Mid-Major Top 25

[zvillehaze]

Yeah, we lost the ESPN votes.  And UWGB picked up an AP vote, for the second time this season.  This time good for T40.

Any sleuths want to do the detective work?  Is there one AP writer who's been supporting the Horizon League on and off this season?

UWGB's vote came from John Feinstein.  He also voted for Valpo a few weeks back before the Oakland loss.

[StlVUFan]

Speaking of confusion with the Mid-Major Top 25.  I completely missed that Whelliston took down the archive a midmajority.com.  Did we have a memorial service?

Not sure there ever was such a ritual, but it was intentionally shut down a week after Dayton lost in the Elite 8 last year.  Kyle did come out of hiding to live tweet that game, exhorting his followers to get serious with the "I believe" chant on twitter.

He gave all the writers a week to download all their own articles into a form that could then be published on their own blog.  I still have mine and haven't found time to do it yet, but since it was his website and it had really run its course for him, he felt justified in shutting it down.  I think the midmajority still lives on, but the website was euthenised.

It was really was a mixed bag for Kyle.  He surely loved his subscribers and all the writers who "got it", but he came to loathe the semantic arguments over what exactly "mid-major" means, etc.  Also, the reason why Season 8-10 were handled by others is because seasons 1-7 almost killed him financially and medically.  He may have just wanted to put it to rest and let the rest of us take our own turn to make our own version.  He also found that he had lost what it was really all about: love of the game for the game's sake.

[agibson]

He gave all the writers a week to download all their own articles into a form that could then be published on their own blog.  I still have mine and haven't found time to do it yet, but since it was his website and it had really run its course for him, he felt justified in shutting it down.  I think the midmajority still lives on, but the website was euthenised.

I didn't even think about the angle.  I suppose I did have one game report up there somewhere myself.

Of course, in the internet era, nothing ever really disappears.  Surely the Wayback Machine still has the full archive (I suppose it does depend a little on how it was posted... but everything I remember seemed relatively easy for a web crawler to get at...).

My interest certainly waned when the site went "crowd source" with basically 0 content from Kyle.  Hence me note even noticing the site disappeared until nine months later.

But, an interesting move to take it all down.  Very Whelliston, in its way.  Poetic social commentary and such.

An amazing site in its day, an amazing odyssey, an amazing journey.

[agibson]

Yeah, we lost the ESPN votes.  And UWGB picked up an AP vote, for the second time this season.  This time good for T40.

Any sleuths want to do the detective work?  Is there one AP writer who's been supporting the Horizon League on and off this season?

UWGB's vote came from John Feinstein.  He also voted for Valpo a few weeks back before the Oakland loss.

How'd you get the info so quick?  It seems like a couple of weeks ago it was easy to google a site with some of this info, but not in an easily searchable format.

And, at the moment, I'm not googling much at all.

In any case, thanks for the info!

Edit: answering my own question, as a little google-fu is restored.  http://collegepolltracker.com here we go...

But they're new to the game.  Just this year, and the post-season poll last season.  There must be other resources?  Which I'm still not laying my finger on... I'd love to check 2014 (UWGB) and 2013 (Valpo).

But, for 2014-2015:
Right, John Feinstein.  Apparently he's known for this #25 habit.
http://sports.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/blog/the_dagger/post/Poll-Dancing-Examining-John-Feinstein-s-bizarre?urn=ncaab,215558

And, indeed, it was he who voted us #25 in week 7, and UWGB #25 this week.

But, back in week 10, it was Doug Doughty Roanoke Times (VA) that voted UWGB #23!  (Now his name's seeming familiar too...)

[StlVUFan]

He gave all the writers a week to download all their own articles into a form that could then be published on their own blog.  I still have mine and haven't found time to do it yet, but since it was his website and it had really run its course for him, he felt justified in shutting it down.  I think the midmajority still lives on, but the website was euthenised.

I didn't even think about the angle.  I suppose I did have one game report up there somewhere myself.

Of course, in the internet era, nothing ever really disappears.  Surely the Wayback Machine still has the full archive (I suppose it does depend a little on how it was posted... but everything I remember seemed relatively easy for a web crawler to get at...).

My interest certainly waned when the site went "crowd source" with basically 0 content from Kyle.  Hence me note even noticing the site disappeared until nine months later.

But, an interesting move to take it all down.  Very Whelliston, in its way.  Poetic social commentary and such.

An amazing site in its day, an amazing odyssey, an amazing journey.

I think he also felt it was time for it be replaced by something new, like a new phase.  I think one of the other things that he'd grown tired of was how a lot of us had this kind of class-struggle attitude about being mid-major and he felt that was not what he had in mind.

[valpopal]

[tweet]559856823877271552[/tweet]

[oklahomamick]

Is Murrary St. really ranked higher than us?  Wasn't much of a game when we played them. 

[valpospartan]

What he remembered about Valpo was he would eat at Duffy's restaurant every day.  I think it was Duffy's.  It was the restaurant that the Drew's owned. 

You guys have the right names, except I can't picture him eating breakfast "every day" at either place.  For one thing I don't think Buffalouie's served breakfast. They were strictly a wings place.  Duffy's is a tavern, not a bar and grill.  They may serve breakfast, but I would be surprised if he would want to mix with the breakfast crowd over there every morning.  Could he have said Jimmy's?  Jimmy's Cafe is all about breakfast and is quite popular with the college crowd.

How did we get to breakfast?  All that was stated is that Driscoll would eat at the restaurant owned by the Drew's everyday.  I don't think it was mentioned that he would eat every meal everyday at the restaurant.

Good memories of Jackson's and Passtimes!

Pass Times is now Stacks (library motif).

