heads rambling about how the Big 10 is the toughest conference in the country.

[SelectionSunday]

What's the 1 team you're thinking of? UConn? Though too often for my taste they look disinterested, UConn is talented, plays a lot of juniors and seniors and has a huge presence in the middle (Thabeet). UConn certainly wouldn't crap its pants at the thought of playing UNC.

[GVBadger]

UCONN was the one I was thinking of, but I am not even convinced they wouldn't be at least 10 point dogs on a neutral court. I was thinking as you though, that they are the one team that can try and match up athletically and they have the big guy to anchor the defense. They certainly would not be intimidated by UNC.

Someone is going to have to give UNC a game before the boys in Vegas start to drop the lines.

[mggoph]

Big 10 Wins over RPI Top 25 (4)
Ohio State 2 -- Butler (2), at Miami-Florida (20)
Michigan 1 -- Duke (8)
Northwestern 1 -- Florida State (12)



Wasn't UCLA also ranked in the top 25 when Michigan beat them? Not arguing with you, just wondering?

[OSUfan]

mggoph - UCLA is not in the RPI top-25, that is the stat being used to define top-25 wins - the polls aren't relevant for that stat.

GVBadger - the talking heads aren't going to talk up the Big Ten as long as they have no teams in the top-10 of the polls. Like it or not, your conference has to have a legit Final Four contender to be considered a strong conference and the teams from the Big Ten that had that billing (Purdue and MSU) have been disappointments so far. Until one of those two rebounds or another team gets into the top-10 of the polls, it's not completely inaccurate to say the Big Ten is weak at the top.

[mggoph]

I get it now - thnx!