Week 17

Does anyone still read these?

Rkg Team                               Rating   Record   SOS   Margin   LW (Chng)
  1 North Carolina                     9.4188    25-3     42    19.32     2 (+1)
  2 Connecticut                        9.4144    27-2     47    14.97     3 (+1)
  3 Pittsburgh                         9.2422    26-3     40    15.00     1 (-2)
  4 Memphis                            9.2379    26-3     55    16.83     5 (+1)
  5 Oklahoma                           9.1330    26-3     39    12.76     4 (-1)
  6 Duke                               9.0688    24-5      6    14.14     6 (0)
  7 Michigan State                     8.8283    23-5      7     9.86     9 (+2)
  8 Kansas                             8.8231    24-5     20    13.03    11 (+3)
  9 Louisville                         8.7982    23-5     17    12.32    10 (+1)
 10 Missouri                           8.6651    24-5     72    15.76     8 (-2)
 11 Louisiana State                    8.5236    25-4     97    11.59    16 (+5)
 12 Xavier                             8.4867    23-5     48    10.36    15 (+3)
 13 Clemson                            8.4791    22-6     27    11.50     7 (-6)
 14 Wake Forest                        8.4464    22-5     73    12.33    13 (-1)
 15 Gonzaga                            8.3724    23-5    119    15.64    18 (+3)
 16 Butler                             8.3315    25-4    127    10.90    20 (+4)
 17 Villanova                          8.3064    23-6     43    10.14    12 (-5)
 18 Brigham Young                      8.2931    22-6     77    13.68    24 (+6)
 19 Washington                         8.1898    22-7     24     9.38    25 (+6)
 20 Purdue                             8.1726    22-7     41    11.52    19 (-1)
 21 Marquette                          8.1507    23-6     74    10.10    14 (-7)
 22 California - Los Angeles           8.1411    22-7     57    12.69    28 (+6)
 23 Illinois                           8.1236    23-7     32     8.83    21 (-2)
 24 Utah State                         8.1163    26-4    181    10.87    22 (-2)
 25 Dayton                             8.0028    24-5    113     7.17    26 (+1)

Dropped out: #17 Arizona State (to #26), #23 West Virginia (to #27)

338 Texas Southern                     2.6001     5-23   232   -10.04   340 (+2)
339 Maryland - Eastern Shore           2.5992     7-21   323   -11.18   333 (-6)
340 Mississippi Valley State           2.5208     6-23   251   -12.55   337 (-3)
341 Grambling State                    2.4752     6-21   331   -10.11   339 (-2)
342 Loyola Marymount                   2.2747     3-27    82   -16.07   342 (0)
343 Southeast Missouri State           1.8524     3-27   214   -12.70   343 (0)
344 Alcorn State                       1.7965     6-23   341   -13.97   344 (0)
345 Sacramento State                   1.6933     2-27   186   -15.45   345 (0)
346 North Carolina Central             1.6169     3-26   203   -20.07   346 (0)
347 New Jersey Tech                    0.8664     1-28   316   -17.83   347 (0)

The complete reports.

Week 16

Rankings:

Rkg Team                               Rating   Record   SOS   Margin   LW (Chng)
  1 Pittsburgh                         9.5341    25-2     34    16.00     4 (+3)
  2 North Carolina                     9.4716    24-3     31    18.93     2 (0)
  3 Connecticut                        9.3826    25-2     54    15.41     1 (-2)
  4 Oklahoma                           9.3615    25-2     42    13.48     3 (-1)
  5 Memphis                            9.2494    24-3     50    17.07     5 (0)
  6 Duke                               9.0662    22-5      8    14.52     6 (0)
  7 Clemson                            8.9455    22-4     27    12.77     9 (+2)
  8 Missouri                           8.8601    23-4     79    17.11     8 (0)
  9 Michigan State                     8.8112    21-5      9    10.00     7 (-2)
 10 Louisville                         8.7779    21-5     15    12.42    12 (+2)
 11 Kansas                             8.6997    22-5     33    12.74    14 (+3)
 12 Villanova                          8.6113    22-5     30    10.89    13 (+1)
 13 Wake Forest                        8.4697    20-5     62    12.64    11 (-2)
 14 Marquette                          8.4654    23-4    101    11.41    16 (+2)
 15 Xavier                             8.4587    22-5     48    10.22    10 (-5)
 16 Louisiana State                    8.4193    23-4    112    12.11    17 (+1)
 17 Arizona State                      8.3720    21-5     72    11.23    22 (+5)
 18 Gonzaga                            8.3500    21-5    115    16.12    20 (+2)
 19 Purdue                             8.3324    21-6     45    11.78    25 (+6)
 20 Butler                             8.2935    23-4    126    10.85    18 (-2)
 21 Illinois                           8.2922    22-6     35     9.36    15 (-6)
 22 Utah State                         8.2626    25-3    200    11.39    19 (-3)
 23 West Virginia                      8.2546    19-8      6    11.81    24 (+1)
 24 Brigham Young                      8.2183    20-6     77    13.85    21 (-3)
 25 Washington                         8.1313    20-7     26     9.78    27 (+2)