[bbtds]

Is Murrary St. really ranked higher than us?  Wasn't much of a game when we played them. 

Murray State hasn't lost since their game against Valpo. That was a heck of a great game played by Valpo. Murray State didn't shoot well at all in that game. Would Valpo want their ranking decided by the results of the Missouri, New Mexico and Oakland games? I don't think you can rank Murray State solely based on that Valpo game in Nashville.

[historyman]

I noticed that Murray St plays E. Kentucky this Thursday night at the CFSB Center in Murray.  Murray, as was mentioned, is undefeated since their loss to Valpo at the Music City Challenge. EKU has lost 3 out of 4 with losses to E. Illinois, Jacksonville St. and Tennessee Tech. Since the OVC is a larger conference this is the only meeting between Murray & EKU. Just like Wright State, Murray had no problem with Belmont, as the Racers beat the Bruins 92-77 in Kentucky in their only meeting.

EDIT:

Eastern Kentucky  78
Murray St            85   OT

Very tight OVC game in Murray, KY. Racers stay undefeated since the Valpo game.

[Kyle321n]

Don't look now but Valpo is looking to be the #3 team in the state right now. We have no hope of catching Notre Dame since they just knocked off Duke and are ranked #13 in KenPom. Butler would also be a tough get at #22, but while we sit at #52 another school, namely the Hoosiers have come down to #50 after two straight losses in Big 10 play. February 8th could be the day we pass them as I doubt beating UIC will help vault us over IU. Elsewhere in the state, Purdue is currently sitting at #65. It's quite possible after being shut out last season, the state could have 5 teams in the big dance.

Here's a look at each team in the state via KenPom.

#13- Notre Dame
#22- Butler
#50- Indiana
#52- Valpo
#65- Purdue
#97- Evansville
#180- Indiana St.
#227- IPFW
#241- IUPUI
(I feel like I'm missing someone)

[valporun]

IU is down Hanner Mosquera for a few weeks, and potentially lost another roster player. This could play to our favor, but we just need to keep winning games to help our postseason case. The postseason is in our hands only. We shouldn't rely on others to decide our position.

[hailcrusaders]

Don't look now but Valpo is looking to be the #3 team in the state right now. We have no hope of catching Notre Dame since they just knocked off Duke and are ranked #13 in KenPom. Butler would also be a tough get at #22, but while we sit at #52 another school, namely the Hoosiers have come down to #50 after two straight losses in Big 10 play. February 8th could be the day we pass them as I doubt beating UIC will help vault us over IU. Elsewhere in the state, Purdue is currently sitting at #65. It's quite possible after being shut out last season, the state could have 5 teams in the big dance.

Here's a look at each team in the state via KenPom.

#13- Notre Dame
#22- Butler
#50- Indiana
#52- Valpo
#65- Purdue
#97- Evansville
#180- Indiana St.
#227- IPFW
#241- IUPUI
(I feel like I'm missing someone)

Ball State

[Kyle321n]

Don't look now but Valpo is looking to be the #3 team in the state right now. We have no hope of catching Notre Dame since they just knocked off Duke and are ranked #13 in KenPom. Butler would also be a tough get at #22, but while we sit at #52 another school, namely the Hoosiers have come down to #50 after two straight losses in Big 10 play. February 8th could be the day we pass them as I doubt beating UIC will help vault us over IU. Elsewhere in the state, Purdue is currently sitting at #65. It's quite possible after being shut out last season, the state could have 5 teams in the big dance.

Here's a look at each team in the state via KenPom.

#13- Notre Dame
#22- Butler
#50- Indiana
#52- Valpo
#65- Purdue
#97- Evansville
#180- Indiana St.
#227- IPFW
#241- IUPUI
(I feel like I'm missing someone)

Ball State

Hah, of course. #218

[historyman]

Murray State stays undefeated since their loss to Valpo.

Eastern Kentucky  78
Murray St            85   OT

Very tight OVC game in Murray, KY.

[a3uge]

Murray State stays undefeated since their loss to Valpo.

Eastern Kentucky  78
Murray St            85   OT

Very tight OVC game in Murray, KY.

Watched that game on ESPNU. Murray state had no business winning that - they were down 10 the whole game and tied it with a 3 with 30 sec left. But they're fun to watch. I will definitely root for them going forward.

[valpopal]

[tweet]562286942524817408[/tweet]

[HC]

Also picked up one. Vote in the AP top 25!

Edit: and apparently a vote in the coaches poll as well

[agibson]

And... yes... it was John Feinstein, shifting his vote from Green Bay to us.  But also some coach! 

[valpopal]

[tweet]562418905470484481[/tweet]

[Valpofan00]

Okay which one is it? Are we #6 or #11??

[vu72]

Okay which one is it? Are we #6 or #11??

I would say that the College Insider poll is much more important.  Look at whose voting for one. Second, remember that they run a post season tourney and would definitely include those teams near the top.

[agibson]

Feinstein sticks with us for another week... One AP vote, again.

Quite a bit of motion in that Mid-Major blogger Power Poll.
http://www.midmajormadness.com/2015/2/9/8004173/mid-major-madness-power-15-vcu-drops-stephen-f-austin-continues-to

We pass up St. Mary's and Green Bay, LA Tech drops way down, but Rhode Island passes us.  Net result, 11 --> 9.  (Still trailing Murray State, now at #5.  Maybe we can settle it in the NCAA?)

[agibson]

Well, well, well! Make that _7_ points in the coaches' poll.  Good for 38th.  Ahead of Rhode Island.  No sign of Harvard... but still behind Murray State.

[LaPorteAveApostle]

I get all the complaining about Mizzou, but the whole "early in the season" cuts both ways.  we also demolished Murray in the first month too, and I bet they'd LOVE another crack at us...