Poll
Question:
Which undefeated team do you believe will be the first to lose in the NCAA Tournament?
Option 1: Hope
votes: 6
Option 2: Thomas More
votes: 8
Option 3: Howard Payne
votes: 7
Who's going down first? and who brings them down?
I would have to go with Hope, because Puget Sound scheduled to play them in Sweet 16 (I think). Puget Sound took down Howard Payne in the NCAAs last year :)...so they know what its like.
They will fall in this order:
Hope, HPU and Thomas-Moore, since that's the order UPS will meet them. Of course, that assumes no one else knocks them off first. ;D
FWIW (very little, probably), in Pick Ems I have Hope downing Howard Payne in the Elite Eight, Messiah downing Thomas More in the semis, and Hope winning it all (after beating my beloved Titans in the other semi).
I too have Hope winning it. Although I have them winning the final against Thomas More
This is a great poll question. Hope you don't mind if I borrow it and put it on the front page.
Quote from: Pat Coleman on March 05, 2008, 10:15:20 AM
This is a great poll question. Hope you don't mind if I borrow it and put it on the front page.
Borrowing the poll...
I really enjoy the polls being compiled in archive for review.
My, my...aren't those Loggerheads just plucky! We all may as well just walk away now. :'( :P ::)
Seriously, though. I see Hope and HPU in another elite eight battle that, but for the wiz-dumb of the selection committee, should have been avoided through better disbursement of the top teams. Looking through those teams rosters and stats, I pick Hope over HPU. None of Hope's players average more than 20.1 minutes, and the bench outscores the starters. They've seen prolific scorers like Meia Daniels (e.g. Allison Kessler, St. Mary's), and bigger line-ups (e.g. Albion, who was on the bubble for the NCAA tourney).
But there's alot of basketball to be played until then. One game at a time. ;D
This is what the committee did -- it just didn't agree with you and me as to who the top teams were.
Quote from: Pat Coleman on March 05, 2008, 10:15:20 AM
This is a great poll question. Hope you don't mind if I borrow it and put it on the front page.
By all means, Pat. Go right ahead. :)
Quote from: Erm Schmigget on March 05, 2008, 06:18:50 PM
My, my...aren't those Loggerheads just plucky! We all may as well just walk away now. :'( :P ::)
Hey you gotta support your team right? ;) UPS would have to play a heck of a game to beat Hope. I am not saying it would be easy, but they won't be intimidated by that game, as they beat Howard Payne last year in the NCAAs.
And, most importantly...UPS have to get there first :)
Quote from: LogShow on March 06, 2008, 01:16:14 AM
Quote from: Erm Schmigget on March 05, 2008, 06:18:50 PM
My, my...aren't those Loggerheads just plucky! We all may as well just walk away now. :'( :P ::)
Hey you gotta support your team right? ;) UPS would have to play a heck of a game to beat Hope. I am not saying it would be easy, but they won't be intimidated by that game, as they beat Howard Payne last year in the NCAAs.
Best thing that has happened to HPU!
I hope that we (McMurry) can knock off Horrid Pain*.
But if we can't, I really think that the lessons that the Lady Jackets learned in Decorah can take them to the Elite 8 and maybe to the title game.
*Horrid Pain is a nickname that goes back in my family to the late 1930's. My late father would "kid" his cousin who was a QB at Howard Payne College. the name may be even older than that. The two schools are 80 miles apart and began playing one another in the early 1930's. From that same era, the other McMurry rival was called "Hardened Sinners", Hardin-Simmons University.
Quote from: LogShow on March 06, 2008, 01:16:14 AM
Quote from: Erm Schmigget on March 05, 2008, 06:18:50 PM
My, my...aren't those Loggerheads just plucky! We all may as well just walk away now. :'( :P ::)
Hey you gotta support your team right? ;)
Absolutely. And I wouldn't have you do/say anything to the contrary. :)
Having 3 unbeaten teams entering the tournament is pretty impressive though, all 3 schools deserve a congrats for a heck of a regular season. But atleast 2 of those undefeated records will fall...maybe even 3.
I know both are bad, but...Do you think that being undefeated and losing in the tournament is more painful then already having a number of losses and then losing?
Ask the Patriots.
Quote from: LogShow on March 06, 2008, 03:58:04 PM
I know both are bad, but...Do you think that being undefeated and losing in the tournament is more painful then already having a number of losses and then losing?
I think losing is painful. The university I went to (Indiana) was the last D1 school to have an undefeated season in men's basketball, in 1975-76. The 74-75 team went undefeated too, until...I think...the sweet 16 final when Kentucky took them out because Scott May, the National Player of the Year that year, had a broken arm. That was a painful loss, but I don't think it would have been any worse if they'd dropped a game or two along the way. But maybe time has dulled the pain. :)
Seriously, nobody likes to lose. I think it's better to lose one (or two or a few), make to the tourney and then win it all than to go undefeated all the way to finals and then drop that last one.
Certainly still a tremendous season, but I feel a tough ending to an otherwise great run. No redemption for another year.
Update from Berea, Ohio.
Hope clears Juniata 76-47 and advances to the second round to face the winner of DYC/B-W.
Update from Crestview Hills:
Thomas More over Greensboro 76-63.
(This was a really close game - TMC leading by no more than 5 points - until TMC started to pull away with about 5 minutes remaining in the 2nd half).
Update from Crestview Hills:
Thomas More falls to Oglethorpe 65-55.
Oglethorpe led by 8 at the half, but TMC ties it up at 11:55 and the two teams duke it out for the next several minutes. Oglethorpe then re-takes the lead for good with 7:52 remaining.
And so the first unbeaten team falls...
Quote from: gatoradio on March 08, 2008, 09:08:02 PM
Update from Crestview Hills:
Thomas More falls to Oglethorpe 65-55.
Oglethorpe led by 8 at the half, but TMC ties it up at 11:55 and the two teams duke it out for the next several minutes. Oglethorpe then re-takes the lead for good with 7:52 remaining.
And so the first unbeaten team falls...
Well that didn't take long...Thomas More still had a good season, and should be proud
So Howard Payne is the last unbeaten left. But being unbeaten doesn't mean being unbeatable.
Just look at what happened with volleyball in the 2007 NCAA Tournament. Wittenberg went undefeated (31-0) until the Final Four round against Wash. U. That was when they got dismantled in a 3-1 loss to the Bears. In that last set, Wittenberg was torn apart 30-15 which is big in volleyball.
Admittedly basketball is a different game but the culture where teams come from plays a role. I watched the University of Wisconsin Whitewater play Wash. U. in the finals for volleyball and they're a tenacious school. Whitewater athletes know how to persevere. They've also got good fans and they'll be out in full force against Howard Payne.