Dropped out: #23 Dayton (to #26)

338 North Carolina - Greensboro        2.6098     4-23   174   -11.19   336 (-2)
339 Grambling State                    2.4996     6-20   335   -10.19   338 (-1)
340 Texas Southern                     2.4219     3-23   191   -11.50   341 (+1)
341 Southern                           2.4027     6-20   340    -9.08   340 (-1)
342 Loyola Marymount                   2.2251     2-26    80   -16.89   343 (+1)
343 Southeast Missouri State           2.0442     3-25   222   -13.07   342 (-1)
344 Alcorn State                       1.9962     6-21   341   -13.74   345 (+1)
345 Sacramento State                   1.9263     2-25   203   -13.96   344 (-1)
346 North Carolina Central             1.5621     2-25   199   -21.48   346 (0)
347 New Jersey Tech                    1.1143     1-26   310   -17.04   347 (0)

The complete reports.

• Before I say anything about my teams, I want to express my love and admiration of UConn coach Jim Calhoun.
  
  
  
  If your state has budget woes, don't attack the public university's athletics coaches. The reason Jim Calhoun is the highest paid employee in the state is because he's in charge of one of the few things in the state that actually makes money, and women's coach Geno Auriemma isn't too far down the list himself (UConn has one of the very few college women's basketball programs that runs in the black). I've seen too many people caterwauling about how thin-skinned Calhoun is and that he shouldn't have blown up at the guy. Fuck that. You don't play nicey-nice with some pompous jackass whose entire reason for being is to ask idiotic and irrelevant questions of public figures for the sole purpose of scoring cheap political points with the Left's answer to the 101st Fighting Keyboardists. Self-involved morons like this "activist" are why journalism is a dying profession, and he deserved nothing but public humiliation.
  
  
• Beating Oklahoma does not magically make Texas a good team. Yes, in terms of pure numbers, it was a very good win for the Longhorns, and it probably wrapped up the NCAA bid that was starting to slip away. This is, however, still the same team that lost back-to-back home games and three in a row overall for the first time in some span that I'm too lazy to look up right now, and the same team that will be lucky to make it out of the first weekend. The value of this win will be diminished for us because the best player in the country got bonked on the head and only played 11 minutes, and for the same reason, the loss for Oklahoma (as well as last night's Griffin-less loss to Kansas) will be mitigated when the selection committee is deciding who sits on the top line of the tournament three weeks from now.
  
  
• The Texas women have lost two in a row to fall out of contention in the Big 12, and in all likelihood will not even get a first-round bye in the conference tournament, considering the difficulty of the remaining schedule. The program is certainly on a turnaround under Gail Goestenkors, though.
  
  
• The Vanderbilt women's team likely blew their shot at their first-ever SEC championship of any kind with a loss at Ole Miss on Sunday. The Lady 'Dores upset leader Auburn on Thursday to pull into a first-place tie with the Tigers. Auburn beat Georgia to stay in front, and while they finish the season with a home game against a mediocre Arkansas team, Vandy's last contest is on the road in Knoxville, where they are 0-23 all time. I've seen stranger things happen, but this doesn't seem very likely.

