Home > March to Atlanta: Hoop Head > Archives > 2007 > February > 25 > Entry
DEL.ICIO.USTech, Dogs needing wins
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
WHO’S IN
— Drexel (21-7, RPI 41): The Dragons have the best road record (13-4 in Division I basketball and have won non-conference road wins at Villanova (RPI 19), Creighton (RPI 29), and Syracuse (RPI 53).
WHO’S OUT
—Clemson (19-9, RPI 42): We hung with the Tigers as long as we could but now they have lost 9 of their last 11. If Clemson could win their last two with Miami and Virginia Tech it just might squeak back in.
WHO’S IN TROUBLE
—Alabama (19-9, RPI 39): The Crimson Tide simply isn’t the same team when point guard Ronald Steele is injured, as Saturday’s home loss to Auburn will attest. Alabama has lost four of its last five. Wednesday’s home game with Ole Miss is huge.
WHO NEEDS A WIN
—Georgia Tech (18-10, RPI 51). Blowing a seven-point lead in the final minutes at Virginia didn’t help the Yellow Jacket’s case. But if they can split their final two games with North Carolina (Thursday) and Boston College (Sunday) they should get in.
—Ole Miss (18-10, RPI 62): Losing by 13 at South Carolina on Saturday night didn’t help the Rebels’ cause but they could do something about it this week. Pick up a two wins at Alabama on Wednesday and at home against Auburn on Saturday and Andy Kennedy’s team could slip in.
—Georgia (16-10, RPI 52): The Bulldogs have to give the committee a reason to put them in. Wins at Kentucky (RPI 7) and at home against Tennessee (RPI 11) would do it. Split those games and win one in the SEC Tournament and Georgia may have an outside chance.
DON’T FORGET ABOUT
—Florida State (18-11, RPI 46): The Seminoles may not be done yet. They have only one regular season game left at Miami on Saturday. Florida State has four wins in the Top 25 (Florida, Duke, Maryland, Georgia Tech). Only UCLA and North Carolina have. All 11 of FSU’s losses have come to teams ranked in the top 51 of the RPI. The problem is that Florida State has only one meaningful win on the road (Duke, RPI 10). The next best team Florida State beat away from home was Georgia State (RPI 242). A win at Miami on Saturday plus a win in the ACC Tournament would put them in.
—Syracuse (20-8, RPI 53): The Orange has won four straight but they have all come against teams ranked 70 or higher. Syracuse finishes with a big Monday night home game with Georgetown (22-5, RPI 16) and a Saturday game at Villanova.
BREAKDOWN BY CONFERENCE
We projected that 22 of the 31 conferences will receive only one bid to the NCAA Tournament. The remaining 43 spots in the field will be distributed as follows:
ACC (7) Boston College, Duke, Georgia Tech, Maryland, North Carolina, Virginia, Virginia Tech.
Big East (6): Georgetown, Louisville, Notre Dame, Pittsburgh, Marquette, Villanova.
Big Ten (6): Illinois, Indiana, Michigan State, Ohio State, Purdue, Wisconsin.
Big 12 (4): Kansas, Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech.
Colonial (3): Old Dominion, Drexel, VCU.
Missouri Valley (3): Creighton, Missouri State, Southern Illinois.
Mountain West (3): Air Force, BYU, UNLV
PAC-10 (6): Arizona, Oregon, Southern Cal, Stanford, UCLA, Washington State.
SEC (5): Alabama, Florida, Kentucky, Tennessee, Vanderbilt.
Permalink | Comments (33) | Post your comment | Categories: Tony Barnhart's daily picks
Comments
By rob
February 25, 2007 03:59 PM | Link to this
Tony- No way is Bama in and UGA out if they both split their remaining 2 games. A 7-9 Bama will not get in over a 9-7 UGA team. UGA would be at worse the #5 team from the SEC. Also, Tech would have to win at least one game and probably 2 in the ACC tournament if they split their next 2 games.
By Matt
February 25, 2007 04:27 PM | Link to this
Tony,
How can you put Bama in at 7-9 in conference in the weaker SEC West? Do you get the WUPA channel, and have you ever seen an SEC Basketball game this year? Also, Tech will not get in the tourney…stop wasting your ink on that subject.
