Valpo in the National Rankings 2015-16 edition

[agibson]

I sort of hate to dwell on the midmajor rankings... But in the coaches poll, I notice Valpo's back up to 3rd, about as high as they have been all season - above any MVC teams.  Belmont falls to 11, Oakland to 15.  Iona re-enters at 25. I notice SD State's at #19 (so no bad loss for CSU).  Milwaukee receiving votes.  So's Ball State - though only since beating us (but they are 6-2, even if all wins are home or netural).  And Loyola.

Indiana State is _not_ receiving votes.  Though their coach is one of the voters.

[agibson]

Looks like our RPI fell to #8 on the Chicago State win.  (Our KenPom hangs around at #30, defense #6.)

I took a peek at the Horizon League forecast... grim stuff.  Currently 16th.  Expected to fall to 20th.  The Summit's currently at 11th, and expected to stay there.  (SD State forecast into the top 50, ORU in the top 100, only IUPUI misses the top 200).  Cleveland State forecasts about like IUPUI, and YSU, Wright State, Northern Kentucky, look worse.

Our SOS (before Chicago state) was #7, but is predicted to fall to 194 after league play.  SD State is at 298, expected to rise to 142 after conference play.  We're forecast to win a couple of more ball games, but their RPI forecast is 36 to our 45.

SD State has a win at Minnesota.  Otherwise, I we have more noteworthy wins.  Their RPI is currently is 92 and their KenPom 50. But, I wonder how hard it'll be for the committee to ignore the weakness of the Horizon League this year.  Or if they'll notice the relative strength of the Summit.

[talksalot]

and you wake up this morning following the weekend devastation.. and we are

#14 RealTime 47 SOS
#20 Nolan 59 SOS (top-100 opponents:  IPFW #81, Iona #69, Oregon #36, Oregon State #38, Belmont #82)

See what happens to the Mid-Major College Insider poll when it comes out later today... last wee:
1.  Zags
2. St. Mary's
3. Valpo
4. Northern Iowa
5. Evansville
6 BYU

11.  Belmont
15. Oakland
25. Iona

[Valpower]

and you wake up this morning following the weekend devastation.. and we are

#14 RealTime 47 SOS
#20 Nolan 59 SOS (top-100 opponents:  IPFW #81, Iona #69, Oregon #36, Oregon State #38, Belmont #82)

See what happens to the Mid-Major College Insider poll when it comes out later today... last wee:
1.  Zags
2. St. Mary's
3. Valpo
4. Northern Iowa
5. Evansville
6 BYU

11.  Belmont
15. Oakland
25. Iona

Winning, and winning on the road especially, helps as far as perception is concerned, even against poor competition.  Valpo moves to number 2 in the Mid-Major Madness Power 15.

[agibson]

Winning, and winning on the road especially, helps as far as perception is concerned, even against poor competition.  Valpo moves to number 2 in the Mid-Major Madness Power 15.

With Gonzaga falling all the way to #4 (though they hang around the national AP poll).

The midmajor coaches' poll does have St. Mary's fall below us.  Gives us two first-place votes for the first time this season, and our highest point total of the season at 687.  But we stay at #3.

Little Rock skipped ahead of us. It's good to be undefeated.  Their biggest win is... maybe Tulsa.  But they've been winning on the road: Idaho, DePaul, Tulsa, SD State. And I mentioned undefeated?  They also pick up votes in both national polls for the first time this season.

I notice South Dakota State (that other SD State) picked up a vote in the national coaches' poll. By virtue of... winning at Minnesota?  Or, perhaps, just continuing to win.  9-1.  Maybe there's hope for us before the end of the conference season...