Week 15

Egads. For some reason, I haven't been able to log into Blogger in more than a week. It's been saying that I don't have cookies or javascript turned on, even though I do. Last week's rankings are up on the other site just like always.

Rkg Team                               Rating   Record   SOS   Margin   LW (Chng)
  1 Connecticut                        9.7000    24-1     47    16.40     1 (0)
  2 North Carolina                     9.6984    23-2     40    20.20     4 (+2)
  3 Oklahoma                           9.6275    25-1     42    14.19     2 (-1)
  4 Pittsburgh                         9.5405    23-2     31    16.20     5 (+1)
  5 Memphis                            9.2911    22-3     35    16.44     6 (+1)
  6 Duke                               9.0975    20-5      7    15.00     3 (-3)
  7 Michigan State                     8.9956    20-4     11    11.13    10 (+3)
  8 Missouri                           8.9590    22-4     61    17.27    13 (+5)
  9 Clemson                            8.9154    20-4     19    12.29     7 (-2)
 10 Xavier                             8.8431    21-4     21    10.52     8 (-2)
 11 Wake Forest                        8.7452    19-4     53    13.39    11 (0)
 12 Louisville                         8.7183    19-5     15    12.33     9 (-3)
 13 Villanova                          8.7183    20-5     17    11.24    12 (-1)
 14 Kansas                             8.6317    20-5     30    12.40    14 (0)
 15 Illinois                           8.4721    21-5     45    10.19    19 (+4)
 16 Marquette                          8.4500    21-4     96    11.60    17 (+1)
 17 Louisiana State                    8.4263    21-4    113    12.68    22 (+5)
 18 Butler                             8.4243    22-3    145    11.36    15 (-3)
 19 Utah State                         8.3896    24-2    235    11.88    18 (-1)
 20 Gonzaga                            8.3854    19-5     80    14.50    23 (+3)
 21 Brigham Young                      8.3590    19-5     89    14.58    26 (+5)
 22 Arizona State                      8.3517    20-5     71    11.60    31 (+9)
 23 Dayton                             8.3507    23-3    130     8.19    28 (+5)
 24 West Virginia                      8.3004    17-8      4    11.60    21 (-3)
 25 Purdue                             8.2941    19-6     41    11.44    29 (+4)

Dropped out: #16 California - Los Angeles (to #26), #20 Florida (to #37), #24 Ohio State (to #32), #25 Washington (to #27)

338 Grambling State                    2.7295     6-18   334   -10.50   336 (-2)
339 Mississippi Valley State           2.6962     4-21   182   -14.16   339 (0)
340 Southern                           2.6857     6-18   340    -7.96   341 (+1)
341 Texas Southern                     2.4370     2-22   170   -12.67   342 (+1)
342 Southeast Missouri State           2.3630     3-23   202   -12.42   340 (-2)
343 Loyola Marymount                   2.3358     2-24   103   -16.46   343 (0)
344 Sacramento State                   2.0465     2-24   200   -14.12   344 (0)
345 Alcorn State                       1.9306     5-20   341   -14.84   345 (0)
346 North Carolina Central             1.7167     2-23   218   -21.32   346 (0)
347 New Jersey Tech                    1.4046     1-24   303   -16.68   347 (0)

Thoughts:

• Well, it seems clear at this point in the season that the Longhorns are exactly what they've shown themselves to be: a decent-to-good defensive team and wrist-slashingly awful on offense. They're not going to get any better than this. The horses just aren't in the stable. They're not great, or even really all that good. They're just an OK mid-table major conference team. I've been saying since the Stetson game that we probably wouldn't make it out of the first weekend of the tournament, and the team hasn't done anything that would dissuade me from that assessment. We'll be seeded somewhere between 7 and 9, and even if we manage to win the opening-round game, we'll be grossly overmatched against the 1 or 2 seed.
  