By Matthew at the SLC
February 25, 2007 05:22 PM | Link to this
Tony, once again, you prove that just like the idiot talking heads over at ESPN, you know NOTHING about college basketball. The SEC only gets 5 teams? You do realize that that is the toughest conference in all of basketball, right? That they are killing each other on a nightly basis, and that Georgia has beaten LSU, which has beaten Florida (without Big Baby, and we beat them WITH him). Top to bottom, the SEC is the best in the nation. Yet you’re going to give the absolute WORST bball coinference this year, the ACC, 7 teams? Tony, you have absolutely no clue, do you?
By tech fan in sc
February 25, 2007 05:53 PM | Link to this
when did FSU beat Tech this year?
By randy
February 25, 2007 06:33 PM | Link to this
dogs make the big dance!
By Burdell's Brother
February 25, 2007 06:42 PM | Link to this
I second that, Tech swept FSU, get your facts straight
By Brian Jones TECH FAN
February 25, 2007 08:19 PM | Link to this
Matthew at the slc you are a damn idiot. the acc is the worst 9 out of 12 teams have at least 18 wins that means the conference is pretty damn stout. also tech didnt lose to fsu this year and for all you uga fans that think uga should get in over tech your crazy. UGA has beaten no teams that are ranked anymore and kentucky is not good tech has beaten duke memphis maybe a 1 seed and we routed yalls a* with out a problem. by the way any team that recruits a dave bliss and steve newman has no business in the dance i was ath yalls game agianst miss st and was the worse teams i have ever seen in d1 basketball
By Rick
February 25, 2007 08:32 PM | Link to this
Brian Jones, why even start talking about uga players, I believe uga is doing good without one their best players in Mercer. Let’s see how good Tech does without one of their best players. Tech losted to Wake at Wake by 10 where UGA won at Wake. And uga has a better conference record in a tougher conference.
By jc_dawg
February 25, 2007 08:35 PM | Link to this
Unfortunately…as unfair as it really is…it is quite possible for a 7-9 sec team to get in over a 9-7 sec team.
Case in point…the 2003 season. TN finished 9-7 and AL finished 7-9. AL got in…TN did not. To make matters even more rediculous…they both had 17-12 overall records. Additionally…both teams lost there opening games in the sec tournament that year.
The only thing I can figure is that AL must have had some very impressive signature wins.
By Brian
February 25, 2007 09:06 PM | Link to this
Explain to me how in the hayul that Kentucky is a lock to get in ? They are not ranked and hell, they have been beaten by UGA, VANDY (2), and numerous others. If they get in and UGA doesn’t..even with a split…that is ridiculous. Not to mention F$U. If it was for Thornton they wouldn’t have won a freakin game and are 18-11 at that. I don’t care who youve beaten if you can’t beat the worst teams! Dawgs played 4 of the top 5 in the country during their season if Im not badly mistaken. Ooops…I forgot…Kentucky is football’s Notre Dame! They always get into big games and tourney’s just because of who they are.
By Bob
February 25, 2007 09:14 PM | Link to this
Please people! Don’t use the “our conference is so tough we beat each other up every night” argument. Every fan of EVERY conference claims that EVERY year. It reeks of regionalism and is insulting to College hoops fans everywhere. All 6 BCS conferences are extremely tough and any road win (albeit a couple, I suppose) are worthy of a “quality win” moniker. I guarantee a 9-7 SEC record would be a 9-7 conference record if said team played in the Big East or ACC.
By Bob
February 25, 2007 09:15 PM | Link to this
Please people! Don’t use the “our conference is so tough we beat each other up every night” argument. Every fan of EVERY conference claims that EVERY year. It reeks of regionalism and is insulting to College hoops fans everywhere. All 6 BCS conferences are extremely tough and any road win (albeit a couple, I suppose) are worthy of a “quality win” moniker. I guarantee a 9-7 SEC record would be a 9-7 conference record if said team played in the Big East or ACC.
