Why the Shockers Should Be #1

By -
They did it! 
The Wichita State Shockers this evening went to 30-0 during the regular season. 
That has never been done before in the history of 
Division 1 college basketball!!
Coach Gregg Marshall and his outstanding team deserve the #1 ranking. Period.



ORIGINAL POSTING:

At 29-0, and coming off a Final Four appearance, the Wichita State Shockers should be ranked #1 in the nation, period. But, they are ranked #2 behind two-loss Florida. Why? We don't have the population of the east and west coasts and it is bias, plain and simple.

The good thing is, unlike football, there is a great tournament coming up and the team can prove itself on the court. But, there are now people talking about how WSU should not be a tournament #1 seed. The Sporting News puts that in perspective:

Wichita State’s schedule was easy? The Shockers have played the No. 104 schedule according to Jerry Palm’s RPI rankings for CBS Sports. Last year, the team that played the No. 104 schedule, Charlotte, finished 21-11. Year before that, it was UCLA, and the Bruins went 18-14. In 2004, Southern Illinois of the Missouri Valley went 25-4. But no one—no one—took the supposedly easy schedule that exists for a team with a 104 schedule ranking and won every game. And, more to the point, no one with a schedule ranked 204 or 304 did, either.

 Since the NCAA expanded March Madness to 64 teams in 1985, it has staged 29 tournaments. That means there have been 116 teams seeded No. 1. There have been 29 No. 1 seeds that entered with three losses, 27 with four losses and even three with seven losses, but only one—only one—with zero losses. That was Jerry Tarkanian’s Vegas bunch in 1991.

I'm confident the seeding committee will do the right thing and, if the Shox win out, rank them a #1 seed in the Tournament.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Hilary's Forecast Path Shifts West; Updated 9:20am PDT

By -
Image
The forecast path of the center of Hilary has shifted a bit to the west. This increases the threat to the Southland, especially in terms of flooding.  Rainfall Note the heavy rains are forecast for Los Angeles County. Serious flash flooding may result. Because the forecast path has shifted to the west, that increases the threat of serious flooding in Los Angeles County north into Yosemite and the southern Sierra. It lessens the threat in Utah and western Arizona. While the threat of widespread flooding in Utah and Arizona lessens, note that some thunderstorms with localized heavy rain show up on the map.  In Nevada, the more western path increases the risk of serious flooding around Mt Charleston and into the central part of the state.  Here is the updated  (9am PDT) flash flood risk map. Wind There are already about 40,000 people without power in California, mostly in the center of the state.  The maps above are the peak gusts forecasted with the storm. The highest winds, in general,
Read more

Dangerous Travel Conditions - People Reportedly Stranded

By -
Image
-- Note, more current info available. Scroll up. --- Updated Information as of 8am PDT You are risking your life if you attempt to travel through the purple area.  While the rain has not begun in coastal California, I would urge you to use this time to make any preparations. Power outages have occurred already in southeast California. Here is the latest radar as of 7:55am PDT. As of 6:40am PDT , the radar indicates moderate to heavy rain falling over desert areas of Southern California and far western Arizona (click to enlarge).  Rainfall amounts for the 24 hours ending at 7am PDT show more than two inches have already fallen. There are reports from reliable sources that roads are already washed out and that people are stranded in isolated parts of the desert.  Below is a high-resolution computer model's rainfall forecast from 5am PDT to 11pm PDT Sunday. More than a foot of additional rain is forecast to fall. This will lead to catastrophic flooding.  Here is a map of current watc
Read more

Update on Tornado and Wind Potential; 12 Noon PDT

By -
Image
There was at least one tornado and at least one funnel cloud yesterday.  --- original forecast --- Hilary (the swirly symbol) continues to move NNW paralleling the coast of Baja California, Mexico. The area outlined in red has a significant risk of tornadoe s the rest of the afternoon.  Below is a list of peak wind gusts so far.  Peak winds may increase farther north as the afternoon progresses.  Addition at 12 noon PDT: Sure enough, winds have increased.  Note: If you are in the San Diego area, I recommend not  traveling east on I-8. Heavy rains may cause flash flooding that will involve the highway. 
Read more