  On the plus side, even with a likely 20-13 overall, 8-8 in conference finish this season, this is still by far the worst team Texas has had in about a decade. So it's not like the program is in complete disarray (like, for example, Indiana or Oregon) or is pushing against what seems to be a hard ceiling and will rarely do much better than this (like, for example, Virginia Tech or Seton Hall). It's just a down year, and given what I've seen of next year's recruiting class, it's probably going to be a one-time deal. Point guard play will pretty much fix itself as Dogus Balbay improves and Jay Lucas becomes eligible. We already have a couple of offense-oriented wing players committed for next season, which should alleviate some of our scoring woes.
  
  So fret not, Longhorns. This too shall pass.
  
  
• It'll be hard for me to come up with anything useful to say about Vanderbilt or Georgia Tech. Neither one of them is particularly good this year. In fact, through a quirk of scheduling, there just happened to be a three-team round-robin between Vandy, GaTech, and Illinois-Chicago in early December. Each team played the other two, and the winner of the impromptu mini-conference was none other than the Flames of UIC, which won in Nashville and in Atlanta. Even the Flames are now 12-14 overall, have lost six of their last eight games, and are languishing in a seventh-place tie in the Horizon League (out of ten teams in the conference). The game after getting blown out at home by UIC, Vandy lost by 12 at the Thrillerdome, which was such a non-event that Jason didn't even bother to gloat about it.

Week 13

Forgot to post these yesterday.

Rkg Team                               Rating   Record   SOS   Margin   LW (Chng)
  1 Duke                               9.9714    19-2      9    19.95     1 (0)
  2 Oklahoma                           9.7762    21-1     16    14.64     3 (+1)
  3 North Carolina                     9.6905    19-2     40    21.67     4 (+1)
  4 Connecticut                        9.6306    20-1     60    17.29     5 (+1)
  5 Pittsburgh                         9.5340    19-2     21    15.95     2 (-3)
  6 Clemson                            9.3126    18-2     29    13.30     9 (+3)
  7 Xavier                             9.2990    19-2     20    11.24     6 (-1)
  8 Louisville                         9.2730    17-3     12    14.40     8 (0)
  9 Memphis                            9.2252    18-3     24    15.67    10 (+1)
 10 Wake Forest                        9.1646    17-2     72    15.84     7 (-3)
 11 Marquette                          9.0573    19-2     74    13.33    14 (+3)
 12 Butler                             9.0104    19-1    131    12.75    12 (0)
 13 Michigan State                     8.9658    17-4      7     9.43    11 (-2)
 14 Missouri                           8.8059    18-4     75    18.45    13 (-1)
 15 Villanova                          8.7479    17-4     31    12.57    27 (+12)
 16 Purdue                             8.7289    17-4     50    14.00    20 (+4)
 17 Kansas                             8.6606    17-4     53    13.33    22 (+5)
 18 Illinois                           8.6255    18-4     47    11.18    15 (-3)
 19 California - Los Angeles           8.5901    17-4     82    15.62    34 (+15)
 20 Minnesota                          8.5857    18-3     73     9.14    32 (+12)
 21 West Virginia                      8.5321    15-6     10    12.67    18 (-3)
 22 Washington                         8.4997    16-5     19    11.14    19 (-3)
 23 Davidson                           8.4760    18-3    140    13.95    30 (+7)
 24 Dayton                             8.4683    20-2    155     9.32    36 (+12)
 25 Gonzaga                            8.4656    16-4    114    17.20    38 (+13)

Dropped out: #16 Florida (to #27), #17 Arizona State (to #32), #21 Oklahoma State (to #33),
#23 Texas (to #29), #24 Georgetown (to #40), #25 California (to #42)

338 Mississippi Valley State           2.9489     3-18   146   -16.14   337 (-1)
339 Furman                             2.8528     3-17   271   -11.50   341 (+2)
340 Texas Southern                     2.8478     2-19   151   -12.33   339 (-1)
341 Southeast Missouri State           2.6224     3-20   220   -12.30   340 (-1)
342 Loyola Marymount                   2.4593     1-22    76   -18.09   342 (0)
343 Southern                           2.3920     4-17   342    -9.24   344 (+1)
344 Sacramento State                   2.3780     2-20   230   -13.73   343 (-1)
345 Alcorn State                       1.9144     4-18   341   -16.27   347 (+2)
346 New Jersey Tech                    1.8103     1-21   277   -16.55   345 (-1)
347 North Carolina Central             1.7703     2-22   235   -21.04   346 (-1)

The complete reports.

