Miami at #3

[hawkfarmer]

Yes they are 19-3 and undefeated in the ACC, but they have beaten only 2 ranked opponents all year. They beat #1 Duke, killed them actually, and #19 NCSU, who is no longer ranked and just not that good.

They lost to Arizona by almost 20, Florida Gulf Coast, and Indiana State. People are still giving way too much credit to the ACC. I don't see them doing too much, they are a good team, but not the #2 team in the nation.

Edit: they also beat MSU early in the year.

 

[ssckelley]

Seeing how they are trashing the ACC I have nothing but respect for Miami and I think they deserve every rank they get. Any team that can destroy Duke is alright in my books.

 

[hawkfarmer]

Just because you destroy Duke doesn't make you the #3 team in the nation, though I can see why they have that ranking right now, I just don't think it will remain there. Also, Duke will beat them at home, and the rest of the ACC including UNC and NCSU (alum speaking here) are a joke.

 

[LG210]

#3 may be high, but Top 10 is reasonable. They are a good team.

We all know how these rankings work. Win and you go up (or stay put if nobody ahead of you loses). Lose and you go down. This is true, pretty-much regardless of competition. Should the #2 team in the nation drop spots when they lose to #1? Not necessarily, but it happens every time.

And when Duke is not the best team in the country (which they have been a few times), they are generally ranked about 10 spots higher than they should be.

 

[99topdawg]

When everyone else above them loses, it's tough to keep from moving them up. They have a heck of a winning streak, even if the ACC is down.

 

[Section136]

Miami has the #1 SOS in the nation.

 

[ILHawk]

And they live and die by the 3. Or should I say they live by the 3.

 

[volhawk50]

Just because you destroy Duke doesn't make you the #3 team in the nation, though I can see why they have that ranking right now, I just don't think it will remain there. Also, Duke will beat them at home, and the rest of the ACC including UNC and NCSU (alum speaking here) are a joke.

They're not #3 because of one game. They are undefeated in the third-best conference. They are 20-3 with the hardest schedule and they are on a 12 game win streak. Duke will beat them at home, but otherwise Miami's remaining schedule is very manageable. No reason to think they can't finish with at least 16 conference wins.

 

[hawkfarmer]

Miami has the #1 SOS in the nation.

SOS is not actually a good measure of the schedule. Look at their schedule and tell me why it was so hard?

 

[hawkfan33]

And they live and die by the 3. Or should I say they live by the 3.

Not really. They are 129th in the nation in percentage of points which comes from 3 pointers at 29.2, they 135th in 3PFGA/FGA at 34.4. So although they shoot the 3 pretty well, 36.4% 64th in the country, they certainly don't live and die by it. I would say their terrific defense has been much more responsible for their success.

 

[Section136]

SOS is not actually a good measure of the schedule. Look at their schedule and tell me why it was so hard?

Their MSU win is looking great right now.

Their 31 point victory over Charlotte is looking very good right now.

Their 27 point win over Duke is probably the most impressive win of the season, for any team.

There are some decent teams they played in their OOC.

With how games around the country have gone the last 6 weeks, who deserves to be ranked #2 more than Miami?

 

[hawkfan33]

Their MSU win is looking great right now.

Their 31 point victory over Charlotte is looking very good right now.

Their 27 point win over Duke is probably the most impressive win of the season, for any team.

There are some decent teams they played in their OOC.

With how games around the country have gone the last 6 weeks, who deserves to be ranked #2 more than Miami?

I would take Wisconsin over Indiana on the road for most impressive win of the season, they played Duke right after they had lost Kelly and it was at Miami.

 

[Section136]

I would take Wisconsin over Indiana on the road for most impressive win of the season, they played Duke right after they had lost Kelly and it was at Miami.

Thats a close one. I just think beating the #1 team by almost 30 points carries a lot of weight, with or without Kelly.

 

[bcl20]

College basketball polls aren't very meaningful thus it's hard to get too upset by this. They beat Michigan State too.

Losses to Florida Gulf Coast and Indiana State aren't great losses but those aren't awful teams either.

 

[hawkfarmer]

The biggest thing I take issue with is that SOS use the RPI of the team as of right now. Well the MSU team now is not the team that got beat by Miami in Dec. I understand that Miami is not the same team now that got beat by Florida Gulf Coast, but that is still a horrible loss.

SOS of schedule should evaluate the team when they beat them, not what they are at the end of the year. A great win over a ranked NCSU team might look good early on, but if NCSU turns out to be crappier than expected, well was that true when they were considered good and got beat or not?

 

[bcl20]

The biggest thing I take issue with is that SOS use the RPI of the team as of right now. Well the MSU team now is not the team that got beat by Miami in Dec. I understand that Miami is not the same team now that got beat by Florida Gulf Coast, but that is still a horrible loss.

SOS of schedule should evaluate the team when they beat them, not what they are at the end of the year. A great win over a ranked NCSU team might look good early on, but if NCSU turns out to be crappier than expected, well was that true when they were considered good and got beat or not?

Kenpom and Sagarin have them at 8 and 10 prospectively. That's probably more accurate but I don't mind the human voters rewarding them for winning when others are not. The human poll just doesn't matter that much anyways.

 

[hawkfan33]

The biggest thing I take issue with is that SOS use the RPI of the team as of right now. Well the MSU team now is not the team that got beat by Miami in Dec. I understand that Miami is not the same team now that got beat by Florida Gulf Coast, but that is still a horrible loss.

SOS of schedule should evaluate the team when they beat them, not what they are at the end of the year. A great win over a ranked NCSU team might look good early on, but if NCSU turns out to be crappier than expected, well was that true when they were considered good and got beat or not?

How in the world would you do that?

 

[99topdawg]

SOS is not actually a good measure of the schedule. Look at their schedule and tell me why it was so hard?

Not exactly sure how it's measured, but Iowa State's SOS is higher than Iowa's (according to the BPI). That was kind of a head scratcher, too.

 

[bcl20]

How in the world would you do that?

There's probably a way to include win/loss results before and after that game into a formula. Even that's flawed though, it's basketball, teams are streaky and teams change from game to game so, ultimately, I don't know if that would be that necessary.

I mean, Iowa lost two games in a row, so it seems like they are playing bad, but they lost by three to a good team on the road and lost another one in OT to a good team on the road, so they aren't playing as poorly as record would suggest.

 

[bcl20]

I think it's a slippery slope to say "this isn't the same team as then". Maybe they weren't the same team against Miami as they were against Michigan because Miami did things to beat them. They were on a winning streak in which they beat Kansas and a surprisingly good Boise State team.