By Nostrodomas
February 25, 2007 11:10 PM | Link to this
Matthew at the SLC, you are a complete and utter fool. You do realize the ACC has 9 of its 12 teams in the top 50 RPI? Do you not understand the ACC is now rated #1 in the RPI and has been for the Sagrin ratings? Go away and let the grown-ups engage in real discussion.
By Jason
February 25, 2007 11:54 PM | Link to this
So when people wanna say the SEC is the best football conf but the overall records dont prove it, they say “we beat each other up” but the acc conf cant use that?
By rick
February 26, 2007 12:04 AM | Link to this
tony please stick to football sec gets six teams and alabama better win their final 2 or they will not be one of them. uga will get in if they split their last two and win 1 in the sec tourney.
By The Truth
February 26, 2007 12:25 AM | Link to this
UGA gets in with a win over KY or TN and one win in the SEC tourney. Bliss and Newman came to the program when hardly anyone else in the nation would, and I commend them for that. Remember Brian Jones, those guys beat Tech LAST YEAR by 16 which is even more pathetic on Tech’s part. I have no idea how Alabama could be in ahead of Georgia unless something big happens this week. Both the SEC and ACC are great basketball conferences, but I do think the ACC is gettin’ a little too much love this year, especially when half of last year’s final four were SEC teams. I predict the SEC will get 6 and the ACC will get 6.
By Some guy
February 26, 2007 01:25 AM | Link to this
When did people start referring to NCAA conferences as BCS conferences when they were talking about basketball?
Georgia needs to win out in the regular season. Winning 1 in the SEC tourney won’t mean much for Georgia seeing as how they won’t have a first round bye and that game will not be against a high RPI team. They need wins over UK and UT, teams with high RPI’s. That’s what Georgia is lacking, multiple quality wins like their last 2 games could provide them. Georgia has a good chance of getting in if they win out the regular season and win 1 in the SEC tourney. On the other side, Kentucky makes things very tenuous for themselves if they lose to Florida and Georgia to close out the regular season. That would put them at losing something like 6 out of their last 7 in regular season play.
By jc_dawg
February 26, 2007 02:19 AM | Link to this
Lets simplify things. Lets avg the RPI and the conf records. Fair enough?
Lets give equal weight to both.
conf record rankings(rpi will be the tie-breaker)…..
1) Fl 2) Vandy 3) Ky 4) Ten 5) Ga 6) Ole Miss 7) Miss St 8) AL
RPI rankings:
1) Ky (has not been updated since Vandy Loss but they should be a little lower) 2) Fl 3) Ten 4) Vandy(might be a little higher now) 5) Al 6) Ga 7) Ark 8) Miss 9) Miss St
Now combine the 2… lower number= higher ranking.
Fl 3 Vandy 6 Ky 4 Ten 7 Ga 11 Al 13 Miss 14 Miss St 16 Ark 16 or greater
This is a very simple formula that gives equal weight to the sec conf record and the ncaa committee’s very highly reguarded RPI poll. Because the RPI decides any tie-breaking scenarios…this system actually is biased toward the RPI and not the sec conf records.
Facts are facts…and based on this formula Ga is #5 as of right now!
Yes…you could argue that the RPI already takes the sec schedule into account. But…there is something wrong with the RPI when a 6-8 sec team is ranked in front of an 8-6 sec team by 13 slots. Furthermore…the 8-6 team has played a much tougher schedule than that of the 6-8 team.
It is unfair to rely soley on the RPI when you have common opponents to compare within a conference schedule.
True…Al beat Ga. But guess what folks…head to head comp should take a back seat to an overall nearly common conf schedule…it certainly does in other sports.
Things can certainly change but as of right now…Ga is #5.
By Dbow
February 26, 2007 07:49 AM | Link to this
UK hasn’t beaten a ranked team all season so get off their bandwagon. The SEC West cannot stake a claim to any “sure spots” because if their poor conference records. Maybe it’s a pipe dream to expect UGA to get a bid but these kids have played their hearts out this season and deserve some recognition. If not for some questionable calls in two games they could easily be a sure thing already.
By Brian
February 26, 2007 08:27 AM | Link to this
Me thinks they beat Kentucky and Beat UT…and win 2 in the SECC.