Damning with faint praise

The trailer for Underworld: Rise of the Lycans keeps touting some reviewer who called it "the best of the three Underworld films."

Maybe it's just me and my silly disdain for crappy, braindead movies, but that's a lot like saying that Hitler was the best of the three mid-20th century dictators.

YMMV, I suppose.

Week 12 rankings

Rkg Team                               Rating   Record   SOS   Margin   LW (Chng)
  1 Duke                              10.2855    18-1      9    20.84     1 (0)
  2 Pittsburgh                         9.7924    18-1     26    17.47     3 (+1)
  3 Oklahoma                           9.7158    19-1     22    15.20     7 (+4)
  4 North Carolina                     9.7069    17-2     33    22.89     4 (0)
  5 Connecticut                        9.6248    18-1     36    16.21     6 (+1)
  6 Xavier                             9.4971    17-2     11    11.16     8 (+2)
  7 Wake Forest                        9.4346    16-1     80    17.71     2 (-5)
  8 Louisville                         9.3528    15-3     10    14.22    10 (+2)
  9 Clemson                            9.2635    17-2     31    13.79     5 (-4)
 10 Memphis                            9.2055    16-3     19    15.42    11 (+1)
 11 Michigan State                     9.1772    16-3      7     9.84     9 (-2)
 12 Butler                             9.0899    18-1    109    13.00    18 (+6)
 13 Missouri                           9.0350    17-3     82    20.25    14 (+1)
 14 Marquette                          8.9731    17-2     81    13.74    13 (-1)
 15 Illinois                           8.9248    17-3     37    13.05    19 (+4)
 16 Florida                            8.7246    17-3     86    14.40    15 (-1)
 17 Arizona State                      8.7075    16-3     84    14.42    22 (+5)
 18 West Virginia                      8.6776    14-5     13    13.11    21 (+3)
 19 Washington                         8.6727    15-4     25    12.11    30 (+11)
 20 Purdue                             8.6453    15-4     45    14.47    34 (+14)
 21 Oklahoma State                     8.6039    13-5     12    11.39    20 (-1)
 22 Kansas                             8.5994    15-4     52    14.16    32 (+10)
 23 Texas                              8.5482    14-4     28    10.94    28 (+5)
 24 Georgetown                         8.5367    12-6      1    10.17    12 (-12)
 25 California                         8.5190    16-4     41    10.95    16 (-9)

Dropped out: #17 Syracuse (to #26), #23 Minnesota (to #32), #24 Villanova (to #27), #25 Ohio State (to #39)

338 North Florida                      2.9713     4-16   253   -15.80   339 (+1)
339 Texas Southern                     2.9250     1-18   115   -13.16   333 (-6)
340 Southeast Missouri State           2.8659     3-18   218   -12.24   341 (+1)
341 Furman                             2.8609     2-15   262   -13.18   342 (+1)
342 Loyola Marymount                   2.7889     1-20    62   -17.62   336 (-6)
343 Sacramento State                   2.4597     2-19   236   -14.05   343 (0)
344 Southern                           2.3839     3-16   339   -10.21   345 (+1)
345 New Jersey Tech                    2.0148     1-19   263   -17.10   347 (+2)
346 North Carolina Central             1.9097     2-21   223   -21.26   344 (-2)
347 Alcorn State                       1.7800     3-17   342   -18.00   346 (-1)

The complete reports.

RIP Kay Yow

Hall of Fame women's basketball coach Kay Yow died this morning at the age of 66 after a 22-year fight with breast cancer. You want to see what class and dignity in the face of adversity really looks like? Take a gander at Yow.

Yow was one of just seven women's basketball coaches to reach the 700-win plateau, and finished her career with a 737-344 record in 38 years, the last 34 of which were spent sitting in the first chair at North Carolina State. She averaged 20 wins a season during her time leading the Wolfpack.

It's a sad day, even for those of us that have no connection at all to NC State. Yow was one of the most respected and beloved figures in the game basketball.