[talksalot]

NCAA.com Rankings...
Defense ppg-allowed through 12/19/15

1.  Arkansas Little Rock 53.3
2.  Louisville 55.6
3.  VALPO 56.3
4.  Michigan State 56.9

Other Categories:
Stat   Rank   Value
Scoring Offense   212   71.4
Scoring Margin   31   15.1
Rebound Margin     66   5.8
Assists Per Game   224   12.7
Blocked Shots Per Game   T-184   3.4
Steals Per Game   34   8.3
Turnover Margin   47   2.8
Assist Turnover Ratio   167   1.06
Field-Goal Percentage   206   43.1
Field-Goal Percentage Defense   9   36.5
Three-Point Field Goals Per Game   T-130   7.4
Three-Point Field-Goal Percentage   171   34.1
Free-Throw Percentage   84   71.9
Won-Lost Percentage   29   83.3


Great Statistical recap:   
http://stats.ncaa.org/rankings/ranking_summary

Felder is certainly loading up the HL Statistical charts!

[valpo84]

We slide to 4. Northern Iowa moves up to 3 (after nice win vs Iowa State). 

http://www.collegeinsider.com/mens-mid-major-top-25.php

[agibson]

But our KenPom defensive rating is still at #3.  And our overall KenPom is at #27.  Highest it's been in a while, maybe all season?

[agibson]

At the risk of drawing a few rotting vegetables, I'll dare to post to this thread.

After the Oakland game.

Our KenPom ranking rises #26 --> #20.  I think the VU game notes claim we made it there after the Oregon State game too, but this approximately tied for our high water mark this season. (Pyth .8715).  #2 defense, 88.7 adjusted per defensive possession, is likely our best of the season (improved from #2 89.2).

Our RPI rises from #34   0.6036 to #28    0.6110 on the win.

Seth Davis picked against us on his ESPN page, but liked the win.

[tweet]685649870955376640[/tweet]

Not that I expect top 25 votes again, without a longer win streak. But, maybe an Almost Famous.

[agibson]

I figure we're fans, not players.  Why not ride the highs as high as they'll take us?  What's the risk, the lows will feel lower?

[tweet]686258053860163584[/tweet]
[tweet]686258617687871488[/tweet]

[agibson]

[tweet]686366731397271553[/tweet]

Purdue gave up 84 in a losing effort at Illinois, and it did their defensive efficiency numbers in.  Overall we're #19 at KenPom, our highest ever.

[agibson]

It begins.  Again.

[tweet]686375722294865920[/tweet]

[justducky]

Purdue gave up 84 in a losing effort at Illinois, and it did their defensive efficiency numbers in.  Overall we're #19 at KenPom, our highest ever.

Purdue falls to Warren Nolan #29 vs our 23
Butler at #41
ND at 58
Indiana at 59

Bunch of overrated bums none of which had any desire to play us! We should have just picked a fight with all of them!    Hope we get a chance to beat several of them in March as that might cure some of my    animosities.

[talksalot]

If you draw a circle around Valpo... the closest team ahead of us in the RPI is Sparty !  188 Miles...
and Univ of Dayton at 268 miles is second.

Chicago Market-area RPI Rankings:

Northern Illinois 75
Northwestern 112
DePaul 171
Loyola 270
Chicago State 319
UIC 345

Can't hurt recruiting! 

[vu72]

We're up to No. 35 in the Sagarins this morning.  Oregon State slipped to No. 51.  I presume that if they move back into the top 50 it will help us. The Horizon is now ranked 17th, one behind the Summit.  The only other Horizon team in the top 100 is Oakland at No. 99.

[VULB#62]

Also received 5 votes in the USAToday Top 25. Nobody from the Summit or MVC got any votes as far as I could tell.

Others Receiving Votes
Connecticut 34; Oregon 18; Southern California 16; UCLA 12; George Washington 11; California 9; Dayton 5; Houston 5; Valparaiso 5; Washington 3; Texas Tech 3; Cincinnati 2; Arkansas-Little Rock 2; Boise State 1; Hawaii 1; Utah 1; Saint Mary's 1.

[agibson]

Also received 5 votes in the USAToday Top 25.

Huzzah! First of the season! And with Seth Davis at least, it'll be the first time this season we've gotten votes in both polls simultaneously (that happened last season too, for the last third of the season, but had never happened before last season).

Nobody from the Summit or MVC got any votes as far as I could tell.