By yellowblood
February 26, 2007 09:12 AM | Link to this
In the ACC, I will use the “we beat each other up every night” excuse. The media allows the SEC that same excuse in football to place mediocre teams into good bowl slots.
By pvbeachdog
February 26, 2007 09:23 AM | Link to this
Don’t quite understand the love affair with Alabaama. They, along with KY, seem to be getting a pass to the tourney, while UGA is being held to a higher standard, in the press that is.
By Kyle
February 26, 2007 09:25 AM | Link to this
Matthew - there is a saying that it is better to be silent and thought an idiot than to open your mouth and remove all doubt. This would apply to you. I am not going to comment about your core argument - you might be right. But that you fact that you say the ACC is the “ABSOLUTE worst” conference tells me that you, sir, “no nothing about college basketball”. The ACC is considered by EVERYONE to one of the top 3 conferences if not the best. You would be better served using facts over passion in your arguments.
By Big will
February 26, 2007 09:57 AM | Link to this
Don’t think Felton won’t go absolutely ape s**t if Bama gets in and the Dawgs don’t - especially after the way the game in Tuscaloosa went down.
By look again
February 26, 2007 10:17 AM | Link to this
SEC the toughest conference???
Look again. The ACC is currently ranked as the toughest conference, the SEC is #2.
By crs
February 26, 2007 10:35 AM | Link to this
I think its a joke that UGA is on the bubble if they split TN/UK and win a tourney game. Let me get this right Tony, you win 9 regular season conference games and a tourney game so you really have 10 conference wins and you probably don’t get in? That is ridiculous. They played the #2 team in the country Wisconsin down to the wire. I think UGA’s resume is solid. They deserve an 8/9 seed.
By Wayland
February 26, 2007 10:42 AM | Link to this
Tony: While Georgia Tech was not beaten by FSU, you were referring to Virginia Tech in the list of top 25 teams that FSU did beat (Florida, Maryland, at Duke, Virginia Tech). They had no bad losses and lost at least three times in the last five seconds (Boston College twice and Clemson). With nine teams in the RPI top 50, the ACC deserves more than six teams in the NCAA.
By gt45
February 26, 2007 11:19 AM | Link to this
To Matthew the Most Wise, Florida State beat Florida, Wake beat Vandy, and Carolina beat Kentucky and Tennessee-now, look at the ACC conference records of these teams-XXXOOO
By Chopdawg
February 26, 2007 12:31 PM | Link to this
That “mediocre” football league, the SEC, won more bowl games than any other conference and trashed the Big Ten pretenders in the title game; so yeah, the “beat each other up every game” argument is proven valid. Both the SEC and the ACC fall into that category in basketball; IMHO both Tech and UGA deserve places in the Big Dance if they each manage two more wins (including tournaments), three more absolutely guarantees an invite.
By Realistic Ricky
February 26, 2007 01:51 PM | Link to this
This is starting to sound more and more like the BCS arguments in football toward the end of the season. Bottom line, if GT and UGA win their two remaining regular season games, they are in the Big Dance. If they do not, they are at the mercy of computers, ratings and biased people and can only “hope” for the best. IMHO, both teams are deserving of NCAA bids, but we all know life ain’t fair.
By Big Dawg
February 26, 2007 01:55 PM | Link to this
Barnhart,
For the last time the Dawgs record is 17-10 not 16-10.
We will know if the Dawgs will make the NCAA tourney in 2 weeks. Everything else at this point is speculation. Having said that IMHO the Dawgs will win at leaat 1 of the next 2 regular season games and will win 2 games in the SEC tourney and make the Big Dance. Go Dawgs
By Thorpe
February 26, 2007 03:21 PM | Link to this
Go BC!
By Bill
February 26, 2007 06:08 PM | Link to this
Tech has 6 wins vs top 50 RPI while Ga currently has 2.Ga is 3-11 vs RPI top 75, while Tech is 7-8. Tech beat Ga. Unlike last year, the ACC is better than the SEC. Unless Tech goes 6-10, and Ga goes 10-6 in conf play, Tech gets in over Ga.Can’t see 6 SEC teams this year, can see 7-8 ACC if Fl ST or Clem wakes up. Crime if ACC gets less bids than Big East or same # as Big 10.