Interesting! How far Wichita State has fallen... And the MVC? Wichita State did show up RV in the AP poll last week, but had already fallen below Evansville (and well below us) in the mid-major coaches poll.

Seth Davis gave a bit of an explanation of his vote in his SI column
http://www.si.com/college-basketball/2016/01/11/hoop-thoughts-nonconference-rpi-2016-ncaa-tournament

I've been itching to rank Valparaiso for a while, and the Crusaders finally put me over the top with their impressive win at Oakland. Winning conference games on the road against good teams is tough. Winning them convincingly is even tougher.

I can only imagine that ESPN2 makes a difference...

[agibson]

Others Receiving Votes
Connecticut 34; Oregon 18; Southern California 16; UCLA 12; George Washington 11; California 9; Dayton 5; Houston 5; Valparaiso 5; Washington 3; Texas Tech 3; Cincinnati 2; Arkansas-Little Rock 2; Boise State 1; Hawaii 1; Utah 1; Saint Mary's 1.

Interesting too that we're getting votes and Notre Dame's not.  I wonder how many would agree?

http://www.indystar.com/story/sports/college/butler/2016/01/08/state-hoops-conference-calls-and-weekly-rankings/78446296/
is the last of the Indy Star's state round-ups.  And that before @Oakland.

Even then, one of their three panelists put us ahead of Notre Dame. I wonder how many people would, in a head-to-head comparison?  It's the sort of resumee comparison that could be important in March.

[agibson]

Also received 5 votes in the USAToday Top 25.

5 in the coaches poll makes us T32.

Six votes in the AP poll makes us T33.  That's not our biggest vote total of the season, but it is our highest ranking, as the number of teams receiving votes tends to shrink as the season progresses, more facts (e.g. games) are on the table, and a consensus emerges.

The bottom of the AP looks like

23   Butler   12-4   302
24   Purdue   14-3   145
25   Gonzaga   13-3   101
Others receiving votes: USC 79, Indiana 59, UCLA 21, Utah 10, Texas Tech 10, Saint Mary's 8, Wichita St 7, Valparaiso 6, Oregon 6, Hawaii 4, St Bonaventure 1, Oregon State 1, Akron 1, Dayton 1

So Wichita State is still beating us there, we're tied with Oregon, and ahead of Oregon State.

I notice RV California got swept on the Oregon road trip, while Stanford got the same split we did (but their margin of loss to Oregon was larger, at 13 points).

[chef]

Valpo 32nd in the media poll and 33rd in the coaches poll. Their current RPI is 22.

[talksalot]

The BOLD face is my own... Is there a way to find out who voted for us?

List of Voters
The USA TODAY Sports Board of Coaches is made up of 32 head coaches at Division I institutions. All are members of the National Association of Basketball Coaches.

The board for the 2015-16 season:
Randy Bennett, Saint Mary's; Jim Boeheim, Syracuse; Todd Bozeman, Morgan State; Glenn Braica, St. Francis Brooklyn; Scott Cherry, High Point; Tim Cluess, Iona; Ed Conroy, Tulane; Keith Dambrot, Akron; Cameron Dollar, Seattle; Scott Drew, Baylor; Matt Driscoll, North Florida; Steve Fisher, San Diego State; Bruiser Flint, Drexel; Mark Fox, Georgia; John Gallagher, Hartford; Matthew Graves, South Alabama; Ray Harper, Western Kentucky; George Ivory, Arkansas-Pine Bluff; Ben Jacobson, Northern Iowa; Rob Jeter, Wisconsin-Milwaukee; James Jones, Yale; Mike McConathy, Northwestern State; Greg McDermott, Creighton; Chris Mooney, Richmond; Matt Painter, Purdue; Randy Rahe, Weber State; Heath Schroyer, Tennessee-Martin; Joe Scott, Denver; Zach Spiker, Army; Wayne Tinkle, Oregon State; Bob Williams, UC-Santa Barbara; Mike Young, Wofford.

[agibson]

Probably I've asked before, but what's Steve Fisher's connection?

The BOLD face is my own... Is there a way to find out who voted for us?

For the AP it's published each week, a bit slower than the rankings themselves (somehow they leak #1 and #2 first sometimes, then the top 25, then the RV's, and eventually the ballots).  They're out now: #24 from Graham Couch (who ranked us 24, 23, 24 in the opening weeks), #25 from Cecil Hurt, Matt McCoy, Seth Davis, Zach Osterman.  [edited] Davis has talked about us plenty, but to my surprise this is his first vote for us this season. So four new voters on the bandwagon.  And this is the most _voters_, though not the most points, we've had this season.  And I saw at least one other AP voter listing us, with another 3-4 schools, as "considered" (but not ranked).  Perhaps with two more wins we can get Elton Alexander (Cleveland) and Brett Strelow back in the fold.

For the Coaches Poll, the ballots aren't systematically released.  I believe I once saw a set of ballots, but it may have been a one-off, one week, one season.

[a3uge]

The BOLD face is my own... Is there a way to find out who voted for us?

List of Voters
The USA TODAY Sports Board of Coaches is made up of 32 head coaches at Division I institutions. All are members of the National Association of Basketball Coaches.

The board for the 2015-16 season:
Randy Bennett, Saint Mary's; Jim Boeheim, Syracuse; Todd Bozeman, Morgan State; Glenn Braica, St. Francis Brooklyn; Scott Cherry, High Point; Tim Cluess, Iona; Ed Conroy, Tulane; Keith Dambrot, Akron; Cameron Dollar, Seattle; Scott Drew, Baylor; Matt Driscoll, North Florida; Steve Fisher, San Diego State; Bruiser Flint, Drexel; Mark Fox, Georgia; John Gallagher, Hartford; Matthew Graves, South Alabama; Ray Harper, Western Kentucky; George Ivory, Arkansas-Pine Bluff; Ben Jacobson, Northern Iowa; Rob Jeter, Wisconsin-Milwaukee; James Jones, Yale; Mike McConathy, Northwestern State; Greg McDermott, Creighton; Chris Mooney, Richmond; Matt Painter, Purdue; Randy Rahe, Weber State; Heath Schroyer, Tennessee-Martin; Joe Scott, Denver; Zach Spiker, Army; Wayne Tinkle, Oregon State; Bob Williams, UC-Santa Barbara; Mike Young, Wofford.

Probably I've asked before, but what's Steve Fisher's connection?

The BOLD face is my own... Is there a way to find out who voted for us?

For the AP it's published each week, a bit slower than the rankings themselves (somehow they leak #1 and #2 first sometimes, then the top 25, then the RV's, and eventually the ballots).  They're out now: #24 from Graham Couch (who ranked us 24, 23, 24 in the opening weeks), #25 from Cecil Hurt, Matt McCoy, Seth Davis, Zach Osterman.  [edited] Davis has talked about us plenty, but to my surprise this is his first vote for us this season. So four new voters on the bandwagon.  And this is the most _voters_, though not the most points, we've had this season.  And I saw at least one other AP voter listing us, with another 3-4 schools, as "considered" (but not ranked).  Perhaps with two more wins we can get Elton Alexander (Cleveland) and Brett Strelow back in the fold.

For the Coaches Poll, the ballots aren't systematically released.  I believe I once saw a set of ballots, but it may have been a one-off, one week, one season.

http://collegepolltracker.com/basketball/

[agibson]

http://collegepolltracker.com/basketball/

Yep, invaluable.  The AP would do well to adopt something at least a _bit_ more like this.  Their format's pretty ugly.

[talksalot]

Matt McCoy?   now THERE's a Valpo Connection...He's the Public Address Announcer for the Ohio State Buckeyes~!  (Radio host on WTVN)

https://www.facebook.com/Matt-McCoy-610-WTVN-176493972389066/?fref=ts

Zach Osterman - Indy Star

Graham Couch - NBA Reporter for USA Today

Cecil Hurt - Tuscaloosa News